Gargoyles
by defectivebrainstorm
Summary: While the rest of Atmos seemed to think the danger had past, one young Sky Knight and his motley squadron set off in the pursuit of nightmares to unearth a new evil before it could grow larger than anyone had ever imagined. This is their story. Mostly OC
1. Nothing Gold can Stay

**Author's Note: Ok, not gonna give too much away here, but there is some stuff that needs some explaining. Right. First of all, just so you know these most of these characters are my own invention. Lots and lots of OCs, but fear not, there will be some guest appearances of the original Nerd Corps characters too. Guess that was my disclaimer. Right, anyways, so my story takes place seventeen years after the downfall of Cyclonia. Yeah, again. The Age of Heroes is over. Now is the time of peace between the Terras, prosperity, security and rebirth. Sky Knight Squadrons have been narrowed down to a select few in charge of the larger Terras.**

**But that would be just too perfect, right?**

**Believing that a new age of darkness is brewing somewhere in the forgotten corners of Atmos, a young Sky Knights scrapes together a squadron and sets off to expose this new evil before it can grow too large for anyone to stop. As the plot twists and thickens and expands beyond what anyone would have expected, the motley young squadron gets caught up in a battle that will decide the fate of the entire Atmos, and wrapped in a interweaving destiny that reaches into their very blood. **

**An original tale of young rejects trying to carve a place for themselves in a crowded and cruel world, and a building a binding friendship that will echo through the ages. **

**If you're familiar with my work, you'll know by now that I swear a blue streak and I have a bit of a violence fetish. Therefore, this fiction is rated a very high T. Consider yourself warned.**

**Also, I'm going to be experimenting between different character POVs and flashbacks, as well as third/first person perspectives. It might get a little choppy, bear with me.**

**Quick dedication, and then I'll shut up and let you read (if you've made it this far already). To Dragonwings144, whom I was inspired by to write this fic, by the meshing of characters, hauntingly and achingly human emotions and perspectives, mastery of suspense and action sequences and the addition of music that is sprinkled into the chapters. If you're reading this without having read any of Dragonwing's gripping tales, turn right back around and read them first.**

**And to .PhaerynTao., who encouraged me to explore the ugliness and the beauty of the human mind and heart. And who gave me fresh hope and a fresh perspective of love and more importantly, friendship.**

**And to all you other Storm Hawks fans and fanfiction-ers out there. Ya'll make me feel a lot less lonely in this talent stricken world. I can honestly say I've never, ever read a story on this site that I thought was poorly done, and I've read a lot (probably more then I've actually reviewed for, heh heh). **

**Ok, I think I've rambled on long enough. This first chapter may be a little generic and dry, but I've got to introduce the characters a little bit or this story won't fly the way I want it to. Please R&R, if you've got the time.**

**1**

**Nothing Gold can Stay**

_**You think I can't fly? Well you just watch me. Watch me."**_

_**-Gravity, the Dresden Dolls**_

"If you ask me, this is just a big waste of time."

Pushing his hair out of his eyes and smearing sweat from his forehead, Falshade let out a sigh of one who had known patience, once upon a time, but had run out a long time ago.

"If you recall, I didn't ask you anything, for exactly that reason."

Varan issued a low, irritated growl and pushed a little closer to him, glancing around with nervous eyes. "I don't care if you don't want to hear it. I think this whole idea is pointless. Why do we need the Council's approval anyways? You already know what they're going to say."

Well, at least he hadn't said it was stupid.

"And of course you had to pick Market Day, of all days." Varan went on, his tail flicking skittishly as crowds of people shoved past them. "Oh for god's sake, where are they?"

Perhaps only Falshade caught the slight reptilian hiss that slithered into the Ss of Varan's words, a sure sign that he was fast losing his composure. Falshade supposed he couldn't blame him; despite the fact the Repton and his cronies were rotting in some jail cell, and had been for years, and the fact that they had been peace with Terra Bogaton for nearly eighteen years, the people still eyed Raptors with unconcealed dislike and hostility. Even here on Atmosia, the home of the Sky Knight council and the pinnacle of acceptance towards all races, Varan was drawing faces from everywhere, and none of them regarded him with approval.

Falshade grabbed a hold of Varan's scaly tail, which was now whipping back and forth dangerously, and tried to calm his uncomfortable friend. "Look, I know you don't like crowds, and I'm sorry for dragging you out here. But this won't take much longer, and then we can get out of here, ok?"

Varan's muscles sagged, more in a sorry attempt to show Falshade he _wasn't_ uncomfortable then in actual relief. "You didn't drag me out here. But I really don't want to stand out here all day. If the others don't show up soon we should probably just go back to the dry docks and wait for them there."

He had a good point. Not only was Market Day probably the worst day to be standing like a couple of brain dead stumps at a street corner, but it had to be forty degrees out here. A fine first impression that would make to the leader of the Sky Knight Council; six scraggly teens all soaked with sweat. If the other four of them decided to show up in the next week.

Just as he finished that prickly thought, Stork suddenly appeared at his elbow, dragging a shamefaced Blizzarian by the front of his shirt behind her. "Got one." she reported, releasing Fraggle and shooting him a withering look. Being smaller then the boys, Falshade had enlisted her to hunt through the crowd several minutes earlier for their missing squad-mates, who had either gotten separated by the mob of driven shoppers or had slipped off on their own accord (unfortunately Falshade had a feeling they'd vanished because of the latter rather then the former).

Fraggle seemed to be taking the worst of the heat; his blue fur was ruffled and spiked as if jelled by sweat, and he was panting like a dog. "Oh, come on, eh! All I wanted was a drink from that vender we passed!"

"I told you to take of the stupid jacket before we left, but did you listen?" Stork shot back.

Fraggle fiddled with the sleeve of his green bomber jacket fondly, looking back at Stork reproachfully. "Watch what you say about my threads, eh."

"Well then stop complaining." Stork said finally before rounding on Falshade. "I didn't see the others. Maybe they're already at the Council Hall." she said, a touchy tone in her voice. The look on her face was not forthcoming. "_Send me back into that crowd_" it seemed to say "_I dare you_."

Not opting for immediate castration, Falshade decided that maybe they should just go up to the Council Hall and hope the other two had enough sense to head that way too. "Ok, hang on a second, let Fraggle go and buy his drink and then we'll head up there."

"And that's why you're our Sky Knight, eh!" Fraggle crowed in gratitude, clapping Falshade on the shoulder before melting into the crowd. Stork made an exasperated noise and moved to stand in the shade next to Varan obviously.

Falshade stood on tiptoe to peer over the heads of the bustling mob, searching for a familiar flash of black among the rainbow of hued hair. He perked up when he thought he recognized a nearby figure, then slumped when the guy turned around and turned out to be much too old.

Stork was scuffing her boot back and forth against the dry sidewalk. Falshade pretended to ignore her, even though he knew what was coming:

"It would have taken me five minutes to get what I needed."

Falshade blew out a long, slow sigh and prepared for yet another round. If it wasn't this, it was something else that Stork just couldn't agree with, even if deep down she knew he was right.

"It's not like you're not going to get them. As soon as we're done at the Council Hall we can spend all the time we want picking up supplies, including your tools, I promise." Falshade tried to compromise for the hundredth time.

"But I _passed_ the mechanic shop on the way here. It wouldn't have made any difference, we're already _waiting_ here anyways. And I even saw the tools I need in the display case _on sale_."

"Shade, you said we could get out of here as soon as we were finished at the Council Hall!" Varan suddenly leapt into the dispute, and Falshade wanted to strangle his friend for his ill timing. As expected, Stork glared at him with mutiny in her sea green eyes.

"Oh, you _liar._" She growled.

"Stork, hang on, let me-"

"When were you going to tell me about this?"

"Stork, I-"

"Maybe you don't get it. Throttle's Grease Pit is one of the best mechanical equipment retailers in the entire Atmos, and aside from the Great Atmos Race and the Annual Sky Smash Carnival this sale is the most epic event on any mechanic's calendar! Every grease monkey and shop owner for _miles _is going to want to be there and if I don't get there soon they might not have my parts! And guess whose head is going to roll for that one?"

"Stork, shut up for a second and _listen_ to me. We _will_ go to Throttle's, I promise. And Varan," he added, turning to the Raptor, who had opened his mouth to make a retort. "You can go back to the dry docks and wait for us there if you don't want to come with us after. Deal?"

Varan jerked his head in a brief nod and tucked his tail in tight as several people pushed past them, shooting the immobile teens annoyed looks. They were clogging up the flow of the streets like a clot in an artery and Falshade knew it was only a matter of time before someone made a remark.

"Lookie who I found!" Fraggle trilled then, returning to them at last with a very disgruntled Angel in tow. The slighter boy wrenched his arm out of the Blizzarian's grasp roughly, his nose crinkled in indignation at being pulled along like a five year old.

"Where have you been?" Falshade demanded, his temper still simmering after his little spat with Stork.

"'S'not my fault that Greasy there's so short. I lost sight of her in the crowd and got separated." Angel snapped, spinier then a skyhog.

Stork made a move at him but Varan grabbed her wrist and held her back. Angel wasn't being totally fair, Falshade had to admit; Stork was actually over the average height of girls her age, but compared to her lanky team mates she was dwarfed by comparison.

"Are you fond of having both of your arms?" Stork barked at him, trying to shake Varan off.

"Cool it, girly. Here, have a go at this eh." Fraggle said, offering her the mouth of his bottle of Liquid Frost, a soft drink made with an extra kick of ground frost crystals.

Stork horked as if to spit in it and Fraggle yanked the bottle back.

"Knock it off, all of you. I know it's hot but we have to keep our tempers in check." Falshade said sternly, reminding them all that he was the leader here. "If we're going to go and register as a squadron we might as well act like it, Ok?"

Stork pried Varan's fingers off but kept her hands to herself. Angel blew his hair out of his face and glanced over the rag-taggle group as if only then realizing they weren't all present.

"Where the hell is Wasp?" he asked.

Quite suddenly there was blood curdling shriek from down the street and all in the vicinity whipped around to see what was going on. A man was lying crumpled and heaving on the blistering street, clutching a contorted arm and bawling like a newborn. A figure in a dark brown biker jacket was kneeling next to him. Wordlessly the figure leaned over the writhing man and tugged something from his clenched fist before straightening up and stepping over him without a second glance and then sauntered in their direction.

"Hi."

"_Wasp_." Stork hissed, yanking the other girl over to them and turning away from the starring faces.

"Cheers. Where the hell have you guys been?"

"Looking for you, idiot. What in hell did you just do?"

"Interbred monkey tried to lift my wallet." Wasp said without a brush of concern. "Where are we going again?"

Fraggle was still starring at the fallen man, who was still howling. "Dudette, I think you broke his arm eh?"

"You bet I did."

Stork grabbed her by the front of her coat. "Listen, you aren't in the underground anymore. You can't just go break people's arms, got it?"

Wasp blinked at her slowly. "O….kay. Right. Didn't we have that thing to go to?"

Stork looked like she'd dearly love to strangle her. Falshade thought about pointing out to her that it was her who insisted that they bring Wasp along in the first place (personally he believed it was more a need for female companionship then anything) but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Instead he tried to push past the whole incident and said "Ok, we're all here. Now let's go before someone winds up in a police office."

"Or a morgue." Angel muttered, falling into line behind him as they began again to weave through the crowded streets. Stork made sure to keep a fist bunched in Wasp's overly large leather jacket to keep her from wreaking more havoc.

It took them about twenty minutes to fight against the living traffic in order to reach the Council Hall. Falshade paused in the square to look at it with admiration. It had survived the assault against the Terra about seventeen years before, still standing now with all of its ancient pride and authority. Thousands of other young Sky Knights before him had stood in this very place and stared at the hall with inspiration and excitement, as if they were young actors starring up at the gleaming letters of Terra Neon. This was where his story began. This was the beginning of his history.

"Come on, Dreamer Boy." Stork said, nudging him with her boot to keep him moving. She was smiling now though as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. Maybe she was thinking it too.

Before heading up the stairs, Falshade paused to look over his squadron. Even Wasp was showing some interest for once. They might have been motley and young and awkward band, but they were all capable and Falshade was determined to prove it to the Council. Feeling like he should say something, he cleared his throat to gather their attention.

"Alright everybody. This is it. If you have a best behaviour, this would be a good time to use it. And if you don't, just act like it." he said, making sure he got a nod from everybody. "And remember; we're in this together now." He stuck out a hand into their little ring as if to seal the pact. Fraggle and Varan immediately piled their furry and scaly palms on top. Angel's delicate hand shot out without hesitation and settled comfortably on top of Varan's. Stork placed her permanently grease stained and calloused hand on top of his, and Wasp plonked hers on top with a grin. It was sort of heart-warming and encouraging and frightening all at once; some of these people Falshade had known for years, some of them only a few short weeks, but he could already feel a bond growing between each and every one of them. And now here they were, about to step onto a dangerous and uncertain path, together and alone at the same time.

They stood there for a moment, perhaps too long because Wasp started to fidget and Angel coughed awkwardly. Falshade didn't want it to get corny, so he dipped his hand down a bit, causing a ripple affect with them all before breaking apart. Ok, so maybe it did get a little corny, but who was really keeping count?

"OK." he announced. "Let's go."

Two surly looking guys in full armour pushed the huge wooden doors open for them and allowed them to filter into the thankfully cooler Hall. They walked across the chamber floor in respectful silence, aside from the clicking of their boots on the floor. Dead ahead of them was the huge alter behind which sat several very old looking men, all with kind yet judgmental looks upon their crooked, aged faces.

"Welcome." The oldest of the bunch called down to them, smiling encouragingly. So far so good. "What business have you brought before us today?"

"Greetings." Falshade said, trying to sound proper. Stork snickered quietly next to him. "We've come to register as a squadron."

"Have you now?" the Head of Council spoke, sounding surprised. "All of you?"

"Yes sir."

"Well, as I'm sure you know, the Squadrons aren't in high demand of new recruits. However if you'll give us your names and positions we can recommend you and alert you if they decided to take on some new blood…."

"Oh…" This is where it was going to get awkward. "Sir, I'm afraid you've misunderstood me." Falshade said, putting his hands behind his back to twiddle his fingers nervously. The Council straightened slightly, interest piqued. One of them leaned over to whisper something in another's ear and Wasp made a noise in the back of her throat. Angel nudged her to keep her quiet.

"Is that so?"

"Yes sir. You see, um, we…" here Falshade motioned to his friends and himself. "…Would like to form a squadron. Of our own."

The Head of Council's wiry eyebrows raised in composed surprise. The others looked down at them as if expecting them to admit to some sort of joke. Nothing less then Falshade had expected, unfortunately. He'd have to be kidding himself if the Council would accept a new squadron with open arms, especially a gangly band of mixed species and punky looking ones at that.

"I see." the Head of Council said after a moment. Stork shifted, not liking the way they were all looking down upon them. Falshade didn't particularly like it either. He moved to subtly step on the end of Varan's tail, which was twitching back and forth again. "Well this is a strange request. What makes you think we need another squadron in the Atmos?" He didn't ask condescendingly or scornfully, but there was an edge in his tone that suggested he wasn't ready to be forthcoming either. "Do you believe the Atmos to be in danger of some kind?"

Oooooh, this was going to get sticky. "Not exactly, sir. But we believe…" Ugh, this was getting complicated. "… we believe that there is… something. Something coming, something terrible. We don't think that this war is finished yet."

"That's what _he_ believes." Stork threw in faithlessly. "The rest of us are just along for the ride."

_Thanks Stork. See if I help you pay for those tools now._

The Council were looking down at them some looking hostile others just plain stunned.

"What makes you believe this?" the Head of Council asked finally, sounding as if he were speaking patiently with a confused child. Or a basket case. "Are you some sort of prophet, my boy?"

"I don't know how to explain it." Falshade said honestly, using all his will power not to break eye contact and crawl away like a slug.

"And you're planning to put matters in your own hands, are you?" one of the other Councillors asked sardonically. "Is that it?"

Before Falshade could speak there was a gut wrenching cracking sound. All eyes turned to Wasp, who had been until recently chewing on her fingernails. With a rip of flesh she tore one half of her right index fingernail right from the digit and spat it onto the gleaming floor, tilting her head and scorching her gaze right into the chairman's eyes. "Well, what were you planning to do about it?" she asked with venom dripping from her every word.

Falshade had to clench his jaw muscles to keep his mouth from dropping open and offering a new home to any residential flies. That and to keep from bursting into a fit of laughter. Stork's mouth was quirking dangerously.

The chairman gaped, speechless. The stuffy old windbag had probably never seen such an unconcealed act of disrespect. However, several of the others looked as they'd been expecting such an act of immaturity, and it frustrated Falshade. They weren't just your average teenage delinquents, and he'd wanted to prove that today. Well, there went that dream.

The Head of Council moved his disgusted gaze from Wasp and back to Falshade. "Despite your beliefs, my boy, I can assure you that Atmos is quite safe."

He should have expected that. Falshade had spoken to many authoritive figures before him and all had reacted in the same fashion: "Atmos is safe now." and "Let the other Sky Knights deal with it. You're too young." Those were same of the tamer comments. Even his new found friends didn't seem to believe him as much as he needed them to. Nobody wanted to admit to a new threat, to consider that maybe there was still evil lurking out there, somewhere. Some had even treated him with hostility. Everybody wanted peace. Everybody wanted to just fool themselves into thinking they were safe now.

Falshade just couldn't accept it. That was why he'd gone through for the Sky Knight Trials. That was why he'd hunted all across the Atmos to scrape together a squadron. That was why he was here, right now.

Nothing gold could stay.

"Look, I know how crazy this sounds. And I know you probably won't believe me, no matter what I say." he said, a wave of fresh determination giving him a voice. "But I went through the Trials. I've put together a squadron. We've got the equipment, we've got the skills and we're not going to let this go. If you just register us, we won't be of bother to you again. We'll go and defend the skies without complaint. Heck, we won't even ask for any sponsorships. We won't even ask to be a part of the Sky Knight legion. We just want to count for something."

The Head of Council stared at him for a very long time before responding. "What Terra has sent you?"

"None." Falshade answered. In truth, they were all from different Terras: himself and Varan were from the refugee Terra of Vatican, which already had a squadron. Stork was originally from Terra Lyn, and Fraggle was from Terra Nord. Angel, they suspected, was from Terra Saharr, due to his darkly tanned skin and suppressed accent, and although they'd met Wasp on Terra Macabre, they were certain she'd descended if not originated from Terra Faerûn.

"Then who are you to represent?" asked another chairman.

"Ourselves." Stork answered drivenly.

"So you are to be rogues?" The Head of Council asked, patience wearing thin.

"Nah. We'll be freelancers. We'll only be rogues if you don't register us." Stork said, crossing her arms. "We're doing this whether you like it or not. We just figured we'd give you a head up, you know, to be polite. That way when you hear there's some new squadron out there kicking ass you won't have to kick yourselves. Or have us arrested for showing you up."

Falshade forgave her a tenfold for her previous betrayal.

The Council leaned in close to one another, whispering among themselves. Finally they must have come to some conclusion, because they broke apart and with a resigned sigh the Head of Council pulled out a roll of parchment and a long, feathery quill.

"Very well. Despite that fact that you're young and inexperienced you seem determined to do what you wish with or without our conformant. You remind me of another squadron from years ago… anyhow, I will still need your names and positions, as well as your certificate of achievement for succeeding the Sky Knight Trials."

Falshade, hardly daring to believe his luck, pulled the certificate from his pocket and tenderly unfolded it before handing it to the Head of Council. He was almost reluctant to let it go, wondering if maybe the Councillor would tear it to pieces before his eyes. He did nothing of the sort, however. Setting a small pair of glasses upon his nose he read over the document carefully as if looking for some flaw before handing it back to Falshade.

"Alright. Please sate your names and positions."

"Falshade. I'm the Sky Knight, obviously." Falshade said, tucking the document safely away. The Head of Council nodded briefly before turning to look at Varan.

"Er… you need our real names, don't you?" he asked hesitantly, drawing out the S slightly. His tail muscles were twitching under Falshade's boot.

"That would be more appropriate, yes."

Varan sighed. "Varanus. Heavy ballistics and explosives specialist."

Another nod and now Stork was in the hot seat. She seemed to be fighting some inward battle.

"Feonix." she relented finally, gnawing on her tongue. "Mechanic, gadget specialist, wingma- er, woman and navigator. It's spelled with an 'F'" she added as the head of Council started to jot down her name. "It's F-E-O-N-I-X."

"Of course." the Chairman scratched something out and began again, and then turned to Fraggle. "And you are….?"

"Fraggle. I'm the carrier pilot, eh."

Another curt nod and then the Head of Council looked down at Angel. "And you?"

"Angel. I'm the other wingman. And the sniper. And the weapon master. And the mission specialist."

"Two wingmen?" the Head of Council asked, sounding as if he didn't think this squadron could get any stranger.

"Yup."

"So your basic purpose is to take over when the other one's MIA?" the same chairman who'd insulted Falshade earlier asked him, scorn thick in his voice.

"Nope. I'm the one they send in when things go bad."

The head of Council turned finally to Wasp, who was chewing on her fingernails again and looking at the ceiling as if there was a movie playing there. "And how abut you?" he asked, sounding wary.

Wasp continued to gnaw ruthlessly on her nails as if she hadn't heard him. Angel elbowed her and she turned her eyes toward him while keeping her head tilted upwards.

"Yeah?"

Angel motioned to the Council and she looked in their direction instead.

"Name, right?"

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble." The Head of Council said tightly.

"Wasp. Position? Hmmm…." she looked around for inspiration. "I'm their psycho."

"Can you do anything else?" The Lead Chairman asked exasperatedly.

"She's our crystal specialist." Stork said quickly. This seemed to satisfy the Head of Council. Or maybe he just wanted them to get the hell out of there.

"Now, all I need is your name." he said, seeming to sag with relief at the prospect that he was almost rid of them.

"Er…" Falshade looked at the others. That morning they'd had a huge debate over names, which had been cut short when none of them wanted to agree with each other anymore and everyone was getting outvoted five to one. "We haven't quite decided yet."

The Lead Chairman looked as if he liked to do a face-palm.

"Some creativity would be nice, guys." Falshade turned to his friends desperately.

Nothing. Then-

"The Gargoyles." Stork said, looking up at the Council. Nobody made any sound of disagreement. It was strangely and perfectly…fitting.

"The Gargoyles." Falshade repeated in conformation. The Lead Chairman nodded and scribbled it down on the parchment. It was passed around for all the chairmen to sign, and then lowered for Falshade to sign as well. With a flourish he scrawled his name, cementing their destiny.

"I hereby dub you the Gargoyles. May you uphold your responsibilities as a Sky Knight and Squadron. Keep our skies safe, honour our laws and protect Atmos and all of its peoples. You will oppose evil in any of its forms and will always be there to answer the calls of the weak and the small. Now and forever, you are our Justice. You are our Light."

It was the stereotypically, generic hero-speech, but it gave Falshade shivers anyway.

"Now, before I call security, would you kindly remove yourselves from our Hall?" The Head Councillor asked, smiling but with sincerity in his voice.

Fraggle gave a sarcastic salute and followed the others as they left in what almost could have been a composed and proper manner.

They may have been delinquents, but they weren't your average ones.

Outside stopped in the square again, looking back at the Council Hall. Falshade wasn't exactly sure he knew what had just happened. He could feel tingling between his new, _official_ squadron, as if they were all unsure whether to be ecstatic or serious. Perhaps it was only now that it hit them, but suddenly it did; they were a squadron now, a true blue squadron, ready to fight evil in all its forms. What did that mean? What did they do? Where did they go?

Wasp, who had succeeded in tearing the other half of her nail from her finger, spat the strip of cartilage on the ground unabashedly and turned to look back up at the Council Hall thoughtfully.

"Well," she said, flipping the collar of her jacket down and allowing tilting her ears to cool them. "That went well."

**Ok, so that was chapter number one. A bit confusing, probably. More details on characters, e.g. appearances and whatever next chapter, but if you've any questions feel free to ask. See that button down there? Don't be shy and click it! I wants to here what you've got to say!**


	2. Junkie Process

**2**

**Junkie Process**

**I don't have as much to ramble about this time. This chapter is Stork's POV and I'm going to give her a whirl in first person.**

**Also, as you may have noticed, I'm making up some of my own Terras. Wikipedia's got some info on the real ones, if you wanna check it out (in case you didn't know).**

**Fun fact for the day: Varanus is the genus part of the scientific name for Komodo Dragon.**

**Raptorslizards, komodolizard. Clever eh?**

**Anywho….**

_**You're beautiful when you're mad at me**_

_**I piss you off so I can see**_

_**The crazy way you yell and scream**_

_**You're beautiful when you're mad at me.**_

_**- Beautiful when you're Mad, Out of your Mouth**_

As I had predicted, Throttle's Grease Pit was jam packed with grease junkies and wrench enthusiasts. Of course.

I turned to look reproachfully at Falshade. "I blame you."

"Oh, come on, was it really any less packed half an hour ago?" he asked, past the point of trying to reason with me politely. I think he'd abandoned that effort a _looooooooong _time ago, actually.

Well, I am pretty obnoxious, what can I say?

"Actually, yeah, it was." I replied, shoving past a throng of chittery tween girls who had more hair in their heads then brains and heading towards the shop. I was getting my tools, line or now line.

"I'll meet you back at the _Merlin_!" I hollered back over my shoulder, not waiting for a response and nearly taking out some scrawny little pit dweller when I forced the door open. I held the door open for him to make up for it. Hey, I was a Squady now, I had to be polite.

I approached the display case at the front window with some difficulty and peered down at all those glittering little gadgets and whats-its greedily. Ever since I could remember I'd been attracted to anything related to mechanics like a magpie. Leaning over the counter I picked up a gyroscopic ratchet, specifically crafted for, you guessed it, tweaking a Skimmer's gyroscope. I tested its balance and tried to remember what size I needed for my Skimmer.

"Don't you already have million of those?" someone asked, leaning over my shoulder and causing me to jump and nearly drop the heavy ratchet on the glass counter top. I hadn't realized Wasp had followed me in that stalking, catlike way of hers. She always comes and goes whenever she pleases and tends to show up without warning, which can really scare the crap out of you.

Taking a deep breath to steady myself I carefully laid the ratchet back onto the counter. "Yeah, I've got ratchets, but this is a _gyroscopic_ ratchet. It's made specifically for tuning the gyroscope."

"Um… right. OK. Can't you just use a normal ratchet?"

"If I wanted to crash and burn, sure. Do you know what a gyroscope does?"

"…no."

"It controls the axels. If I wanted to tune up my ride's handling but I used a normal wrench it could cause some serious problems when I try to steer later on. A buddy of mine did that once and he nearly broke his neck." I explained, examining some of the other tools on display.

"What other tools did you need?" Wasp asked, picking up the ratchet again and turning it over in her hands and moving it subtly towards her coat pocket, whether consciously or subconsciously I couldn't tell.

"Give it here." I said sternly, holding out a hand. Wasp slapped the ratchet into my palm with a mock-sheepish grin.

"Old habits die hard." she said, reaching into an inside pocket of her baggy jacket and pulling out an energy drink. I rolled my eyes and went to investigate an assortment of crystal pistons that was spread across several shelves. I had no idea where Wasp was always pulling those cans of liquid adrenalin from, but her supply seemed to be limitless and she knocked back those things like a Merb does multi-vitamins. I figured the only way she was able to handle the constant assault of the stuff was because of her jungle blood. I'd grabbed a hold of an empty can one day and read the ingredient list, which contained more chemicals then Terra Neon's Special Brand Toilet Cleaner (which'll strip the meat right off your bones). I'd figured Faeries (or Faerieshians, as they preferred to be called. 'Cause trust me, those creatures were anything but powder-puffs), being so at one with nature their blood was fabled to run green, wouldn't be able to digest so much synthetic hormones and radioactive waste. A can of that stuff should have knocked them dead, I thought, and I asked Wasp about it too.

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" was all she'd given me and went back to sucking down her poison.

I later found out every single one of those ingredients were 100 natural. Apparently the company, Buzz Juice (I tend to stray away from anything that's made by a company with a name like that) are huge Eco-Freaks. They pump thousands of dollars into extreme expeditions every year in search of mythical plants that are suppose to provide an eternal buzz (that's they're slogan: In Search of the Eternal Buzz. Catchy huh?). But I mean if that didn't turn you off there was always the danger warning that took up one entire side of the can, in miniscule print, dictating not to ingest if you were pregnant, had a heart condition, over the age of forty, had a history of heart attacks or strokes, were on any prescription drugs or, my personal favourite, if you had a violent history or had ever been tested for a mental disorder.

Basically anyone within a mile of their right minds.

I selected a set of pistons and motioned for Wasp to stick close to me. I didn't want to loose sight of her in the crammed shop; the last thing I wanted was to get hauled down to the station. "I need to get a new pneumatic socket wrench and a bit set. Do you think you can help me with that?"

Wasp flicked her ear and blinked. "…."

"….if you can find a set that says sizes 31-36 that would be great. Make sure they're meant for a _socket_ drill and not something else, ok?"

Another ear flick. I assumed that meant ok and I steered her around so she was facing the wall which was stocked with sets. Moving down the aisle so I could still keep an eye on her I began looking at the different brands. I'd learned through trial and error to trust a production line called 'Green Spark' more then anything, but they were a reclusive company and didn't turn out many parts or tools, making the ones they did sell uber expensive. Usually I don't give a damn how much I spent of someone else's money, but Falshade had put me on a strict budget, reminding me that the entire squadron had to live off our limited amount of coin. I selected a drill that was straight off of Throttle's own production line, which meant it was one of the products in sale. Farley Throttle was a famous mechanic/pit monkey turned racer who'd opened his own shop after he'd been let down time and time again by faulty tools and parts. The guy really knew his stuff, I had to admit, and he advertised his merchandise every year at the Annual Sky Smash Carnival by actually competing with it, using his own tools and parts on his racers. He was at the top of both the racing and the mechanical empire and he was actually sort of a hero to me. I had a poster of him and his favourite racing Skimmer, a Slip Wing Fighter Ultra II affectionately dubbed Hannibal hanging on my bedroom wall. I said it was for inspiration, but Fraggle and Angel seemed bent on the fact that I had a secret obsession with the guy and the poster was there for me when I couldn't be at my mini-shrine. Jerks, they couldn't let me have anything.

"31-36, pneumatic socket wrench. They're marked down twenty hit." Wasp was beside me again, waving said bit set in front of my face. "Is that all you need?"

"It's all Falshade'll let me have." I answered, examining the set carefully to make sure they were of good quality. Satisfied I nodded towards the cash register and began to jostle my way through the mob. I was almost there when a large, sparkling sign caught my eye like a flame does a moth. I stopped so suddenly that Wasp barrelled right into me and I felt some of her drink splash onto my bare shoulder. It barley registered, however; I only had eyes for that sign.

"Oh man…" I breathed. Wasp followed my line of sight and read the sign aloud as if it was that was the only way the words would make sense to her:

"New Crystal Induction Turbines, Skimmer-Fusion Model Version 4.0."

Brand new, State of the Art, Top of the Line…

And they were on sale.

I made a beeline for those shelves as if they were selling oxygen. I nearly ploughed into about five different people, but I couldn't have stopped if I tried. I skidded to a halt in front of the display and stared at those gleaming metal contraptions like a fat kid would cake. My fingers were just itching to pick one up and feel all the different parts, to cradle it in my arms and cuddle it all night long. If my mouth wasn't closed I'd have been slobbering like an idiot. There were only two words bouncing around my brain like popcorn as I raped them with my eyes: _Must…have._

Wasp came up behind me looking positively bored. "So…who're your friends?"

"Version 4.0… Wasp, these babies aren't even in this year's catalogue yet! They won't be building Skimmers with these things in them until next year! Throttle's a genius, he's going to make a fortune off these even if they are on sale! I gotta have one." I didn't just have to have one, I _needed_ to have one.

Wasp's eyes roamed uninterestedly over the turbines and then she ceased my brainless rambling with a simple, four word statement: "How much are they?"

Ok, when you're a hopelessly addicted machine junkie like me, you don't contain that level of forethought.

My eyes flicked reluctantly towards the price tag. I let out a groan and Wasp supplied a low, annoying whistle.

"Falshade will skin you."

"Falshade can go eat a Swarm Crystal for all I care."

I was glad it was Wasp with me and not one of the boys. They would have tried to talk me out of it. Wasp was usually on my side about these sorts of things, particularly if it meant disobeying Falshade's orders. She was grinning like a werewolf as she glanced around slyly. "We could swipe it." she suggested deviously.

"Have fun getting that out under your coat. No, we'll do this the legal way. Besides, it's on sale."

"That price _is_ the sale price."

"Who are you, the little angel on my shoulder? Besides, half of our money is mine anyways, I deserve to use my share of it."

"We could swipe the other stuff so this won't gouge us as much." Wasp offered, ever the Devil's advocate.

I looked her right in the eye so we'd be clear once and for all. "No."

"Ah, you've no sense of adventure." she huffed, taking my other tools from me so I could pick up one of the turbines. I made sure none of them magically disappeared into her pocket and hefted a turbine into my arms. _Hello, Handsome._

"Right, register. And don't kill anybody." I said, following behind her as she carved a path through the crowd. I didn't know how wise it was to give her heavy objects with so many people about. You never knew with psychos.

They guy behind the till looked at us with a mixture of scepticism, confusion and slight interest. Eyebrows raised he punched our items into the register. "Is that everything, ladies?" he asked, eyes lingering on places other then our faces for a while longer then I liked.

"Yep. Is there any way we can have this delivered to the dry docks?" I asked, holding his eye contact so he couldn't look away without my noticing. It creeps them out when you do that.

"Er… yes, I'm sure we can do that for you. Where is your carrier parked?"

"Section 2-F, East. The _Merlin._ Somebody should be there to take it." I said briskly. "But I'll pay for it here." I wasn't going to trust some delivery boy to stick to the honour system and decide not to hike the price and take his own personal cut.

The register boy scribbled down my info and packed my tools into a wooden crate. I watched him like a hawk the whole time. "Your merchandise will be there in an hour." he assured me, adding up my total. "Including delivery everything comes to twelve thousand six hundred and eighty three Flecks and thirty seven Slivers."

Holy Mother of the F-Bomb. Well, I'm a mechanic, what do you expect? I can really ring up a bill.

I dug my bank card out of my dilapidated wallet, one Falshade never should have given me and handed it over to the guy. He looked like Christmas had come early, probably because he was getting commission for the sale. That bugged me, for some reason. All he'd done was sit behind the bloody counter.

Smugly he handed me my card back and gave me a slip of paper that validated my purchase and whatever. I scrunched it up and shoved it in my pocket, motioning for Wasp to follow as I left the crowded shop and stepped back into the burning sunlight. I glanced about for the boys, but as I'd expected they weren't waiting for us like squad mates probably should. I mean, what happened if we were kidnapped or something? Ha ha, right. Try dragging off a Faerieshian and a cranky grease monkey and keeping your limbs intact. Seriously though, those jerks.

I didn't mind much that the guys weren't there, though. I still had an hour before I had to be back at the _Merlin_ to get a hold of my new toys before Falshade saw them. Turning to Wasp I asked "Was there anywhere you needed to stop? Do we need to restock on crystals or anything?"

Wasp flicked her ears nonchalantly and I grunted irritably.

"Look, the whole ear-talk thing's gotta stop, unless you make up a code for me or something. One flick for no or something. But otherwise I have no idea what 'twitch' means."

Wasp laughed and then stopped abruptly. "I like the secret language idea."

"That'll only work 'til I have to reply." I said, tugging at my pale, considerably smaller human ears obviously. "Now do we need to go to the crystal depot or what?"

"No, we've still got a load of them. And Fraggle said he was going to refuel at the docks anyways. We're golden."

"Right." I said, looking around absently. "Did the boys mention anything about food?"

Wasp shrugged and I shook her by her coat. "Argh!" I yelled at her, but I was laughing. "Speak up, girl! Food? No food? What?!?"

Wasp shoved me back and adjusted her coat peevishly. "They didn't say anything." she said at length. I smacked a palm to my face and she patted the top of my head condolingly.

I sighed, but I was still kinda smiling. I could put up with Wasp's irritating habits because, lets face it, I had a list of my own a mile long. "Ok, well we don't have to be anywhere just yet. You wanna go to a café or something?" That was a pretty strange suggestion, coming from me, but despite the fact that my shoes were practically melting to the sidewalk in the heat, it was a really nice day outside, and I wasn't in a hurry to hole myself up in the _Merlin_ when there was other things I could be doing. Believe it or not, I'm actually quite the rabid window-shopper.

Wasp started to shrug then caught herself and said "Sure." She trailed along behind me as we worked our way back up the street, which was considerably less crowded, thank god.

We passed a pet store that I paused in front of, smiling and melting over the adorable little puppies in the front window. Wasp titled her head as if she were unsure of what to make of the little critters. She started moving a moment later and after one more smoochy face at the dog who stole my heart I hurried after her. She slowed in front of a book store and eyed the door in a longing sort of way. I grabbed her hand and meant to tug her in that direction, because she really looked like she wanted to check it out but she just shook her head, bat-like ears flapping against the sides of her neck. I shrugged and let her go, continuing along the street. We both ducked our heads and positively dashed past the 'Ladies' Delicates' store, laughing and drawing out the word "brassiere" because we're both pretty retarded that way. To be brutally honest, I wear spandex hipsters and boxers. That lacy stuff made me itchy just thinking about it.

We did stop in an accessory store that looked pretty alright. The name of the place was 'Freak Show', and that got Wasp's attention. We poked around in the different bins of earrings and other decorative pieces. Wasp held a ring to her lip and actually turned to me for approval, which was a first. I thought the whole facial piercing gig had become way too cliché, but Wasp was anything but a stereotype, and her lip ring actually marked her as unique, like they're intended for. She didn't end up buying a new ring all the same. She seemed pretty content with her current one.

"Why don't you get yours done?" she asked just before we left.

"I don't have the lips for it." I joked. Also, the last thing I needed was getting my lip caught up in the inside of my welding mask.

I almost had to drag Wasp into the café, and I only got her to sit because we stayed at an outdoor table. She wasn't like Varan, who hated the way people gawked and glared at him from every corner, but she didn't like sitting for too long. I ordered a frozen cappuccino and a croissant (I hadn't eaten since breakfast) and Wasp got a bottle of Pomegranate Spike when she found out they didn't carry anything from Buzz Juice.

Slurping on my drink I was surprised to find that I was actually enjoying myself. Usually the whole girls' day out scene just didn't appeal to me, but this was alright. I'd grown up with very few friends, the ones I did have all being boys, and I'd been raised by my Father. Maybe it was that or my utter loathing for the whole "shoes, clothes, make-up, pink" thing, but I really hadn't just been around girls at all. But today I was glad Wasp was there, even if she didn't say much. To be honest I'd come to like her. I'd met her quite by accident when we had to make an emergency stop on Terra Macabre (and trust me, you only make stops there if it really is an emergency) and I'd fought with Shade until he caved to let her come along. At first it had only been because she had a skimmer, could fight and for some reason was really good with crystals. We'd needed a crystal expert, and that was how I'd won over Falshade. That was about three months ago now. During that time I'd come to see her as more then just a team mate. I even hoped that maybe we could be friends.

Ripping off a chunk of my croissant I leaned back in my chair to look around the red and yellow umbrella and up at the cloudless sky. In just a little while we were going to be in that sky, among all the blue like we belonged there. I hit me then that I was really, truly and honestly, part of a Sky Knight Squadron now, official and everything. That had been my dream for the past two years. It had been all I could think about. What do you feel when your dreams suddenly come true? At the moment all I could feel was the heat on my skin and the croissant between my teeth. It made me suddenly fearful: shouldn't there be more then that? What was I missing?

Wasp flicked some of her drink at me and it splattered against my neck, startling me. I leaned forward again. "What?"

Wasp shrugged and I blew a straw-full of frozen coffee at her. It fell short and landed with an ungraceful splat on the table. We both cackled like hyenas like the lunatics we are. Girls, man. They're crazy.

"We should probably start heading back to the _Merlin_" I announced a little later, slapping some Flecks down on the table and getting up. Wasp scraped her chair back and followed after me without a word.

I got a little turned about and couldn't remember how to get back to the East dry docks, which Wasp thought was incredibly funny. I finally figured out where to go, but it made me overrun my hour time limit, and we reached the _Merlin _sometime after my delivery did.

The _Merlin_ was Fraggle's ship, a gutsy little thing that was fast as spit. She had two external engines that perched up above her like the wings of a diving bird of prey, but she didn't have any of those big, clunky pontoons like some of the older, hardier models. She was built for speed and manuverability, and she really was too small to house all six of us. She wasn't meant to be a carrier ship, in all reality. But she packed quite a punch and she was a reliable little thing if not particularly armourous or accommodating. When I'd first met her the poor thing went by the name of _Stadium Arcadium_ and it took a lot of persuading to get Fraggle to change the name. We'd thought at first of calling her the _Falcon_ because of her size and speed, but then I remembered a really old sci-fi movie with a ship called the _Millennium Falcon_ and it was just too cheesy. Angel had been the one who'd thought of merlins, tiny birds of prey that were quick like lightning and just as dangerous as their bigger cousins. It was perfect for our little bird, even Fraggle agreed. I'd come to think of her as home, and I felt a warm little tingle in my heart when I finally saw her, nestled between two bigger airships like a dove beside two eagles.

I also saw Falshade standing on the wharf next to her, arms crossed and a disgusted look on his fair face. Warm tingle, not so much.

"Well, don't you look happy to see us!" I called when we got closer.

His violet eyes narrowed and I knew I was in trouble. Wasp had somehow vanished from my side without my noticing (or my permission).

"How much?" he asked me in a voice that kinda scared me, because it was really too calm.

"Sorry?" I knew acting stupid wasn't going to save me, but I had to give it a shot.

"Acting stupid is not going to save you." he told me as if he'd read my mind and I swore silently. He knew me too well.

"How much?" he repeated and only then did I notice the crate with my parts lying on the dock behind him. It had been opened too. Crap.

"For….?"

"You know what for!" he snapped. If anyone could make him loose his temper, it was me.

"Look, I used my money, so it really shouldn't-"

"_Your_ money? Listen up, wise-ass, we are a _squadron_ now. That money, whatever is left of it now, is all of ours, and we have to spend it carefully. They aren't going to give us any grants, remember?"

_Yeah, and who's fault was that?_ I thought, and my face must have said it because his cheeks went a little dark but he held his ground.

"The thing that really burns me up is that you bought that thing for yourself! I let you have the other tools because we all have skimmers that'll need to be repaired. But that turbine was only meant for one of us, and that was you." He continued, looking more pissed off then I'd ever seen him. "That was really selfish of you, Feonix."

That last part stung, and not only because he used my name, which I'd only revealed because I was joining his stupid squadron, like a weapon, but also because I hated being called selfish and only then did I realize that I had been.

I also hated when he was right.

I was silent for a moment, trying to think of something to hurl back at him but finding nothing. He took advantage of my silence and continued again (apparently he wasn't finished yet).

"So because of that, I sent it back."

Ah, here were the words:

"_WHAT_?" I screeched at him.

"I sent it back."

My strangling urge was getting pretty high. My hands were shaking and I couldn't remember the last time I wanted to hit him so badly.

"You sent it back?" I said again, gagging on the words. My baby, my baby!

"Yeah, I did. The rest of your tools are in the crate. We're leaving as soon as Fraggle gets back, so if you want to keep them I suggest you bring them into the hanger before I decide to send those back too." he said, turning on his heel and leaving me to stand there like a bride left at the alter.

That didn't last too long, though. Falshade really knew how to mess with my nerves, but this time he'd gone too far. My baby! Without even putting a conscious thought to my actions I lunged at the crate, tore the lid off and grabbed my brand new ratchet and threw it at him.

The moment it left my hand I wanted it back.

Like I said, we junkies don't contain that level of forethought.

"Duck!" I screamed, but it would have been too late anyways. Except for the fact that he must have heard the thing whistling through the air and he'd already been in the act of ducking when I yelled at him. My ratchet whizzed by his ear and careened into the dock some thirty yards away with a clang, probably getting scratched or dented, or possibly even broken.

He glanced at me over his shoulder, purple eye burning into my green ones. I didn't apologize and I didn't cry, even thought I sorta felt like it. I just glared back at him. Without a word he whipped around and vaulted up the _Merlin_'s ramp.

I dug my fingers into my scalp and let out a frustrated howl. I really wanted to kick something, but the only thing within proximity was my tools, and I'd probably already done enough damage to them today.

Growling I released my hair and hurried over to collect my ratchet. I turned it over and groaned when I found a small dent near the elbow. It still bent and rotated like it was supposed to do, but it did so stiffly, like an old man's joint. It even made a grinding noise in complaint when I turned it in a full circle.

Falshade seemed to have taken my good mood with him, or sent it back with my beautiful turbine. Now I just felt angry and upset. And not only because I'd lost possibly the single most greatest part I could ever want that I would never have again. No, I'm serious. I hated when Falshade and I had a fight. I mean, sure, I argued with him all the time and I drove him up the wall with it too, but it was rare that we actually out and out fought like that, and never in the almost two years that I'd known him had I ever honestly tried to hurt him. Looking at the ratchet in my hand now I was appalled at myself: that thing could have really done some damage, but I hadn't even thought about it before I'd let it go. I'd just thrown the damn thing.

With a sigh I packed up the rest of my remaining tools and headed up the ramp. It wasn't much cooler in the hanger, but the heat wasn't bothering me any more. To be honest I felt kinda cold. I dropped the crate on the floor uncaringly and headed to my room which was located at the other end of the hanger. I think it must have been a storage closet, originally, but I claimed it as my own despite its size because it kept me close to my skimmer and to my tools. And it kept me away from the others, many of whom were notorious pranksters and terrible snorers.

I slammed my door and flopped on my tiny bed, which took up exactly one half of my room. The other half belonged to my personal and portable toolbox, which I didn't trust to be left unattended out in the hanger and a smallish chest in which were some of my personal affects and a few pairs of spare clothing. I'd hammered a smallish shelf up on the wall beside my bed on which sat a few books and a small crate of spare crystals, and the other few walls were decorated by a couple posters, mostly of model skimmers and racing champions. Other then that, there wasn't much more to my room. I didn't even have a window. It wasn't like I needed one though; if ever I felt crowded all I'd have to do was slip out through the bay doors and sit on the runway for as long as I wanted.

I glanced at my battle axe, which was propped against the wall where I'd left it before we'd gone out onto the Terra. There was no way I would have been able to manoeuvre through the clogged streets whit that monster strapped to my back. It was a huge, double headed killing machine, powered by a yellow Striker crystal. I'd bought it myself after I'd left home, and Angel had tinkered with it so it was stronger and yet somehow lighter then you would have thought. He'd also made me the two smaller throwing axes that I always kept buckled to my hips, also powered by yellow Strikers and could attach to bracers on my wrist so I wouldn't lose them during battle. I hadn't hade to use any of them yet except in training, but I was sure if I had to, I would. I had to believe that, or the image I'd built of myself over the years would just fall to ruins.

Usually the sight of my weapons comforted me, like my skimmer and my tools comforted me. But right now it seemed to stick out sharply like a splinter, a reminder of my recent attack on Falshade. Rolling over and sitting up, I grabbed a leather-bound book off of my shelf. This, unlike my Farley Throttle poster, was a shrine. Or a bible, at least. I always turned to this book when I didn't know what else to do. It comforted me in a strange way I would never understand, more so then my axe or my skimmer or my tools did. Sometimes it bothered me; why was I so attached to a book that was written by a person I didn't even know?

Flipping open the front cover, I carefully extracted the photo that was kept there, just before the first page. My eyes, as always, were immediately drawn to my Father, and it gave me a pang to see him. Sometimes I missed him so much I just wanted to get on my skimmer and fly home faster then if I had Sky Sharks on my tail. I smiled sadly and then my eyes brushed over the other figures in the snap shot, all of whom were holding onto each other somehow or another and smiling like maniacs. My gaze finally rested on the figure who was least attached to the others, looking almost as if he'd been dragged into the shot. He was smiling nonetheless, though, and it gave me another pang. There was my namesake, smiling among his team-mates, his friends, his family. They were a squadron. They didn't need papers to say so. Would we ever be that way? Would we ever be close like that? How could we ever be a squadron if we couldn't even go one day without throwing ratchets at each other?

Ok, without _me_ throwing ratchets.

The picture was making me feel guilty. I'd already known what I was supposed to do, and now looking at them all, my Father, my namesake, just stiffened my resolve. I replaced the photo and the book carefully then got up and left my little broom closet.

Angel was sitting with his feet propped up on the table, even though I've told him a thousand times not to. That scrawny little devil was to me what I was to Falshade: a stubborn thorn in my foot. I wished I could have skirted around him, but he saw me as soon as I stepped onto the bridge. And from just one look at the nasty little smirk on his face, I knew what was coming.

"Well, lookie here!" he said, placing his hands behind his head and leaning back on two chair legs like the big shot he was. "Aren't you in a right bit of trouble!"

"Shove it." I told him.

"Big words, Baby Girl." he said, grinning. I tried and failed not to give him the satisfaction, but the enraged growl escaped my lips anyways.

"You're lucky I don't have the time to deal with you or I'd have your skin so fast you'd still be looking for the zipper!" I snapped. "Where's Falshade?"

Angel raised an angular eyebrow. Everything about him was angular and slender and lean and hard. His face was thin with thin lips and a long, straight nose and a slight, sharp jaw line and cunning, oval shaped eyes that leapt out dramatically from beneath his black, wispy hair. He actually looked pretty angelic (ironically enough), hence his name. "You packing anymore wrenches there, Feo-nix?"

I _knew_ that was coming, and I knew it wasn't going to be the last I heard of it either. Jaw clenched I had to force my words around my teeth. "First of all, it was a ratchet." I snarled "And if I ever hear that word leave your girly lips again, I'll hang you from the rudder by your underwear, got it? Now, where is Falshade?"

Angel just blinked his ice grey eyes at me, undeterred by my threats. "So why Stork?"

"Because it's _my name_." I explained, beyond aggravation and trying to convey that in my tone.

"You ain't got the legs for a stork."

"You ain't got the quality of an angel either!" I shouted. "Where the hell is Falshade?"

Angel was laughing quietly, putting a hand over his face. I lost my cool and quick as a flash ran over and tipped his chair over backwards. I suppose I should really curve that temper of mine.

Looking a little surprised to suddenly find himself on the floor, but still chuckling, he smiled annoyingly at me. "He went and holed himself up in his room." he said, making no move to pick himself up off the floor.

"_Thank you_." I exaggerated and headed down the corridor. "Jerk." I added under my breath.

Falshade's room wasn't too far down the corridor, but I took my time getting there anyways. I'm not so familiar with the whole apology thing. Plus I didn't know exactly what I was going to say. He was probably still angry with me, and I didn't know I if could trust myself to keep a cool head if he was going to be a prick about it, especially since I was still boiling over Angel.

I paused outside Falshade's door and sighed. I was swallowing a lot of my pride to do this, because I hated admitting someone else was right, even if they were. Especially Falshade.

I knocked, which was a first for me. I prefer the whole 'enter unannounced' thing. I ran a hand resignedly though my short hair as I waited for a reply and realized I needed a shower.

"Come in." Falshade's voice came muffled through the heavy metal door, and I stepped forward, triggering the door to split open in the middle. I stepped in quickly, before he could change his mind and the door clanged shut behind me ominously.

Falshade had been sitting on his bed, reading an old text book that seemed to be falling apart at the seams. He looked up and started in surprise then quickly caught himself. He set the book down and stood up, arms crossed over his chest. I searched his violet eyes and saw anger lingering in them, but at least he wasn't looking at me like I was something he'd peeled off the bottom of his boot. That's always a good sign.

"Hey." I said. No response. "I, uh, came to talk." Still no response.

I sighed and dropped onto his bed, propping my elbows on my knees and resting my forehead in my palms, my fingers snaking through my blonde and black hair. I kept my gaze firmly on the worn knees of my jeans. I felt him sit next to me, and his muscles weren't tensed up or anything, so I assumed that was a good sign too. I blew out another sigh and reminded myself of the photo. Squadron started today.

"Ok, right. Look, I'm… I'm sorry. For the turbine. I know it was selfish and stupid, but I couldn't help it. It was on sale. Brand spanking new and on _sale_. They'll never be sold for that price again." I was rambling and I bit my tongue to stop myself. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and caught his smile.

"I know how you get." he said and I coughed up a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah. But I thought about it and it was probably for the best that you sent it back." That hurt my heart to say, but I knew it was right so I said it anyways. "So, yeah, I'm sorry for being a selfish little brat."

He was watching me expectantly.

"And I'm sorry about the ratchet." I ground out.

A smile split his boyish face. "You're forgiven. But next time, save it for practice."

"Right." I said, getting up and rubbing my hands on my pants absently. Wasn't as bad as I expected. "Ok, cool. I'll um… be going then."

He nodded and picked up his book again. "Oh, by the way." he said just as I was leaving. I paused. "I moved your skimmer, when we were bringing in the crystals."

I stared at him. "So what?"

"Well, I moved it… just thought I'd let you know."

I raised an eyebrow, baffled. So he moved my skimmer. So what?

He looked up at me and smiled. "Something else you wanted to say?"

"Yeah. Whatever you're on, get off it." I said and he just shook his head, still smiling. I left wondering if it really was such a good idea to let him be our Sky Knight. He was obviously losing it.

I wandered back down to the hanger and realized he had indeed moved my skimmer. It was leaning against the wall at the far side of the bay, which was sort of annoying. He knew I hated it when people leaned skimmers on anything but their kickstands. It puts stress on the handle bars.

I weaved my way between the rest of the team's rides; Falshade's Air Skimmer IV Ultra, Angel's Slip Wing Fighter Ultra II, Varan's Bone Wing, Fraggle's old Ice Grinder that was useless on anything except for snow, but was still alright for flying and Wasp's Gremlin, one of the weirdest looking skimmers I'd ever seen. My trusty little Hornet was an older model that I'd personally modified until she could keep up with the newer versions. She was a lot like the Slip Wing, which was what initially caught my attention, but she was as tough and armoured as Varan's roguish Bone Wing. I loved the plucky little thing and I did not appreciate seeing her leaning against the wall, straining to keep upright.

Grasping the handles I pulled her over the opposite way and flicked down the kickstand. There. Crisis averted.

Something _clunked_ against the tire as I tilted it the opposite way and I looked over to see what could possibly be irritating my ride:

_My baby_.

There was my turbine, my brand new, Version 4.0 Crystal Induction Turbine. I let out a squeal before I could catch myself and practically threw myself at it, scooping it into my arms and squeezing it tightly.

"How did you get here?" I demanded and was almost struck down by the answer. Falshade. Of _course_. That was what he was hinting at. He hadn't sent it back after all! That freak had just wanted to hear me say I was sorry! I suppose in a sick little way it taught me a good lesson, but I was too happy to pay much attention to that. My fingers where itching to get a wrench in them so I could start attaching the turbine to my skimmer.

That wonderful, brilliant jerk.

**So there you go, more character background, maybe some more mystery… Thank you to all who've reviewed so far, .PhaerynTao., FairyOfDespair, Saerphe and Madame Lady.**


	3. Weed

**3**

**Weed**

_**So what if you can see the dark inside of me?**_

_**-Animal I have Become, Three Days Grace**_

"Jerk." I heard Stork mutter as she headed towards Falshade's room and left me lying on the floor. I just chuckled to myself and stared at the ceiling. I could pick out several places that had been given impromptu patch jobs with some sort of cheap sealant. I had no idea how Fraggle'd managed to break cracks in the ceiling, or what he'd used to do it with, for that matter, but I'd learned not to ask questions that would come with a story attached to the answers, especially where the Blizzarian was concerned. If anyone could make a molehill and make it into a mountain, it was him.

Heaving myself to my feet I righted my chair and slipped out onto the deck. The heat of the midday sun blasted me as if I'd stepped into a furnace, but I didn't really care. Compared to the smothering, dry heat of Terra Saharra, this was nothing. Hitching my long, black overcoat up around my shoulders I swung myself up onto the roof of the _Merlin_, one of my favourite vantage points. As I sniper I kinda have a knack for scoping out places like that.

I laced my fingers behind my head and leaned back, looking up at the blue sky and pressing my back into the sizzling metal that was the _Merlin_'s skin. No, the heat wasn't that much of a bother to me. What was bothering me about this Terra was the fact that we were still here. I wanted to get airborne, to get moving. I didn't like hanging around anywhere for too long, not when there were pirates and rogues out there, waiting. Not when there was adventure out there, calling for me like the wind so often did.

Hell, that's what I set out to be a Sky Knight for in the first place. That was the reason I'd accepted Falshade's invitation to join his dysfunctional little tribe. Well, actually, I was technically the first member. It didn't get dysfunctional until after I joined.

I heard a scuffling noise down below and slid over so my legs were dangling over the edge of the roof. Fraggle had returned at long last, struggling with the last crate of Fuel crystals.

"You should lift with your legs." I called down to him and his long ears pricked in my direction. Puffing he looked up at me with a critical eye.

"You should come down here and give me a hand, eh." he replied. "Unless you're too afraid of breaking a nail or something."

Ah yes, the ever relentless feminine jokes. I guess with a name like Angel you kinda had it coming to you, but I hadn't been the one who picked out the stupid thing. But I wasn't about to take the bait about it, that would only encourage them.

Pretending to examine my fingertips I said "Well, I did just get them done…"

Fraggle barked with laughter and set the crystals on the ramp, pushing his sweaty mop of blonde hair out of his face. Of course, his bloody toque didn't allow his hair much room to be pushed to. He refused to take the damn thing off, just like his green jacket, and it forced all of his hair forward and into his eyes. It made me question his piloting abilities.

I jumped back down onto the deck and held the railing as I swung down onto the dock. Fraggle sat down upon the crate and wiped his face with his sleeve. "That's all of 'em, eh. Soon as Chief gives the word we're out of here."

"Good." I said, crouching down on the wharf and drawing my long fingers through the fine layer of grit that coated the surface, carried there by the wind and people's shoes. I made a few tiny mounds and slithered my index finger between them like a snake, imagining the race course back in the desert. With a frown I wiped my mini-landscape clear with the flat of my hand.

"Jeez, can you believe this heat? I can feel it crawling through my fur like worms, eh." Fraggle said, scratching his arm agitatedly as if there actually were worms there.

"Poetic." I said, doodling squadron insignias now.

"Guess it wouldn't bother a little sand flea like you, eh?"

"Guess not." I stared at the emblem I had just completed a curving, sharp wing and a twisted little body hanging beneath it…

Strange how the simplest of things can suddenly get your heart going, can squeeze around your throat and make your stomach lurch. I crunched my boot into the Talon crest and stood up. It may have been just chicken-scratch in the dirt, but I didn't like the way it slipped so easily from my fingertips.

Fraggle stood up too and grabbed hold of the crate again, hauling it the last few meters into the hanger. I followed along behind, shoulders hunched as if there were a cold wind blowing. Stork was crouched next to her Hornet, using a shiny new socket drill to unscrew bolts from the runner boards. The turbine that Falshade had taken from her was lying beside her, gleaming like a gem. So he'd given it back after all…. the hopeless little patriarch didn't know how to make people beg.

"So if chucking a ratchet gets you a new turbine, what do you think I'll get for setting off some Eruption stones?" I asked her loudly over the sound of her drill. She flipped me her middle finger but didn't look up from her work.

"Aw, leave her alone, eh. She's just keeping to herself over there." Fraggle said, setting down the crate and snapping his spine in several places.

I wasn't really angling for another spat anyways, although I always enjoyed my little battle of wits with Stork. She was a prickly little thing and I loved watching her get all fired up. She preferred to bicker with Falshade, though; he was easier to crack then me. She didn't want a challenge, she just wanted a quick fix to keep her going. And Falshade, ever the peace-keeper, was quick to give it to her.

I entered the bridge, feeling irritable. Today had just not been a good day. I hadn't liked the way those ramsacks at the Sky Knight Council had looked at us like we were scum, I hadn't liked the way Stork had swung Falshade in her favour again, I hadn't liked the way Falshade so kindly forgot to mention my position to the Council and I really hadn't liked the way I'd been drawing the Cyclonian symbol in the sand like a swastika.

I was so distracted by my thoughts that I nearly ran down Varan, who was entering the bridge via the corridor around the same time I was heading in that direction to have a talk with Falshade. Well, actually, he nearly ran _me_ down: he was scrawny for a Raptor, but he had the trademark broad shoulders and sturdy frame and he had to grab me by my upper arms to keep me from falling flat on my ass.

"Sorry, man." he said, releasing me so suddenly I nearly fell over anyways.

"No worries. Fraggle's back, we're heading out soon." I reported as I side stepped around him.

"Great. It'd be nice to get in the air before nightfall." he said sarcastically. "Hey, do you have any of those raw crystals left?"

"Why, they make things go _boom_ better?" I asked and he grinned deviantly, showing off his wicked teeth. You couldn't have placed him as the skittish little lizard he'd been out on the streets an hour ago.

"They're in my room, help yourself." I told him as I continued on my way to Falshade's room. Usually I wouldn't have given anyone such a generous _cartè blanchè_ to my room, but I really wanted to smooth things over with Falshade before we took off and he wouldn't have time for me. I was a bit of a bitter person, but I still didn't like being at odds with my friends.

I didn't bother to knock but rather just walked into Falshade's room as if he'd invited me over for tea or something. He was sitting on his bed, pouring over the field guide he'd found a long time ago, which contained almost everything you needed to know about the Atmos. He'd been reading it a lot lately, I'd noticed. I notice lots of things others don't pick up. He was searching, I knew, for answers or for a clue, some sort of lead that might point him in the right direction. At a different time I may have offered to help him, but lately I hadn't been feeling too charitable towards him. Besides, I had more important things to talk about then his 'Dreams of Doom'.

He looked up at me, surprised. I wondered if he'd been expecting someone else. "Hey, what's up? Is Fraggle back yet?" he asked me. He was already sounding too much like a leader to my liking.

"Yeah, he's back." I said, watching him carefully. He looked back at me expectantly, as if he were waiting for me to say what was on my mind. I'd come to him, after all.

"You let her keep it." I said bluntly. He blinked, confused.

"Stork. You let her keep the turbine. Are you sure that was a good idea? She's going to be more persistent then ever now." I elaborated.

"I think she's learned her lesson. Besides, her ride is so old, it could use an extra boost. Why, you fishin' for one of your own?" he asked me, smiling in that roguish way of his. I used to always go along with that smile. I used to return it with a cunning little grin of my own. Today I kept my mouth a thin line, conveying that I wasn't finished yet.

He stood up, smile gone, realizing something was up. "What? Is something wrong?"

"You forgot to mention me." I stated.

He stared at me for a moment before it clicked. He opened his mouth to speak and that's when I decided was a good time to interrupt him.

"I suppose it wasn't a very convenient time to bring it up." I said matter of factly. "We were already walking a thin line… two Sky Knights probably would have pushed them into the deep end."

I'd hit the target with that one, I saw it in his eyes. They flashed and then he couldn't hold my gaze. I'm a sniper, after all; I really know how to hit the mark.

"I wouldn't have cared if it'd pushed them over the edge." He said, starring at the floor, the wall, anywhere but at me. "Just, so much was going on, I really just… forgot. That sounds so shitty of me, but I did. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Heck, you're the Sky Knight." I said and he flinched at that one. "Wouldn't have been my place, would it?" there was an edge of steel in my voice and I wasn't really trying to hide it either.

He did look at me now, and I chose to look away, acting bored, aloof, distant. I was putting up my armour, something I usually didn't do around him. I knew it would bother him; it was bothering me.

"Angel, listen, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to exclude you… I know how important this is to you and I would have never done it on purpose." he said, and he sounded sorry too.

"How important this is to you, you mean." I said snidely and he did a double-take. "It's your fucking dreams that are making us do this, it was your idea, you put together the squadron and you're the Sky Knight." I went on, anger forcing the words out from their dark holes. I don't know what was going on with me. Sure, usually I'm sort of cold, sharp, cutting and I'm definitely a master Shit-Disturber, but I never actually come out and fight with Falshade. He was supposed to be my best friend, my partner. That was how he'd said it would be, anyways. Two years ago Stork, him and myself had decided to form the squadron together, and the three of us would be a team. He and I had gone through the Academy together, and after that we'd completed the Trials together while Stork worked at a second-rate garage to earn the money we'd need. And even now Stork and I were supposed to be his wingmen, his right and left hand men, his captains… well, I should have been his partner, but you know. And despite the fact that we really got under each other's skin we'd been best friends for two years now, the three of us I mean. But lately? Fuck, lately I felt like I couldn't stand either of them. They were making up some new equation and it was almost like I wasn't fitting into it.

The big thing was, I didn't even have to be here. I was a capable and certified Sky Knight. I had my own Skimmer, I had my weapons, my skills… I could have been a freelancer if I wanted, flown solo, done my own thing. That was what I'd originally intended to do, and even after we'd made our pact I'd had this underlying feeling for the longest time that I was going to strike out on my own anyways, regardless of what the others said. It had taken me a long time to convince myself otherwise.

Falshade was looking at me, shocked, stung and as if he were trying to figure out what I wasn't telling him. Usually Stork was the mutinous one, not me.

"Angel… is there something you aren't telling me? Is there something I'm doing that's pissing you off? I'm really, really sorry about how today went at the Council Hall… if you want we could go back up there and straighten things out." he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. Maybe he'd finally remembered that I was his best friend too.

I laughed hollowly, running a hand though my raven black hair. His hair was almost exactly the same shade, except it was a little glossier and not quite so feathery. "No, I don't think that's such a good idea." I said, meeting his eyes at last. I forced a smile onto my face. "Just… don't forget that I'm a Sky Knight too."

He looked positively guilt-ridden and he put a hand on my shoulder. "I won't forget again, I promise." he said. I nodded and he wrapped me in a quick hug before shoving me away with a smile. "Right. Let's get this freak show on the road already, huh?"

"Yeah, whatever." I said and he gave me a nougie, grinning like a Chesy cat. He was always eager to slap a bandage on things, even if they weren't done bleeding yet.

"Now _that_ sounds more like you." he said as I struggled from his grasp. "Detached and distant."

"I prefer the sweet, silent type." I said with a genuine grin this time. He laughed.

"You, sweet? Right." he said and pushed me out of his room.

"Is there going to be some sort of pep talk I'll need to attend?" I asked as he headed for the bridge. He paused to consider the notion then shook his head.

"Nah, I don't think so. Let's just get in the air and figure it out from there." he said and I nodded, watching him go. The moment he was out of sight my smile faded and I leaned heavily against the wall. Fuck, what was going on with me? It was almost if as soon as I'd finally come to accept these people as my friends and the _Merlin_ as my home I'd been feeling caged, frustrated, forgotten. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. It was almost as if I'd been in a dream the whole time becoming a squadron had been just an idea, a plan and then a goal. And suddenly, as soon as we'd achieved it, I'd woken up to face a new, ugly reality. I felt stifled by my own team mates. I felt anger towards my best friends. Something was going on with me, and it bothered me just like drawing the Cyclonian symbol quite by accident had bothered me. It was the way it seemed like almost a subconscious thing that really shook me. As if some seed had been planted in me and it had suddenly sprouted and grown into a grotesque weed over a period of about six weeks. It just kept getting bigger. It was like it was trying to take over, as if it thought it belonged there.

Was I really having that much trouble adjusting to the whole squadron thing? That's what I'd thought at first. I'd always preferred to be on my own. I thought it would just take some time to get used to. But I hadn't gotten used to it. It just kept spreading.

Then again my Father had betrayed and slaughtered his own squadron. Maybe it was genetic.

I turned and smashed my face into the wall. How could I even have thought of that? Why was that coming back to haunt me now?

"You know, they have pills to stop that kind of thing." Wasp's voice came from behind me and I jumped. I'd always thought I was pretty stealthy, but this girl was like a freaking cat. Fraggle had told her he was going to get her a bell collar if she didn't start giving us a warning before dropping in like that.

I turned to look at her. She was watching me, her eerie, mismatched eyes boring into me. Jesus those things gave me the creeps and they made her look pretty deranged. Even though she didn't really need to _look_ the part.

"Stop what?" I asked, moving away from the wall.

She tapped her temple. "The voices."

I gawked at her and shook my head. "What?"

"The voices. That's why you hit the wall, isn't it? It doesn't help though. Not for long, anyways."

I blinked at her several times before shaking my head again. "No. I was just… frustrated. Voices had nothing to do with it."

"Oh." Now she was looking at me like I was crazy. Like _I_ was crazy. Imagine that. "That seems like pretty stupid reason to be smashing your skull into the wall."

"And having voices in your head justifies it?" I asked, eyebrow cocked.

She shrugged. "Seems like a more logical excuse."

See, this is one of those things that had been frustrating me: I was probably the loudest voice when it had come to opposing the decision to let Wasp join us. I didn't know much about Faerieshians, but I did have enough sense in my skull to hit a wall with, and that sense told me that anyone from Terra Macabre was not someone you wanted to be confined on a tiny carrier ship with. The entire terra was just one big orgy of violence and crime and I didn't want some feral, disturbed time bomb walking about freely on the _Merlin_, let alone becoming one of my squad-mates. I wasn't one to judge by any means, but at least I was fully domesticated. But of course Stork had pulled the 'crystal expert' card and that had swayed Falshade. I knew my stuff around crystals, but in all honesty I knew I wasn't an expert. But of all the other liable candidates did we have to pick a psychopath?

Wasp was looking at me as if she could read my thoughts. I met her stare. I was never one to care what other people thought about me, or what they thought I thought of them for that matter. It wasn't really her who was causing my aggravation, per say, although I was still pretty wary of her. No, it was Falshade not heeding my input as well as Stork's that got me, and Wasp was sort of a walking, talking, energy addicted reminder of it. It wasn't really fair, I knew, but unless you were lucky enough to sleep until you died, you'd be a fool not to realize that life wasn't fair.

"I think he likes her." she said suddenly and I snapped into focus.

"What?"

"Falshade. I think he likes Stork. Maybe that's why you're so frustrated you have to hit things with your face."

I gawked at her, then frowned, then tried to look detached again. "That is not why I'm hitting things with my face." I said in a tone that left no room for argument. Why in Hell would I care if Falshade went and married that headstrong little greaser? I didn't, so long as I was still a part of the equation, a part of the team. And even if I did care it wouldn't drive me to smack the wall with my head, which actually had sort of hurt.

Wasp twitched her left ear but said nothing.

"Is that a more logical excuse?" I asked at length.

"Huh?"

"Never mind." I growled. I wasn't about to start discussing human emotions with Wasp. And I certainly wasn't about to explain why I'd butted the wall in the first place. I felt the _Merlin_ start to hum beneath my feet with energy and I pushed past her to get to the bridge. If I was still Falshade's partner I might as well act like it and get up there. Even if it meant I had to sit through one of his pitiful pep talks.

I'd think of it as herbicide.

**A little shorter then usual, and I don't know what I'm doing with Angel. He seems to be having some character jumps here. But I like using first person perspective and he's got a bit of a background mystery thing that I need to get off the ground. Anyways, hope you liked it and as always, please R&R. Thanks again to all who have!**


	4. Crack Shot, Long Shot

**4**

**Crack Shot, Long Shot**

_**This is the world we live in**_

_**And these are the hands we're given**_

_**Use them and let's start trying**_

_**To make it a place worth living in**_

_**-Land of Confusion, Disturbed**_

"Fraggle, are we good to go yet?" Falshade called as he entered the bridge, spotting the Blizzarian over by the Crystal Fuel Capacitator. Fraggle looked up and smacked his head off the lid of the thing.

"All set, Chief." he said, rubbing his skull through his toque.

"Great. Is everyone else back? I haven't seen Wasp around for a while." Falshade asked, approaching the huge windshield to see if maybe she was still out on the wharf.

"She's right behind you, eh."

Falshade wheeled around to find two orbs hovering inches from his own, one a bright, electric yellow and the other a dark, almost black brown. He jumped back from the Faerieshian, hand going to the hilt of Sliver, his slender scimitar. He let go almost immediately and put his index finger to Wasp's forehead, pushing her back a couple steps and out of his personal space. "One of us is going to end up killing you by accident." he informed her.

"I'm keeping you on alert." she said simply. "I'm here, by the way."

"Yeah, I got that. Ok, so that's everyone." Falshade said to Fraggle. "Permission for takeoff?"

"Permission granted eh!" Fraggle crowed, leaping at the _Merlin's_ controls and revving up her engines. Falshade flipped a switch on the wall and heard the hanger doors grind shut below him. He saw Angel slide into a chair out of the corner of his eye and sighed disconcertedly. They hadn't even taken off yet and already he felt drained. The meeting with the Sky Council had been rough, although he hadn't expected anything else from the Council, he'd had several arguments with Stork already and had nearly been clobbered by a ratchet and now Angel was acting strange. He couldn't just have peace in his new squadron, could he?

Fraggle rose out of their parking space and made an attempt at a slow, careful turn to put the terra behind him. He still nearly took the engine off the ship on their right, though. It didn't matter how expertly he piloted his ship, he was, as all Blizzarians, an adrenalin junkie and it made him do things too quickly.

"You can't just back out of the docks under 80 miles per hour, huh?" Falshade asked him, throwing his arms out to keep his balance.

"I don't do under 80 period, eh." Fraggle said with a grin that showed off his jagged and crooked canines. "Get used to it."

"Did you ever think you should know where you're going before you gun it there?" Angel asked from the table. "Just a thought."

"Oh, yeah. Where are we going, Chief?" Fraggle asked, turning to Falshade expectantly.

"Eyes on the skies, we're still within the shipping lanes!" Falshade barked and then tumbled to the floor as Fraggle pulled a hard right, narrowly avoiding a large cargo ship that was pulling into the loading docks below them. Falshade slid across the floor and bumped into the wall as the _Merlin _tipped nearly vertical. Wasp came skidding over next to him, nails screeching against the metal floor as she tried to stop herself and Angel toppled from his seat with a clang. Falshade heard several things crash and bang around in the hanger and he could just imagine Stork getting plastered to the wall by her skimmer.

"_FRAGGLE!"_ all in proximity yowled over the sound of the cargo ship's angry, blaring horn.

"Sorry, dudes!" Fraggle shouted apologetically, righting the ship and putting on a sheepish expression. " Freakin' hoser came out of nowhere!"

Varan came storming unevenly onto the bridge. "Who's the genius who pulled the Sharpie? I had an Enhancer and an Eruption crystal in my hands, nearly blew my fucking arms off!" He snarled, teetering as if he hadn't got his balance back yet. "It's a good thing I had a crystal shield up or I would have blown a hole in my wall the size of a Leviathan!"

"Oh, the shield worked alright?" Wasp asked, getting to her feet and retrieving her energy drink, or the can anyways: the contents were splattered over the floor like a gruesome murder scene.

"Wasn't my fault, eh. Hoser needs to learn how to use his blinkers." Fraggle said offensively, even though it was totally his fault.

"Or maybe you need to learn how to use a fancy little thing called _vision_." Angel said, setting the chair back on its legs. "Fucking sky jockey, you got a snowball where your brain should be or something? Watch where you're going, it's what the windshield's for!"

Fraggle hunched his shoulders, looking snubbed.

Falshade stepped carefully over to the intercom, trying to avoid the puddles of juice. He pressed the button and spoke into the mic. "Stork?"

Rather then hearing her voice answer back over the speakers they all heard her yell from the hanger: "WHAT?!?"

"You ok down there?"

After a moment the speakers crackled to life. Stork was muttering oaths to herself: "…fucking Blizzarian glue huffer- Who was the bright bulb who pulled the Sharpie? Tell Fraggle I'm going to pin his ears to my bedroom wall like a trophy."

"Heard you loud and clear, dudette." Fraggle shouted in the direction of the mic, still looking affronted.

"Right, well seeing as how you've suffered no obvious damage, get up here and put your navigator skills to use." Falshade ordered and then took his finger off the button. "And Wasp, clean up that… stuff."

Wasp growled at him like a jungle cat and went to get some paper towel from the bathroom.

Angel sat back down, rubbing the back of his head and grumbling to himself. Varan pulled up a chair beside him, pressing his scorched fingertips to his forked tongue. Stork appeared in the door way a moment later, a purple lump swelling on her forehead and looking like a tube of grease had ruptured next to the side of her head: one entire side of her hair had gone from blonde with random black streaks and tips to completely black and it was smeared over the right side of her face in oily splotches. Varan burst into rough, reptilian laughter and Stork shot him a glare so deadly that he snapped his mouth shut and looked away. Angel was snickering under his breath and Falshade turned his back to her so she wouldn't see him laughing silently.

"Hey, Fraggle, guess who gets to clean up the hanger after dinner?" she asked, wiping a palm over her cheek in an attempt to rub off some of the grease and ended up smudging it worse. "And you owe me a new tube of Slick. I'm currently wearing the old one."

Wasp came back with the paper towel under her arm and a new can of Buzz Juice in her hand. She took one look at Stork and a grin started to crawl over her face. "New make-up?"

"I'd rip that ring right out of your lip if I weren't worried about you breaking my arm." Stork spat. "Were you painting the floor?"

Wasp's smile vanished as she looked down, crestfallen, at her lost drink.

"Alright, alright, enough. So I thought, since we're all here, that we'd have a bit of a meeting."

"Pep talk." Angel interjected and Falshade rolled his eyes.

"Pep talk. Whatever. Anyways, I thought we could just kinda all sit down and make up a bit of a plan, plot out a course or something." Falshade said, trying to sound like a leader who had a plan. Which he didn't. Which was why he was asking for suggestions.

"I don't mean to poke holes in your plan or anything here, Shade." Stork spoke up. "But you're kinda the one who's getting all these signs and warnings in his sleep. We can't really help you out unless we know what's going on with the whole Dooms Day theory."

The others were watching him expectantly, which unnerved him. Before he'd been able to make decisions off the fly, because he had seen a goal, a destination for them and that was to register as a squadron. But now that that was over, he was at a bit of a loss. He wasn't even sure what his dreams were telling him, and he didn't have a single hunch to grab onto either.

"Or were you intending to just wing it until things got a little clearer?" Angel spoke now after a moment of silence.

"I dunno… does that sound practical to you?" Falshade asked. Right around now he could really use another Sky Knight to help him out.

"Well I wasn't saying it like it was a bad thing. I mean, we could just go chase some pirates or something until you know where we need to go." Angel said and Falshade was grateful to him, glad that his recent strange behaviour wasn't affecting his tactical abilities.

"That's a nice idea, eh, except that that still doesn't really give me a course to follow." Fraggle said from the helm, pointing out Angel's flaw.

"Set course for Macabre. Loads of bandits and rogues around there." Angel said simply and Wasp stiffened.

"I don't want to go to Macabre." she said tersely. "There's loads of other pirate hide-outs around here we can crash."

"You'd know, of course." Angel said cynically.

"This is prime cargo-ship territory, you don't have to be a pirate to know that." Wasp shot back.

"It seems pretty redundant if you ask me." Varan said, interrupting the argument before it could escalate. "Chasing pirates is like chasing clouds. Besides, that's not what we set out to do, is it?"

Stork was nodding. "It'd just be wasting time around here. Falshade, why don't you tell us about the last dream you had, maybe it'll give us something to follow."

Falshade sighed and put his face in his hand. The thing was, his dreams had suddenly stopped becoming so frequent; the last one he'd had was over three weeks ago, and it was vague and misty. "It was pretty much the same as always." he recounted at last. "There was an old fortress burning against a blood red sky, a dark throne room with lightning flashing out the broken window and then blood was running down all the shields of the Squadrons…" he trailed off, not wanting to divulge any further. The dreams were much more terrifying then he let on and they gripped at his heart even in memory. He was almost glad they were getting less recurring.

"Nothing new, nothing out of the ordinary?" Stork prodded. She'd always tried to help him fit together the puzzle of his dreams but she knew how much they bothered him too so she was careful about it.

"Nothing. It was kind of a short one, I woke up right away." Falshade admitted, feeling useless.

Everyone was silent for a while, brooding. Then Wasp suddenly spat out an idea:

"Maybe we should go to the Scar."

The others turned to her, even Fraggle, already forgetting about the near miss that had happened barely fifteen minutes ago. "What?" they all said in unison.

"What?" Wasp said, looking up as if she'd only just zoned in to the conversation.

Angel made an impatient noise. "You just said we should go to the Scar."

"I did?"

"Yes!" Stork and Angel shouted at her.

"Oh yeah… well, why not? Falshade said he saw a burning fortress… maybe it was Cyclonia."

It had never occurred to Falshade that the fortress, which he'd seen so many times before, may have been the old stronghold of Cyclonia. He'd thought his dreams were always showing him pictures of the future.

"So, what, we go to the Scar to check and see if anything's going on down there? In case you didn't know the Sky Knight Legion keeps a close eye on the place, they check it every two weeks for signs of trespassers." Angel said at length. "It sounds kinda pointless to me."

"We wouldn't go to inspect the place, we'd go to check it out. Falshade said he's seen the Talon emblem in his dreams before, and if that old fortress is Cyclonia then maybe we'll find something there that'll give him some sort of clue, something he might recognize." Wasp said, and the others were quite taken aback. Wasp said on average about twenty words per day, and she'd never spouted such intelligent and logical thoughts before.

"That's actually a pretty good idea, eh." Fraggle said, unexpectedly taking Wasp's side. The two had been at odds ever since Wasp had brushed his Grinder in the hanger and caused the Fuel crystals inside to somehow overcharge and explode, damaging the engine system and totally destroying his Crystal Converters. And they weren't cheap to replace either. "There's nothing to lose in going to look around the Scar, and we'll more then likely run into some pirate hosers on the way there."

Stork and Varan nodded in agreement but Falshade looked to Angel for approval before giving an answer. The tanned boy scratched his head and finally answered. "It's a start, right?" He shot Falshade a quick, grateful smile and Falshade felt a little better about leaving him out before.

"Ok, so we're all agreed. We'll go check out the Scar and if we run into any pirates on the way there we'll just have to give 'em the old what for." He confirmed and several excited whoots rose to greet him. "Stork, a map, if you will."

Stork gave him a mocking little salute and approached the shelves over at the wall where all their maps and books were stored. Several of them had ended up on the floor after Fraggle's high speed stunt and no one had bothered to pick them up yet. Reaching to one of the higher shelves Stork pulled down a rolled up map and examined it with a furrowed brow. After a moment she tossed it to the floor carelessly and started to reach for another one.

"It's not like their exactly advertising the place to tourists." she said as she stood on tip-toe to try and grasp another map. "I forgot it's not on any of the newer charts. We could actually get in a lot of trouble if we're caught snooping around down there."

Falshade cocked an eyebrow. "That a problem?"

Stork looked at him as if the answer should have been obvious. Grinning mischievously she said "Nope."

"That's what I thought."

"Grrr, who stacked my charts on these shelves?" she shot an accusing look at Varan, who was by far the tallest of the bunch. The side of his mouth quirked and Stork yowled at him "I'm not short!"

Angel got up with a sigh and got the ancient looking map down for her. He bowed at the waist as he handed it to her. "There you are, Princess."

Stork aimed a kick at him as she unrolled the old parchment. "Bingo." she said, spreading the document carefully over the table. Falshade came over to look and Varan craned his neck so he could see. Angel peered over Stork's shoulder and she turned to push him away before pointing to a terra over in the bottom right section of the map. "Cyclonia. Or where it used to be, anyways. Keep 'er in a generally south south east direction, Fraggle."

"Aye aye. Sou' sou' east." Fraggle drawled in an old skydog accent. He twiddled the steering wheel and set himself on course with the compass before twisting back on the gas and sending them shooting forward.

"How long will it take for us to get there?" Falshade asked Stork as she attached the chart to an easel next to the helm.

"Considering we don't run out of fuel before then?" Stork asked, giving Fraggle a slight back hand upside the back of his blonde head. "Slow it down there, Speedy, the Scar's not going anywhere." Fraggle eased off the throttle just a bit. Stork glanced at the speedometer before turning to Falshade. "I'd say we'll probably get there sometime tomorrow. Or early the next day, depending on how far we get today."

"Right." Falshade nodded, pleased. Ok, this was good. They had a course. They had a plan.

Still though. What if he didn't find anything significant at the Scar? It was a long shot at best. Then they'd just be back at square one all over again.

Falshade rubbed a hand over his forehead, feeling at a loss. Just when he actually could have used those dreams to help him they stopped coming to him. Maybe that was a sign. Maybe he'd done something wrong. Maybe this wasn't supposed to be what he was doing at all.

Or maybe they had just been that all along, dreams and nothing else. No prophecies of the future, no warnings, nothing.

He shook his head clear of that thought. No, that couldn't be right. He'd been plagued by those dreams ever since he could remember, and they always seemed to by trying to telling him the same thing. So many people had dismissed him, told him that he just had an overactive imagination or maybe a mental disorder. But he'd clung to the faith that these dreams were showing him a glimpse of the future, the soon to be reality if nothing was done about it. It had driven him to becoming a Sky Knight, to forging a squadron, to finding others who believed him. He couldn't just abandon that theory now. He'd come way too far to just let it go.

"Shade? You ok?"

Falshade looked up at Varan and smiled. "I'm fine."

Varan didn't believe him, he could tell, but he nodded his spiky head anyways. He had a sharp ridge of spikes cresting his head like a mohawk, which he was quite embarrassed of, especially after Stork had told him it made him look like a cockatoo. "Alright, just checking. Have, er… have you ever thought of going to the Scar before?"

Falshade shook his head. "I never thought about checking it out. I've seen that burning fortress hundreds of times, but I never would have linked it to Cyclonia."

"Then… do you really think it's a good idea?"

Falshade raised his eyebrows. "You thought it was."

"Well, yeah, I mean, it makes sense…"

"But?"

"But… I dunno. Just the thought of it gives me the creeps. I mean… they never really found Cyclonis's body, did they?"

Falshade bit back his laughter to spare the Raptor's feelings. "Don't tell me you've suddenly started believing in ghost stories."

Varan shrank back on the defensive. "No." he hissed offensively.

"I didn't think so." Falshade assured him quickly. He had a feeling there was something else bothering his scaly friend about the whole thing. He only remembered then that Varan's father had been under Cyclonis's employment back in the old wars. Maybe the prospect of visiting the Scar reminded him too.

"I'd always thought the Cyclonians were still apart of this. I think checking out the Scar might give us some answers." Falshade reasoned, trying to convince himself as much as Varan.

"Alright. I'll go wherever you go." Varan pledged, examining his burnt fingers. "But if we run into any half-dead Talon zombies I'll let you deal with 'em."

"Thanks, you're loyalty means a lot." Falshade said sarcastically. Varan just snickered and left to clean up the mess that had been made of his room. It reminded Falshade that he probably should go and see what damage had been done to the hanger.

Stepping through the sliding doors he was greeted by a mechanic's nightmare of a scene. Their skimmers had fallen over and scattered across the bay, Stork's tools had fallen form the various nocks and crannies and were lying dejectedly all over the floor and there was a large splattered grease stain on the far wall, a Stork shaped imprint set near the edge of it. Falshade didn't know whether to groan or laugh. He untangled his skimmer from the rest and set it back on its wheels and then tried to sort the others out too. Nothing seemed damaged on any of them, except Wasp's Gremlin looked like it was going to need a new paint job. Then he set to the task of gathering up Stork's tools.

"Fraggle was supposed to clean this up." Stork said, appearing in the doorway, arms crossed.

"And you're supposed to be telling him where to turn. He can tackle that grease stain."

Stork huffed and came over to help. Sitting on her knees next to him she started to rearrange her wrenches by size then stopped and looked at him. "So what's up with you? Like, you're usually a little wishy-washy, but today you just seem completely clueless"

Falshade sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I am clueless." he said. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Well, that's what we're here for. I know you don't like to, but maybe if you told us a little more about your dreams we'd be able to help you figure 'em out."

Falshade turned to look at her. She was back to sorting wrenches absently, but she seemed concerned and rather then bickering with him she was trying to help him out. It wasn't a first, but it was a little out of the ordinary. Maybe she was feeling generous because of the new turbine. That or indebted.

"If I understood them a little more I would gladly give you guys more details. You know that. I'm not trying to take this whole… thing on by myself." Falshade said honestly.

"I know that." Stork said quickly.

"The thing is… I haven't had a dream in a while now. Like, nearly a month."

"That's a record, isn't it?" Stork asked, trying to make it a joke. "Would you say it's a blessing or a curse?"

"Both." Again Falshade answered honestly. "How am I-we supposed to stop this new evil if I don't even know what it is?"

"We've never known what it was. I think you mean where it is."

"Yeah, I suppose." Sometimes it would randomly hit Falshade how loyal and trusting his friends were. If he had a hard time trying to figure out his own dreams how must they feel, following him blind into a fate they didn't even know would happen? And yet they stuck by him, even when people scoffed at him and shot him down. It amazed him and made him realize how very lucky he was. It almost made him want to give Stork a huge hug, except Stork had a strict Don't-Touch-Me-And-I-Won't-Decapitate-You rule.

"I think going to the Scar is a good idea. Even if we don't find anything there, it's something, right?" she said, scooping up an armload of wrenches and scrambling whatever order she'd sorted them in carelessly. She dumped them in a bin and said "I'd better get back to the bridge before the Blue Wonder decides to follow a butterfly or something."

Falshade chuckled. "Alright. Did you get that turbine on before you got plastered?" he asked, jerking a thumb at her print on the wall.

She smiled like a jackal. "You bet I did." then her smiled faded. "You freak, you couldn't have just given me a ransom note or something? I would have paid."

"I'm not Angel." Falshade said.

"No, you're worse. You nearly gave me a freakin' heart attack."

"Yeah, and you nearly gave me permanent brain damage."

Stork looked thoughtful for a moment before asking "So, are we even?"

Falshade laughed. "Yeah, we're even. Seriously though, you gotta curve those Neanderthal instincts."

"What?"

"Yeah." Falshade picked up a nearby hammer and held it in his hand down by his knee like a club "Me Stork. Me throw ratchet."

"_Me _Stork," Stork corrected, jabbing a thumb into her chest. "Me throw throwing axe at purple eyed comedian unless he smarten up."

"Point taken."

**So there was chapter IV. Another short one, I apologize. Hopefully gave a bit more Dooms Day enlightenment. Again, thank you for all the reviews, they mean so much to me. I've tried to reply to everyone, but my computer's been acting up lately so I don't know if they all went through. If not I apologize. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Disjointisism

**5**

**Disjointisism**

**Alright. Starting chapter after this one I'm going to try out making multi POV chapters. That'll probably make 'em longer, and maybe a little confusing, but I'll try to be as clear as I can. Right now though is Wasp's POV. All the characters have a bit of a backdrop story, and hers is kinda big, so if it looks like I'm favouring her then that's why. For that reason I'm going to be throwing in flashbacks, which also may get a little confusing, so I'll probably be putting them in **_**italics**_** and if I do a multi chappie I'll post names so you know who's who.**

**Right, that's out of the way. I thought it only fair to put up a warning.**

_**Strap me down and tell me I'll be alright**_

-_**Voices, Disturbed**_

I remember when I learned to read. I remember this amazing, overwhelming excitement that had started sucking at my stomach the moment I'd read an entire sentence all on my own and unlocked the secret of those strange little symbols. I felt as if I'd been let in on some extraordinary secret, I felt as if the whole universe was suddenly within my grasp. And ever since then I've been obsessed with words, particularly ones sung to me wrapped in a lot of noise, or the really long, weird ones. I'd made a mental list over the years of the words I thought were the strangest and prettiest of all.

One of my favourites was antipsychotic.

When I first heard it I thought it was the single most amazing combination of sounds ever created. I even loved the way it was spelled, even though it was confusing and when I'd first tried to write it I'd spelled it 'antsikotick'. It was just so weird, with the 'pys' that made the 'sigh' sound and 'ch' that didn't make the 'chuh' sound but was actually kinda hidden. And the 'y' in place of an 'i'. It seemed so unique and rebellious and, another one of my favourite words, outlandish.

Now here I was, about three years after I'd heard that word for the first time, starring at it. It was typed in harsh, cold font on the label that was pasted on the side of the ungainly bottle, the prison to its namesakes. Those leery little capsules, stark white in colour and shaped like deformed seeds. There used to be a type of fruit in the jungle with dark seeds located in the womb of the flesh, which was sweet and juicy and tangy. They weren't a very common type of fruit and you really had to forage to find them. When I found them I'd climb up the tree, pick a perch and just eat them for hours. I looked for them in the outside world and never found them in any market. Then one day, maybe a year ago I saw some and actually _paid_ for a dozen of them, even though the merchant really wasn't keeping an eye on his stand and it would have been too easy to steal them. I was so excited; I was going to cut them into tiny slices so I could savour them and make them last, and share them too, and then I was going to plant the seeds and grow my own jungle of them. But the moment I slit the flesh open four of those tiny black seeds came rolling out and I couldn't eat it. I couldn't look at those seeds. I threw them all away. They just looked like darker versions of my favourite word.

It wasn't my favourite word now, three years down the road. I couldn't even let it touch my tongue anymore. But I could still read it. I could read it over and over again until it burned into my mind. I could read it until it didn't mean anything anymore.

It might take a long time though.

Too long for me.

I am weak.

My hands were shaking and it made those little black letters tremble and dance before my eyes. I just….. that word. It was just too… hard. To remember. To forget. I would always get that same, sick feeling in my gut and the same pricking behind my eyes whenever I saw it, read it, swallowed it. I just couldn't move anywhere with it. It hurt to remember; I couldn't forget.

It was just like thinking about Rainer.

With a suppressed, frustrated scream I threw the bottle at the wall. It made a rattling _clunk_ noise and rolled back towards me like they always did. I got up and fled out my door, hearing the satisfying thud of the metal door slamming shut behind me.

I couldn't forget, I couldn't remember, I couldn't banish like I had been myself.

But I could ignore. That always worked well for me.

I slunk down the corridor and onto the bridge. Angel was sitting in his usual chair, brooding, Stork and Fraggle were arguing over at the helm and Falshade was sitting on the sofa, which was conveniently bolted to the floor over in the corner, pouring over some old field guide that seemed to be melded to his hand lately. I crept past them all, silent as a stalking beast. They'd told me not to creep around like that, but I couldn't stop it if I tried. The jungle had made me a hunter. The underground had me a stalker.

I slid down the wall and tucked myself into the shadows by the windshield. None of them noticed my presence suddenly in the room, absorbed as they were in their own activities. I didn't really care. I hadn't wanted to become a part of the atmosphere anyways. I just wanted to hear their talking rather then shut myself up in my room and wait for others to start up on their own.

Setting my chin on my bare, knobbly knees I stared blankly out the large glass pane that acted as our windshield. Or the bug deflector, as Fraggle called it jokingly. Without it, he assured us, we'd be picking beetle wings out of our teeth with crowbars. We'd already known that much from basic logic, but I'd found it funny anyways. Fraggle was an okay guy, if a bit of a snort. I'd never met a Blizzarian or a proper blonde before, although I'd heard enough jokes about both. Fraggle seemed to give them both a bad name and credit at the same time. He wasn't exactly the sharpest splinter under your nail… but he was a good kid; funny, a gifted pilot even if he went too fast and was reckless (I wasn't complainin'), he had his moments during which he was shockingly clever and fellow adrenalin junkie. I'd offered him a Buzz before, but Stork had snatched it away from him, insisting that we _didn't_ need to plaster ourselves on a Terra-side like graffiti.

The sky was flashing before my eyes like a movie without pictures. I loved flying. It just seemed so strange and rebellious to me. The way it seemed to deify gravity, to cast of the shackles of reality and the laws of nature. We weren't meant to be up here. The sky was like a helmet to us humanoids. We were meant to keep it overhead protectively and live out our tiny lives scrambling in the earth. Humans had found a way to throw down that helmet. They'd looked up here at the sky and they'd wanted it. Somehow they'd clawed their way up here. They'd wanted it, and they'd taken it. What strange creatures, humans.

I heard Varan coming a long time before he appeared on the bridge, watching Stork and Fraggle's shoving match for a moment before asking "Where's Wasp?"

I didn't answer right away. I heard him, but I was distracted by a petite Jumping Spider that was scuttling across the floor towards me. A tiny spider net was caught up between two bolts a little ways down the wall. I lowered a hand and let the little thing crawl onto my fingertip. It was so small it stuck out simply like a dark fleck of dirt against the grains of my skin. I lifted my hand to eye level so I could get a better look at her, amazed that something so small could even begin to exist, let alone function. One of her eight eyes must have caught site of the monster before her, because she sprung from my finger pad on her miniscule yet extremely powerful spindle legs and plummeted towards the floor. So strong were those legs that I was sure I felt them whisper against my skin as she pushed off. I shot out my other hand to catch the delicate she-spider before she hurt herself on the unyielding floor and lifted her towards the wall to let her hurry on home, wondering what would happen if a spider were to break one of it's legs. I wish I could have asked.

"She's not in her room? Check the hanger." Falshade suggested, sounding worried. He was always looking for me like a fretful mother with an explorative child, even when I was right under his nose.

"This is Ground Control." I said, making all in vicinity jump.

"Have you been there the whole time?" Stork demanded.

"'Whole' is a bit rhetorical." I said. I flicked my gaze over to Varan. "Wha'd'ya need?"

He looked slightly flustered. He was like that. One minute he was a big, powerful, imposing Raptor, the next he was an edgy, timid newt. I'd yet to see him in battle, but the prospect excited me. "I, er… the shield you put up for me worked, but I think the Shield crystal might be dead… the shield flickered and gave out right after the explosion. I tried to use that amplifier you made me but…"

I'd already gotten up and passed him. He nearly tripped over his own tail as he spun to catch up with me. "I didn't mean to bug you or anything" he said quickly, mistaking my out-of-it silence for annoyance. A lot of people seemed to think that if you didn't say anything, something was wrong. Maybe they were just used to people communicating. I guess it's pretty normal to them. His tail was twitching back and forth as he spoke, a nervous habit of his. He only did it when he was uneasy.

He did it a lot around me.

"Nah." I said nonchalantly.

He made a noise as if he'd started to speak and then shut his mouth right away. I'd gone and confused him with my disjointed answer.

I didn't wait for him to reach his room first. I just waltzed right in and went immediately for his work table. Not even a singe…. I had to admit, I was proud of my handiwork. My attention became focused on the purple Shielding crystal that sat cradled in a small bracket upon the Shield Amplifier I'd built. It was dull and empty. Dead. The blast must have zapped all its power in one blow, which was sort of annoying. I suppose it must not have been the highest grade of refined crystal.

I leaned over it, allowing the sleeve of my bulky coat to block his view of the crystal as I pretended to fiddle with the knob on the side. I pressed the pad of my crooked, skeletal index finger to one of the facets of the crystal, feeling the ever-present energy in my veins jolt upon connection and surge towards the point of contact. I was quick to pull my finger back as soon as I saw the crystal's inside flare like a tiny heartbeat suddenly regaining pulse. I didn't want it to overcharge and explode like the Fuel crystals had in Fraggle's skimmer. He was still pretty sour with me about that, and I owed him four hundred hit for the new Converters. He probably knew he'd never get it. Where was I going to get money?

The crystals flooded back to life, glowing again as if it had never stopped. People didn't realize that only creatures ever really died.

Now I twiddled the knob, enhancing and warping the crystal's energy. A thin membrane of purple light flowed over the desktop like a liquid, protecting the surface. Then I expanded a second skin of energy to form a protective bubble around the desk, creating an efficient shell in which Varan could tinker away in and not risk blowing his room apart. His quarters were pretty close to mine, which was why I'd been so quick to build the Shield Amplifier for him in the first place.

"Thanks," he said, placing some crystals on his desk. I was already out the door.

I didn't want to go back to the bridge. I didn't want to go back to my room either. I liked to fly, but I didn't like how I was almost trapped on the _Merlin_ when she was in the air. It was a small airship, according to Stork, who was the only one who would really talk to me about anything other then what we were doing and what was going on. The others just kinda gave me the necessary information and then left me to deal with it. I didn't know much about airships, so I took her word for it, but I think even if it would have been a full sized battleship I would have felt caged. After all we Faerieshians were practically wild animals. We don't know the meaning of the word "tame."

That and I was practically on an eternal adrenaline high. It made my limbs do the jumpies if I sat still too long. And it had nothing to do with the Buzz Juice.

That was what kept me stable.

I wished we could have gone out and done some training. Maybe if Stork and I cleared a space in the hanger she'd do some sparring with me. I was itching to get Throatknotch and Carnivore in my hands again. Or we could just do some hand to hand combat. Stork could throw an axe, but I doubted she could throw a decent punch. That could spell disaster in later combat. And I kinda liked Stork. I didn't want to see her head get detached from her body or anything.

Speak of the she-devil:

"Varan!" Stork called, nearly running over me because she didn't see me skulking in the shadows. She jumped back then bunched her fists in my jacket.

"ARGH!" she yelled in my face for the second time that day. "What is wrong with you? I might take Fraggle up on the bell collar! I'll split it fifty/fifty!"

"Hi." I said. "Wanna do some sparring or something?"

Stork started laughing in an "I give up!" sort of way. She didn't let me go as she hung her head and shook me slightly. "You're going to send me straight to an asylum one of these days!"

I froze and the small grin that had been creeping onto my face vanished. I pushed her back roughly. "The next time you grab me like that I'm taking some of you too." I spat.

Stork blinked at me, looking almost startled if I didn't know her better. Which I sorta didn't. "Jeez, bi-polar much?" she asked, trying to make the awkward situation into a joke. I didn't laugh. Neither did she. She wasn't used to people shoving her around. She usually did the shoving.

Enter me.

She cleared her throat and looked away. People have trouble meeting my eyes, because they think they're creepy. It didn't really hurt my feelings anymore. "Er, yeah sure, I'll spar with you. Maybe later though, okay? I don't know about you, but I'm starving. I came to ask Varan to start making dinner. Is he in his room?"

I thought about flicking my ears. Then I decided not to. Then I did anyways.

She growled at me and stalked past, pounding on Varan's door, which was the only one besides mine and Angel's that stayed locked even if the occupant was inside. "Varan!" she hollered. "The kids are hungry!"

I heard Varan sigh through the metal door. A moment later it opened and he stared Stork down, disgruntled. "Genius at work here. Cook your own dinner."

"And burn the kitchen down?" Stork said. "Besides, you're the _best_ chef, it wouldn't be worth eating if you didn't make it."

Varan gave her a sceptical look. "Don't patronize me." he said, even though he was a sucker when it came to flattery. Especially where his cooking was concerned. You wouldn't think an explosive expert would also be such a good chef but he was spared those teasing comments simply because his cooking was just so damn good.

"Patronize? Me?" Stork said, acting so innocent it scared me. "Never."

Varan snorted. "Kinda hard for you to talk _down_ to people, huh?"

Stork punched him right in the scaly chest. "I'll just have SpaghettiOs then." she said, agitated.

"Don't forget to take them out of the can." Varan laughed. I'd heard the story over and over again about the time Stork, having been distracted by Angel while she was making soup, forgot to take it out of the can before heating it and had fried the old microwave.

Stork rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes, spouting several swear words at once. Varan, still laughing, moved her aside gently and headed towards the kitchen. Stork made a huffing noise somewhere between a groan and a resigned sigh and then stopped mashing her eyes into her skull. She looked up at me instead.

"So where'd you vanish off to? You left me to face Falshade all by my lonesome." she said with mock-reproach, trying to move past our previous awkward little spat.

It took me a minute to realize she'd meant when I'd ditched her back at the wharfs. "I had to stop at the Pharmacy." I said, not really lying because I knew Stork would think I meant for something else, something I would never need.

"Oh… jeez, you could have asked me to come with. Probably would have avoided the whole nasty mess with Shade. So, training after dinner?" she asked, watching me carefully. I hated when people did that.

My muscles were twitching beneath my skin spasmodically. There was a familiar buzzing in my ears, nothing a little music wouldn't fix. Where I came from, there were two simple ways to solve that problem: turn the music off or turn it up 'til you can't hear it anymore. Only one was even an option. I still wanted to get my machetes in my hands, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to play charades with them. Stork had put me in a bit of a foul mood. I changed mind set faster then she could change a tire and it didn't take much to push me over. Then I suddenly remembered something I had said to Angel earlier:

"_They have pills to stop that kind of thing._"

"It's a date." I said lamely.

_**Because you're in total control**_

_**Eris…**_

"Goodbye." I said and shot into my room before Stork could figure out I was gone.

The moment I stepped into the room I could see them. I snatched them from the floor and tore the lid off, scattering them over my desk like Magic Beans. Magic alright.

I cracked open a Buzz and downed half of it before I set it on the floor carefully. I yanked the plug of my earphones out of my record player and dropped the needle onto my record, twiddling the knob all the way up. It took a glitchy moment before Socially Awkward was suddenly ripping through the still air of my stuffy room. I hated this room.

My ears sticking out from the sides of my head like radars so they could catch more noise, I pinched a seed between my gangly fingertips, one of the ones that had not gone shooting off the edge of my desk to land upon the floor where they left a chalky residue like someone had outlined a corpse. Whose I didn't know yet. The chalk was supposed to stop that sort of thing.

I watched another seed roll off my desk as the vibrations from the speakers jostled the surface. I watched it fall, turning over slowly before pounding into the floor, not even damaged by the fall. And with that I too fell backwards, just right over so I was sprawled across the floor and narrowly avoided cracking the back of my head against the steel frame of my bed. I'm so scrawny and lithe that my weight didn't even make the record skip, however I did succeed in knocking my drink over. The thin liquid splashed onto the floor and then melted towards me, the bubbly red liquid running into my hair and matting there. The can continued to dump out its contents until the fuel inside had become lower then the mouth of the can. I balanced there precariously, just waiting for a slight draft to come along and send it rolling and spew the rest of its guts over my floor and into my hair.

I watched the record spin as if hypnotised before I sat the seed so it was standing on its end like a carefully balanced egg on my slaughtered thumbnail.

_**Death comes in small doses**_

You bet it did.

As a screaming guitar rift split apart the air like lightning I screamed silently along with it, flicking the seed upwards and shooting my tongue out of the way. It hit the back of my throat like an anvil and I swallowed my promise as the music swallowed me. I shot my hand out and snapped my energy drink back into my hand and lifted the can to hover over my face. I opened my mouth again as I spilled whatever was left of my lifeblood over my face.

**Woo, I am sooo sorry it took so long for the update. I've been busy. I'm actually supposed to be doing my math homework right now, heh heh heh. Hopefully I'll be able to update a little more frequently soon. So as I said after this I'm going to try and slip in some flashbacks and what not, I'll try to keep everything clear fro ya'll. Also, there is a difference between plain and bold italics… anywho.**

**Oh, just for fun I thought I'd give the characters a song to kinda describe their personality a little better. After all, music is life, right? Again, inspired by Dragonwings144.**

**Falshade: Kryptonite by Three Doors Down**

**Fraggle: Holiday by Greenday**

**Wasp: Girl Anachronism by the Dresden Dolls**

**I still have to decide on the others. Bear with me, and I'll try to update ASAP!**


	6. Enter?

**6**

**Enter...?**

_**What if I say I'm not like the others?**_

_**- Pretender, Foo Fighters**_

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

"_I need to borrow your skimmer."_

_Angel looked up from his book, looking completely zone-out and relaxed. He was sprawled over his bunk, his feet dangling over the railing casually. "What?"_

_I was feeling the exact opposite of the way he looked. My nerves were brittle and I felt twitchy and fidgety. I was running on borrowed time and the clock was ticking. "I need to borrow your skimmer for my flight exam."_

"_Why?"_

_My impatience bubbled over. "Does it matter? Look, I've got my aerial exam in two hours, I can't miss it, I already had to ask Hawkins if he could test me at a different time and this is the only time I could get. If I miss it I'm done. And my skimmer's not working properly, something's wrong with my Converters, or maybe my Energy Dissipater… it doesn't matter. The point is it's not working right and I can't ride it for my test. I _need_ yours or I'll fail my test."_

_Angel lay his book over his thin chest and scratched his scalp. "Well, I'd love to help you out." he said, not sounding concerned with my current situation at all, which only added to my irritation. "But even if I lent you my ride it wouldn't help you out any."_

"_You figure?" I growled._

"_Yeah. I ride a Slip Wing. You ride an Ultra. Two totally different makes. You won't be used to the way mine handles. You'll look like an idiot."_

"_I'll take that chance." I said gruffly. Maybe if I hurried I could get some fly-time in before my test, get used to his ride a bit…_

_Angel was watching me in that oh-so-annoying way of his that seemed to say he knew exactly what I was thinking. "If it were anything else you know I'd say yes. But this test is _crucial_ to your graduation into the next rank and even if you practice with my ride you still won't be properly in tune with it like you would your own ride."_

"_Well, what do you suggest then?" I snapped, annoyed by his logic._

"_Take it to a mechanics, you said you had two hours."_

"_Yeah, but mechanic shops tend to frown on spur of the moment appointments. They won't fit me in today, and even if they do I doubt it'll be fixed in time." I said, pacing and tugging at my hair in frustration._

"_There's a place just in town, it's called Finch's, they don't get a lot of customers, they'll probably be able to squeeze you in. Just try it, Shade, and if you can't get it fixed I'll lend you my ride, ok? You're going to have to get it fixed sometime anyways, right?"_

_I sighed. He made sense, annoying as it was. "Alright, alright. Where's Finch's? If it's too far you're going to have to give me a ride and we can pony my skimmer."_

_Angel cracked open his book again. "Ha ha, I don't think so. It's at the end of the first street you'll hit on your way into town, you can't miss it."_

'_Your support on the whole matter is really encouraging." I said sarcastically._

"_You're welcome."_

* * *

_I walked my skimmer down the paved street, trying to ignore the strange looks people were shooting my way and feeling like a complete idiot._

"_Why ride when you can _walk_?" I muttered to myself, keeping my head low as I rolled past a group of giggling girls, my optimism run out. I was going to kill Angel._

_Knowing my luck I probably wouldn't even get my ride fixed today and would have to make the best with Angel's. Argh, this was just not my day. Angel had been right, this test was crucial to my advancement in training, and I didn't want to get penalized because I had to use a strange skimmer I wasn't used to. I was so stressed out about the whole thing it made me feel sick. And I still had a Combat Theory exam to study for the next day. I don't know how Angel was able to just lay back and relax with the constant bombardment of anxiety and scrutiny. Then again this stuff just seemed to come naturally to him. _

_I almost missed Finch's. It was a run down shop sandwiched between two larger shops and I walked right past it without realizing right away. I backed up and examined the shop with distaste. It was slanted and dilapidated and didn't seem like the most reliable place in Atmos to bring my skimmer to be repaired, but I didn't really have many options here._

_The front of the shop was a parts store, so I figured the actually garage was around back. I wheeled my skimmer down a narrow alleyway, forced to walk in front and tug my ride along behind me by the handle bars because it was too cramped to walk beside._

_The back of the shop was even grungier and one of the large garage doors was open wide, exposing the shop's innards to the rest of the world. It wasn't like it was bad weather out or anything but it just didn't seem very professional to have the congested guts revealed to the rest of the Terra. With a resigned sigh I wheeled my skimmer forward into the doorway and snapped down the kickstand. I steeped into the garage, which seemed to be about twenty degrees warmer then it was outside, Maybe that was why to door was open. _

_I looked around, not encouraged by the clutter and the dust. As I brushed past an ancient skimmer that was more rust then metal it dropped its remaining wing onto the floor rather ungraciously onto the floor with a resounding clang. I glanced around skittishly, ready to apologize and possibly book my ass out of there, but there didn't seem to be anybody around._

"_We're closed today."_

_Or maybe not._

_I jumped and looked around for the source of the voice. Steeping past a worktable piled high with unorganized tools I spotted a mechanic lying on the grimy floor under a strange looking skimmer with yellow stripes on the runner boards, adjusting something._

"_Pardon?" I asked._

"_I said we're closed today." the mechanic reiterated, not even bothering to get up and take a look at me._

_I couldn't believe my luck. My shoulders slumped as I glanced around to see if there were any other mechanics about. Finding no one I turned back to the one on the floor. I wasn't about to admit defeat so easily, not after coming all this way. "I'm sorry to come barging in here when the shop's closed, but I _really_ need a favour. My skimmer's not working properly and I _need_ to have it fixed before my examination today."_

_The mechanic set down a wrench and hauled themself up off the floor._

"_Well, that changes everything."_

_I blinked in surprise. The acoustics of the shops most have muddled the feminine tone in her voice, because until she was looking me straight in the face I hadn't realized it'd had been a girl down there on the floor. The first thing I noticed about her was her brilliant green eyes._

"_A test huh? You a frat?" she asked me while I tried to gather my thoughts again. To be fair she was wearing horribly baggy old jeans, most unflattering, I couldn't have guessed that it had been a girl's legs, which had been all I'd seen of her. She wiped her greasy hands on those jeans now and watched me expectantly._

"_Er… I'm training at the Academy, if that's what you mean." I answered. The girl rubbed at a grease stain on her chin and hunted among the tools on a crowded workbench for something._

"_That's what I meant, sure." she said. "When's your test?"_

"_About an hour and a half from now." I said, feeling my stomach flutter anxiously as I remembered my time limit._

"_So you're in a bit of a pickle, aren't you?" the girl asked, still searching and practically ignoring me._

"_Yeah." I said hesitantly, wondering if this girl was actually going to be of any help._

_She finally selected a socket wrench and turned to face me again at last. She was eyeing me up critically as if she didn't have very high expectations for a Sky Knight in Training. Or maybe just boys in general._

"_What model you got?" she asked eventually, lying back down on the floor and crawling under the skimmer again._

"_An Ultra."_

"…_version?"_

"_Oh, er, an IV." __I said, feeling like an idiot._

"_Oooh, nice one." she pulled herself back out from_ under_ the skimmer and replaced the socket wrench among all the junk, apparently done with the ride for now. Dusting herself off she brushed straight past me and headed for my skimmer, which I'd left over at the back of the shop. I followed, careful not to break anything else in the crowded shop._

_The girl was making a slow circle around my ride, looking impressed. "Never seen one of these beauties up close." she explained, crouching down to examine the armoured runner boards._

_That surprised me. "Really? Will… will you still be able to fix it?"_

"_I didn't say anything about fixing it." the girl pointed out and I felt a jolt of frustration towards her. She was as helpful as Angel. She didn't seem troubled by my predicament at all as she casually flipped up the runner boards so she could get a good look at my ride's guts. Without looking up she asked "So what's wrong with it?"_

_Still feeling a bit annoyed I crossed my arms and kept a sceptical eye on her. "I'm not really sure. The energy from my crystals isn't being distributed properly and it's gobbling up the juice like crazy. I'm not getting enough thrust."_

"_Huh." was all the girl offered, examining the engine system. "Fire 'er up and we'll get a look at what's going on in here."_

_I hesitated, not sure if it was a good idea to start up my skimmer with her face so close to the engine. "You sure?"_

"_No, I've changed my mind. Of course I'm sure. I thought you were on a tight schedule?"_

_I ground my teeth as I remembered and while still hesitant I complied and revved up the engine. The girl watched my skimmer rumbling away for a few moments before motioning for me to kill the motor._

"_What do you think it is?" I asked impatiently. "I thought it might have been the Converters, but-"_

"_The Converters are fine. The whole energy conversion system is fine, crystals are being rehabilitated to energy properly and it's being delivered right. It's the intake manifold. It needs to be replaced. It's not intaking the Fuel energy properly. Not enough energy, not enough umph for the pistons, not enough power. That's why it's not performing to par. It's using twice as much energy as it should be to maintain half the proper levels." the girl cut me off matter of factly, straightening back up and cracking her back offhandedly as if she did this sort of thing everyday. _

"_The intake manifold?" I asked. "Oh…" Uh-oh. How much was _that_going to cost to be replaced?_

"_Yup. I've heard of Ultras having issues with 'em because of the after-burners. Your test was an hour and a bit from now, right?"_

"_Yes." I said uneasily._

_The girl pushed her short hair out of her face and turned back to look at my skimmer. She had a strange colour of hair, bright blonde with random black streaks and tips. It flared and spiked every which way, hawkish and feathery. "I can have her done in an hour. Come back then and she'll be good as new."_

"_S-seriously?" I asked, not trusting my luck to suddenly turn tides on me like that._

"_Sure. We've got some manifolds in stock for this model and I've replaced intake manifolds hundreds of times. This'll be a walk in the park. Plus I'd really like to get a good look at the inside of this baby." she rubbed a hand over the handle bars affectionately._

_I was so relieved my knees felt weak. I still didn't believe her. "But I thought you said you were closed today." I reminded as if trying to find a flaw in her plan. I was never this lucky._

"_Meh. I'm here anyways, right?" the girl made as if to move my skimmer into the garage then stopped and motioned for me to do it. She led me over to a clear spot in the cluttered old shop and I wondered if she had enough authority to call shots like this. As I leaned my ride on the stand I asked. "Are you, er, Finch?"_

"_Huh?" the girl turned to look at me, momentarily confused before bursting into laughter. "Me? Heck no! No, I work for Finch, but he's not in today. I usually stick around here even if the place is closed."_

"_Oh." I said, feeling even more like an idiot._

_The girl considered me for a moment before wiping a dirty hand on her pant leg and offering it to me. "Stork." she said with a friendly smile._

_I was a little taken aback, but then who was I to judge strange names? I returned the smile and accepted her hand. "Falshade." I said, shaking it warmly._

"_Falshade." She confirmed, releasing my hand. "Nice. Poetic. I like it."_

_I laughed good naturedly. "Thanks." I said with mock-sarcasm._

_She shrugged and then started to weave her way towards a storage room at the other end of the garage. "Well Fal-Shade." she called back to me. "We're closed. No customers, so scoot. Come back in an hour and she'll be ready for ya, alrighty?"_

"_Alright." I agreed and let myself out._

* * *

"_Wow." I said. "You really, erm… wow."_

"_Oh, yeah, I rotated your tires and changed your Fuel crystals, no extra charge." Stork reported, examining her fingernails with self-satisfaction._

"_And you waxed it." I noted appreciatively, examining my ride in admiration. It looked like new again._

"_She's gotta look good for her test, doesn't she?" Stork asked with a grin._

"_You didn't have to…"_

"_Eh, you know." she said with a nonchalant shrug. "No biggie."_

"_Thanks so much." I gushed, running my hand over the seat, itching to try out my new and improved ride._

"_No problem. Mechanics aren't really supposed to tell this to customers, but our jobs aren't half as difficult as we make you pay us for it. Little tip while we're on inside secrets, if you want the manifold to last longer use higher refined crystals. They're a little more expensive, but it'll save you in the long run."_

"_Thanks." I said again and was suddenly reminded of the matter of payment. "Oh. Er, is it okay if I make this out to you in a check? I'm still at the Academy and I don't have a job or anything, so no cash." I said, feeling like I was taking advantage of her._

"_Don't worry about the price. Finch won't miss the manifold and I didn't mind doing it. Service was free of charge, but don't go blabbing about it all over the Terra, got it?" she said, heading back over to the skimmer with the yellow stripes._

"_What? No way!" I said, hurrying to catch up with her. "Like, thanks for the offer, but I can't let you do that! It's your day off!"_

"_Hey, dude, I was here anyways. Call me strange, but I like working on these babies and I've never got to work on an Ultra before." Stork said, picking up her wrench once again._

"_But still… won't you get in trouble with your boss?"_

_Stork shrugged indifferently._

"_Jeez you're stubborn." I said without thinking. Stork seemed to take it as a compliment though._

"_Why thank you. It's just one of my many charms." she said in all honesty._

_I chuckled but refused to surrender. "Come on, there's got to be some way I can pay you back." I pressed._

_Stork had been in the act of crouching down next to the old skimmer when she stopped abruptly. Slowly she stood back up._

"_Actually," she said, turning almost hesitantly to face me. "There is something you could do for me."_

"_Anything." I vowed and I could imagine what Angel would say if he could see me grovelling to some girl I barely knew._

"_You said you were training at the Academy, right?"_

"…_yes." I answered, not sure where this was going._

"_Right." Stork moved to stand right in front of me, starring right into my eyes with unwavering intensity. "Then you're going to train me to be a Sky Knight. Everything you know."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I flipped another page over, rough with impatience and nearly tearing the old text. Nothing. I'd read this book so many times I practically knew it off by heart, and yet I couldn't help but hoping that maybe I'd find something that would help me, a passage I'd missed, a page I'd accidentally turned with another.

I hated this useless feeling I had in my gut, and maybe that was why I was struggling to keep a hold on the hope that I'd find something. I'd always known this whole dream-chasing mission was far-fetched and filled with probable dead ends, but never had I ever felt so undirected about it. I wish I would have put more thought into what I was going to do once I actually was a Sky Knight while I'd been in training, while the dreams had been more frequent and terribly tangible. They'd always been foggy and vague, but at least they'd been real. Something was coming. That was all I'd needed to know then. Now I found my past-self had left me present-self stranded with that blunt logic. Stranded without a single lead.

My past-self didn't contain that level of forethought. What was that phrase? Hindsight is twenty-twenty?

Well from now on I was going to record everything that I could remember from my dreams, if they ever returned, and anything that might have seemed helpful.

Even that seemed pretty redundant though. It wasn't helping me any now that I wasn't having the bloody visions. I pushed my fingers through my hair, frustrated. I didn't like dragging my squadron blind into what may have been preventable peril.

"Maybe you need to look at a different book?" Stork suggested, plopping down beside me.

"I could look through thousand books and it won't help me any if I don't know what I'm looking for." I vented, digging my fingers into my scalp.

Stork made a noise somewhere in between sympathy and irritation. I was probably driving the whole squad up the wall with my nonsensical directions and cluelessness. I figured it was only a matter of time before their patience ran out and they all committed mutiny.

"Varan's started making dinner. Maybe if you have something to eat you'll be able to think a little straighter." she said at length, ever trying to be helpful. She was strange like that; patience was definitely not one of her virtues, and yet she could be incredibly tolerant and long-suffering when one of us was having some sort of trouble. Usually me. When it came to the important stuff you could always count on Stork. I'd learned that the very first day I'd met her.

"Or, hey!" she continued, taking on a light tone as if trying to cheer me up. "What's that stuff that's supposed to give people nightmares if they eat it before bed? Pepperoni, isn't it?"

"Broccoli does it for him." Angel spouted before I could answer, appearing out of nowhere and inviting himself into our conversation. "The boy's terrified of his greens."

"You're one to talk." I said defensively.

"You trying to induce his dreams now, Baby Girl?" Angel asked Stork, sitting on my other side and out of her reach. Stork glared at him at mention of her pet name. She hated it more then she hated being told she was short. We'd pinned her with it when we'd found out she was a year younger then us and unfortunately it had stuck.

"That's some look you're giving me." Angel said, leaning back unconcerned. "Would you prefer Feonix?"

Stork lunged at him over me, trying to grab him in a strangle hold while laying it into his ribs. Angel was laughing as he caught her around the neck, pinning her to his side and giving her a ferocious nougie. Kicking and struggling she nearly caught me in the chin with on of her hybrid high tops as she fought to free herself from Angel's lanky grasp. I pushed the both of them onto the floor, laughing at their antics. Neither would really hurt the other, I knew that.

"Shade, grab her feet!" Angel shot at me, his knee pressed into Stork's stomach as he dragged her hands away from his face.

"Don't you do it, Falshade!" she yowled at me as I slid off the sofa. I caught a hold of both her bony ankles and held them against the floor. She tried to wriggle free but Angel had both her wrists by this point and still had he held to the floor by his knee. He shuffled over and looked at me with a wink.

I grinned wickedly in return and, keeping her legs securely trapped beneath one of my own, I moved up to her exposed belly without mercy.

"Falshade, I'm not joking, I'll- Awp! No! Don't!" she squealed as I started tickling her relentlessly. "Shade, don't! Quit it! Let me go! _NO!_" she was squirming and laughing helplessly, "No no no, argh! Stop! Let me go, both of you, or so help me I will- Angel, no!" she cried between fits of laughter as Angel hoisted one of her legs over and yanked off on of her shoes. She was the only one of us who didn't where proper boots. Well, besides Varan and Fraggle, but they couldn't fit their feet into shoes if they tried. Instead she stuck faithfully to weird pair of shoes that where half sneaker, half combat boot. And unfortunately for her they were extremely easy to remove. Stork kicked her leg in an attempt to keep Angel away from her sensitive foot, but he had a frightening grip and he wouldn't let her go. He tickled the underside of her stocking foot and she started to laugh so hard she couldn't force out any more threats.

"That's what you get for jumping the big boys." he told her mercilessly. "Holler 'Uncle'."

"N-not on y-y-your life!" she choked. Her pride was going to kill her one of these days.

"We killin' the mechanic?" Fraggle asked, turning to look from the helm.

"She's dinner." Angel explained, attempting to get a hold of Stork's other foot.

"Can't breathe! Can't breathe!" Stork wheezed and I laid off a bit.

"Well don't just let her go!" Angel exclaimed but I'd already backed off and released Stork's legs.

"She's going blue, Angel. Let her be."

Grumbling, Angel released Stork's ankle and tossed her shoe back. Stork lay on the floor, gasping and panting for breath. She scooped up her shoe and dragged herself away from both of us a little pointedly. "I hate you both." she panted, glaring at us.

"Aw, we hate you too." I said, retrieving my field guide which had been kicked under the couch.

"So you never gave me an answer." Angel said, reclining lazily on the sofa. "Which is it, Feo-nix or Baby Girl?"

"Stork is fine." Stork said shortly, ramming her foot back into her shoe.

"Nice socks by the way." I commented.

"Shove it."

"What's wrong with Feonix, eh?" Fraggle asked her. "It doesn't sound half bad."

"Very feminine." I added and she glared daggers at me.

"Because there's nothing _more_ feminine then being a grease monkey. Come on, Girly, you gotta have something… girly." I said, holding my ground.

"I like being a grease monkey, thank you very much." Stork stated curtly. "And I don't have to be 'girly' if I don't wanna. Look at Angel, he doesn't act manly and no one bothers _him _about it."

"Of course." Angel muttered.

"How come I'm the only one who has to drag around a stupid nickname anyways? Whatever happened to Angel Cakes?" Stork asked wickedly and Angel flinched.

"_Angel Cakes?_" Fraggle yowled with laughter. "Never heard about that one, eh!"

"There's a reason for that." Angel scowled.

"Yup, he's our wittle Angel Cake. He's so sweet! Isn't he? Aren't a sweet boy, Cupcake?" Stork teased, taking on a voice one would use when talking to a puppy who'd done something clever.

"Aren't we about to loose all our teeth?" Angel asked back in the same voice.

"Sweet wittle boy wouldn't do that!" Stork said, faking a look of horror.

"Angry big boy might."

"Ok, ok, knock it off." I stepped in as the authorative parent in the situation. Fraggle was snickering like mad and clinging to the controls to stay upright.

"Hey, ungrateful food bins!" Varan shouted from the kitchen. "Supper time!"

"Thanks, Mom!" Stork hollered and I gave her a slight smack across the back of the head as I passed her.

"See the thanks I get?" Varan grumbled as I joined him in the kitchen.

"_I'm_ grateful." I said and he shoved me away with a Crocodile grin.

"Patronizers, all of you." he said. "One of you'll have to go get Wasp, she's got her bloody music on again."

"On it!" Stork shouted unnecessarily from the doorway on her way past.

"Use your indoor voice!" Varan shouted back.

"Don't got one!"

Varan rolled his eyes and sat a huge platter of lasagne on the table, as well as a towering bowl of salad.

"Alright, going _El Italiano_!" Angel said, sidling suspiciously close to the stack of brownies Varan had sitting on the counter.

"And I believe you just spoke _en español_, genius." Varan informed him, smacking his knuckles with a wooden spoon as he reached for a brownie. "Didn't your Mommy ever tell you to eat your dinner before you got dessert?"

"My new one did." Angel muttered, massaging his knuckles sourly. Varan whipped the spatula at him.

"Smells good, eh!" Fraggle commented upon swaggering into the kitchen. The ship keeled suddenly and it nearly sent me toppling from my chair.

"FRAGGLE!" We shouted in unison.

"Right, autopilot! Forgot, eh!" Fraggle said, knocking the side of his head with his knuckles humorously. "My bad!"

We watched him for a couple seconds before shouting "WELL GO DO IT THEN!"

"Right, right!" Fraggle nodded and scooted off.

"Jesus H. Taberknackie." Angel muttered after he'd swallowed the brownie he'd pilfered while Varan had been distracted. "That Hairball will land us in a Phoenix nest, I can just see it. One can only hope he gets the _landing_ part right."

"Long ears hear all." Fraggle told him wisely upon entering the kitchen again, at about the same time Varan noticed the top most brownie's absence.

"You hold, I'll hit." he offered to Fraggle who agreed without question, catching Angel in an arm lock and letting Varan go at his unprotected stomach (not hard of course). Angel sure knew how to make people want to hit him, if only jokingly. I told him he should put it on his resume.

I just shook my head at their antics and started to cut the lasagne into rectangles. Stork appeared with Wasp then, skittering around the others imperviously and sitting at her usual place next to my chair. Wasp hovered near the fridge, eyeing the pasta with distaste.

"Are we having boar hide for dinner again? I told you I don't like it." she said to no one in particular.

"And I told you before, it's lasagne, not boar!" Varan scolded while still digging his fists into Angel. "If you don't want it you don't have to eat it."

"I suppose it's got no meat in it?" Wasp asked, dropping into the chair that Fraggle usually sat in indifferently.

"Half does."

"Oh, well that changes everything." Wasp said, helping herself to a slice of the pasta. She sniffed at it unabashedly and it seemed to meet her satisfactory because she started to peel the separate layers apart with her fingers, which was the way she usually ate anything.

"Fork!" Stork barked at her. Wasp looked at her.

"Gazuntite."

Stork shoved the utensil under Wasp's hand. "Use it. Remember, we're trying to be _civilized_ now."

Wasp picked up the fork and held it awkwardly in her fingertips, continuing the dissection of her lasagne. By this time Fraggle and Varan had released their prisoner and the three of them took their seats at the table, Angel hunched and looking sore.

"Argh! What's this?" Wasp demanded, lifting up one of the flat noodles with her fingers disgustedly. "It looks like a giant tape-worm segment! Are you feeding us parasites?"

Stork plonked her head onto the table top. I pulled a face and Fraggle started laughing. Varan looked outraged.

"You've had lasagne before! It's a noodle, that's all! I told you that last time!" he growled at her. Angel grabbed her wrist and shook it, causing the noodle to fall back to her plate with a splat.

"Parasites stay on the plate." he told her.

"Angel!" Varan barked. "See if you get anymore brownies now!"

"Oh, I'll get 'em." Angel said, making a face that was, well, angelic.

"It's not a tape-worm." I assured Wasp, who was still staring at the noodle with discontent.

"Pity, they're good with sauce, eh." Fraggle piped up and Angel burst into laughter.

"You know what, tomorrow you all can make your own dinner." Varan grumbled, cutting his own piece of non-meat lasagne into little squares with the side of his fork.

"I didn't even say anything!" I whined most un-leader like. "And Stork'll starve!"

"Hey!" Stork said to the table top.

"Ok, I'll make you two something. Something real nice that we won't share with the rest of you." Varan stated, glowering at the other three.

"Varan, you know I don't like _skin_." Wasp griped, dropping a sheet of melted cheese onto Angel's plate. Stork groaned and pushed her plate over towards me.

"I think I'll just have salad."

"How in hell did your mother get you to eat?" Varan demanded of Wasp.

"How did her mother force herself to eat?" Angel asked with a Chesy grin. "No wonder you're so scrawny."

"Ok, can we actually just have a nice dinner today?" Stork asked the table. "One where I can actually _eat_ something?"

"I'd like that too, since the rest of you seem so intent on making me cook." Varan huffed. I turned my face so he couldn't see my smile: big, scaly, ka-boom expert Varan who got annoyed when people insulted his cooking. Priceless.

"I keep saying, if one of you'd take the wheel I could make us something, eh." Fraggle offered.

"NO!" the rest of us shouted. Fraggle tucked his ears in against his skull.

"If I want food poisoning, I'll eat those eggs that are in the back of the fridge." Stork said, helping herself to a huge pile of salad. She had a line imprinted on her forehead from the grain on the table.

"They're still in there?" I demanded and Stork shot Angel a 'whoops' look. He glowered at her.

"I'm, er… saving them for something." he explained to me while still eyeing Stork with murder in his pale eyes.

"Last time I heard someone say that we had to make an emergency landing on Macabre, remember?" I said and Fraggle hunched his shoulders.

"I said I was sorry about that." he muttered.

"As soon as you're done eating you'd better get rid of those." I advised Angel. "Keep 'em in _your_ room if you enjoy the smell so much."

"Dinner with the family." Stork said to Varan and he heaved a sigh.

"I call crazy uncle!" Fraggle declared. Stork did a face-palm.

To be quite honest, I looked forward to dinner every evening. Never a dull moment with my crew, I'll tell you that much.

Remember that thing I said about hindsight being twenty-twenty?

**x.x.x Wasp x.x.x**

_A chill wind wormed its way through the warmer air currents of the balmy jungle. It twisted like a snake around the sticky heat, cooling the moisture that clung there and causing it to thicken and swell. Electricity began to tingle between the two surfaces, and the creatures that made their homes on the higher mountain sides of the valley began to hurry about the Canopy, patching up any hole in their nests quickly before the rain began its onslaught. _

_A burst of wind was hurled down into the valley, tearing at the leaves on the higher trees as it slithered down among the mountains' feet. Opening her mouth like a cat so she could better catch the scent the wind carried along with it, the old Faerieshian flared her nostrils and dissected the different fragrances as they were whipped past her, flinging her silver hair out behind her. The air tasted metallic, and she could smell the rain budding in the bloating clouds. The beginning of Monsoon season brought even the youngling storms down into the valley, instead of leaving them to brew among the mountain tops like they did for most of the year._

_One withered ear twitch as she caught a sound battering its way against the wind. Paying it no heed she spread her arms against the wind, standing atop a pinnacle of stone that overlooked a large chasm, stretching down into the jungle floor and towards the center of the earth. This cliff was the highest point at the bottom of the vale, and the chasm tore through the surrounding jungle like a scar, acting as a defensive barrier against any would-be invaders. It was a symbol of protection and destruction, a symbol of the prowess of her tribe._

_Again the call came against the wind, struggling like a moth in a spider's web._

"_Arcana!" it whispered, desperate and frightened._

_The old Faerieshian did not turn even as she heard the owner of the voice stumble onto the plateau._

"_Arcana!" she called again. The flick of a torn ear was all that was offered._

"_Arcana, you must return to the village!" the younger creature cried. Arcana turned her head ever so slightly and caught the scent of blood reeking from the smaller female._

"_Speak." the ancient Faerieshian demanded, not at all pleased at being disturbed._

"_It's Skandar, my Immortal. Her child, it's come early!"_

"_And are there complications?"_

"_Yes, Immortal."_

_The high priestess turned away from the wind and the dark of the chasm and her eyes, blind for decades, landed upon the younger Faerieshian eerily. "And my Lunar can not heal her?"_

"_They've tried, Arcana, they've tried! Nothing they do is working! They say the child brings an evil with her that repels their healing spells."_

_Arcana looked up at the night sky, growing darker with the looming clouds. A full moon hung pale and heavy between the two mountain peaks, showering the forest with a haunting light._

"_Please, my Immortal, we need your help or Skandar and the babe will be lost!" the younger Faerieshian pleaded. Without a word Arcana stepped down from the pedestal and melted into the jungle without a ripple like a fish diving into deeper waters. Her bare feet flashed nimbly over the forest floor, which was carpeted beneath layers of moss and leaves. A clutch of luminescent mushrooms sprouted from among a basket of roots, lighting up a small path carved between low growing plants, probably made by the foolish young female in her hurry. The jungle warriors usually left no hint of their passing. Arcana seemed to flow over this path, following it back to her village and weaving among the vines and trees and over the gnarled and jagged roots like a raindrop over a leaf's surface. She'd been born and raised among these trees, and she didn't need sight to guide her through her jungle home. She was a part of her homeland and she'd lived in this valley for nearly eight decades. It was as familiar to her as her own breathing and the use of her eyes probably would have hindered her now more then assisted._

_The soft jungle floor shortly gave way to damp, flattened earth as she broke from the trees, entering her village. She could feel the spiritual presence of her Lunar and followed it towards a hut on the fringes of the settlement. The blood-scent became overpowering as she stepped towards the entrance and she had to halt outside to breathe deeply a few times and clear her mind of its red cloud. Years and years of predator instinct didn't just come and go when it pleased._

_Pushing aside the flap of hide that served as a door Arcana entered the cramped quarters. She could feel several Lunar around her, their voices suddenly hushed as she appeared inside. Arcana could feel their tension, the effects of their spells lingering among them and the smoke of their burned incense clogging the air and almost covering the blood-scent._

"_Arcana." spoke the closest, a priestess by the named of Leer. "She's barely among us…"_

"_You're healing spells would not work?" Arcana asked without a touch of concern in her low, powerful voice. She moved closer to the only Faerieshian who was not a priestess. Skandar was lying on a bed of moss which had absorbed much of the blood, but much more continued to spill onto the floor, mixing with the earth into dark mud. Her chest was fluttering hopelessly like that of a bird that'd been blasted by a gust of wind into a tree and now was fighting for the last few moments of its life. Her body was pouring off heat and she was twitching and trembling beneath the beam of moonlight that burned through a hole cut in the ceiling of the hut._

"_No, Arcana. Something… something repelled them and would not let them do their work. We tried everything."_

"_Then she can not be saved." Arcana said dismissively, turning towards the flap again._

"_What of the babe?" spoke up another, Farrow, who was the youngest of the Lunar. Arcana turned to her, her white eyes scorching into Farrow's. Farrow looked down at her bare feet submissively. Arcana turned her haunting gaze back to Leer. "It still lives?" she asked. Something was struggling behind her dead eyes, something like a warning._

"_We cannot be certain." Leer reported. "The child is a full Cycle early."_

_Arcana stepped back towards Skandar, passing her hand under the moonlight and brushing it carefully over her belly. Skandar flinched but beneath her skin ran another ripple, a ripple of something very much alive. Arcana withdrew her hand quickly and tilted her face upwards to feel the moonlight crawl over her pale skin, smooth and taut despite her years. The light of a full moon._

_Leer was behind her, leaning into her ear. She was the only one of the Lunar who dared to come within the personal space of the Immortal. "You know what Cycle this is. And with the full moon…"_

_Arcana snarled at her and pushed her back. "I know better then you what it means." she intoned so all could hear. "Cut the child free and bring it to the Pinnacle." she instructed of her priestesses. She felt them nod around her and two came forward, one clutching a long, thin strip of razor sharp metal. It flashed in the moonlight and Arcana turned her back on Skandar's screams as she stepped out from the hut and into the air, with was thick with the coming storm._

_As she pressed the bottoms of her cold feet onto the smooth earth a sudden impulse flared up in front of her sightless eyes. Shadows and fangs, and eyes that burned from the pits of the Underworld. Hackles raised the black jaguar snarled from deep in its throat, a sound that tore through Arcana's mind and struck her heart. Molten heat flowed through her veins and left her feeling cold inside. And as quickly as it started, it all stopped with a final flash of white heat. A clap of thunder reverberated in the lightning's wake instantly afterwards, rocking the earth and stone and echoing in Arcana's thin chest._

"_My Immortal?" Leer spoke from behind her and Arcana clenched her long toes to keep from flinching. "Are we to sacrifice the child to Artemis?"_

_Arcana turned on her chief Lunar slowly, hollow eyes unblinking. "Artemis has no witness among us tonight."_

"_Then we shall wait for the moon to pass." Leer said as if in confirmation._

"_No."_

"_No?" Leer reiterated._

"_No. The child contains a spirit, a deep and terrible thing and to kill her would release it among us."_

_Leer gawked. "Eris?" she whispered as if she feared to give the name too much strength._

"_Yes." Arcana hissed. "The child is a reincarnation, born on the moon of our Goddess's Shadow. She contains something dark and powerful and I will not risk setting it loose. I have never felt such raw… fright. I could feel the child's energy through Skandar's skin."_

"_A blasphemy." Leer spat. 'Why should we let it live among us?"_

"_I have been sent a warning. I have seen the Black Jaguar."_

_Leer inhaled sharply._

"_If we destroy the girl we will, in turn, be destroyed. I will not question our Goddess, nor her twin."_

"_A girl. What if the child is male?"_

"_Then we shall drop him into the Crevice. No male ever received such power, and none ever will either."_

"_My Immortal." Farrow suddenly stuck her head out from behind the flap. "Skandar is dead."_

"_And the child?" Arcana asked, almost hesitant._

"_Alive and healthy, from the looks of it. A girl, Arcana. Shall we deliver her to the Pinnacle?"_

"_No. I've been sent an omen. The girl will remain among us, raised by a surrogate. Find one whom she resembles and deliver her to them as soon as I've named her." Arcana instructed and Farrow nodded doggedly and disappeared back inside the hut._

_Arcana could feel Leer's gaze against her skin. "Are you sure of this?" she asked, as doubting of her Immortal as one would ever get._

"_We shall watch her carefully as she grows. And we shall wait. That is all we can do." And with that Arcana stepped past her unruly Lunar and entered the hut for a second time. _

_The stench of death hung in the air like a thunderhead. There was no sound form the child as Arcana stepped inside, but she could feel her presence and stepped towards her undeterred. Farrow had her cradled in her arms gently and offered her forward to Arcana. Arcana made not motion to accept the baby and simply examined her though unseeing eyes. She wanted nothing more then to dispose of the horrid little creature. The aura surrounding her was immense and suffocating, waiting to erupt. Her scent was familiar and yet as foreign and strange as if she were a completely different species._

_Reaching out with a skeletal hand, Arcana refused to be beaten into submission by a pathetic infant. As soon as her fingers grazed the child's forehead she wanted to recoil and tear the child's chest open. Instead she laid her palm over the baby's head, which was still damp with her mother's blood. She closed her white orbs and allowed her energy to branch and seep into the child's, searching._

"_Are we to raise her to be a priestess, Arcana?" Leer asked, a hint of something hard in her voice._

"_No. I will not allow the child to become in tune with her energy, nor anyone else's. To grant her the gifts of a Lunar would mean our destruction." Arcana muttered, still reaching into the child's spiritual energy. Quite suddenly something raw and fierce grabbed at her, drawing her out of her own security and self and pulling her into a place that was unstable and strange. The child made a noise, not a cry but something guttural and otherworldly. Her energy shot through Arcana's arm like a warning stab of a dagger and she pulled back, shocked. Outside lightning sizzled and crackled down, meeting between earth and sky to unleash a might roar of thunder. And as the last of the terrible noise faded and died it left a hissing sound to flow like black water through Arcana's mind, black water with a name._

"_Wickett." she whispered, her strength gushing and pulsing out through her throbbing hand. "The child's name is Wickett. And she is to be a warrior."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Stork's colossal axe came screaming through the air towards me in a horizontal swipe. I threw myself out backwards while keeping my feet firmly planted, forcing myself nearly in half to avoid that mighty blow without sacrificing my position. I felt it whip by and I straightened up instantly, chopping downward with Throatknotch, the machete that was home in my left hand. Stork had used both hands in her massive swipe and had to twist to the side to avoid my attack, switching the direction of her battle axe in mid-swing and sending the flat side roaring back to greet me with a powerful backhand. I'd been expecting the move, however, had left my flank open on purpose. Carnivore snapped up to block the swing, so much strength behind it that it jarred my arm when my machete connected with her axe handle. Leaving her axe suspended by Carnivore I rushed back in with Throatknotch, a side long swipe aimed directly for her now exposed hip.

Out flashed one of her smaller throwing axes, catching Throatknotch and holding it there. Both our hands were occupied and I beat her to the kick. I snapped out with my boot, and punched my foot right into her stomach. It surprised her and I heard the air leave her lungs with a _whoosh_. As she doubled over I felt the strain of her weapons against mine relax and I spun free, stepping back with both of my weapons ready in front of me, waiting.

Stork refused to drop her weapons and was half-standing shakily, the arm that held the throwing axe clutched across her gut, wheezing. I lowered my weapons, feeling sort of bad. I forget sometimes that I've got a strong kick and that humans are delicate and breakable.

"Did I wind you?" I asked, coming closer, weapons at my side non-threateningly.

"Oh yeah, you winded me alright." Stork gasped, struggling to fill her lungs with enough air. "Suppose I should have expected that."

"Sorry." I said, and the word surprised me. I don't think I've ever said it before.

"No problem. I mean, now I'll know what to expect next time." Stork said, straightening determinedly and raising her weapons again. She looked like she was hurting, though. Humans didn't realize at first glance, but despite our lithe, delicate frames we Faerieshians really know how to pack a punch. You pit a Faerie against a three hundred pound Night Brawler and you'd better be putting your money on the Faerie or pack off quick before they start asking to cough up. I've seen one of my kind break a full grown man at least twice her weight's ribs with one well placed kick.

I saw it from a first person perspective.

"Come on." Stork digged at me, twirling one of her throwing axes around her wrist impatiently. I was paying attention to the something else at the moment though. I could here the riggings of the ship pulling and grinding as Fraggle toggled the handle bars up above. It was like a mechanical symphony, so much sound for just one tiny movement. It amazed me, the way these big rigs worked. So many things all working together to make the impossible seem easy, like watching tiny Leaf-cutter ants dissemble and strip a tree bare in a matter of days. Hours if it was a big enough colony.

Stork smacked my thigh right above my knee-cap, the naked place between my boots and my ill-fitting shorts. The blade was coated by a Shielding crystal I'd stuck in the Cradle at the bottom of her weapon. That way we could practice with our actual weapons and not risk loosing a charge into each other of slicing each other open like fish. I looked back around at her to see her grinning cheekily at me.

"Well?" she taunted, bouncing from foot to foot zealously. I like her plucky attitude. _So I got booted in the gut? So what?_ her eyes seemed to be saying.

I flicked up Carnivore in front of my body while keeping Throatknotch at my side, ready and waiting. I let her come at me this time. After all, I'd just gave her a good wallop in the stomach, she deserved first strike.

She paced one way and then the other, her feet impatient and skittish. She was trying to look crafty and unreadable and failing miserably. She knew it too because she was laughing. It hadn't been until I'd met Rainer that I realized training and fighting could be fun. The Brawl Cage had taught me just how much fun, even if you could only play skin rumbles in there.

Finally she pounced on me, like a young kitten who was trying to get the jump on a seasoned old alley cat. She feinted in with her throwing axe, chopping at my left shoulder, and as I pulled Carnivore up for the block she aimed instead with her battle axe at my open flank. I'd seen the feint coming though and whirled around, using Throatknotch to come up as I turned my back to her and knock her axe aside. By the time I was facing her again I had her arm out wide, stretched across her body the other way while Throatknotch settled easily back to the left side of my body. With her arm pinned so awkwardly like that it was nearly impossible for to block my next slash with Carnivore now at her midriff. She threw her hips out behind her, sucking in her belly and narrowly avoiding my attack. Deftly she rolled her battle axe around Throatknotch and with a steady, one-handed horizontal back-hand clobbered my in the side with the flat of her axe head. I grunted and let some of the air out of my lungs so the blow wouldn't wind me. She didn't have enough swing room and her arm was still at a strange angle so the blow wasn't nearly as hard as I knew she could deliver. Still, it shoved my to the side a bit, enough for her to take a step back and set herself up again properly before coming back at me with another back-hand.

The attack was aimed for the middle of my torso so I had to twist around it rather then say, jump over it or duck under it. Instead I came around its arc, smacking the handle with Carnivore and Throatknotch in rapid succession to keep it a bay. Then I turned both blades on their sides and came in with a low and high slash. She knocked Carnivore, the higher, out of the way and made a swipe at my shoulder, but I ducked under her attack and smacked her across the hip with Throatknotch. She instinctively moved her exposed leg out of the way and pivoted on her anchored foot, away from me and out of harms reach.

I heard her battle axe coming while I was still in a crouch. I rolled past her and felt that monster rush by over my bent back. I came up in a crouch again and spun back towards her, machetes poised in front of my lowered form and shooting out my right leg to try and trip her. She deaked around me and made a rather violent attempt to clock me in the head with her shorter throwing axe, which surely would have knocked me out. I raised Carnivore to catch it in mid air and spun out from underneath her range coming up beside her.

"How rude." I said in a flat voice and she laughed. We stood still for a moment, letting our limbs settle before I suddenly sprang at her and it started all over again.

Maybe half an hour later we both plopped down on the cool hanger floor, our breathing quick but not uncomfortable and each feeling a few achy spots that were sure to bruise the next day.

"We should practice more often." Stork told me. "You're not as careful as Falshade. I like it."

"He's afraid of breaking you."

Stork snorted. "I know. But it's not like I'm a cream puff or anything. I can take a beating."

I tried to imagine Stork in the Brawl Cage, surrounded by maybe two score of half-ripped Bruisers and Tom cats all ready to break some skin. I'd put twenty hit on her to humour her.

"Do you think we'll see any action tomorrow?" Stork asked me as I hunted though my coat pockets for a Buzz Juice.

"Like, Vultures?"

"Sure."

I shrugged. Vultures were a broad term used to cover bandits and rogues. I was pretty sure the Sky Knight League had given Macabre the nickname The Vulture's Nest as a sort of weird joke. I didn't know why. But I'd heard rumours about this area, the part of the Atmos that had lived under Cyclonian shadow for years before the war. It had always been a safe haven to pirates and the like, like a place where there was always favourable thermals for vultures to ride upon on their rancorous wings.

I wasn't going to bother to hide it, the thought of a good air-mash really appealed to me. It'd been three months since Stork had pulled me off Macabre and since then the only exercise I'd been getting was some here-and-there training. It wasn't good for me, I was sure. I needed to feel a good crack at the receiving end of one of my machetes, my hunting fangs.

Stork was tapping her feet against the floor, a sound that _ping-pinged_ its way all across the hanger. Her shoelace danced and wiggled with every tap and I watched it, entranced like a fish who spots a worm on the end of a hook.

"You look like a kitty." Stork informed me, twitching her nose as if she had whiskers.

I made a mewling noise that sounded so realistic she started then laughed.

"Do a tree frog next!" she joked and I made a peeping noise in the back of my throat, sort of wet and squelchy and she hugged her knees in tight, laughing. She tried and managed to suck her cheeks against teeth, making a weird _gor-rou._

"Well, that sounded like a _squashed_ tree frog, sure." I said, cracking open my can of bio-fuel and gulping at it. My saliva was sticky and thick afterwards and I squirted a thin jet of it out from between my teeth, allowing it to snake over my chin and drop towards the floor. I sucked back on the end of it, slurping it back up fluidly like slug slime. I did it a few more times, allowing the glob at the end to stretch the line thin like a leech stretched its body and then suddenly hunches it all back together in one big bulge. Before it could hit the floor I slurped it back into my mouth until I let it stretch too far and it broke and burst on the floor. Stork pulled a face.

"You whacko." she told me. I ran my fingers through my personal ooze, spreading it across the floor and catching it among my fingers like webbing before reaching out towards her, strings of saliva popping and dangling from my fingertips. She made a noise somewhere between a disgusted grunt and a playful squeal and rolled backwards out of my reach.

"Hey, Stork." Angel's voice's suddenly snapped to life over the intercom. "If you two are done banging each other down there you can get you greasy self up here and tell Fuzz Bucket where to turn. You know, like a navigator's supposed to. I'm just saying."

Stork grabbed a bolt that was rolling along the floor aimlessly and flicked it at the speaker. It bounced off with a sound _bonk_ and probably spat a lot of static back at Angel. Stork grinned in satisfaction as she got up from the floor.

"You coming or are you gonna slink around down here for awhile?" she asked me. I was running my hands through my spit and didn't respond. She shrugged and left, thoughtfully leaving the lights on for me. It was kind of her, but I hadn't intended on staying in here anyways. Pushing myself to all fours I prowled across the floor like some sort of deformed jungle cat before standing up on my legs and clomping my way towards the bay doors in my big boots. I loved my boots.

There were controls that could open the doors, but there was also a manual pulley that allowed you to crack them open under your own power. I guessed it was in case of a crash and you lost all power and had to get out or something. You had to think safe when you were flying a tin can through unstable skies, you know.

I yanked the doors open a bit and wiggled my way through, out onto the runway. Fraggle had caught me out here before after we'd been flying for several hours and had told me to go out on the deck if I wanted to be outside while we were flying, because at least then there was the railing. Of course I hadn't listened.

My face, which was sticky and taut from my drink I'd dumped all over it earlier, was hit with cool wind as I dropped onto the runway on all fours again. It felt good. It whipped past me, not as strong while I was still protected in the lee of the _Merlin_'s hull, tugging my electric black hair out along behind it as if it were inviting it to come play. I crawled out along the runway, the wind buffeting and blasting my harder the further out I ventured. I felt as if at any moment it could suddenly crawl under my and scoop me up with it. I wondered what it would be like to be caught in the slip stream, rolling and tumbling alongside the giant metal bird. I imagined it would be fun.

I reached the end of the run and gripped the edge with my long fingers, pulling my body right up to the edge and peering over. I couldn't tell how high up we were, even if I had the light of the sun to help my judge the distance. I didn't mind though. I loved the night. I loved to be with it. I felt separated from it when I was closed up in my room.

I lay my chin on the backs of my fingers, making myself as flat and as streamline as possible. The wind sucked at my ears and made my eyes water and I liked it. I wondered what colour the wind was. Did it change with the sky when night and shadows crept up from the edges of the world? Or was it a colour all its own, changing all the time to fit its mood?

I spewed out another trail of saliva, and the wind was so rough and playful that it snatched it up in its talons and sucked it out behind me, smearing some of it across my cheek. I rubbed at myself with my shoulder and then just held still, letting the wind and the darkness wash over me like a cold rain.

**So, there we go, my first multi-chappie in first person and with flashbacks. Next chapter may take some time, they'll be at the Scar and lots o' fun stuff going on down there! I'll try to get a POV of Varan in next chappie, he seems to have been neglected. Ugh, thank god it's the March break! Anybody else having a horrible semester, say Rock Me Amadeus. Or something, whatever you like. My Grrr Factor has been climbing, I really need a holiday. If ya'll agree that school is bad for your health leave a review! Or, you know, don't, no pressure XD.**


	7. The Scar

**7**

**The Scar**

**Argh! As always with me, I'm sorry for not updating for so long! But, in a rare moment of self-restraint (Ha. Me. Restraint.) I forced myself to do my homework over the last little while. And while I believe FanFiction is much more productive then school, it ain't exactly gonna feed me when I'm out on my lonesome. Anyways, without further ado, here is the latest instalment. I'll let you read on now. Oh, no, wait, I lied, quick question first: does anyone know when they're gonna start airing the new episodes of Storm Hawks?**

**Oh yeah, I found some more songs I thought were fitting. Having a bit of trouble with picking the right ones.**

**Stork: Bla Bla Bla by Out of your Mouth**

**Angel: The Bird and the Worm by the Used**

**Varan: Let's Get this Party Started by Korn**

_**In a crooked little town**_

_**They were lost and never found**_

_**-Fallen Leaves, Billy Talent**_

**x.x.x Varan x.x.x**

For some reason unknown to me yet, I'm always, without fail, the first one up every morning. It doesn't matter what time it is, I'm always the first one to venture out onto the bridge. I think what it _really_ is is those lazy little toads don't wanna leave the safety of their rooms until they can smell breakfast cooking and are sure they aren't going to get dragged into any sort of labour. To quote Stork: jerks.

But something about getting up early and stepping out onto the deck before the rest of them were awake and just breathing in deep the new day's air and feeling the sun's new rays on my scaly skin was just irresistible to me. It became like a daily routine, my sunrise meditations, a bit of privacy before the rest of the crew were bumbling about the ship, annoying each other and acting like the kids we are. I didn't mind any of that, but it made those sunny moments alone even more precious, if you know what I mean. What I really liked about it was I felt not only in touch with myself during that short period of time, but in touch with my mother. I couldn't remember her too well, but I knew she loved the sunlight for more then just its heat. And the more in touch with my mother I felt, the less I did with the rest of my species, and I liked that too. My father had never sounded like one who had enjoyed the light of the sun.

Therefore I was surprised and even a bit disappointed when I reached the bridge to find several of my friends already up and ready for action on the bridge. Well, sort of. A certain Blizzarian was looking pretty comatose up at the helm, which is even more alarming then it sounds if you happen to be trapped aboard the same ship he's flying.

Falshade was leaning against the wall, a mug of coffee in his hand. We all had our own, er, personalized mugs so no one could 'mistaken' another's for theirs and start an all out war, and Falshade's made me laugh no matter how many times I saw it. It was green with lots of little pink piggies all over it. Stork had given it to him as a birthday present, for some reason. It had been full of Ka-Booms, little candies with fizzy stuff inside that he has some sort of scary fetish with, and I assume that's why she gave it to him. She hadn't expected him to keep the mug.

"'Morning." he said as I approached. "Want some coffee?"

"You made some by yourself? It's a miracle!" I teased and he punched my arm.

"Yes, I did, and I made enough for you to have some too." he said haughtily.

"Of course, you couldn't be bothered to make a cup for me."

"Can't win with you." He griped and I messed up his hair. And then I went to get some coffee, to humour him. I don't really like coffee, to be honest, but I'll drink it if it'll shut someone up. Or spare their feelings. Fuck, I'm just a big, scaly softie.

A half-conscious Fraggle had oozed his way out of bed and to the wheel. He was using the control for support, it seemed, more then actually steering. Stork was standing next to him, examining the charts. She noticed me and gave a small wave, looking cheerful in a way that a wolverine might. It was hard to say if Stork was a morning person or not. Some days we were afraid to wake her up because she'd probably tear our heads off. If we were lucky. Other days she was up right after me, perky and ready to go. With her I think it's more a mood thing then anything else. I'm sure it's that way with most girls.

Today was a day which really made me nervous, because she seemed fine, on the surface, but with girls you never know if they're ready to blow underneath. And anything can set them off. Girls are scary creatures, and they drive you nuts too. But she might have been just peachy, and I wouldn't know. In those situations I learned to just keep my distance and keep my mouth shut. That's why I'm still in Stork's good books.

I waved back and then sat at the table with my java. The sun was shining brightly outside the window, and I felt separated from it. I guess I'd made too much of a habit of it or something. I'm kinda a creature of routine. I get thrown off by some of the strangest things. For example, when I was just a little newt of a kid running around Vatican I had this book, one of those picture books that little kids ask their parents to read for them night after night. Well, that was this book to me. And I used to get my mother to read it to me every night before I went to sleep. Well, my adopted mom, I guess you could say. As I got older I began to read it on my own every night, and then when I was even older I just kept it on the shelf by my bed like a talisman to keep away bad dreams. And one day it vanished. I don't know how. I got up one morning and it wasn't on the shelf. I tore my room apart looking for it. I think I was about eleven at the time. I hunted all over the house, and outside too. I wanted to look in Falshade's house for it too, even thought I knew it hadn't ever set page there. I didn't of course, because he would've helped me look and I would have felt like an idiot. Jeez, that would have been like admitting I still slept with a teddy bear or something. I had nightmares for weeks and felt sick all the time, and I figured it was because I didn't have this book. Every time it rained I cried because I thought that if it had gotten outside the rain would ruin it. I rarely went out to play with Falshade anymore because I would always wonder if maybe the book would turn up while I was gone and I'd want to rush home and see. My mom ended up taking me to a doctor to see if I had a psychological disorder or something. The doctor said this was my past traumas worming a way into my life in some other way. It still didn't make that book come back though.

Then one night I just fell asleep. No nightmares. I slept the whole night through and got up the next morning and felt fine. And it stayed like that. It was just weird. It was like I'd never had a problem. Four months later the book turned up like it had never left, like a dog that got off the leash and ran off and then turned up maybe a year later after the owners had given up hope and maybe even gotten a new dog. I was so happy for all of three seconds before feeling very afraid. Did I still need the book? Were those bad feelings going to come back if I lost the book again? It must be like how someone who's been on anti-depressants for years must feel when they suddenly are told they're fine and don't need them anymore. So I decided to take matters into my own hands. I tore the first page out of the book, folded it carefully and stuck it in my dresser under and old jacket that I had another strange anchorage too and even though it was too small I couldn't get rid of it. Then I burned the rest of the book and threw the ashes into my mom's garden. The flowers bloomed that year bigger and prettier then any other year before or since, even though we didn't get nearly enough rain. It was almost like I'd sort of cast a spell that was supposed to stop me from forming anymore of these strange little habits and attachments.

Sometimes the easiest person to fool is yourself. 'Cause here I was, how many years down the road, with a foreboding feeling crawling around in my chest because I hadn't gone and done my sunrise meditation. I hadn't been feeling the greatest ever since I'd agreed to go to the Scar in the first place. I mean, yeah, I thought it was a pretty good plan. What better place to go for answers to a nightmare then the fallen, haunted kingdom of nightmares? So I'd agreed because Shade was my buddy and we needed a plan. But I'd been sorta freaked out about it, and now that my routine had been mucked up it was like a thunderhead of bad feelings had decided to take up roost over my head. I was so jumpy I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to be adding caffeine into the mix too, but at least if I concentrated on drinking my coffee I wasn't concentrating on those little gremlins that were scuffling about inside my head. As much, anyways.

Angel sat next to me, looking like he'd gotten over his brownie overdose from the night before. He didn't drink coffee, but he had his mug in his hand, which had some sort of steaming liquid in it with a funny smell. Some sort of weird tea, I assumed.

"Best thing for a chocolate hangover." he explained to my quizzical look, raising his mug in a 'cheers' sort of way. Angel: cold, distant, sarcastic, cynical… brownie addict. It was funny like how Falshade's mug was funny. And it made me sad too. It just went to show you, despite our tough "we can handle anything" exteriors, we were really just a pack of kids.

"So where the fuck are we?" Angel asked. Gotta love our articulate use of the language.

"Somewhere in the south quadrant. East-ish." Stork said from up at the helm.

"How long 'til we hit the Scar?" Falshade asked.

"A lot less then I thought it would have taken by now. Thanks to Speedy McDeathtrap here we'll probably get there sometime… soon." Stork answered, clapping Fraggle on the shoulder. He grunted incoherently.

"'Soon' isn't real solid. Estimated time? An hour, two hours?" Falshade asked, revolving a hand in the air as an invitation for Stork to fill in the space.

"Three hours, maybe more. Maybe less. Can't be sure. We haven't flown over a Terra in awhile, so I can't guess from the map. I'd say we're somewhere here-ish." Stork said, pointing at a space in between tow blobby looking Terras on her chart. "And if we keep up a constant, _reasonable_ speed…"

"Right." Falshade said with a nod.

"And considering we don't run into any Vultures." Angel added. "I mean, that might eat up time. You know, possibly."

"We got it, smarty." Stork told him. "Like, pretty quickly too. We probably guessed it right away without your continuations. It wasn't that hard."

"Gee, that _is_ annoying." Angel said with a smirk. "Like, extremely irritating. Really aggravates you. Wears on your tolerance level, in fact."

Stork threw the compass at him.

"Well, if we do end up fighting any pirates I suppose we'd better have a good breakfast first." I said, getting up. I needed to keep my hands busy.

Wasp was sitting cross-legged at the table, eating a bowl of Sky Charms. If she'd been using a spoon, she almost might have looked normal. She loved those damn things, even though she wasn't as fond of the cereal pieces as she was the marshmallows. She asked me once if they sold the boxes without the 'crunchy things' in them and had looked almost heart broken when I'd told her no. That had probably been the longest conversation we'd had.

"Good morning" I told her and rolled a spoon across the table, not really expecting a reaction, but it was worth a shot. To my surprise she snatched it up, but instead of digging it into her cereal she examined the shiny metal like a magpie might. She tilted it and frowned at her reflection.

"Why does it do that?" she asked me suddenly as I set the frying pan on the stove.

"Pardon?" I asked, tail twitching in that annoying way it does like it's got a mind of its own. She unnerved me, and worse it was like she knew exactly how I felt too.

"Me. In the spoon. Why does it flip around like that? I'm still right way up."

"Oh." Oddly enough I could recall asking my mom the same thing when I was about six. Well, my adopted mom. "I used to know. Something about the refraction of light and the way the spoon's bent, I think."

"Refraction." she said, more like a statement then a question. Then she cackled and it made me start. "I look like a bat!" she exclaimed as if thrilled by the notion.

"Can't imagine why you'd want to." I said, digging the eggs out of the fridge and giving the cartoon a good sniff to make sure they weren't Angel's… experiment. I was sure he hadn't listened to Falshade the night before.

"What's wrong with bats?" Wasp demanded, sounding honestly insulted.

"Nothing." I stammered. Jeez, she freaked me out. "I just don't think you'd want to look like one. They're pretty… odd looking." Oh the irony. If it had been anyone else that remark wouldn't have mattered as much.

"I think they're cute."

Of course.

I fumbled for something to say, but she gone back to scooping cereal out of the bowl. Despite the fact she was dunking her hands into the milk rather violently, there wasn't a single drop of it on the table, nor was it trickling down her wrists like I would have expected.

I cracked three eggs into the pan, deciding to start with fried eggs before things got more complicated. Everyone on the _Merlin_ liked their eggs different. And since I was the "Egg Master", as dubbed by Stork (I was also the Toast Master, the Waffle Wizard, the Juice Master and basically supreme ruler of anything that had to be more then zapped in a microwave) I'd been elected as the only one who was allowed to make them. I'm just really good at not breaking the yolk, that's all. Falshade, Fraggle and I preferred fried eggs. All sunny-side up, thank god. We're a pretty happy bunch. Angel liked omelettes, usually with something unimaginative in them like cheese. I told him he was squandering my talent by asking for such boring fillings rather then say…green onions and mushrooms and three types of peppers. To spite me he'd asked for a plain omelette. And he told me he refused to eat anything that could be found growing on a stump. Stork just liked scrambled eggs. Fair enough. But she was horribly picky. One day I'd added bacon bits in to add some flavour and she'd spent all morning picking out every single one. And griping. Wasp ate eggs raw. She sucked them right out of the cracked shell. I didn't give them to her anymore. She was off the egg-list.

I set the other frying pan up and slapped half a package of bacon in it. You'd think bacon would have been something we all could agree on, but no. Falshade liked it crispy, Stork and Fraggle liked it… uncripsy, I guess. I don't know how to describe it. Tender, there. Half raw. Whatever. Angel liked it somewhere in between. I think he did that to be annoying. Wasp liked it raw too. There was a reason she'd been reduced to eating just cereal. I just didn't eat bacon, period. I don't eat meat, period. It was totally abnormal for one of my species to be a vegetarian, but I suppose if they'd watched they're entire family get butchered right in front of them they'd be off meat too. Ironically enough I still made meat for my carnivorous friends. It wasn't their affliction.

Stork was tugging on my shirt. She had a cutesy look on her face. I sighed. "What do you want?" I asked, ever the push-over.

"Well, I really had a hankering for waffles… but since I'm highly allergic to burned food, I was wondering if you could make some for me."

"You're also allergic to tact, apparently."

I think I'm pretty much the only one Stork will even pretend to beg to, because she knows I won't take it and run with it. That's the other reason I'm still in her good books. She sank to her knees, grabbed hold of my scaly foot, and warbled in a desperately pleading voice. "Undeserving human girl desires waffles, great king of the land of Kitchen. But she is hopeless. Would the great, gracious, brilliant…tall-dark-and-handsome king make them for her?"

"I suppose it can be arranged." I said and she leapt to her feet.

"Awesome. But no funny little surprises, ok? No berries, no "hints of cinnamon", no whipped topping."

"Don't flatter yourself." I said and she made a stomping motion towards my tail.

Stork trusted me not to be an egotistical jerk. And in turn I trusted her not to take advantage of it. That was just how we rolled. And it worked out pretty nicely. She got her waffles, after all.

"Just plug in the iron and I'll have them done in a bit." I instructed and she shot me a doubtful look. "Just plug it _in_, Stork. Nobody ever started a fire by plugging in a waffle iron."

"Dude, it's me."

"…True. Go get the fire extinguisher, just to be safe."

Egotistical jerk unfortunately didn't cover her for just plain old meanie. And therefore it didn't cover me for tail squashings.

* * *

Some people don't notice this right away, but in our squadron there is a bit of a personality clash. No, I'm serious.

I mean, we all got along, for the most part. We hadn't torn each other apart yet, at least. I think that was a big part of what held us together, the fact we were all so different and yet held a common goal. Anyways, due to these clashes some of us were a bit less sociable then others and preferred to stay in our rooms for a good portion of the day. We don't all hang out on the bridge unless we're having a meeting or something.

Therefore it was a little awkward to have all six of us camped out on the bridge that morning after breakfast. It was almost like everybody was afraid to leave. There was no hiding the tension and anticipation and even the fear that all of us held in our postures and muscles. We were all waiting, hanging on the edge of anxiety and hysteria, as if we were desperate for something to come along and get it over with. I realized then that if we did get into a fight it would be our first battle as a squadron, as an official group rather then a cluster of no-name yahoos. Well, it would also be our first official battle. I hoped that prospect unnerved more then just myself. Ever since I'd started training… no, before that. Ever since Falshade and I had sat together at the edge of the plateau back home on Vatican, looking up at the stars like we so often did, and had watched a burning, falling star flash and fade across the inky sky (the first one of the year) and Falshade, at only seven years old, had sworn to me he was going to be a Sky Knight, I'd harboured a secret fear. A fear of just not being good enough. Of riding out to fight with my friends and finding out I just didn't have the guts or the heart for war. It was the only part of my heritage that I wanted to hold on to, to be attached to.

There were things you couldn't help, things you knew you couldn't help or fix and told yourself you had to try and move past it and be anyways. But those things never truly went away. They stayed just below your heart and gnawed at the strings when it was least appropriate. And my heritage had been one of those things. I found some redemption on Vatican, because it was a terra full of refugees, many who'd faced a similar heartbreak as my own and they felt sorry for me. When I got a little bigger I could see people watching my edgily. I took after my father, unfortunately, and I think who'd seen the darker side of the old war must have seen him in my face. The outside world was even less forgiving of the sins I hadn't even committed. Thanks to Falshade and the others I'd learned not to let those sneers and snarls and whispers make me feel like letting myself splatter in the Wastelands. They still bugged me, but that was just a given.

No, the thing that really worried me about my heritage was the monster that lurked in my reflection, in my shadow. Terradons aren't humans for a reason. They… we're not bloodthirsty, heartless beasts (not all of us), but we certainly had our own little traits that marked us slightly more frightening and deadly in battle then say… a scrawny little blonde girl in high tops. In appearance only, mind you. If Stork wanted to she could have a flock of Vultures cowering in a corner like kids. But we Raptors, we're something else. We're built for battle with our strong upper bodies and natural armour. And I mean, anybody could train enough and get good enough to take down a Raptor, no problem. But we're not fully human. We've got a bloodlust in our veins, particularly us males, that comes out in battle, faster, harder, stronger, more consuming then in humans. And I was scared of it. I was thrown and torn by it… on one hand I didn't want to charge into battle only to find out I was a coward, that I was weak and couldn't handle it. But on the other side I didn't want to throw myself into a fight and suddenly go into some blood induced fever and not be able to stop myself… or even enjoy it. We'd decided before, long before our meeting with the Sky Council, that we'd aim to cripple before anything else… that was the golden rule. But I mean, shit happens, and some of the others had been quick to point out that if some dirt-mouthed Vulture bastard decided he wanted to lop off our heads then they weren't going to just aim for his knees. And I had to agree. But this feeling in my gut stayed, this fear I was afraid to mention to the others. We all had them, I was sure. Hell, we all had other secrets too: dark secrets, bloody secrets, regular secrets, strange secrets, dream secrets and the kind of secrets that make you fall to your knees, clutch your head and howl until the pressure behind your eyes is too much. But that was okay. Some people might say friendship is knowing everything about your friends and knowing they trust you enough to let you in on their blackest treasures. To me friendship is being able to accept that your friends have secrets and being able to trust them and move along anyways.

Angel was sitting beside me at the table, as usual, feet propped up in a fake pose of relaxation. I could call his bluff because his fingers were drumming softly on the inside of his knee, barley noticeable but obviously impatient. Or uneasy. Hard to tell with Angel. I knew he'd been scratching for a good fight for….ever. As much as the thought of battle unnerved me, it excited me too, but Angel was just plain hungry for it. I figured he'd probably been in more then a few not-necessarily-friendly squabbles before, which gave him more experience then I had. But I'd seen real battle…. no, bloodshed, slaughter, murder up close and personal, and even though those memories only haunted me, shattered and splintered, in nightmares, I was certainly no 'blood virgin' to quote Wasp. Maybe that was the difference between me and Angel. It was certainly the difference between me and my father, and in a twisted way it almost made me thankful for what had happened to me, all those years ago.

"So… Cyclonia." Angel said to me then in a low voice so the others wouldn't hear up near the helm. I threw a glance their way anyways: Falshade was pacing back and forth like a psycho, Stork was staring out the window while flying probably a million miles away and glancing once and a while back at Fraggle, who was still clinging to the controls to keep himself upright. He doesn't usually do AM.

"Cyclonia." I repeated. Angel had an eerie knack for picking up on that splinter of discomfort and uncertainty that lodges itself in people's brains. Usually he used it against them, to annoy them or destroy them. However he and I had a strange sort of truce. When I went into one of my moods he tried to pick that splinter out.

"Your Daddy ever hang out there?"

Whenever Angel said Daddy it freaked me out. It was just the way he said it.

"I don't know." I answered honestly. The others knew about Repton. It was one of the very first things I'd told them about myself. I'd never been afraid of sharing the big secrets. I'd told them about Repton, and I hadn't had to talk about the Slaughter of Terra Bogaton because that was just common history. Some people preferred to keep those things to themselves. They ate me up inside. I kept the little things to myself, like that panic that would swell in my chest at night or the claustrophobia that made my tail twitchy.

Angel nodded jerkily. "It doesn't really matter."

"No, I guess not." And yet it did matter, and I knew it and Angel knew it.

"Well, yeah, it does, you're right." He agreed even though I hadn't said anything. I think I'd asked him before if he could read minds and he'd laughed at me.

"_No." he'd told me. "Just people."_

"Your Dad's gone though… dead for all we know. And frankly, who cares?" he went on in a muttering, dark voice only he can summon. His buried Saharrian accent laced beneath his syllables. "The way I see it is like this: the bastard hardly knows you exist, wasn't there to raise you when you were little, didn't even care about your mom and has never tried to contact you, for all we know. So why get all worked up about it? You're not him and waltzing into Cyclonia isn't going to set off some time bomb in your DNA and make you turn into him."

Give the man a million dollars, people. He hit the nail right on the head.

That's when I started to smell it.

It had been nagging at my nostrils for a little while, a slight smell on the breeze that was sucked in though the air ventilation system. Trust me, you don't wanna open a window at this altitude. My sense of smells isn't fantastic. It's just this side of sharp, really. But it allows me to pick up on things you humans sometimes miss. But suddenly this weird scent was a little more evident in the air, thicker and ashy. The kind of smell that brings an atmosphere with it, an air that clogs in little lumps in your throat and behind your tongue. It was still faint, a faded trace amid all the other, stronger smells that drifted around the _Merlin_; stale sweat, tense bodies, grease, waffles and Angel's boots, to name the most overpowering. But that new smell was obviously there, something that wouldn't go away. And it sent a foreboding chill right down my spine.

I glanced over at Fraggle to see if maybe he'd noticed it too. His sense of smell was better then mine, I knew that much. He was still slumped over the controls though and hadn't appeared to notice. Heightened senses don't always mean heightened attention spans.

"You smell it, don't you?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Wasp leaned over my shoulder and whispered into my ear. Until recently she'd been lying on the floor with her feet propped up on the sofa, spitting into the air and catching it again in her mouth. I hadn't even heard her come up behind me.

I turned a little so I could see her. Her nostrils were flared and her mouth was open slightly as if to draw in more air, more scents. I saw a slippery rope of saliva congealed and strung between two of her fangs, wicked little shards like glass that belonged in the maw of an animal and not in a human face. It only then occurred to me that Wasp probably had a sense of smell that far surpassed mine or Fraggle's.

"Yeah." I said, feeling trapped and exposed in the gaze of those contrasting orbs. Wasp didn't blink as often as a regular humanoid. Angel twisted a bit, listening and interested despite himself.

"What is it?" I asked her. Her eyes suddenly jumped away from mine, twitchy and flashing all across the bridge before focusing on something just above my left shoulder. I glanced there myself and saw nothing.

"It smells like shadows." she whispered then, no longer focused on me like she had been a moment ago, and I felt relieved. "And like flames."

I drew in a long breath despite myself. The scent was hard to sort apart from the others, and as soon as I did I was only able to hold onto it and analyze it for a second before it slipped away again. I tried to dissect it… charred and heavy, it stung my receptors like something unknown and yet deadly familiar.

"It smells like death." Wasp murmured and I barely caught her words. But they rang in my head like a scream. I nodded, clenching my fists to stop my hands from shaking.

Stork leapt to the window then, peering at a terra off to starboard. Then she suddenly lunged back towards her charts, examining them carefully. "I think that was Terra Micronesia." she said, drawing a long finger over her map like she was tracing our route. "If it was, that means…we're close."

None of us needed to hear the story of Micronesia, which had been one of the first terras to be captured and last to be liberated of Cyclonian control. They were a wary and skittish terra now, haunted by the horrors and nightmares they'd faced while under Cyclonian occupancy. Many of the children I'd grown up with on Vatican with were from there, originally, and had escaped during a high-risk raid conducted by none other then the legendary Storm Hawks and their Interceptor companion Starling. It was one of those stories that mothers told their children before bed to make them feel safe before the lights went off. The Storm Hawks, old or new, owned many of those stories. They were sort of heroes to me, the ones that had been around in the newer war, the second generation, especially after I'd heard the story of how they'd liberated Terradons from Terra Bogaton who'd been held under siege then none other then my old man.

"Whoa. I spy with my little eye something that looks like bad news, eh." Fraggle reported then, mouthing his first words all morning.

We all looked out the front window then, one simultaneous head turn of apprehension. Dead ahead of us, while still miles away, was a dark smudge roiling on the horizon line. It didn't just blot and smother the light of the sun, it seemed to absorb it into ravenous murky purple depths. It looked like the remnants of a dead storm, or an imploding star. It certainly looked like a black hole to me, one that stretched ominously and etched itself in my mind's eyes. That foreboding feeling intensified and my tail began to snap back and forth without my permission, but not without my agreement either.

"A Death Place." Wasp said bluntly and that smell crawled up my nose and sat under my eyes like it belonged there.

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

_He'd never been particularly fond of his own name. His full name, anyways, even though it was what he went by now. So he could understand that she didn't really like hers either. Well, that was a bit of an understatement. She didn't just disapprove of the name, she couldn't stand it._

"_Why couldn't you have called me something else?" she asked him again and again during her angry little fits only an eight year old was capable of. He had to fight back a smile every time her little pixie face crinkled and frowned and pouted at him, an annoyed, begging look she'd perfected after years of watching him. Sometimes she'd hit him with tiny fists when he sang out her name. Sometimes she'd ignore him until he called her something else, usually Flea, a nickname he'd given her because she was so energetic and tiny. _

_She seemed at times so grown up, so ready to face the world, so ready to fight. And yet she would always and forever be a child too, and she showed that in her cranky fits and unquenchable curiosity._

_He remembered one such fit she'd had, shortly after she'd came home barely and yet determinedly holding back tears. The moment he saw her dirty and bloody little body he felt panic swell and dig at his insides, a new sort of panic that clutched and froze him whenever she appeared hurt or distressed. He grabbed hold of her and she wailed when she dropped what remained of her Scooter board as he carried her upstairs, cradling her in his arms like a broken bird. He forced her into the bathtub despite her complaints and began to gently dab away the dirt and blood from her face and arms and knee caps. Her tiny hands were skinned and raw and her hair was coated with a fine layer of dust and grit. She'd scraped her delicate, proud chin and cut up her cheeks and forehead as if her face had been the first thing to hit the ground. Her jeans were torn and stained with rusty coloured blood. He cursed himself again and again for getting her that stupid board and wrapped her in a towel with his strong arms, sitting her on the counter and began applying bandages to her cuts and scrapes like his own mother had done when he'd come home after a nasty fall or scrap._

"_What happened?" he asked her gently, smearing some antiseptic over her torn knees with careful fingertips._

"_I tried to… well, Flick was being a moron, he told me he could beat me in a race, no problem. So I raced him and I…" here she stopped to swallow a sob. "My Scooter… the engine, Daddy, it broke. And I went down. I broke my Scooter, Daddy!" she yowled, seeming more upset by the loss of her fantastic toy then by any physical injuries. _

"_Aw, Flea, don't cry." He pleaded. He wanted to cry whenever he saw pain in those beautiful eyes._

"_I'm not crying!" she protested. "But what am I going to do about my Scooter? Do you think you can fix it?"_

"_I dunno, Flea. I'm only good at patching up little girls." he said, expertly attaching a bandage to her thin skin after years of practice._

_Her eyes crinkled. "But Daddy… my Scooter…"_

"_I know it's your Scooter, babes, but I'm not so good with that kind of stuff. And I have no idea how to fix its engine."_

_She frowned at him, not accusing or angrily, just considerably. Then she slid off the counter and went to her room without a word. A short while later, once she was dressed again, he heard her patter down the stairs and pick up her broken toy, and then the door opened and shut as she melted into their micro backyard. He sat down on the bathroom floor, pulling himself right up against the sink and put his head on his knees and cried._

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx _

_Hours later he still hadn't heard her come inside after he'd thrown some of their clothes into the washing machine and then read a small handbook he'd had stashed on a shelf among so many other unused books which was all about engines parts and the laws of aerodynamics. He headed for the back door in his sock feet, mismatched and looking as stitched together and unravelling as he felt. Maybe they could try to forget about the whole incident and make some cookies or something. Inside his gut churned at the thought._

_He promised he'd never let her fall. And she had. _

"_Hey, Flea?" he asked, pushing open the screen door that allowed the warm summer air to flow into the house and filter through his damaged aura. "What are you up to? You wanna make cookies or something?"_

"_Daddy, look!" she exclaimed excitedly, leaping up from the grass were several things flashed in the sunlight. Tools, he realized, and parts. She was holding her Scooter board against her chest and had a huge grin cracked across her face, so wide that it wrinkled and tugged the taught skin around her bandages. "It's not broken anymore!"_

"_Oh, babes, I don't know if you-"_

"_Look!" she cried again and dropped her board to the ground with a thump. Before he could stop her she stamped a naked foot down on the trigger pad. With a crackle the thrusters at the back spat out blue energy and the board hummed, ready to fly. _

"_It was broken before and I fixed it!" she explained excitedly, pride evident in her baby girl voice._

_He knew by her earlier reaction that the board must have indeed been broken. Not many things could bring his Flea that close to tears. And yet here it was, fully functionally after being worked by her little hands. Since the age of four she'd been an obsessive child and for years the object of her fascination had been machines. He'd bought her little tools and a small metal box in which she could keep them, had bought her books all about air ships and skimmers, full of pictures and diagrams that had caught her eyes greedily and she'd seemed to soak them in, colour by colour. He'd even let her take apart old appliances and she had a large collection of spare parts she found and hoarded like a dragon. And now she'd apparently fixed her Scooter, something that required more then toaster dissection skills. _

"_Wow." he said honestly, bending next to her and pressing his fingers to the trigger pad so he could appreciate her handiwork up close. "You're a right little Stork, aren't you?"_

_He chomped down on his own tongue right afterwards._

"_What?" she asked, pausing in her euphoric dance._

"_Nothing. You did a really good job with the engine. You wanna teach me how to fix it?" he asked her, feeling like he was bribing her. _

"_You called me something."_

"_No, I didn't. I meant it as a compliment. Why don't you show Daddy how the engine works? I wanna see what you did. I'm really interested."_

_She crouched next to him, a frown hanging around the corner of her mouth. "What's a Stork?"_

_He sighed and took his fingers back. "Not a what. Stork was someone I used to know. Brilliant mechanic, but I think you could give him a run for his money." He was struck by a sudden image of a young Merb examining the pieces of a motor similar to the Scooter's, tilting the tricky, shining pieces in front of him so his large, excited eyes could see every detail of its glory. The thought made bile burn in his throat._

"_Stork." she repeated, watching him with wide, enthralled eyes. "You think I'm like him?" she seemed delighted at the idea of being compared to some shadowy, unheard of stranger._

"_I don't think so." he said, an edge of something sick creeping into his voice. _

"_You just said so!" she insisted. _

"_What does it matter, Flea? Can you please show me how the engine works now?" he begged, sounding like a child himself._

"_Not Flea. Stork."_

"_What?"_

"_Stork. That's my name now. I like it much better then my other one. Even better then Flea."_

_He gawked at her, this beautiful and breakable creature. His angel, his salvation, his life. She held his gaze with piercing, determined eyes. Oh, God how well he knew those eyes._

"_Stork." he said slowly, more like a question then a statement. She nodded exuberantly. _

"_Stork." she confirmed. _

_He stood with a whimper caught somewhere between his heart and his throat. She looked up at him adoringly. Stork. His Stork._

_She wasn't anything like him. Not really. She held more of Piper's attributes, really. Smart and snappy, determined, full of life. Maybe he thought that because she was a girl, and Piper had been the only girl in his life for so long. She was like Junko too, joyful, painfully naïve and curious. She was like him certainly, with her attitude and brashness and her humour and obvious charm. But Stork? Not really. She wasn't careful, wasn't timid, certainly not paranoid or twitchy or fretful. _

_Most of all, she was like Him. Strong, stubborn, brave, bold, daring. She was a fighter. She was a protector. She was His. _

_Maybe that's why Stork seemed to attach to her so well. If she was Him, it was like replacing Him, accepting His absence. It placed a burden of expectation and greatness over her head that she would struggle to achieve all her life. _

_Stork was still here. He could share his name. He could be among the living fittingly and without shackles or burden. She could be Stork. She could be alive._

_Because if she was Stork then it was like Aerrow wasn't dead._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The closer we got to that smoky, smothering mass of stained thunderheads the more I could feel my skin prickling in the other direction. I did not want to get any closer to that dirty aura, that pulsing thing that blotted out the sky the closer we got, like a blood clot that expands and grows and waits for the surrounding vein to go off like a time bomb.

Varan was sniffling and snorting like a coke addict behind me and it was grating on my nerves. I knew it wasn't his fault; by now even we ill-equipped humans could smell it, the scent that coated the air like a sickness. Fraggle would cough and hork every once in awhile like he was trying to force the thing out of his lungs. Wasp had buried her face into her own armpit and sounded like she was attempting to stop breathing all together.

I was hunkered down on the floor, rocking back and forth like a schizo and trying to occupy myself with something other then being hypnotized by that swarming storm. I suppose moving away from the windshield might have helped, but I had this really annoying sort of fear that the moment that blot was out of my line of sight it'd swell and spread and engulf us all to be lost in some sort of terrible abyss. Does that ever happen to you?

As I hunted about my brain for some sort of means of distraction I stumbled upon the memory of a game my Dad and me had invented to help me sleep during thunderstorms. The thunder and lightning never frightened me or anything; on the contrary I loved watching the fun and games of nature playing about the purple skies. But the noise and excitement kept me up at night, made me tense and alert, waiting on edge between thunder claps like a junkie going through some weird sort of jolting high. The same thing was happening to me now; my muscles were bunched and coiled, waiting until at random moments it was like someone had jabbed me with a cattle prod, causing my muscles to twitch spasmodically and making my insides lurch and hammer and pound. So I started playing the game, all on my own, to try and pull away from it.

The game's rules were simple enough; at first you started at A and tried to think of as many words that started with that letter as you could until the next blast of thunder. Then you started at the next letter. The catch was you couldn't just use easy, regular words like _apple, army, angry _and _actual_. You had to think of big, weird words.

"_Albatross"_ I thought to myself, keeping my eyes glued to blotch on the horizon "_Anarchy, Armada, Alien, Avarice, Amnesia, Aversion, Abrasion, Aerodynamic…"_

"_Ah-choo." _I remembered my Dad saying a long time ago.

"_That's not a word!"_ a six year old version of myself squealed through giggles. Of course back then I didn't know so many great words myself, often using ones I'd picked up in previous games and I wasn't much of a saint about the rules either. He let me get away with everything, my Dad, and he dumbed himself down for our games so he wouldn't make me feel like a stupid little child, like so many other adults I'd met did.

Another racking chill twinged at my spine and I moved on to the Bs.

"_Bombardier _" I thought, glancing over at Fraggle and his forest green jacket. "_Ballistics, Bewilderment, Botulism, Barricade, Barracuda, Blasphemy."_

Another internal shiver, my guts squirming with irritation again. Wasp was looking at me, I could see her scorching amber eye peering and glowing from beneath her armpit. I smiled at her briefly and then moved onto C.

"_Carnivorous, Cannibal, Canine, Concave, Catacomb, Catalyst, Coniferous, Cascade, Clutter… oh, yeah, note to self, de-clutter hanger."_

Damn. I shouldn't have distracted myself. Another tremor rippled through me and I felt like a freaking Chihuahua, shivering for no apparent reason on the floor. I waited a second for the last of those spiking chills to leave my skin and then started on D.

"_Distraction_" I thought with a smirk at myself "_Delusional, Demented, Distorted, Deranged, Diphtheria, Disengage, Determent, Discovery, Disembowelment, Disinfectant, Distilled, Deduce, Disorientation, Dementia, Disease, Dissection, Descend, Delete, Derogatory…"_

I was rattled from sleep as the _Merlin_ shuddered to an eerie halt. My eyes snapped open and at first I thought my fears had come true: I'd looked away from the ominous black hole and it had taken the opportunity to swell and engulf us. Then I realized we weren't inside the torrent, not yet. Rather Fraggle had stopped the ship barely thirty feet from its swirling, bulging depths.

The smell was almost smothering. It clogged in my throat like I'd swallowed a large amount of glue and now I could finally pick at it and dissect its components. I could detect smoke and thick ashes, a smoggy filth that made me want to clamp my nostrils shut with a clothespin. But it was more then that. It was like a toxic warning was rubbed into the mix too, an acidic sort of flavour that stung and assaulted. And there was a heavy, sickly smell there too…. a fetid, rotten sort of thing, of something that once was.

The others were talking and I forced myself to ignore the wretched stink for a moment and listen to them. It appeared they were arguing.

"Falshade, dude, do you not _see_ that… thing out there?" Fraggle was saying. "Those cloud-things are thick, eh, and dark too. We're looking at like, low to zero visibility in there."

"I can see it just fine." Falshade muttered, an edge of apprehension creeping about the contours of his voice. "But unless you can see a big, flashing "Land Here" sign that I've missed, the only way in is though it."

"Look at the instruments, Chief. There's a massive amount of pressure and air currents all over for tea just ahead of us. I don't know if I'll be able to keep the _Merlin_ on course. Bad things could happen, eh."

"Stork, are we where we should be?" Falshade directed at me and I jumped to my feet. I stared out at the blotch for a moment before checking my charts.

"Yeah. The Scar's probably on the other side of this storm-thing." It made sense, after all. Cyclonia had gone down in smoking ruin and chaos. Maybe this storm-thing was the leftover aura, the dispersed energy. It would explain why it wasn't moving anywhere, except if you counted inside itself, swirling and imploding. It was like a stationary catastrophe. Hey, that would have been a good one…

"I've got an idea." Angel said then. "One of us could take a skimmer and fly through, to make sure there's something on the other side, and to make sure the way's safe."

"No way." Falshade said almost immediately afterwards. "No. We have no idea what's in there, how strong the winds are or if it even ends. If someone goes in there they might not ever come out again. We won't be able to find them if they crash."

"Shade, listen. A skimmer's got a better chance at navigating through high winds then a big ol' airship. Plus we need someone to go through to make sure this ting actually _does_ end. And once they're through they can help Fraggle steer by anything in the way." Angel argued. I could see Falshade's bones sagging slightly. That boy could be stubborn and relentless when he wanted to, but underneath that he was really just a lightweight. Jerks like Angel and me knew how to take advantage of that, and you better believe we did.

"…I suppose you're the one gunning to fly blind into the Vortex of Doom?" Falshade asked him hesitantly, as if desperately trying to cling to the pieces of his quickly dissolving reserve.

"You betcha."

Falshade let out a sigh, a special sigh reserved for his two wingmen. I mean wing_people_.

"Come on, Shade. There's definitely something on the other side of that thing, or else why would the Sky Knight Legion come and check twice a month? Let me check it out, my skimmer's smallest, next to Stork's Hornet, and its got moxie too. I'll be able to handle the winds. I mean, I'm the best pilot, after all." He added the last bit like he were commenting the weather, tilting his chin like a proud young stallion. I snorted.

Falshade wrinkled his nose in a "yeah, you keep telling yourself that" sort of way and then said reluctantly "Fine. Go ahead. But be careful. If things get too rough in there don't try to stick it out; come right back. And keep in touch over the radio. I want to hear your voice like, every three seconds."

"Oooh, getting serious between you two, isn't it?" I said and Falshade glared at me. Angel, however, gamely put his arm around Shade's wider shoulders.

"You jealous, Baby Girl?"

"Puh-_lease_." I spat, sounding like a goo-goo girl and hating it. Hence the 'spat'.

Falshade shoved Angel away. "Well if you're going then get going! And take the compass with you, in case you get turned around in there."

"The compass might not work." Varan said then, his voice sounded plugged and stuffy. "If that thing in there has a magnetic or energy force field then it could seriously alter any navigational devices. They might get thrown off course, they might not even work. You could get even more lost."

"I'll risk it."

"Hang on." Wasp said, leaping over and alarming me with her uncoordinated, speedy movements. She froze with her hands groping the inside pockets of her coat, and at first I thought the wave of the stench might have slammed her hard or something. But then she looked up at me with confusion. "What was I doing?"

I resisted the urge to do a face-palm. "I have no idea. It _looked_ like you were going to give Angel something in case the compass didn't work."

"Oh, right." Wasp nodded enthusiastically and hunted about inside her coat some more, so ferociously that I heard a ripping sound. "Where are you, you little bugger?" she growled at her pockets. Angel was fidgeting, his eyes rolled heavenward.

"Gotcha!" Wasp said, pulling out a wonky looking red crystal, oval shaped and rough looking, barely any discernable facets marking the surface because it was so knobbly.

"Here." Wasp said, thrusting the crystal into Angel's hand.

"You shouldn't have." Angel said phlegmatically.

"Are you stupid?" Wasp demanded bluntly. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Connect the dots, Wasp, then you'll see a picture. Look, they even have numbers.

Angel's brow furrowed. "What kind of question is that?" he demanded. He didn't like Wasp, and so he spared her no witty comebacks, no sarcastic reply. With her he used unconcealed irritation and dislike.

"A justified one?" I commented and he glared at me.

"A good one. Do you know what that is? Well, it's a Twin crystal. I made it myself. I've got the other one." She explained as if she were talking to moron and pulled an exact replica of the crystal Angel held out of another pocket. "When they're in line with each other they'll glow. Force fields may mess with compasses and time pulse navigators, but not crystals."

I was a little taken aback. Wasp, while not outwardly dumb, never really showed much signs of intelligence, not to mention coherence. She really brought new meaning to the phrase "march to your own drum." It had never occurred to me that she might have been capable of making such a useful and clever thing, let alone know when it might be helpful.

"So, if Angel points that one around." Falshade asked in clarification. "It'll light up when it comes in line with the other one, and therefore with the _Merlin_?"

"Sure."

"Will it work that far away?" Falshade asked, seeming to draw back from the question like he was afraid of the answer.

"Well I guess that'd be helpful, wouldn't it?"

There was a collection of sighs and a barely suppressed irkish sound from Angel. He jammed the crystal unceremoniously into his pocket and strode towards the doors to the hanger. I heard his engine rev roughly below us and then he was shot off the run way, waiting a moment and allowing himself to plummet several feet before yanking on the controls and sending the wings of his skimmer leaping off from the sides. His ride rose unsteadily and was immediately sucked in towards the churning mass of black and purple clouds. In a moment we couldn't see him anymore, and I felt something like panic squeeze me under my ribs.

Falshade was glued to the periscope, hunting through the smog erratically as if he expected to see his best friend get spat out again at any moment. Varan and I were watching out the front window in the same sort manner. Fraggle was the one who remember to hop over to the wall quickly to flip on the wave radio.

We waited with stretched nerves for him to give us a shout over the radio. The jerk was probably making us wait on purpose. It was a game of "Chicken" and if I knew my Sky Knight, he was going to crack first.

Oh ho, snap, I was so right.

"Angel!" Falshade barked into the mic after several long seconds that seemed like hours.

"Yes?" came his airy drawl over the air waves. If he would have been anywhere within physical range Falshade would have socked him.

"How's it look in there?" he demanded instead, not bothering to keep the petulance out of his voice. I was probably the only one besides him who knew that Angel, too, had passed the Sky Knight Trials and the basically meant that Angel, also being a Sky Knight, didn't have to take orders from anyone. And he knew it too. There was an underlying factor to his jackassy attitude and that was the constant reminder to Falshade that in the end, he could do what he wanted. And that included disobeying direct orders to stay in contact.

"It's kinda soupy… whoa… crisis averted. The wind's kinda harsh and there's almost no vis… but I mean you basically just gotta go in a straight line." his voice echoed back, sounding weird being all disembodied and what not.

"May I see that?" I asked Wasp then, tearing my gaze away from the window. She held out her crystal to me and I started moving it back in forth in front of me like a metal detector. I felt my stomach lurch when I held it directly out and front of me and it didn't light up. Maybe it didn't work over the distance after all.

"Hey, Ange, what's the compass doing?" I asked aloud, feeling foolish like I'd been caught talking to myself. I hated talking into metal boxes.

The radio fizzed and crackled for a second before Angel's voice sputtered into life. "It's going haywire. Guess Scaly was right."

"Where are you?" I demanded, feeling very worried indeed as I veered the crystal every which way. Here I was all wound up about the kid whose life I threatened at least fifty-three times a day. Believe you me, it really annoyed me.

Wasp's crystal suddenly flared to life in my hand and I looked up, trying to draw an invisible line into the smog like an arrow pointing to Angel. He was way off, nearly too far to be glimpsed from the windshield, if, you know, I would have been able to glimpse him at all.

"Hey, Best Pilot After All, you're way off course." I told him. "Much too starboard. Come back a bit."

"What are you talking about, I've stayed in a straight line the whole time!" Angel growled.

"Use the crystal, smart-guy."

Quite suddenly things went silent. Like, not completely; we could still hear the howling wind and the groaning of the _Merlin_ as she strained to keep from getting sucked into the blotch. But it was like somebody had switched the radio off all of a sudden. There wasn't any crackling, no buzzing in between the spaces of our voices, no wind grinding on the mic at the other end.

No Angel.

And I mean usually that's good.

But right then it was very, very bad.

"Angel?" Falshade shouted, even though you barely had to raise your voice for the speaker to pick up on it. "Angel!"

I abandoned my post at the window, scrambling for the radio to make sure the frequency hadn't been switched or something. Nothing had happened, though, not on our end anyways.

"Angel!" I hollered, trying to fight down the fear that was growing in my chest and guts. My mouth was inches from the mic. He was joking, he was joking, he had to be joking around.

Varan pried the Twin crystal from my fingers, his hand shaking as he tried and failed to be gentle about it. I was having a hard time letting go of it. It was like my brain had decided it wasn't sending out any mail for the moment. Out to lunch or something. He started waving the crystal around frantically, too fast so that it probably wouldn't even get a chance to light up in the right spot.

My knees went weak with relief when I heard Angel's voice, sounding almost distressed, suddenly snap from the speakers.

"-guys? Falshade, where are you? What's going on?"

"We're out here." Falshade was beside me then, grabbing hold of the mic and taking it with him so he could still look out the window. "What happened? Why did you do that?"

"I broke through to the other side of the storm. Somehow these clouds must block radio waves or something, 'cause I lost communication with you guys. Didn't you here me yelling?" he demanded, sounding angry now, his way of getting over any sort of momentary panic.

"We lost contact with you too. You had us scared. Where are you now?"

"I'm back inside the smog. We're in the right place. The Scar's right on the other side. The way seems safe enough. The storm thing's about half a kilometre deep, just go straight through and you'll be out again in a minute."

Fraggle looked over at Falshade for conformation. "Are we really gonna do this then, Chief?" he asked.

Falshade seemed to grapple with something for a moment before saying "Yes. We're going. Just take it easy, huh? And for the love of Atmos keep it under eighty."

"No promises, eh." Fraggle grinned, comic relief to the end. And with that he leaned forward on the throttle (gently but not cautiously).

I could feel those winds take hold of us, usher us into the vortex like an eager hand towards a gaping mouth. And the moment we hit those smoky clouds, all Hell broke loose.

Well, not really. I mean, if all Hell broke loose then they're be limbs flying everywhere and some guy with goat legs and a goatee. But the proximity alarms did go off, and I mean the only things that could possible summon such an ear splitting, tear-your-head off-in-anguish sound truly did belong in Hell.

Yeah, that's us Gargoyles for you: stealthy as stalking cats, silent as ninjas, cool headed in a panic…

And disgustingly sarcastic.

My hands jumped towards my ears and I had to holler to hear my own voice "What's going on?"

"Demon clouds." Wasp suggested.

Angel's voice fuzzed about something over the intercom but none of us could hear it. Falshade scrambled across the bridge and practically tore the wall panel apart trying to disable the alarms. I finally stopped pretending to be stupefied (key word in that sentence is _pretending_) and ran over to where Varan was hunting through the skies with the periscope, trying to figure out what could be setting off our alarms. It must have been like trying to find an actual pea in pea soup.

"Anything?" I shouted very close to one of his ear slits and he jumped.

"No." he shouted back.

Again Angel was attempting to say something but his voice was drowned out by the alarms. Falshade was yelling at Fraggle, trying to figure out how to shut off the alarms but of course Fraggle couldn't hear him well and was trying not to hear everything else so he could hear him at the same time. He had one blue ear, the one that wasn't pricked in Falshade's direction, twisted and jammed against his head, looking pained.

It was Wasp who finally got fed up with the madness (go figure). In three long strides she was over beside Falshade, had pushed him aside and reached into the panel. She grabbed one wire in particular and yanked the whole thing out. About three feet of wire came spilling like spaghetti vomit out of the panel. And just like that, the alarms stopped.

I let go of my ears, feeling like an idiot for being stricken dumb like I had. Fraggle slowly untwisted his ear, shooting Wasp a reproachful look.

"Youse better not be tearing any more guts out of my birdie, eh." he told her sternly. She saluted him mockingly.

We could finally hear Angel over the speakers. "What the hell was that?" he was saying.

"Proximity alarms went off, eh. Probably these clouds. Really dense, eh." Fraggle explained, examining the pressure meter on the _Merlin_'s controls.

For some reason, that really creeped me out. I mean, first this vortex, storm whatever thing had cut our communication from Angel, then had sucked us in as if it were taking a deep, inward breath. And now it was setting off our alarms, almost like it was something real, something… alive.

Varan's tail was flicking back in forth, occasionally making contact with my shin, like he'd come to the same sort of conclusion. The others seemed to be more worried about the ship and getting through the smog though, and I felt like a little kid all of a sudden, scared of the monsters in my closet. I looked up at Varan for condolence. He frowned grimly.

"I don't like it either." he muttered. "It makes my scales feel crawly."

I nodded, agreeing with him totally, except for the part about the scales. All I knew was I wanted to get out of the vortex, like right now.

"Hey, Angel?" I called into the speaker. "Where are you? How much further?"

"It shouldn't be too far. I can see you guys, or at least the ship anyways. It's like a big dark patch." his voice said after some time, easy and aloof like this whole thing was a laughable game. "I'm right over top of you."

"Cool. Keep us posted." I said, trying to fight off the jitters.

"What the hell is that?" he said almost immediately after I'd ended my transmission. Argh, that jerk! He probably knew I was feeling jumpy. He was trying to scare us.

"Ha ha, real funny. What is it, the Boogeyman?" I said sardonically.

"Shit, what is that?" he asked again, and there was a note of something in his voice. That squeezing feeling was back.

"Angel, listen, this really isn't funny!" I snapped, making a mental note to strangle him when I saw him next.

"Oh shit!" he was shouting all of a sudden. "Hard to port, hard to port! Left, Fraggle, left!"

That's when we saw it, looming right in front of us like a "Welcome to the Scar" sign. At first it was like a jagged shadow jutting up in front of us. Then I remembered that shadows aren't solid…

"Mountain!" I screamed like a _boy_ at around the same time Fraggle wrenched the _Merlin_'s controls hard to the left, nearly spinning himself around in a complete 180. There was a grinding noise as the _Merlin_ nearly went into a barrel roll. I was thrown from my feet and was held airborne for about three seconds before I crashed into the wall, shoulders and the back of my head taking the brunt of the hit. I felt rather then saw Falshade come careening into the wall right beside me, a squealing noise erupting from his belt as Sliver's hilt dragged against the metal. I wasn't so lucky with Wasp, however: she came tumbling back from where she'd been standing next to the helm and blasted right into me, her wide shoulders colliding solidly with my ribs. I went down, winded and off balance and dizzy from that blow to my head. Around Wasp's coat I was able to see the windshield, and outside I made out the tip of the mountain, too close for comfort and horribly visible all of a sudden. Then I saw another sharper blotch appear in the window and realized it was Angel and his skimmer.

"_We're going to hit him_." I thought and tried to look away but couldn't. Like I said, I threatened to turn the kid inside out on a daily basis, but did I actually want to see his brains splatter all over the windshield? No way.

I opened my mouth the scream at Fraggle to watch out, but I never had the chance. Fraggle was still rolling us all around like dice in a cup as he swerved wildly, and Angle managed to get himself out of the way too. I did hear a thunk as we lost sight of him and hoped he hadn't just collided with one of the engines.

And then the world was abruptly upright again, and _that _didn't mess with my senses or stomach or anything, nope, not at all. Wasp, Falshade and I all tumbled back onto the floor, trying to detangle ourselves from each other and get orientated again.

"Hey." Varan, who'd was clinging to the periscope for support, said suddenly "Look! We're though!"

I dragged myself out from under the other two and rolled over so I could look out the windshield. It appeared we were indeed out, if you could call it that. It was more like we'd found a strange bubble, a floating cavern, in the vortex.

They was a bump as Angel's skimmer touched down on the run way. We could hear his ride rumbling in the hanger for a few moments before he shut it off and then he was with us again on the bridge and get this, I had to restrain from hugging him.

"Jesus, little man, I nearly clobbered you!" Fraggle scolded him.

"Nearly huh?" Angel muttered, clutching his shoulder pointedly.

"Let's see." Varan said, motioning for him to show him. Varan's pretty much our medic. Jeez, we'd probably have kicked it a long time ago without him around.

Angel shrugged his jacket off his injured arm and moved the sleeve of his ill-fitting muscle shirt to the side gently. I peered around Varan's shoulder and caught sight of a really nasty bruise, all brown and blue and with tiny blood blisters flecking the surface.

"Ouch, whatcha do?" I asked, trying to keep it _tre casual_.

"I dinged the freaking engine when I rolled past." he griped, looking disgusted with himself. I chose not to bring up the "best pilot after all" speech because I'm a freaking _princess_ when it comes to people's feelings. Ha, couldn't say that one with a straight face.

"Is it dislocated?" Falshade asked in concern as Varan poked and prodded him and Angel fought to keep his face from twisting.

"Ow, Varan, watch it." he hissed.

"Well it's obviously not _that_ bad." Varan huffed, prodding him one more time to prove that he wasn't just someone we could walk all over. "I think you'll be okay, it's not out of socket or broken or anything. Take it easy on that arm though."

"Yeah, yeah." Angel muttered, rolling his shoulder carefully as he slipped his jacket back on. "No promises. So… here we are."

"This place is really…weird, eh." Fraggle said. Understatement of the year.

Like I said, it was like we'd found a pocket in the storm, a strange, empty place where the air was heavy and acrid. That old smell lingered here, but was overruled by pungent charred smell, like old fire and lightning. There was a sulphuric scent here too, and the really sick smell of rot. There was a weird, reddish orange glow to the sky here, as if any of the sun's light had been filtered through the darker shades of purple of the surrounding smog. And there was a still silence here too, an eerie empty sort of silence that made you afraid to talk above a whisper. But it was brittle too, like there was something just on the other side of it, waiting to erupt into screams.

"Wow. So where's Cyclonia?" Wasp asked aloud, making the rest of us jump.

"This _was_ Cyclonia." Falshade whispered.

"No, I mean like the fortress."

"Must be up there a bit. Whatever's left of it, anyways." I said, trying to keep my hand from shaking as I jerked it in the direction of a blacker spot up ahead, which was spiny and broken like an old tooth. Even though it was destroyed, the fortress of Cyclonia still stood tall and imposing among the small, jagged, whip-like mountains like a black eagle watching smaller creatures down below.

I couldn't see any visible terra. I assumed it was below us, under the cover of those murky, orange clouds. I had no desire to go down there to check it out.

"Ok, so…" Falshade said, trying to take on a confident air. "Here we are. I think… well, if I saw the fortress burning in my dreams then I think that's probably where we should go and check out, right?"

We nodded.

"Ok, great. But I don't think we should bring the _Merlin_ in that close. We'll dick her here and fly over on our skimmers. Fraggle, you ride with me. I doubt there's gonna be any ice down there, and the last thing we need it to buy something else to fix you ride."

Fraggle's shoulders slumped and glared at Wasp. She waved at him in response.

"And remember, stick together down there. I don't want to have to go looking for any of you, and we don't know how safe that place is. It could be ready to fall apart at any moment for all we know." Falshade told us. I wrinkled my nose. For the last twenty four hours I'd been being pretty good, keeping snarky comments to myself and doing what I was told, mainly because I still felt guilty about throwing my ratchet at him. But did he really expect us to all hold hands and stick together? I mean, come on, this was _Cyclonia, _only the creepiest most unexplored place in all of Atmos. As much as it gave me the creeps I was pretty eager to nose around down there.

Fraggle reined the _Merlin_ in between to large crooked pillars of stone, sending out the mooring lines and powering down the engine. The thought of leaving the _Merlin _wasn't at all comforting, but at least I felt secure in knowing it was nearer to the vortex in case we had to make a hasty retreat.

"Everyone remember where we parked." I joked and Fraggle mussed up my hair.

"E-7 next to the creepy rocks of doom." He said and clipped his energy staff to his belt.

"Should we go in in like, full battle mode?" Angel asked, flexing his fingers impatiently.

"Actually that sounds like a good idea. Everybody get your gear and be in the hanger in two minutes." Falshade instructed and headed down the hall to his room.

I scurried down to my room quickly, feeling kinda excited and apprehensive. Sometimes we practiced in bits of our armour, but never had we done anything serious in it. It was sorta foreboding in a way. You know, Murphy's Law and everything.

I cracked open my trunk and sorted my armour on by bed. I didn't have much, seeing as how I didn't really have a real uniform, just a tank top and a pair of jeans. Hell, we didn't even have crests yet. I made another mental note to suggest that to Shade once we were done with this.

I buckled my two bracers onto my wrists and clipped the extendable cables of my throwing axes onto them. Then I bolted my shoulder guard over my right shoulder blade and a curving triangle, almost fanglike, of armour over my heart. I attached two guards to the tops of my thighs and then one thin strip of metal over my belly to protect my organs. Lastly I strapped my battle axe to my back and tightened the laces on my high tops. Voila. One battle ready Stork, batteries not included.

I skipped out into the hanger and couldn't help but strike a pose for Wasp, who was grumbling to herself as she tweaked something on the seat of her Gremlin.

"Tah-da!" I crowed, thrusting out my tiny, girly hip and tossing my chin back.

Wasp eyed me up critically. "You look like a Battle Skylar doll."

I frowned. "Do not." That remark kinda stung because it was sorta true; in my armour I looked like a little girl with something she was trying to desperately prove. Wasp looked every part a warrior, even though she had no armour herself, aside from the throat guard that locked like a dog collar around her neck. Where my hips where slender and looked pre-puberty hers where wide and bony and squarish. My shoulders where slight and feminine, except for the jutting collar bone. Her's were broad and thick despite her skeletal appearance. She was pretty Amazon, tall, long limbed and harsh jawed. Me? I was like a Girl Scout with a battle axe.

Falshade joined us then and it amazed me how he suddenly looked like an actually Sky Knight. I was so used to the casual jeans and t-shirt I hardly recognized him in his tight uniform-ish looking top that had always been hidden beneath and his armour. His boots were still laced sloppily so the tongues stuck out funnily and his pants bulged over the edges. And his hair was still messy and unruly like a little boy's. But he looked older now, professional, tough. Damnit, was I the only one who couldn't pull off the fighter look?

I wolf whistled at him and he flushed. Yup, still our Falshade under all that metal alright.

"Whatever." He muttered at me. Good come-back.

I just cackled and straddled my Hornet, eager to test out my new turbine. It looked so beautiful sitting there next to my engine. I stroked it like a cat.

The others showed up shortly and I was almost afraid of the way Varan looked with his broadsword slung over his back and his chunky gauntlets. I almost forgot he was really just a big cuddly lizard as he sat on his Bone Wing. Even his usually laughably dorky mohawk looked menacing. I'll tell you this much, I was glad he was on our side.

"Right." Falshade said as Fraggle slid stiffly onto his skimmer behind him. "Keep together and don't mess around out there, we've no idea who or what might still be skulking around down there."

"Do you want us to hold you hand too, Daddy?" Angel asked him, kicking his engine into life and shooting off the end of the run way into the hot sultry air. Falshade grumbled something and followed after him. The sound of all those guttural engines rumbling was exhilarating and I couldn't help but speed out of the hanger a little faster then necessary.

I dropped off the edge of the run way and was immediately buffeted by air currents, not roughly but annoyingly obvious.

"Plasma thermals." Angel called to me as he pulled in closer for a second. "From the Wastelands. This place is really unstable, it's crazy. Just watch it, you know?"

"I have flown before." I stated gruffly. "Don't act like you care, Cupcake."

Something flashed across his thin face and he twisted the throttles of his Slip Wing, leaving me behind. I would have felt bad, except it was Angel. He didn't really care at all, he was just trying to irritate me by acting like he, the mighty Sky Knight, was more experienced then a little grease monkey like myself.

We stayed close to the cloud levels, in case there were Sky Knights or worse crawling about the place. It wasn't just a matter of getting a slap on the wrist if you were caught in here, we all knew that. It was actually against the law to be in here unless you were a part of the Sky Knight Legion. Which, as you know, we weren't.

"So, when we get there, what are you thinking we should do?" I called to Falshade, who steered in a little closer so he wouldn't have to shout.

"I dunno, actually. I was thinking to like, look around a bit, see if anything seems important. Like I've seen it before or something." he told me. I nodded in response and began to drop in altitude a weensy bit. We were getting closer to the ruins and I didn't know how much landing space we were gonna have.

Angel, ahead of us still, started to drop towards the old fortress I could see him looking around for a place to land. He apparently found one to his liking and took his skimmer in for a touch down. The rest of us followed suite, and as I got closer and could pick out a small patch of clear rock that offered a good landing pad, I suddenly got a strange, creeping feeling up the back of my spine. Worse then the foreboding feeling I'd gotten when we were approaching the smog and different from the one I'd felt when I took in the eerie silence of the place. Something was wrong in a way that made my spine want me to turn around and get back on the _Merlin_.

But me being me, I ignored that feeling and followed the others onto Angel's impromptu landing strip.

All six of us switched off our engines and looked up at the left overs of the once great citadel. I could only imagine what sort of power and secrets the place had held during it's time. The Talons' Roost, the old Haunt of Master Cyclonis herself. We were looking upon legend, a great and terrible legend. It occurred to me that nobody except the Sky Knight Legion had even set foot here in over seventeen years. This was pretty epic.

"Well… here we are." Falshade said, his voice holding but sounding hushed. "So shall we, um… go have a look around?"

"We'd probably cover more ground if we split up." Angel said, seeming to be the only one who wasn't freaked out.

"No, that's not a good idea. I don't want anybody getting lost or hurt or anything else. Besides, we have no idea what we're looking for or where to start."

Angel grunted. "You're just scared." he told him.

"Of course I am. This place is a freak show." Falshade said, and I admired his honesty. I, frankly, would have lied. "That's not why I want us all to stick together."

"I'm with Shade on this one." Varan said. "This place is huge. We'd never find each other if we had to."

"Oh, come on, Varan, there is nothing here that's going to come get us. You listen to too many kid's stories."

"Why do you want to be alone so bad anyways?" I demanded of him. I hadn't wanted to make it a group field trip either, but I didn't like the way he was treating Falshade and Varan.

"Don't act like you care, Feonix." he told me quietly.

"Shut your stupid face or I'll shut it for you." I snapped.

"Shut up, both of you." Falshade barked. "Just leave each other alone. Angel, if you don't wanna come with us then don't. I can't tell you what to do."

"That's right, you can't."

"_Shut up_. You've still got Wasp's crystal, right?" Falshade asked him shortly. I was a little taken aback. Falshade, although less then he used to be, was usually very tolerant of mine or Angel's attitude, and he never said shut up that often.

Angel smirked and nodded, making sure to stay quiet. I made a move towards him but Varan held me back.

"Good. Just… be careful okay?"

Another stupid little nod and he left us, turning away to explore the western walls. Or what was left of them, anyways.

Falshade sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then turned to the rest of us. "Right, so unless anybody else wants to play tough guy then why don't we get started?"

I liked how he asked us things and didn't order us around. For the most part anyways. And I couldn't ditch him now, not after Angel's little display of disloyalty. I stepped up beside him and wormed a smile onto my face. "Righto, boss-man. Lead the way."

He smiled at me gratefully and nodded. "Right. Let's go then."

He led the way up the slight slope, towards the looming shadows of the huge old battlement. I let Fraggle and Varan go ahead of me because I wanted to make sure Wasp dind't wander off anywhere. And I also couldn't shake this feeling… this sinister feeling that the others didn't seem to have like I did. This place was….I had…

Wasp was saying something quietly. For a minute I thought she was talking to herself. I listened closely as we got closer, trying to distract myself.

"I am slowly going crazy, one two three four five six switch..." she was _signing_. I turned to look at her, eyebrows raised. How could she be singing in a place like this?

"Can you hear it?" she asked me abruptly, her corny little song over. Her eyes were wide and her ears were flat against her head, giving her a creepy look.

"Hear what?" I whispered as Falshade vanished into the darkness of the old halls.

"Them. They're dying." she told me, and her eyes jumped disturbingly from place to place.

I held still and listened for a moment. At first I could only hear the sound of the boys' footsteps. And then I picked up on a buzzing, which wasn't really a buzzing at all. It was a horrible sound just on the edges of my hearing.

It was the sound of people screaming.

* * *

Several sections of the tower's roofs had fallen in long ago, letting that sickly light trail inside, So it wasn't like we were plunged into complete darkness or anything. However I think the half light and the shadows made the old place even more frightening. There were dark corners and passages that could have been hiding anything and the fear of the unknown was probably the worst part. At least we left the erratic winds and a bit of the sulphur smell behind on the outside.

Falshade pulled a Flash Stick out of his pocket and led the way through the different chambers, each in varying stages of dilapidation. In some places there were large piles of soot and ash and charred objects. In others it seemed like nothing had ever happened.

The thing that shocked me was the lack of bodies. I know that should have been a relief, but it wasn't. It made the quiet, the baited breath all the worse.

"Whoa!" Fraggle yelped suddenly, jerking back and crashing into me, sending us both tumbling to the ground. Something large and prickly looking scuttled past me and I jerked my head away, scrambling back into Wasp's shins. I _hate _spiders.

Fraggle was panting and brushing at his chest neurotically. "Sorry, dudette." he told me. "Freaking thing came down right on top of me, eh. Those little critters give me the creeps."

"No worries." I muttered, helping him back to his feet. Falshade had turned around, looking concerned and impatient at the same time. He wanted to find something, you could see it in his eyes.

"We're good, man." I reported, even though I felt like I could feel little spider feet marching all over my bare arms. I rubbed at them subconsciously.

"Ok, carrying on." he said and we continued on our way, Fraggle and I constantly checking ourselves from more eight legged hitch-hikers.

Varan stopped a little while later so suddenly that Fraggle ran right into him.

"What's up, big guy?"

"Don't move."

Falshade stopped again. "Oh, come on you guys, I don't know about you but I don't wanna hang out here all day."

"Falshade, stay there." Varan told him sharply, stopping Shade in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" he demanded.

"It's the floor. I think it's-"

Well, you can probably figure out what happened then.

In case you didn't basically the floor literally broke open beneath our feet and we were plunged into black oblivion.

* * *

"Report." Falshade coughed out thickly. "Anybody dead?"

"Unfortunately not." Fraggle groaned.

"Get off me." Varan growled and there was a scuffling, shoving sound.

"Oh man." I gurgled. I'd hit the back of my head _again_. "Serious cranial damage here, guys."

Something touched the back of my head and I jerked away in surprise, making myself nauseous.

"No blood." Wasp said next to my ear. "I think you'll be okay."

"Unless, you know, I cracked my skull or something." I said lamely.

"Well, you're still speaking coherently, so that's gotta count for something." Varan said while Falshade cursed about something.

"What?" I asked, holding my forehead in my hands because me head felt so heavy and cotton stuffed I couldn't hold it up properly.

"I dropped the damn Flash Stick." he grunted, hunting through the dark.

"Here." Wasp said and I caught sight of the eerie glowing of her yellow eye in the dark as she leaned past me and pressed something into Falshade's hand.

He appeared to be stunned. "Is this… _my_ Flash Stick?"

"Well it's not mine."

It occurred to me then, sluggishly but obviously and it made me laugh aloud. "Wasp, you can _see_, can't you?"

"…Ye-ah, I've got eyes too you know."

"Humans can't see in the dark, smarty."

"Wow, you're pretty dull creatures aren't you?"

"Can you two?" I asked Varan and Fraggle, or where I thought they were anyways. There was silence.

"Did you two just shake your heads?" I groaned after a moment.

The three boys started laughing like the easily distracted nut cases that they were. Falshade struck up the light stick again and looked around. I let out a sigh of relief when I got a good look at our surroundings. As it were we hadn't fallen into a dungeon or strange subterranean underworld or anything. It was just another passage way, one probably a floor beneath where we'd been standing. We'd only fallen about twenty-some feet by the looks of it. Not the most fun ride of my life, but better then tumbling into a bottomless pit.

Something scuffled in the dark just outside of the ring of light from Falshade's Flash Stick and we all jolted to alertness, reaching for weapons and tensing muscles. My heart was hammering uncomfortably fast in my chest as I tried to climb unsteadily to my feet. My head swooned and I nearly expelled my waffles all over the floor. Wasp pushed a fist into the small of my back to try and keep me steady without being obvious and I felt a rush of affection for her.

"Was wonderin' when ya'll would show up." came that oh-so-shoot-me drawl from the darkness.

"Angel, you bastard." Falshade growled, lowering Sliver. "You're lucky we didn't loose a couple rounds first and ask questions later."

Angel bowed. "I'm in your dept, good sir. Are you guys all okay? I heard this really loud noise around half an hour ago and I've been hunting through these bloody hallways ever since to try and find you. Guess Psycho's crystal came in handy after all."

"You're welcome." Wasp said brightly, moving her hand so suddenly that I staggered and because of my heavy head on my delicate feeling neck and the damn light from Falshade's Flash Stick and the filmy swimming motion that my eyes forced into my heavy head and the already present wooziness I _did_ end up expelling my waffles. And rather violently too.

"Aw, Stork!" Angel yelped, leaping back out of the splatter range. That _jerk._

Wasp caught me before I fell and pushed her long, gangly fingers through my hair and off my sweaty forehead. She held my, valiantly, around the ribs as I keeled and puked _again_ because of the first rough round that made me even more dizzy. I _hated_ how unfaithful my own body could treat me. I loved Wasp for holding me when my _boys_, who still thought fart jokes were funny for God's sake, backed away in disgust.

"You done?" Wasp asked after I dry heaved a few times.

"I think so." I half lied. My head was pounding, but I didn't feel as queasy anymore and my stomach had stopped bubbling and cramping. Nothing like a good old puke to clear your head. So maybe my body knew what it was doing. Still was a jerk though.

Speaking of jerks…

"Here." Falshade said cautiously, handing me a water bottle from the end of stretched fingers and then quickly retracting his arm as if he wanted to get out of the line of fire.

"Jeez, Angel, I think she's allergic to you, eh." Fraggle said from where he was hiding behind Varan.

"Well, he does make me sick." I growled stickily and gulped down some water to rinse that horrible, sour taste of vomit out of my mouth. I swished some around my gums and spat it on the floor, then wiped a hand roughly over my chin. I hated puking, and I hated puking in front of people even more. I remembered getting sick at a carnival one year when I was about nine. Everybody around me made a big deal, looking at me with pity, concern and disgust. My Dad had tried to make a joke out of it because he knew then was not the time to act sympathetic. The whole laugh it off thing had worked and it was a trick I'd learned to carry through out my life. But I also had a mean streak in me my Dad hadn't possessed and now a days I usually directed back-handed jokes at other people's expense. That worked too.

"Yeah, I get that from a lot of people." Angel said unabashedly. I looked up at him and caught him right in the eyes. That same look he'd given me before was pulsing there, like something struggling in icy water. But then he snorted and jerked his head off down the passageway the way he'd come. "If you're done throwing your cookies all over the place, I found something I think you all should see. Come on."

Wasp gave me a bit of a warning before letting me go this time and we fell in line behind the boys as we followed Angel down the dark corridor.

"How'd you get down here, by the way?" Falshade asked him at length. "We'd only been up top for a little while."

"There was a hole in one of the outer walls. I had to crawl though, got stuck twice, and I ended up in these lower halls. I found all the old dungeons and stuff. I think this place goes on for miles underground eh? I felt a cold draft coming up from some cracks in the floor, which is weird 'cause it was so hot outside right? This place is huge underneath, maybe even bigger then it was when it was still standing." Angel was going on and on as if he thought we were real interested. I wondered what he thought was so damn cool about this place anyways. Sure, I thought it was kinda neat in a really twisted way that we were here, in this place so full of history and terror, but he was acting like he actually _liked_ it down here. Weirdo.

Abruptly the corridor faltered and widened, giving way to the hugest chamber we'd been in so far. Up above there was a large crack in the ceiling, and above that there was a gap missing from the roof, so everything was lit up in a very grey sort of light. One look around told me we'd stumbled into the throne room of the dark empress herself.

It was a wide, round room, one curving wall ushering us in and leaving no room for shadowy corners. That might have been a relief, except it made me feel like we were exposed and surrounded and I didn't like it one bit. This whole room… it was like there was a presence here, an opaque and oppressive one that took up all the air and barley left any for anyone else. On the far side of the room stood a mighty pinnacle, almost like a plateau atop a towering set of black stairs. And perched atop this plateau was a large, straight throne, made of black onyx and throbbing as if it had crystal energy laced into its design.

The thing that alarmed me most was the wall behind the throne. Heavy, dark purple drapes had been pulled back off it and there was something splashed and splattered across that piece of wall that made my throat clench.

Falshade had stepped out from the safety of passage and was heading towards the stairs. The others had spread out across the floor, some more hesitant then others, exploring the strange room. I wondered how many people had been here before us and had stood, with shaking knees, before Master Cyclonis, had pledged their allegiance or begged for mercy. Had Repton stood in this room? I shot a glance over at Varan, who was starring up at the crack in the ceiling with an unreadable expression on his reptilian face.

Had the Dark Ace himself paced this floor?

I shook my head and went after Falshade, climbing the steps carefully because I felt like at any moment they might suck me in like tar. I steered clear of the throne and went over to the wall where Falshade was standing, starring, at display behind the curtain.

They were the squadron shields. All of the old ones, one for almost every single Terra. I recognized some of them: the Red Eagles, the Rex Guardians… the Storm Hawks. Falshade probably knew more of them then I did. But for Wasp I was probably the least educated of the group. Not meaning I'm dumb or anything, but I didn't know a lot of history or sciences or things like that. Just machines and axes really. I didn't specialize in anything and sometimes I'd feel downright stupid when the others were talking and I had to get someone to explain what they were referring too.

Something was glinting on almost all of of the emblems and I leaned in closer to see. Then I pulled back in horror.

Blood.

Some of the crests were just spattered and streaked with it, some were totally obscured by dark red blotches. But here's the creepiest part; despite the fact that this place had been left to rot for seventeen years, this blood still looked… fresh. Almost like the victim could have been lying somewhere near by, bleeding out, fighting for breath. I could even smell it, and it was still so wet and only partially congealed that some of heavier drops would lose their hold on their respective insignia and fall to the floor, landing with a semi-solid _blat_.

"I've seen this before."

I tore my gaze away from that gruesome exhibit to stare at Falshade. "What?" I whispered.

He wasn't looking at me as he spoke. "I've seen this wall before… in a dream. In a nightmare. These shields, this room. I've been here, seen it. There was a map, like a hologram, not totally solid and sort of three-dimensional… and all the terras were on it. This wall was behind it. The map was made of blue light, and slowly they all… some crumbled, some imploded, some burst into flame. And the wall slowly got soaked with more blood. There was screaming and crying… and someone laughing in the background. Then a thunderstorm. This room… something there, near the throne." Here he paused to wave a hand in the direction he meant "And there were blue wings… and red too. And green, a green flash. Then I remember a symbol, someone scratching a symbol into their arm. And ashes. A pile of ashes. And there's something in them, glinting…" he pulled hand to his face and shook his head. "Really FUBAR stuff. I can't remember… it's like I'm missing a bunch of pieces." he groaned and sat down on the hard floor. I sat next to him, knees tucked into my chest and turned so I was facing him and not that dripping wall.

"But this is good, right?" I said, trying to take his mind off his dreams. "You always thought Cyclonia might have a hand in all this, and if you've seen all those things then that must mean you're right. We've got something now, Falshade, an actual, solid fact. And it means these dreams aren't just, you know, dreams like everyone's been telling you. You've been right all along!" I told him encouragingly, trying to smile despite all the things that weren't worth smiling about. I reached out a hand and squeezed his shoulder briefly, to remind him he was awake and real.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." he said, lifting his head from his hands. "But this doesn't get us any closer to anything. What have we learned?"

"We've learned that there _is_ something coming, something very bad from the sounds of it. Maybe we can take what we know now and try to use it."

"How?"

"We could go to Rex and look in some of their old records." I suggested, feeling useful and clever and proud of myself for being useful and clever. "We could find out exactly how the war went down, everything up until now that's been known about Cyclonia and that kinda stuff. Maybe we'll find more leads. This is like digging for bones, Shade. You gotta start with the small stuff, and you have to use a toothbrush."

This made him laugh. "A toothbrush?"

"Yeah." I nodded, making tiny sweeping motions with my hand on the floor. "Hey, I think I found a toe."

He laughed again and traced a finger along a crack in the floor. "That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea. The others will go for it too, especially if we take some time off to go Vulture hunting now and then."

I tilted my chin proudly. "I know, I'm a genius."

Falshade got up and offered me a hand to help me to my feet, which I refused. "Hey, guys!" he called down from the pinnacle. "Unless this place has a food court or something what say we get the hell outta here."

"Did you find something?" Angel asked, meeting us halfway down the stairs.

"Yeah. That wall up there, I've seen it before. I'll explain as we go, but this place is really giving me the creeps and I want to see it in the rear view mirror of my skimmer." Falshade said. Angel looked about momentarily.

"You really think we're done here? We haven't been here that long, and this place is huge, dude. There could be more here, stuff we've missed."

"What, like the Bat Cave?" I asked. "I think I've inhaled enough dust for one day. And I don't like leaving the _Merlin_ alone for this long either. It'd only take a passing band of pirates or something…"

Fraggle's brown eyes widened in horror. "Why would you even say that, eh?"

Angel was looking slightly mutinous again. "Shade, come one, another hour won't hurt. And nobody's going to try and take off with your ship." he added to Fraggle, who was twitching in worry about his beloved ship.

"What is it you wanted to look for?" Falshade asked him evenly.

"Well, nothing in particular, I just think it seems like a waste of time. We come all this way just to take a quick look and act like we've seen the whole citadel?" he seemed boggled by this notion.

"No, Angel, this time I think I have to put my foot down. We've found what we came for and that's a clue. And we've already gone through one floor today, who knows how long the rest of this place is going to stay standing. We should really go."

Angel held him in a hostile gaze for a few moments. For a long time they'd always been of even height but over the last six months Falshade had sprouted like a weed and was nearly half a foot taller then him now. It was almost weird to see them so unmatched. Finally Angel looked away as if bored.

"Fine. Lead the way." he said, waving a hand in front of him like an invitation for Falshade to take charge. Which is a warning sign if you know Angel like we do.

The way back was not as easy (but thankfully less painful and void of partially digested waffles) as the way we'd come in. Angel was right, there were a lot of tunnels down here and the only way we knew we wanted to go was up. We doubled back on ourselves enough times that we were starting to think we'd been though unfamiliar passages before. I was reminded of when Wasp and I had gotten lost on the way back to the dry docks, or at least I had. I started to get the notion that besides seeing in the dark there were a lot of hidden Faerie talents that Wasp was hiding from us, one of which was what must have been an awesome internal sense of direction. I figured this because several times Wasp would wait next to the tunnel we hadn't chosen and stare down it and then at us like we were idiots before hurrying along to catch up with me like an excitable puppy on a walk through a new park. If she did know the right way to go, however, she never confessed to it and we wandered for what felt like hours.

At one point we were ducking through a half collapsed tunnel and as Fraggle was ducking around a large chunk of stone he caught the armour on his shoulder on what turned out to be a spider's nest and tore it open.

At least fifty horridly large and hairy looking spiders came spilling out, there legs making awful scuttling sounds on the floor as they fled for shelter. However not all of them were as eager to run and some of the larger ones actually _leapt_ off the walls and onto anyone within immediate proximity (Fraggle, Varan and I, as it were).

"Get them off, get them off, get them _off_!" I howled, going berserk when I felt one crawl along the base of my neck. Falshade grabbed me and rather ungentlemenly wiped them all off. Varan, who wasn't as grossed out by arachnids as me, simply flicked them off, even when they tried to bite through his scaly hide. Fraggle, poor bugger, got the worst of it, having been right under the nest when it split open. He was trying desperately to shake them out of his hair. He almost sounded like he was crying.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man, I hate spiders!" he kept saying over and over again until the last one was thrown off. After that he shivered almost non-stop for the rest of the excursion.

A little while later, after we'd taken oh, hey look at that, _another_ wrong turn we heard something shifting and grinding above us. In our little line we all froze, ears straining and peering around in the darkness, trying to penetrate the shadows that were left unsplintered by Falshade's Flash Stick. We shifted closer to each other, trying to shield our backs and reassure one another.

That grinding noise sounded again, rippling over head like a cracking splitting in ice. We all held our breath, waiting…

With a horrendous crash a chunk of the ceiling came loose and pounded into the stone just ahead of us. Varan jumped so violently he thwacked Wasp around the knees with his tail. She snarled at him in response.

"God this place is a shit hole!" Varan shouted for no reason in particular and Fraggle took a subtle step behind me.

"Varan, cool it, you really think yelling is going to keep the place from collapsing?" Falshade told him sharply. See, when boys get scared and twitchy and frightened they tend to raise their voices a lot. It's their way of staying masculine.

"Come on, children, let's not fight." I drawled, because when girls get all scared and paranoid they do _not_ squeal and run around like fools and cling to their boyfriends. No. We get very aloof, sarcastic and impassive. Zen, if you will.

"But I'm really sssseriousss." Varan broke the silence gratingly a minute after we continued on down the corridor. "Thisss place just creepsss me out." He wasn't even bothering to fight off the slithering sound that his tongue was naturally born into.

"Et tu, Brute?" I asked from where I was walking behind Angel. I didn't trust being so close to Fraggle anymore. He seemed to attract spiders.

"…What?"

I shook my head. "You too? Is anyone else getting this kinda weird, sliding-up-the-inside-of-your-spine feeling of like… déjà vu?" I asked and wondered what had possessed me to choose that word for description. I was pretty sure that wasn't what I meant at all.

"I am. Or, I was." Falshade agreed from up front. But I had this feeling like what he'd been feeling, seeing what he had seen in a dream, was not the same as how I was feeling. Which wasn't déjà vu. Remember that.

"It'sss not that." Varan insisted. Damn he sounded freaky when he talked like that. "It'sss like… haunted. Like there's a presenssse here. Anybody dig?"

"I dig." Wasp said unexpectedly, reminding us all that she was indeed behind us.

"Oh, knock it off. You sound like you believe in ghosts, and it makes me want to laugh." Angel stated.

"Not ghostsss, really. But like… I dunno. Like they're things here, watching. Cyclonisss… they never found her, you know."

Angel did laugh now, scornfully and falsely. "Come _on_, Varan. They never found her because she burned with down with her empire. She didn't want to be taken, dead or alive, that's all. Probably pitched herself in flames into the Wastelands. Honestly, you talk about her like she's the Boogeyman."

"She _is_ the Boogeyman now a days." I said, sticking up for Varan.

"Nah, eh. The Dark Ace is the Boogeyman. My Mum used to tell me that if I didn't shut up and got to sleep that he'd come and get me through my window. Cyclonis is more like Bloody Mary, eh." Fraggle said, his voice confident but wary, as if he expected the ol' Ace himself to come swooping down on him for not eating his greens.

"Exactly. Because they know that the Dark Ace isss dead. They have no idea what happened to Cyclonisss. They're afraid to joke about her." Varan insisted. When you thought about it I guess it was easy for us luckier kids to just pass off the whole war thing. But Varan had lived through it, even if he couldn't remember, and not only that, he'd had family on the opposite side then the rest of ours'. And his entire colony had been annihilated because of it. There was no closure for him about the subject until someone finally proved Cyclonis was dead. And when you thought of it, could you blame him?

"I mean, you know the old storiesss. She was a master of crystalsss, and she wasss an evil freaking genius. She wouldn't have gone down like that, no way. For all we know she could be out there, sssomewhere, hiding and biding her time." Varan went on, spewing out his conspiracy theory without abandon.

"I dunno about that, eh. I mean, if she has been around all this time, why hasn't she shown herself yet? The Sky Knight Legion's a farce these days, eh. Perfect time to strike." Fraggle said evenly.

"Whoa there, Mr. Megalomaniac." I said, trying to sound light about it. He'd struck the nail on the head, however, and when it came to a thing like that it was hard to make it a joke, even for me, and I can make dead puppies funny.

But I wouldn't, because quite frankly I love puppies and the sight of one even in the slightest amount of discomfort would probably make me cry and then donate my own blood to save it. Hell, I'd give up both kidneys.

But, you know, I don't have issues.

We'd reached another fork. However this one was a little less hit-and-miss then the others had been, mainly because the passage on the left sloped upward. Elementary, my dear Watson.

"So, Shade, when we get out of here what's the new plan?" Angel asked innocently enough. "You said you'd recognized that wall up there. I checked it out before I found you guys. I recognized some of the crests. They're all the old ones. What does that have to do with anything?"

"I've seen that wall before, hundreds of times. It means something, and I want to know what. Stork suggested we should go to Rex, look at the old records and stuff, find out more about the war. It might give us more clues."

Angel groaned. "That has got to be the stupidest-"

"Oh, look, a bug." I said airily, holding one of my throwing axes above his shoulder blade. "Shall I squash it?"

"Don't bash it just yet, Angel. We're sure to run into some rogues on our way there. But I'm almost a hundred percent sure now that Cyclonia has something to do with this still, and we should learn as much as we can before we try to take it head on." Falshade reasoned and Angel didn't reply, which probably meant he had grudgingly agreed. I replaced my axe, satisfied.

The air got lighter and less dusty as we climbed toward the upper halls. I could even see brackets in the walls here and there, the Flare crystals long dead in their little prisons. I hadn't realized until we were able to see tiny shafts of light fighting gallantly through cracks in the stone how much the temperature had dropped the further down we'd been. Wasn't it supposed to get hotter the closer you got to Hell?

The end of the corridor had collapsed during some past tectonic shifting or other, but there was a large enough hole atop the pile of rubble that led to the next level and we were able to squeeze through into the direct openness and freedom of the ravaged citadel.

We must have come up higher then we'd been before. And we were considerably more west of our starting point too. From up here, a place I assumed was once the second or third floor of an old tower, now torn and exposed to the scathing elements of this weird little bubble. Those storm clouds shielded the place like a toxic aura and allowed the thick, sluggish thermals, noxious winds and grungy air to circulate and burble and rupture like a slow spreading virus of sores and sick blood.

The others were looking for ways down towards the place where we'd left our skimmers I was suddenly stricken by that ominous feeling again, one that tugged roughly at the bottom of my gag reflex, the one that wasn't déjà vu. It was fighting fiercely in some back corner of my brain, like a three year old desperate for attention. I was missing something very important, almost like a warning, the kind that you really shouldn't ignore. Something about this place was tearing at me differently then it did Varan or Falshade. Why though?

"Hey, Stork, keep up!" Falshade hollered at me. They'd found a way down, sliding and skidding down the slant of an enormous slab of stone and metal. A slide if doom.

I hurried over, wanting nothing more to leave that feeling and its demons behind and get back to the _Merlin_. But at the same time, I needed to know what it was. It was almost like if I didn't figure it out before I left, bad things we're going to happen.

Falshade waited for me while the others stumbled and clambered down the perilous slope. The fact that there was twisted shards of wrenched metal and jagged chunks of rocks at the bottom took away some of the fun.

"C'mon, let's go." Falshade urged me but I stopped at the ledge of the precipice, looking back over the platform in a neurotic sort of way. Nothing here but whispers of screams and ashes. And yet…

"Stork, please let's go." Falshade pleaded, tugging at my elbow gently and setting one foot over the edge. I sighed and turned away, skittering down ahead of him and keeping my arms out at my sides for balance. My head still didn't feel so great and I nearly took a spill twice, but I was _not_ going to embarrass myself anymore today and held my own.

We retrieved our skimmers and pushed off eagerly from the terra, battling with air currents and steering back towards where we'd left the _Merlin_. But the feeling stayed and nagged and nagged and nagged and sank its little nails into my already sore head until I finally got fed up and twisted my face back around for one last look.

And as I took in that receding, black ruin it finally burst into the front of my brain, right in behind my eyes were I could see it, could hear it buzzing in my ears, that feeling that wasn't déjà vu and it finally clicked:

_I've been here before._

**Dun dun da! I actually intended to add on t this chappie a wee bit more, but then I thought it would take away from the moment, so here we are. Also, I really have to go to bed. But before I sign off and leave you all to wonder, I've finally decided on all my song choices. And since there just **_**might**_** be some action in the next chapter, I thought it would be appropriate to leave off with my fight-scene choices (again, inspired by Dragonwings. I also had trouble picking just one song for my guys, sue me). And forgive the repeat bands, but they've got good, fast, hard stuff, quite effective for some smashy-smashy scenes.**

**Falshade: Prayer of the Refugee by Rise Against**

**Angel: Silence by A Dark Halo**

**Stork: Time of Dying by Three Days Grace**

**Fraggle: Riot by Three Days Grace**

**Varan: Fear by Disturbed**

**Wasp: Violence Fetish by Disturbed**


	8. Under the Skin

**8**

**Under the Skin**

_**Something ugly this way comes**_

_**Through my fingers sliding inside**_

_**-Black Black Heart, David Usher**_

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

_He'd been the one to find her._

_In a way it didn't really surprise him. She'd always been dead. Before she'd just been stuck in her own soul cage, her carcass. That was the only difference._

_He'd found her lying on her bed, her arms crossed over her chest in a sign of mercy, of defeat, of acceptance. Her empty bottle of medication stood like an accusation upon her night table, beside a cup of Chiva tea. He could smell its strange, potent exotic allure from where he stood in the doorway._

_She hadn't overdosed. The bottle had been empty for a long time. He could just imagine her, slowly dropping a single pill each day into a hole she'd poked into the garden with her finger as if she were innocently planting seeds, waiting for the bottle to run out of miracles. It did the trick alright; the doctor never suspected a thing during his visits._

_No, she'd sliced herself open with a small blade, barely the width of a whisper. She let herself bleed out, die out, fade out slowly, like she'd been doing all her life._

_Some people chose to go out like a super nova, in a great explosion after a long, blinding life. She chose to be snuffed out of existence without resistance, a star winking out forever in a distant constellation._

_He started at her pale, prone figure, at the eye lids that she'd closed herself before slipping away. She could have been sleeping. She often slept, sometimes for days. During those times he'd learned to stay quiet and to leave her alone, to feed himself and find some way to occupy himself alone._

_It was almost as if she'd been preparing him for this moment all his life._

_And that made him angry. And so he didn't leave her alone, not today. He crawled up onto the bed like he'd used to when he was very young. He'd used to try and snuggle up under her arm, wriggle in and collapse against her side and sleep too. She'd groan and sigh and fidget in her sleep as if he were a nuisance, an interruption to her beautiful obliviation. Except today he didn't try to beg for her acceptance, didn't try to slide silently and unnoticed into her bleak world. In those days he would have done almost anything to be with her. Not today._

_He lifted one of her eyelids and peered into her empty grey eye. Those eyes had always been empty, always void of anything except her selfish pain and misery. Before he'd often felt special at sharing those eyes. Despite their absence, their wretchedness, they were beautiful eyes._

_Not today. Not ever again._

_He stared into that lifeless socket and then abruptly moved away, for once being the one to push her away, to leave her alone. He moved off the bed and slid onto the floor, his back leaning against the cold, hard bed frame, his back turned to her. He reached up slowly and grabbed the bottle from the table, that empty casket of what should have been. He'd always wondered what it contained._

_As he stared hard at the label he reached up a second time and pulled down the delicate mug of tea. He'd always hated these mugs. They were dainty and sweet looking, something that sat like a lie among the other dishes in the old cabinet._

_The reddish liquid inside was still warm and inviting. She'd put no sugar or cream into her drink. She never did. He swirled it around for a moment and then went back to examining the bottle, reading over every detail as if it were some sort of evidence, a way to prove her guilty. Guilty of her lies and her selfish obsession._

_And so he sat beside her bed, holding an empty bottle of anti-depressants and drinking his dead mother's tea._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I'd have to be lying if I said I hadn't been feeling uneasy at the prospect of going to the Scar. And I'd have to be a liar to say that being in that spooky old ruins hadn't freaked me out in the least.

But it wasn't until we were leaving that I begin to feel sick.

I hadn't been like Varan, who'd been stressed out and panicky while we were on our way. And I hadn't gotten like Stork or Falshade once we were inside either. No, I only started to attract all those gut swelling, negative thoughts once I was back in the air and leaving that place behind.

I'd always been that way, I guess. It wasn't until things were ending, being finished, that it would suddenly become real. It was if I had to see things for the last time for the pain and the fear to suddenly be let loose. It had been that way with my mother, all those years ago now. I'd found her, dead, and sat beside her bed for two days before her doctor came and found us both. I hadn't cried, hadn't screamed, hadn't protested or pleaded or tried to fool myself that whole time, and neither had I when they took her away, then took me away. I didn't have nightmares, didn't break down and didn't cry over the next three days either, during which her legalities were settled, her funeral arranged and my ownership discussed. I didn't even cry at the funeral, not even when I saw her tight, pale face in that dark box. Nope, I'd gone and eaten one of those horribly pasty tuna sandwiches and pulled all the heads off the flowers.

It was only when they were closing the casket, getting ready to lower the coffin into the grave that I finally broke.

It came without warning or permission. One moment I'd been starring at her face blankly, waiting for them and hurry up and get it over with, the next moment I was on my knees bawling my eyes out. My mother's old friend, the only one who'd tried to keep in contact with her after I was born and the only other one besides the grave diggers and the priest at the funeral, had tried to hold me, to comfort me. I'd screamed and bit her and tried to crawl into my mother's coffin. I was so furious, with her for leaving me and at myself for wanting her back.

It had finally hit me those few moments before I started crying that I was never going to see her again, not in solid, three dimensional form anyways. It was the finality that blew something behind my eyes, not the actual circumstance.

And now it was happening again. We were leaving the Scar behind, heading off to Terra Rex to pour over some dusty old books. And that's when everything suddenly sprang to life, prone shadows in the back of my head that had until now been lying in wait for this moment. And as I turned my head back to glimpse those fragmented towers one more time I suddenly wanted to go back, to have another chance, to find something that could prove, once and for all, that I wasn't like him.

I'd seen the way Varan had looked at things in there, how he'd moved carefully and expectantly, how he'd touched things as if they'd held special meaning. He'd been looking for connections, something that spoke to him in a way it didn't anyone else. It was almost as if he'd been expecting to find something long left behind by his old man, some sort of talisman, maybe an offering for explanation and forgiveness. He still had those demons on his shoulders, the ones of dreams and secret wishes. Among the other ones like self-disgust and shameful hatred.

That was how he and I were different. He had to prove his worth and difference constantly to others, where as I had only to grapple with myself.

I hated that feeling, that feeling of leaving doors behind unopened. Of saying goodbye to things that still needed closure. Falshade had gotten what he'd wanted and he was ready to leave this place behind. I hadn't gotten what I needed and I was being forced to come along. Of course he would never understand why I needed to stay and search so badly and I had no intention of telling him either. But was that really important? Shouldn't it have been enough to have your best friend ask for more time to make you stay?

Apparently not. Not for me, anyways.

There was that familiar torn anger, that anger directed at myself just as hotly as at someone else. Why did I need to keep looking? What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I just try and move past it like Varan did? It was much more constructive.

It was because I was like mother. I'd inherited her eyes, her insomnia and her obsessively destructive personality. Compared to the alternate set of genes, however, I guess I could say I almost preferred it.

"You see something shiny or what, Ange?" Falshade crackled at me via our intercom then. "Keep up, huh?"

I turned back around and realized the others were pretty far ahead of me already. Aw, look at that, he _did_ care. Ah, sarcasm, love of my life; she keeps me sane and we finish each other's sentences.

The _Merlin_ was clinging between those two rigid pinnacles unhappily exactly the way we'd left her. She looked lonely and abandoned and Fraggle called out to her because he's pretty much a loony tune that way. Or your typical Blizzarian, whichever:

"Hey, Baby, your Daddy's back!" he shouted over Falshade's shoulder.

"You sound like a pedophile." Wasp told him. She'd been acting real chatty lately (yeah, that was chatty for her) and it annoyed me. I liked it when she kept her freak mouth shut and stayed in the corner.

It was awkward to try and come in for a landing on the _Merlin_'s laughably tiny runway all at once. Varan and Stork nearly collided upon touchdown and I was forced to pull up sharply and circle back for another shot.

I screeched into the hanger and snapped down my kickstand ungraciously. Some people, like oh say, Stork for example, love their rides to the point that they scream things at them when they're still half a kilometre way (yeah, Fraggle too). Me? Hell, I could care less. Don't get me wrong, my Slip Wing was one of the only things I truly treasured, but I'm not materialistic like some people. I'm also not insane to the point that I think inanimate objects will get offended if you don't treat them gently. That's only girls, people.

Falshade had hung back the bay doors until now, and I'd assumed he was waiting like a thoughtful leader for all of his crew before he shut them. But the he approached me and I knew I was in for it.

"Hey." he said, watching Stork leave the hanger in what might have been a casual manner but for the flexing motion that was going on beneath the skin of his boot. When he got nervous he tried to hide it by curling his toes. I pick up on stuff like that. I'd trained myself all my life.

"Uh-oh, I'm in trouble now, aren't I?" I asked, clasping my hands in front of me and sagging as if in a submissive pose. "Please just don't whip me anymore! Hang me by my thumbs somewhere, make me clean the bathroom, I don't care, but if you pull out that whip and that collar one more time people are going to get the wrong idea!"

"Funny." he said and I realized with distaste how much taller he was then me now. We'd been even for years and then he'd just shot up past me. He was second only to Varan these days and he stared down to meet my eyes now. How appropriate.

Jesus what was going on with me? I hadn't always been like this, hadn't… resented him. Words were being pushed up behind my teeth and I couldn't say them because I was afraid to. Instead I unclasped my hands and let them hang at my sides and wait for my punishment. That was a big step for me.

"So what was that all about? I mean that in general, you know. Just… fuck, Angel, I feel like I'm losing you here, you know?" he began slowly, sounding angry and insecure and reasonable all at once.

Oh he had no idea. "No, I don't."

"Is this about yesterday? Are you still sore about that? Because I thought we were done with that, thought we'd moved past it. But apparently we're not on the same page."

"You sound like we're married." I wanted him to grab me and shake me for that remark. Damn him and his self restraint.

He inhaled deeply and then blew it out slowly. His patience rivalled a saint's, I'd give him that much.

"Can you… can you please talk to me? I'm not mad… well, yeah I am, but I'm actually more concerned with you, at the moment. I dunno, man, lately it just feels like you're… falling away from me."

What? _What?_ Me? Falling away from….

He was watching me as I inwardly staggered and stuttered. "Just… hear me out, okay?" He started again while I struggled for something to say. "I know I sort of brushed you off yesterday but I thought we were good but then today… I dunno. Just everything you've been doing almost seems to be telling me that you just don't want to be around me anymore."

_WHAT?_ My hands jumped towards my hair because I wanted to yank on it and then

throw a really big fit. I fought to keep them still at my sides. _He _thought _I_ was giving _him_ the cold shoulder? Falshade you introvertenly inept fool. Did he have any idea what he was doing to _me_?

I looked up at him, let him try and pour his soul into my eyes through his own violet ones. He was like that, he didn't try to hide his emotions behind those tinted panes. He used them to reach out and communicate. And for a second there, I wanted to. I wanted to spill my guts and tell him everything that was going on, how I felt like there was some sort of giant vine growing under my ribs and crushing me, how I wanted to throttle him in his sleep, how I felt like he was trying to abandon me and how I was afraid to fall asleep at night and wake up someone else.

But I didn't. Call it a habit of mine but I tend to shut people out without even trying. A lesson I'd learned so very well from my mother.

I didn't just want to tell him to fuck off exactly either though. I wasn't exactly like my mother. I was still capable of need for human contact.

I sighed lowly and ran a hand through my hair. I forced out a bit of a chuckle and refused to meet his eyes. It's easier to lie to him that way. I liked his eyes too much to see them betrayed.

"Jeez, I'm sorry you feel that way, man." I started off quietly. "I, uh… I haven't been sleeping well for like, the last six weeks. It messes with me, you know?" I wasn't totally lying there. Over the past three months the best night's sleep I'd had was about five hours. I'd blamed Wasp, at first. The first night she'd been aboard the _Merlin_ with us I stayed up all night, sitting quietly just inside my bedroom door, waiting for any hints of movement down the hall. You had to be a moron to sleep soundly three doors down from a Faerieshian, particularly one from Macabre. It was almost as if that had been an offering of meat to the demons that stole sleep from the air above my head, because after that I'd been pitched into a cycle of aching eyes starring into the darkness at night and blank patches during which I slipped from consciousness for a few blissful hours. But later I realized that those familiar feelings of another strike of insomnia had been creeping up even before we'd been forced to make an emergency landing on Macabre. However it was the part about my lack of sleeping messing with me that was the lie. Over the years I'd become so used to it that I felt more at home when I was the only one awake at night. It was almost like sleeping itself now threw me off.

However my lie did the trick; Falshade's muscles visibly relaxed and I could tell he was feeling bad about pestering me, if you could call it that. He knew how hard sleep was to come by. It was almost laughable that he'd got pinned with me back in the Sky Knight Academy; who better a roommate for an insomniac then some kid plagued by nightmares?

"Oh. Well you might have said something earlier." he said at length, sounding as if he couldn't decide whether to pity me like he always did or to still be angry.

"_How about you just treat me like your buddy again, Shade? Why not pick that one? Look how shiny it is."_

I snorted. "Yeah. Me. Talk about feelings?"

"It wouldn't kill you."

Oh. It might.

"Okay, well… ha, now I don't have anything to say. I thought I was going to have to yell." he said, a smirk hanging off the corners of his mouth.

"No, that won't be necessary. " I assured him, to spare him the effort. Falshade can do a lot of things, but shouting isn't one of them. He gets all squeaky. Stork thinks it's hilarious. "So, um, yeah, guess I'll try to curb… what was it you had a problem with?"

"You gallivanting off into the Scar on your own, to name the most irritating. It also would be nice if you washed your socks."

"Pick one."

He laughed. "The first part."

"Okay. I'll try to curb that." And this time I was telling the truth. Maybe all this was in my head and I just had to get over myself to see it. My mother never grasped that idea very well. So no more trying to run off on my own, no more being a jack ass… well, no more being an over the top jack ass anyways. I couldn't just deny what I was, after all. But maybe if I'd just cool it a bit I'd see that I was over reacting, that Shade and Stork weren't plotting against me and that I really could do this, be with a squadron, be with my friends. The idea sounded nice and golden. Perhaps a bit beyond my reach at the moment, but not impossible.

I liked to think of myself as an optimist.

Falshade clapped me on the shoulder and then headed for the bridge. I gave my head a good scratch and debated whether I felt worse or better about this whole situation. The crushing sensation in my chest felt lessened and I assumed that pointed toward better.

Fraggle had warmed up the _Merlin's_ engine by now and I could feel the ship thrumming away beneath my feet, ready to leave this place in the clouds. I headed for the bridge too. I got motion sickness if I had no visual image of the passing sky. I don't know how Stork could handle being down here all the time with ol' Lead Foot up at the helm like it was a video game controller and we had unlimited lives.

Stork had pulled down a new map from the shelves and was already plotting our course to Rex. I wasn't much looking forward to it, in case you hadn't noticed that yet. First of all I had a problem with those hoity-toity snot rags that acted like they were on the top of the Atmos because they were the head of the Sky Knight Legion. And I would bet both my sabres that they weren't going to roll out the red carpet for us or anything either. Secondly I really felt like the whole idea was a useless one to begin with. Hindsight may be twenty/twenty, but when trying to decipher some cryptic nightmares about the future it wasn't looking so useful to have raptor-rewind vision. What were we really going to find in their records that we didn't know already? It would have been more productive to fly around in circles and hope something hit us with a name tag that said "Hello my name is Doom" for fuck sakes. At least if we tracked down some pirates we'd be fulfilling our actually Sky Knight duty. The way I saw it was if we caused enough trouble for the old bad guys then eventually these new bad guys would get sick of us and come out to get us. Your toe hurts, you pull out the splinter, right?

I heard the grappling anchors clatter and clang across the outside of the hull before they were pulled back into their respective ports. Then Fraggle had us moving, carefully pulling our little ship up and out from between her craggy cradle before turning her in a slow arc to face the noxious, oozing blotch again. I felt like we were inside some sort of infected cell and we were about to fight our way through the cell membrane in the wrong direction to try and escape the sickness.

As we approached the clouds slowly I was reminded of the fourth state of matter, plasma, the in-between state of liquid and solid. Like lava. These bruise coloured splotches were almost like that, except they were stuck, undecided, between solid and gas. When I'd gone through on my skimmer I had expected it to be like falling through a cloud or smoke. But it was like it was both and neither at the same time. It had wrapped around me like a second set a skin rubbing against my own and wasn't just thick, it was clotted and heavy like mucky water. It pushed back on me and had fallen around my ears like hands. It had seriously creeped me out and I fought off a shiver as I stared at it now, glad there was a windshield between the two of us this time. Maybe it was a good idea to get going after all. The cloud wall on its own was a pretty obvious indication that visitors weren't wanted.

"This is the last time we meet, Murky." Fraggle directed at the blotch. "I'm thinking of just aiming a straight shot right through, eh. Like, givin' 'er."

"Yeah, that'll go well until we hit another mountain." Falshade reminded him and I rubbed at my shoulder absently and berated myself silently for being so careless. I still couldn't believe I hadn't been able to dodge the engine.

Fraggle grunted irritably and tweaked slowly at the throttle, keeping our pace steady. He just wanted this thing to be done and over with.

My attention was drawn then to the spools of wire hanging like intestines out of the wall panel. Wow, they couldn't just have thrown the killswitch. That was going to take forever to rewire.

It was almost a repeat of this morning as almost all of us were present on the bridge as Fraggle edged closer to the blotch. I looked twice and noted with some degree of pleasure that Wasp had taken to vanishing again. I toyed with the idea that maybe she'd been forgotten back in the ruins; I could just see her crunching on a spider obliviously while the rest of us rode off but then remembered she'd called Fraggle a pedophile and then had nearly clobbered me as she'd made a completely inept landing, practically riding on my back tire. There went two more of her gold stars off my chart. However the rest of us were still clinging to what little space there was available on the bridge with baited breath as the _Merlin_ was absorbed for a second time into the gloom. This time I did shiver and Stork pressed a little closer to me, apparently forgetting the fact that she wanted to tear my throat open. I couldn't help but notice her unusual lack of annoying and realized she hadn't spoken a word since we'd taken off for the _Merlin_.

And I blamed this on the fact that I was feeling a bit better today then I had in awhile, despite all the creepy, but I was sorta worried about her. I wondered if I really had hurt her feelings with the whole puking incident.

"I thought I made you sick." I muttered. "What's suddenly changed about my pheromones that allows you to keep your stomach on the inside?"

"I'm stuck."

"…Yes of course. I understand now."

"I'm stuck in my head."

"I told you not to wander around in there alone."

"Help me out, Angel." she said and that set off all my inner alarms. Stork? Asking for help? _My_ help?

"Who are and what have you done with the real Stork?" I demanded.

"Just shut up and tell me something."

"I'll get right on that, with my mouth closed and everything." I said, feeling more anxious by the second. She was being weird. Wasp worthy weird. She wasn't retaliating to my sarcasm either, and that was really putting me on edge. I shoved that part of me aside for a moment and decided to act like a nice guy for a change. "Okay, what do I have to tell you?"

"Tell me that I've never been to the Scar before." she told me firmly and finally turned to look at me. She still had to force her eyes upwards slightly to look into mine and that soothed a lot of my metaphorically rumpled fur for some reason. I stared briefly at the freckles on her nose and the way she tilted her chin and remembered when I used to fancy her my little sister. I remembered she was my friend and I cared about her and it was like a bit of red mist was lifted from my brain cavity and the pressure in my chest lessened a lot more. Strange how her discomfort was soothing me.

"You've never been to the Scar before." I repeated dumbly, not understanding why in hell she would have been thinking otherwise.

"Then why do I feel like I have?"

"You're having a weird, out of body, voodoo, déjà vu wrapped in amnesia wrapped in a waking nightmare experience." I explained, even though I didn't have a clue what it was I was explaining, exactly. She seemed to agree with my mad-hatter reasoning though and nodded.

"That's what I was thinking. I must have dreamed it before or something."

"You've been spending too much time with Falshade. You mental highways are overlapping."

"It's probably just the vibes and stuff. Voodoo crap, messing with my sense of reality." she went on and I nodded to humour her.

"Were you weirded out at all in there?" she asked. She probably was feeling like a bit of a twit by now.

"No."

"That's because you have no pulse."

"Yeah, such a bugger that one. No cure, you know."

She twitched her nose and smiled a bit. See, I _can_ make people smile. "How's your arm doing?"

"It's fine."

"Oh man wouldn't you just be _pissed_ if we ran into some pirates and you had to stay behind because you got a bum arm." she teased. We both knew that wouldn't really matter: I'm ambidextrous. She's jealous.

"So, erm, you do care." She added after a moment during which I'd gone back to silently accepting her presence rather then acknowledging it.

"About what?" I knew 'about what' and suddenly I was quite reminded of her rather hurtful comment earlier. Because here I was _proving_ that I did, just like I had when I'd made her throwing axes and taught her how to barrel roll while abruptly changing direction. That was the only thing I couldn't take: I enjoyed our bantering and wrestling and squabbling like kids. I could take any insult she threw at me because I knew deep down, unfortunately, that we were like, best friends. But what I couldn't handle was when I was accused of disowning that friendship. It was the one thing that would really get me at your throat simply because I love people so damn hard that it makes me horribly, achingly empty inside and extremely vulnerable. I hate loving people, and I hate not being loved back, but I especially hate when my oh-so-hated love is called into question. Suddenly I didn't feel like being such a nice guy anymore. Rather I wanted to sulk.

"About… us. Me. When it counts. So, yeah, I guess I'm kinda in a state of guilt about what I said and I'd like to use my 'Get Out of Jail Free' card and take it back."

That's Stork for "I'm Sorry".

"Whatever." That's Angel for "Whatever." I wished she hadn't reminded me of that. There went tonight's sleep.

The unfiltered blare of sunlight was so abrupt and bright that it actually really hurt and startled us all. Blinking stupidly I shied back from the window and then felt the hair on the back of my neck prickle. I whipped around to see Wasp scowering in the dark place just out of reach at the sunbeam blazing through the glass. She was looking bluntly and directly into my eyes as if she'd measured their location from the back of my head. But it wasn't her usual slouched posture and blank expression I was met by now. Her chin was tilted tightly downward and something wicked was playing about the corners of her nose.

The hairs on the back of my neck refused to lie flat.

I broke from the intensity of her orbs and glanced at the spilled circuit board. I could see one wire in particular, torn away from the others and stripped of its protective casing so that the shiny, rust coloured wire stuck out, bent and exposed.

I was on the periscope's handles so quickly and roughly that it grinded sharply against its metal casing up at the ceiling. I swivelled it around, eyes fighting to focus as I switched and flickered the scope from place to place.

"What?" Falshade asked as I dissected every square inch of sky. I never realized before but our periscope had major blind spots all around because of the _Merlin_'s long belly. A lot of use that did us. And my hair still wasn't lying flat.

"Angel, what is it?" he demanded again, grabbing my shoulders and I nearly clocked him with the handles as I spun another 180 sweep. My shoulder was throbbing and I could definitely tell I had a pulse.

"Shot in the dark, but I bet its that." Wasp said and was the only one who managed to keep her balance as something pounded into the _Merlin_ and rattled her entire exoskeleton.

I finally caught a glimpse of something. An under-hanging engine, barely visible hanging in sight behind us just below the _Merlin_'s belly.

Fraggle was glued in shock to the controls. Varan looked similarly stunned over by the shelves which had ejected some of their contents during the hit. Stork was looking to Falshade, who was looking pretty much at a loss.

That's why he had a second Sky Knight on hand.

"We got a bogey at six o'clock!" I shouted as another impact reverberated ominously through the veins of the ship and something groaned and squealed as it was detached from its place. "And it doesn't sound like they want to come over for tea! Move it, nimrods, ya'll look real funny being so stupid! This is go time, full battle mode, move move move NOW!"

I practically shoved Falshade to get his feet moving and then he seemed to snap into action. He was bolting for the hanger door and then five of us were crashing over each other to get to our skimmers. Fraggle yanked the _Merlin_ around on herself, not even going for a slight arc attempt and it threw Varan, Falshade and I to the floor. I scrambled back to my feet as the _Merlin_ continued to throw and blend us like we were in some freak carnival ride. My stomach felt like it was slowly gravitating towards the opposite wall as I clambered onto my ride. Wasp's Gremlin's engine was so loud and battering that I couldn't hear whatever Varan shouted at me over Stork's head. In short, it was sheer pandemonium.

Another bone rattling blast battered the _Merlin _and then all of our engines were growling and roaring in a guttural fashion. We didn't wait for Falshade's orders; I looked over at him as the bay doors yawned open and he gave me a brief nod, which is Falshade for "Bring it."

And then we all were spewing out of the hanger's mouth and spraying out in all directions. Mechanical vomit of impending doom, if that paints you a picture.

I plummeted for a second before yanking on my conversion gears and abruptly rocketing upwards. I shot up higher then the _Merlin_'s engines and looked for the first time upon our attackers.

One large battle air ship hung in the sky like a great, big bat about one hundred yards away. At first I'd hoped that maybe it was all a misunderstanding and it was one of the Sky Knight squads from the Legion come to check up on the Scar and had spotted us buzzing around like nosey little idiots. The _Merlin_ was an uncoloured ship after all, and even if we had a big Gargoyles emblem (which we haven't really got around to deciding on yet) splashed across the hull it was unlikely that the rest of the Legion would have heard of us yet anyways. But the ship before us now was definitely not one of the models that the Legion used. The main give away was the number of Blasters that were packed onto the thing.

And it was also uncoloured. Which, if you're a legit crew or anything like that, is technically illegal (Our bad). The only pirate vessels I knew that flew with a crest painted on their ships were the Murk Raiders and that's because even now they hold no fear or respect of the Sky Knights. After Cyclonia went down it was like a dog eat dog free for all for all the pirates to scrape up the plunder of other's misery and horrors. The Murk Raiders remained on top all these years, and now the littler bands of thugs and Talon Cult wanna-be losers fly in unmarked ships more in a grudging respect-born-from-fear of the Raiders then anything else.

However these guys, whoever they were, didn't strike me as someone who needed to stay hidden and inconspicuous while the bigger wolves fought for the meat. First of all their ship was a monster, nearly three times as big as the _Merlin _and armed to the teeth with energy cannons and huge steel spikes jutting out sporadically like knives along the armour to keep enemy battle ships from getting close enough for a good hit. That thing was a pure bred bruiser and our little hybrid ex-fishing cruiser paled in comparison.

And I mean if that wasn't enough then they also happened to have swarm of dog fighters who were rolling out on some seriously beefed up skimmers. We were outnumbered shortly, nine to one.

"Guys, listen up." Falshade's voice was saying just below my wrist. I took my hands off my handle bars briefly and wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans, my eyes never leaving those skimmers. Even with my sniper eyes I couldn't pick out all that many details of the riders from here, but it wasn't hard to spot body armour and weapons glinting in the sun. These guys meant business, and I wasn't really in the mood for asking why at the moment. I'd worry about that later once we got them out of our hair.

My heart was humming as rapidly as my Slip Wing's engine and I had a hard time focusing on Shade as he struggled to whip a plan out of thin air. I'm the better strategist, I won't lie.

"Okay, so we're not as prepared for this fight as we should be, and they've obviously got us outnumbered, and we don't even know who these guys are or what they want-"

"Whoa, Shade, slow down, my morale is shooting through the roof here!" I interrupted and I could here him mutter something that sounded suspiciously like he had plans of shooting something _else_ up somewhere else.

"Right, well I don't really care who these jerks are, they attacked us first and that pretty much lost them their white flag privileges." Falshade growled into the speaker again, sounding pretty confident for the guy who'd frozen back on the bridge. "Fraggle, you listening?"

"'M all ears, Chief."

"You focus on crippling that cruiser, aim for the cannons and the engines. We have to knock them out of the sky fast before they can get another hit on us. They might be bigger, but the _Merlin's _faster."

He had a point. I doubted that colossal, clunky thing would be able to keep up with the quick little dives and rolls our _Merlin _could pull off, and in a chase we'd be laughing. But that was considering our bird was in top shape, and even from my place about sixty feet above her I could already see the damage that had been caused from those first three hits. She didn't look like she was hurting yet though, and she was far from beaten.

"Righto, Chief." Fraggle said and I could almost see his cheesy little salute.

"If things get too rough call Angel back and he can take the top-side blaster for a little spin." Falshade added and I bit my tongue. I built up a snide comment for later and fixated instead on the skimmers hanging hungrily across from us at the other end of the no-man's-land. They were waiting for us to make the first move and for the first time in years I felt a flicker of fear in my chest. Suddenly I was forgetting all my manoeuvres and parries and desperately trying to remember if I had my parachute strapped to my back. I wanted to move already, to let flow this toxic energy instead of letting it stew in my gut like some kind of black tar.

"Right, the rest of you… keep those skimmers off the _Merlin_. That's our number one priority. Bring those guys down, any way you have to. Just… try not to kill anybody."

His last line floated into my ears hung in my head coldly. They actually stung, stung as if he'd directed them pointedly at me and me alone. I knew it was stupid, that he was just reminding us that we didn't want to sink to that level. But that thought… it just made me prickle in a way I didn't like at all. Because it pushed the fear out and left me cold and ready. There was something terribly wrong with that. I'd rather have fear then whatever this was.

"And watch each other's backs, alright?" he added and the word 'amen' echoed in my head for some weird reason. I looked over at him, where he was hovering about twenty feet to my left, a little lower then I was. He had pulled Sliver out of its sheath and activated the Striker crystal that until now had been sitting in hibernation in its holster. He'd chosen purple because he's completely confident with his orientation and it matches his eyes and what not. Actually I thought it was quite fitting of him.

Stork had her enormous battle axe hanging in her right hand, yellow electricity dancing on its head. I'd sure hate to be the sucker who caught the brunt end of that, that's all I have to say. Varan's broadsword, similarly yellow, looked so natural in his hand that it made me feel surreal and removed. It was almost like my friends had been sucked into some other dimension and replaced with these freak show warriors.

Wasp was the only one who didn't look out of place. Probably because she looks out of place everywhere. She had her boney, knobbly knees clamped around the seat of her ride, just below the controls. Apparently Gremlins are the only rides in the Atmos that had the conversion ability to swap the location of the controls from the handles to the seat so you could steer and accelerate using your lower body while you hands remained free. For someone like Wasp who used two swords instead of one it was pretty handy, I have to admit. Her green glowing machetes looked like illuminated jaw bones and the way she held herself whilst holding them… the only words that came to my mind were feral, creature and raw annihilation.

I was feeling pretty raw by now too, like something had come along and rubbed all my insides real good with sand paper. I flicked my goggle lens down over my right eye and my vision was amplified on that side. I blinked a few times until I got used to having the cross wires etched over one eye's vision and then snapped my mechanical crossbow into a firing position over my lower right arm. I'd made it myself, capable of holding a barrel loaded with twenty to fifty rounds, depending on the size of my bolts. The part I was most proud of was the trigger. I didn't have to pull at tricky little tumblers nor hold the thing in my hand, which allowed me to switch between sniper to melee fighting with my sabres and back again with basically no transitional mess. My trigger was located in a thin metal strap the clung tightly to my arm, sensitive enough to pick up on the spasms of my muscles. All I had to do was tense my arm…

Clever, I know.

But I don't have ego issues or anything.

As I hunched down low over my skimmer I could feel this weird rushing high coming over my limbs. They were trembling but were holding perfectly still. This mad rush of calm was whisking in my veins like galloping horses. My muscles tensed and my heart rate slowed and picked up erratically at the same time. My chest felt weirdly hollow and I was breathing in more air then usual. Things seemed to become clear and sharp to the point that it made them jerky and uncoordinated, like if I blinked I'd miss something. I could taste blood on the back of my tongue and my teeth felt brittle. I even got this strange pull around my groin, but that's probably too personal.

All I knew was this was it, what I'd trained for, what I'd been waiting for. Things were going to change after this. Battles wouldn't be just a vision, a drawn up fantasy of what they'd be like. They'd be something new.

But I suppose I was sounding like a girl losing her virginity by that point.

We seemed to hang there, suspended between gravity and oblivion, waiting for each other to make the first move. With my Sight draped over my right eye I was able to see our opponents in much greater detail now. I trained my scope on one guy in particular, a skinny little son of a bitch who was levelled over his own cross bow, which was attached to the front of his skimmer. Little wisps of orange hair streamed along the sides of his head, pushed back by a blue head band. He had green tinted goggles snapped down over his eyes, and I could tell even from here that they weren't your average shrapnel shields. They arched outward like a telescope lens.

He was a sniper. He was my first target.

"Gargoyles, listen up." Shade was muttering over his speaker again as if he thought they might here us from there. "If we charge first we might get a bit of an upper hand here. There's more of them but we're more manoeuvrable. Like sparrows after a raven, you dig? So on the count of three we're going to rush them. Wasp, Varan, loop around the left and if you can get a shot, take out some of those cannons. Stork, Angel, and I'll try to get the rest of them out of the way so Fraggle can go for the right flank, okay?"

Something dug at my chest when he said that. I couldn't decide if it was good or bad, but at the moment, I didn't really care either. Something was exploding then collecting and compressing and exploding all over again within my blood, like some sorta of weird hybrid adrenaline. And I liked it too much to be bothered by Stork and Falshade and to be excited about being on their team finally or to be angry about the same thing. I'd found a new place and it was called Who Cares?

"Are you guys… good?" Falshade asked us then and I caught a slight hitch in his voice as he spoke. This was make or break time and he knew it. He wasn't afraid of the fight, necessarily. He was afraid of the outcome.

"I'm as good as I'm gonna get." Varan's voice echoed through each of our speakers. It was disarming how frightening and animalistic his voice could sound when you couldn't actually see him and his dorky mohawk.

Stork, who was hovering a bit behind me, nearer to the _Merlin_'s windshield then the rest of us, pointed her free hand in the shape of a six gun up at us to demonstrate her okay and Fraggle revved the engines slightly as if he were in an air race and not an about-to-explode battle. Wasp was ducked beneath the runway as if the sunlight bothered her, but even from there I could hear her laughing. That dirty little _freak_.

"Angel?" Falshade called and I felt the joy flicker on that one, I couldn't help it. I cared a little.

"Bangerang, man." I said and heard Stork echo "Bangerang!!" from where she was waiting. I was almost sure I saw Falshade chuckle.

"Bangerang on three." He agreed. "One-"

"THREE!!" Wasp screamed and the roar of her engine tore a filthy hole in the tense, baited silence that had been clamped around my ears like the night. I was almost glad she did it.

The moment she exploded into movement our trigger happy friends on the other side of our lofty battlefield seemed to spring to life like petrified demons released from their spell. A torrent of them broke away form their pack and singled out Wasp while the other ones rushed forward to tear into the rest of us. With a terrible growling sound like some sort of giant beast roused from slumber their airship came rolling forward, making a steady arc around us smaller fodder to try and take another pass at the _Merlin._

I guess that was pretty much our cue to get out of the way and start bashing some skulls.

The first trio of skimmers to come across Wasp attempted to overwhelm her, one on either side and one from above. The entire front end of the sucker on the right's ride was crushed beneath the runner boards of Wasp's Gremlin as she spun herself around and converted back to land mode _in mid air_. The resounding collision completely totalled the front end of her would-be-attacker's skimmer while it left hers practically unscathed. The thing probably weighed an extra two hundred pounds just because of its armour. As the opposing guy's skimmer plummeted Wasp reverted back to her wings and punched into the other two skimmers, green blades flashing violently. Three parachutes sprang into the sky below us like mushroom caps several seconds later.

I only watched for a moment as the others took off. I was still up at my higher vantage point, because as sharp shooter I considered it my duty to pick off the guys who could harm my friends from afar before rushing into a dog fight myself. Picking off other snipers is like spy-vs.-spy stuff though, and I knew I had to move quick or I was going to get nailed.

My orange haired fellow with the dork specs had vanished while I'd been distracted by Wasp's display of daring stupidity. Another word for her came to mind and that was kamikaze. I twisted around, looking for him and got a good view of Stork pounding into the engine of another one of these joker's rides with a mighty two handed sweep of her battle axe. It was so forceful it nearly tore her from her ride and my breathing hitched for a second. But she spun free and through my magnified vision I saw her laughing as her victim tumbled down with the wreckage of his ride.

Two shots abruptly thundered past me, one grazing much too close for comfort at my neck. I went into a barrel role and tipped the nose of my ride downwards into a steep spiral. All the while I tried to get some sort of beacon on the guy who'd been firing at me, who I had a feeling was my bug-eyed friend from before. I felt another bolt whiz by and I pulled up suddenly, rolling back the other way. I'd caught a flash of orange in my vision as I'd been spinning erratically and I fired a shot in that direction as I climbed upward at a painful speed. I was using my arm with the injured shoulder to steer and I understood now why Varan had told me to take it easy on it. It yowled at me as I pulled up and I chomped down on my tongue to distract myself.

I heard a clash of charge hitting metal and then heard the tell tale sound of the increasing whine of a plummeting skimmer. I levelled out and saw a smoking skimmer going down with gathering speed into the cloud layer. The rider ejected himself and let his parachute catch him with a jolt. I noticed with irritation that it wasn't my sniper, but still… I'd taken him out. My first…. well not kill, because he was obviously still alive and cursing at me. But…I'd blasted him out of the sky. I'd beaten him. My first taste of war and I'd already sent one guy drifting into the Wastelands.

It felt unbelievably, wickedly good. And tasted horribly like nothing.

I wanted to do it again.

"Angel, two bogeys, three o'clock!" Stork shouted at me via my intercom and I looked up from my first victim and sought out the two guys she was talking about. They were coming in fast, making a beeline for the _Merlin_, which I was still pretty close to. I shifted my arm until I could see the bottom of my crossbow in my Sight. Then I lined up said bogeys in my scope.

"Bird on a wire." I muttered to myself before letting fly two shots. I was using bolts charged with plain old blue Strikers today, but while these bolts themselves and the crystals they housed were quite small, the resulting detonation was anything but miniature. Wasp, again showing some evidence of deeper intelligence and skill, had amped some shards for me that were much more refined and packed much greater punch. Sometimes, for tiny seconds in a sudden flash, I sometimes felt bad for hating her.

In almost simultaneous succession both riders were flung from their rides as my concentrated pieces of elimination drilled into their skimmers at top speed. Two more shutes popped open beneath us, and with each sudden explosion of colour dotting the sky I felt a flurry in my chest that I neither couldn't nor wanted to explain.

Varan and Wasp had deaked and rolled past several missiles, splitting apart and then coming back together like dancing birds. They were pulled into the larger carrier's slip stream and I had to stop for a moment to watch them. I didn't like how close they were to those cannons. Wasp was flipping about like a dragonfly over a pond, zipping in so that her wings banged on the hull and then shooting out again. Varan was yelling at her for her attention and then I heard Stork scream (and that girl's got a set of lungs on her) as a blaster went off right in front of him. I froze, my heart going still in my fluttering chest. Varan yanked his ride upwards in the nick of time though, and came away unharmed. He dove back down under the cannons and slapped something into Wasp's outstretched hand.

What happened next went in slow motion.

Wasp flew ahead of him and then turned back around and seemed to charge right at him. I felt my arm squeeze and fire twice in her direction, but not at her (unfortunately she's on our side, I reminded myself) but at the bogey coming up behind her. It was way too far away still and I missed by a long shot. But as it were, I needn't have worried.

Because Wasp jumped at the last second.

And even me, who am her worst tormenter and the first member of her un-fan club, felt my heart twitch and seize as I watched her fling herself from her ride and dig her fingernails into the sleek, smooth metallic skin of the battle ship's hull.

Her ride, on the other hand, continued on its forward path and I was sure it was going to mulch Varan if he didn't move like _now. _But he didn't. Instead he shot out an arm and grabbed hold of the handle bars and swung Wasp's Gremlin like a club right into the front end of the oncoming attacker's skimmer.

_Holy shit._

I mean, I'd always known Varan, despite his gangly, lean body, was strong, stronger then the rest of us by far. And I knew that a large Terradon could give a Wallop a hard time in a fight, maybe even win if he got a good shot at the neck or something. And even a scrawny one like Varan could give one a run for his money. But holy fucking shit, I never knew he had something like _that_ in him. 'Cause I mean the _entire_ skimmer seemed to crumple like a tin can under that blow. And the rider? Oh man is he ever lucky he didn't catch the brunt of that hit. Because believe you me, if he had of he currently would not hold ownership to a rib cage.

Wasp had caught a hold on one of the murder holes. She was _hanging_ directly in front of an energy cannon. Hanging there, thousands of feet above the ground, facing the open end of a Blaster and I was pretty sure she wasn't wearing a parachute. She swung there precariously for a few seconds before scrabbling up and perching on top of the cannon's muzzle. She stood up and rammed one of her machetes into the hull a few feet away for a handle I assumed. I was watching her every move from my stupefied position in the sky through my Sight. At that moment the cannon fired, more in attempt to shake off its parasitical guest then aiming for us, and Wasp lost her balance. She hung on tightly to her machete and then she was dangling there on the handle of her primitive weapon, half way to nowhere.

Her other machete came out and punched a second hole into the hull. This time though she yanked it back out and rammed it back into her belt. She fumbled with something in her pocket and promptly dropped it, but managed to catch it between her feet. With one hand she reached down and grabbed it and then stuffed it into the hole she'd made like a squirrel caching nuts. Then she twisted her arm, the one holding her machete, in its socket so that her feet were planted against the hull and she was facing the sky again.

Varan, who'd been circling and taking shots at cannons with his broadsword, flew past her and abruptly flung her ride back towards her. He'd been dragging it pony style beside him the whole time. He sped off and caught a hold of Stork's wing as he passed, tugging her back in the other direction as she'd been coming over to help Wasp; I could practically guess what that meant.

Wasp made another gravity defying leap and caught hold of her skimmer, belly flopping right onto the seat. She hauled herself up and then gunned her engines, hauling ass as fast as she could out of blast range. She was barely scrapping by the tip of the ship's intake engines when the explosion tore through the air like a thunderclap.

The shock wave hit me first. My ride bucked in its wake and I had to clench with my knees and hands to keep from flying off. The sound followed closely on its heels, punching into my ear drums and deafening me momentarily. I saw others who'd been in closer proximity howl and bring their hands to their ears. Bits of twisted metal sprayed like buck shots from the port flank and a few larger pieces (several were parts of energy cannons) pounded into any skimmers that weren't fast enough to get out of the way. Almost that entire side of the air ship had been ripped open like a chest cavity that had been taken to with a blunt, fat scalpel. One of the rear engines was smoking badly and the ship began to list, almost completely stripped of cannons on that side.

Now _that_ was Bangerang.

"Fucking raw crystals huh?" I crowed into my mic and Varan's harsh, slithery laughter echoed over the space between us.

"Ka-boom mother fuckers, ka-boom!" he roared triumphantly and looking at him then I almost forgot he was the same guy who'd get upset with you if you ate his brownies before dinner. I almost forgot I wasn't afraid of him.

"Beauty, eh!" Fraggle joined in our psychotic little victory vibe. "Give 'er! Now it's my turn, eh!"

And with an ear splitting, resounding "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Fraggle kicked the _Merlin_ into high gear, rocketing past the rest of us and scooting as close as he could up to the side of the damaged air ship. They weren't beaten yet and fired several rounds out of the starboard side cannons, some of which hit our bird, but Fraggle got the better end of the deal. Three shots short circuited out five Blasters and then he was targeting the other engines, swerving and diving all around like an irksome fly. Like it was a _game_.

Something about all this seemed too real to me. Here we were, finally in battle, and we were acting like we'd been doing this kinda thing since our hands were big enough to wrap around the hilt of a sword. It just seemed too dream like. I'd expected panicky, uncoordinated attacks against the enemy on our part and arrogant jabs that would eventually paint us into a corner. I never expected us to be good. We were far from winning, admittedly, but I mean…

I guess I'd over run my time-out in the box, because abruptly I was reminded that this wasn't a dream and we really were out here, fighting for possibly our lives (I mean who knew what these guys had in store for us if they won, right?). This reminder came in the form of an energy bolt that slammed into the back end of my Slip Wing and sent me unexpectedly tumbling right over the front.

And for the first time in nearly ten years I tasted fear like copper on the back of my tongue.

Things were moving too fast and too slow. Grey and black and a flash of heat as I rolled right over my own body and fell past the grill of my skimmer. Then open nothingness grabbing at me from all sides, making my eyes feel like they'd been taped open much too far and like a hook was trying to pull all my intestines out of me backwards through my spine. My stomach suctioned to the outer walls of my belly like it was trying to burst free and abandon ship, my throat shrank up to the back of my teeth and oxygen was suddenly hard to squeeze into my lungs.

Then something big and blurry whirled over head, grabbed the back of my jacket so hard the collar nearly decapitated me and deposited me back on the seat of my ride with a deft roll. I wheezed and barely had time to register that I'd been falling before I registered that someone had caught me. I looked up, feeling dizzy and prickly and disorientated and saw Falshade watching me from close by.

"Thought angels were supposed to have wings?" he called to me, trying to make it a joke, but he wasn't nearly as good as Stork. I could see the alarm in his eyes, and it gave me a wonky sense of pleasure.

I didn't have time to answer him and had barley caught my breath as I wheeled around to face whoever the jack ass was who'd shot me from behind. Now that was just bad form. And I was still having trouble grasping the fact that I'd actually been hit, actually had almost fallen.

Roaring by overhead was my original target, the orange haired lanky bastard. Apparently thinking he was finished with me he'd taken up chase with many of the others on the _Merlin_, which was swinging back and forth in short passes around the other air ship. Both carriers supported heavy damage and I couldn't tell right now which one seemed to be taking the beating worse. This game was still up in the air and victory was up for grabs. A few more well placed hits and the _Merlin_'d be sinking into the Wastelands. This wasn't over yet.

I zeroed in on the sniper who'd tagged me from behind. Something had forced a cold fist into my chest, right beneath my heart and a terrible feeling washed through me. I'd figured when I was younger that along the road eventually everybody is faced with the realization of mortality and the sudden strike that is the fact of death. I figured in war and battle people could only play so long, so far, at a game, thinking that the good guys always won and that they'd never have to taste the acid of pain and loss, that they were bigger then life. And then when it finally came to them that they weren't above the laws of reality and nature and gravity they'd change some how, become something new, like a caterpillar emerging from a chrysalis and finding it has wings.

And I'd tried to trick myself into thinking that that had already come and past with me. I guess I was no better then anyone else that way.

But just now, I got it. That people died in this sort of game, that just now I could have fallen and dealt with a parachute malfunction and quite possibly splattered in the Wastelands. I could have died. I still could die. We all could die.

And that fist gripped my heart and made me promise to remember that. And so I flared my new moth wings, on them written a new rule:

Hit or get hit. Kill or be killed.

Three consecutive shots burrowed into his skimmer and black smoke erupted from the back, thick and acrid. His engines sputtered and died and he plummeted like a stone. His shute went up and tore him from his ride, letting him drift helplessly in the currents, alone save for his defeat and his lesson learned: Never turn your back on someone you didn't see die.

"Come on, we gotta cover Fraggle!" Falshade hollered at me as he flew past and I cranked my throttle to keep up. I assume he wanted me to pick off some more thugs from afar but I didn't want to play sharp shooter anymore. I wanted to swing my sabres, to feel their weight and to feel pressure against them, something to push back on all these things that were pushing about inside of me. I wanted to be a Sky Knight too.

My Slip Wing was faster then his Ultra and I was the first to come down upon the group of scavengers. I whipped out my sabres and clenched my knees tightly around my seat as I pitched myself into a roll and curved both swords around me like a cocoon and then spun them out in similar slashing movements as I came over the first of the skimmers. I was upside down with no hands for about four seconds while I felt my sabres meet slight resistance and then bite into the metal wings of the bi-plane below me. Sparks shot back up at me and burst like star fuel in my magnified vision and I was really starting to feel the effects of having one eye's vision dramatically altered then the other's while flying around in apocalyptic freestyle. I'd have to tweak that when we weren't under siege.

I straightened out of my roll and saw the now wingless skimmer behind me drop like a hailstone towards the earth. I didn't have much time to savour my victory, however, because right around then is when I plunged into the thickest part of the skirmish and that was when the real struggle started. Ha, up until then I'd been beginning to think battle was some sort of lame joke that people exaggerated about.

I was hit from the side by a violent downward chop of an energy staff equipped with a red striker crystal at the tip. My ride shook beneath the blow and I could feel it beginning to tremble unsteadily beneath my palms and legs. There was a wispy trail of smoke curling up from the exhaust due to my previous hit and I pondered for a second which was more practical, speed or armour?

I lashed out at the staff wielding ramsack and stabbed one of my sabres into his engine, reaching around with the other the block his staff as it came at me again for a second round, this time aimed at my head. Then I swerved out of the way and rammed by accident into another skimmer, this one some sort of different, bulky make that was packed to the wings with explosive charges and missiles. He must have been their fall back plan; send in the big guy, make him go boom.

I tried to tear away from him because I really didn't want to have one of those death devices shoved into my Inductor. But my wings were jostled and wedged among his and I couldn't rip away. A blaze of red heat rushed by my shoulder and I shot out my sabre to deflect the oncoming assault of his short sword, all the while kicking at his skimmer to try and force it out of its lock with my wings. We were both trying to go in the opposite direction and my engine was emitting a horrible grinding sound. We were steadily listing to the left, the beginning of what would shortly be a very bad nose dive of both our rides. If this idiot didn't leave me alone and try to get himself unstuck we both were gonna lose our skimmers.

"Are you fucking retarded?" I shouted, kicking with both feet on each word. He was whacking and chopping at me like I was a bamboo thicket and my sore shoulder was taking the strain. He didn't seem to care that his ride and himself were caught in impending peril. Fucking brain-dead sack of _shit_.

Stork came out of nowhere, pounding right into the back of my skimmer and shoving my whole ride forward and out of its wing-lock. I was almost pitched over the front of my ride _again_ as I rolled free.

"You're welcome!" Stork shouted at me as I circled back around to get a bead on (to quote Fraggle) the hoser who'd nearly sent me spinning into the Wastelands.

"Move it!" I shouted in response, my Sight zeroing in on a row of large detonators hanging below his lower wing. I realized then how close I'd come to also being blown to little snack sized pieces, because usually any type of explosive crystal (Geyser, Eruption, Slime, Swarm and even Nitros) are extremely unstable no matter how well they're refined. It's just their material nature; they're meant to go off on contact.

In other words, it wasn't going to be this guy's lucky day.

Stork spun out away from him as I loosed a bolt and sent it straight home, connecting with the metal wing right between the first two detonators. The resulting charge was more then enough to set them off.

I guess this guy wasn't such a moron after all, because he had enough sense in his skull to jump a split second before my bolt made contact with his ride. He _wasn't _smart enough to let himself plummet a few feet before activating his parachute though and got plastered by what had once been the tail end of his runner board around the rib cage while his ride went up like a freaking fuel tanker. He'd been packed to the ass with all sorts of explosives and they went off one after another, one of them being kicked off into the air before detonating and took down a second skimmer that'd been flying over head.

Laughter burned and bubbled up from my throat as I rolled out of the way, hearing a loud _clang_ as a section of the old handle bars bounced off the underside of my Slip Wing. Stork pulled up beside me and clapped me a grudging Sky Five before taking off to help Falshade, who was locked between three guys and taking them all on with a determined gleam on his face like a ray of sunshine.

I had to pause to admire him. He was blocking and twisting his scimitar in his right hand, despite the fact that he was left handed, and keeping in control of his skimmer with his left. I watched him deflect three blows in rapid succession then punch out with Sliver's hilt and catch one guy right in the bridge of his nose. He crumpled and slid sideways from his ride and Falshade spun around in a wide arc to completely slice through the two port wings of another skimmer like they were mirages. He was holding his own fine and shouted at Stork to join Wasp and Varan when she hummed in place nearby in case he needed assistance.

He clashed swords with his remaining opponent, a brutish looking fellow with an ugly scar on his neck. Both of their weapons clanged together and were held by the other in mid air, neither ready to sacrifice their hold to try and make a move. The energy from both blades, Falshade's purple and his opponent's red, mashed and sparked against the other as if testing the other's strength. Both lights refused to wane and neither man was prepared to give any yield. They looked as if they'd turned to stone in mid air, shoving back against the other until one of their arms gave in.

But our Falshade, while stubborn and patient as a mother with his pig-headed and unruly squadron, doesn't have the time for that kinda nonsense. He's got brains behind those eyes of his, he's not just another pretty action-figure face, ya know.

He feigned a look of panic and defeat and rolled backwards as if having been pushed too far. Except he literally _rolled_ around, his whole ride, so that he hung upside down briefly before flipping back around the right way up. Of course his opponent had thrown all his weight forward expecting victory and was pitched right over Falshade's Ultra and sent on a one way trip to the Wastelands below.

And as this guy fell I got a brief glimpse of the scar on his neck, which turned out not to be a scar at all but rather some sort of tattoo, a weird cryptic symbol he'd probably gotten during puberty to look cool. See, it's losers like _that_ who deserve to go plunging face first from their rides.

"Angel!" Falshade yelled at me and I pulled in a bit to hear him better. He was interrupted by a cluster of seven more sky yuppies coming in at as in a semi circle formation as if to over power us with numbers. Falshade spun his ride so his back was facing me and I twisted similarly, picking off two guys while he knocked three more out of the air with a couple charges from Sliver. I fired a shot over his head at another goon while he twisted his arm around me to take out the last guy who was aiming at my exposed rib cage. There we were, like Sky Knight training all over again, watching the other's back, fighting as a team, which as a Sky Knight, isn't really natural. Heroes fight alone. That was one of the thing's I'd like about Falshade right from the get-go; he wasn't afraid to share the glory. He wasn't afraid to let people in.

"How's your shoulder?" he asked me, shouting in my ear over the noise of metal imploding and splintering and skimmers spinning down out of the sky.

"Hurts like a son of a bitch." I replied with a grin. I think it was the first time I'd really, really grinned at him in awhile. So many weird things were chasing themselves around in a circle in my chest, it was hard to tell if this whole thing was exciting me or scaring me or soothing me. However I liked it, because it was better then the crushing thing. Maybe that was why people fought in the first place? Not to do good, but to escape the crushing feeling in your chest that creeps up on you while you were standing still. Maybe this was better. So maybe that was why I was grinning.

"Means you're still alive, right?" he said and I nodded before reaching out and grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him into a barrel role (which isn't that easy considering the amount of metal between us) as a red ball of electricity buzzed overhead. I lifted my arm and fired three rounds at our attacker and watched in satisfaction as the front of his ride exploded into static sparks and he had to jump clear as it began to plummet.

"Damn I'm good." I drawled in that way of mine that makes people want to throttle me. I pretended to blow smoke off the tip of my crossbow and he smacked me around the side of the head in gratitude.

"Get off your high cloud and follow me, I've got an idea to get out that intake engine." He told me and sped off, me tailing behind. We weaved between missiles and fired a few of our own before we fell under the shadow of that massive battle ship. I let out a whistle that was lost to the wind and couldn't help but reach out and touch the mighty thing in admiration. Being a weapon specialist I guess you could say destruction fascinates me.

The engines were spattered with those imposing spikes, because after all once you lost your engines you were basically screwed. They were also heavily armoured. Hell, if they hadn't been so well fortified I was sure Fraggle would have blasted these jokers out of the sky by now. I could feel the heat emanating from the metal as we twisted and swerved around those steel fangs as we flew further under the ship. We were so close to the hull that I was sure I could hear voices inside the ship shouting desperate commands at one another.

"Shade, what are we doing?" I had to really shout for him to hear me as a blast from the _Merlin_ thundered into the pontoons and roared around us. We were going to get hit by our own team mates if we weren't careful.

"Here!" Falshade jerked to a stop right in front of me and I nearly crashed into him. He jabbed a pale finger at the massive turbine and I saw a large grate in the pontoon, a vent to allow the immense heat out. I realized sweat was rolling down my strangely cool skin.

"Varan's given me a bit of an idea." He explained hurriedly and held something out in his palm to show me. A jagged reddish-orange crystal, a big one. A Blazer.

I blinked once then grinned wickedly. "You evil genius you!" I called over another rattling blast. This time it came from the ship above us scoring another hit on our ship. Something had to be done about these guys already.

"You go, you're smaller." He said. "I'll cover you. You're gonna have to be seriously quick."

I nodded jerkily and he tossed the crystal to me. I fumbled it for a second before clutching it tightly. Falshade was speaking into the intercom, probably telling the others to get the hell out of the way.

I pulled my Slip Wing in as close as I could get it, feeling the handles grow incredibly hot beneath my palms. I was still too far away. I gritted my teeth and reached out with my free hand, grasping the tip of a nearby spike. It was even hotter then my controls and it was like grabbing onto a piece of charcoal. I swore under my breath and swung myself with one hand into a gap between two spikes, wedging my legs in tight. My jeans sizzled against the burning metal and I had to let go of the other spike or my bones were going to melt. I looked up at the grate, which was pouring heat down on me like a fountain from Hell. I could smell burning hair and flesh and it made me gag. I reached up with my injured arm, the Blazer in my fingertips and I prayed that it wouldn't go up in my hand. I shifted upwards slightly, dangling over open air and being held there only by my back and knee caps. I couldn't see Falshade around all the heat waves and black metal and I wondered suddenly if he'd left me there to smoulder to death. Shaking wet hair out of my eyes I stretched with all my might and jammed the Blazer in between two slats. It stuck there and I knew I had to go. Pieces of my jacket were literally dripping off me. Hoping to God I'd be able to catch my skimmer I kicked upward with one leg, dislodging myself and ramming the crystal the rest of the way through the grate before free falling out from between the spikes. I heard a _whomph _noise as the crystal ignited in the inferno that I'd shoved it into and caught hold of my handle bars just barely as a jet of flame streaked down from the grate, turning the spikes red with the heat. A noise like a turbine picking up momentum started to gather overhead of me and I clawed back onto my ride desperately. Falshade was watching me, hanging there waiting for me to make sure I was safe rather then getting out of there like he should have done around _yesterday_.

"FLY!" I shouted at him and we both plunged like shooting stars out of the way as the entire intake engine, fuelled by massive amounts of energy and oxygen, went up like star fuel. Flames shot out of both ends and out every orifice available and drops of melted metal rained down on us like the apocalypse. We had to get out from under that ship or we were either going to get incinerated or crushed by the now steadily dropping air ship. I shot out back the way we'd come while he gunned it out the opposite way, following along the beast's steel belly and bursting out into open air. I similarly broke free of that oppressive shadow and was met by blissfully cool air.

The _Merlin_ was listing badly nearby, looking battered and bruised but not beaten. Not ever beaten. The others were hovering nearby, watching in awe as the ship continued to belch flame from the exhaust. I hoped it had an After Burner. That would just be _unfortunate_.

Those who we hadn't already swatted out of the sky on skimmers were retreating now, chasing after their sinking ship. I fired bolts at many of them until I was out of ammo and Varan flung down another detonator for good measure. It struck the top of the air ship and tore open the roof. But I mean we weren't kicking them while they were down or anything, heck no, not us. That'd just be plain rude.

"Remember that the next time you sneak up on someone!" Stork was shouting insults down at them. "You come right on back next time you wanna tango! Bangerang, mother fuckers!"

"Bangerang!" the rest of us echoed, punching fists and hoisting weapons into the air. We're kids, what'd'ya expect?

Falshade was laughing uncontrollably while still trying to look like a leader. "Okay guys, let's try not to act like sore winners here." he said, but he couldn't stop smiling. "Let's get back to the _Merlin _and get the hell out of here."

I guess we all were riding a pretty euphoric wave. Some of us had been training for years for this moment and had fretted about it constantly, wondering, dreaming, fearing. And now here we were, victors after our very first battle. Every uncertainty had been erased, every fear dissolved. We _could_ do this. We hadn't come all this way to fail and crash and burn. There was a good chance that we wouldn't die. A better one anyways. Because we could fight. And not only that, we could win. We could kick some serious _ass_, apparently.

And we'd just proven everyone else wrong, everyone who thought we were just a bunch of kids with something to prove. Anyone who'd said tiny blonde girls couldn't swing an axe, that a Raptor couldn't be depended on, that Blizzarians couldn't pilot their way out a paper bag, that two Sky Knights couldn't possibly work together, that a Faerie couldn't figure out where they were long enough to swing a sword and that an old racing/fishing cruiser couldn't possibly hold out in battle. It felt incredibly good to prove someone else wrong.

The bridge was a flurry of noise and Sky Fives and nougies as we all tried to recount the best part over and over:

"Did you see the explosion that we set off? Jeez… and that wasn't even a whole crystal!"

"Did you see me chop that guy's skimmer in half?"

"I Bull's-Eyed their freaking thruster, eh, did you catch that?"

It went on for quite some time like that before Falshade finally held up his hands for silence. "Let's put the celebration on temporary hiatus and do a damage check, okay? First of all, how's the _Merlin_ holding up? Should we bring her down somewhere and patch her up?"

"Nah, eh. She'll be okay for a bit. I want to put some distance behind us before setting her down." Fraggle reported, rubbing the controls affectionately. "That's my girl, eh."

"Right then, so who's hurt? Angel, why in hell have you just been standing there, you look like you've been deep-fried." Falshade told me gruffly. I shrugged.

"Doesn't hurt."

"Liar. Wasp, are you bleeding?"

Wasp wiped at the dark stain on her pale thigh. "Not mine." she answered and then licked the blood from her hand in one long swipe.

"Don't even!" Stork yowled at her and dragged her wrist away from her mouth while Varan turned even greener under his scales.

"So just Angel then?" Falshade said, attempting to sound casual but struggling to keep a disgusted look from creeping onto his face.

"Apparently." Varan said, turning away from Wasp and going to get the first aid box, clicking his fingers at me to sit on the table like a good little patient.

"Aw, poor Angel Cakes. Want me to hold your hand?" Stork asked, sitting beside me as I struggled to pull my shirt off over my head.

"They have good looking girls to do that." I retorted, hissing as the fabric of my shirt pulled out of the sticky, oozing burn on my back. Stork bit back any nasty comment she'd had in mind when she realized I actually was pretty roughed up.

"Oooh, what'cha do?" she asked, tugging at me so she could examine me better.

"Ow, be careful!"

"Cry baby."

"Oh, I'm sorry, let's stick you in the oven for an hour and see how you feel when people tear at your skin with little girly nails."

Stork rolled her eyes and started picking bits of shirt fluff out of my skin. I didn't realize until now how badly I'd been scorched by the spikes. My shirt had a gauzy, wet blot on the back that wasn't from sweat.

Varan came back and handed Stork, who was now sitting cross legged on the table behind me, some antiseptic, cotton balls and some gauze for burns. Falshade was camped out in the chair nearby, watching with a sort of guilty expression while Varan started to disinfect my knee caps. My jeans had been effectively burned back at the knees.

"It was a genius idea, man." I told him because he was beating himself up pretty bad, I could tell.

"You didn't have to crawl up there." he muttered exasperatedly.

"No pain no gain- ouch, Stork!"

"Oh shut it. I'm being as careful as I can."

"That was pretty Bangerang." Varan was saying. "Totally stole my idea, but still."

"Oh man, that was nothing compared to yours!" Falshade said enthusiastically. "You two took out the cannons on that _entire_ side!"

"And that wasn't even one of my big'uns." Varan added with a bit of shameful pride. "You wait 'til you see this next project I'm working on."

"Too bad you missed Varan take down these two guys who were tag-teaming me, Shade." Stork said. "He shredded their skimmers!"

"Not nearly as good as when you hooked that guy with your throwing axe and spun him right into the _Merlin_." Varan insisted.

"And then there was Angel blowing that big guy to smithereens!" Stork added, prodding me in the back of the head. I smiled.

"That was nothing compared to Shade decking that one sucker right in the nose. Instant knock out."

Shade grimaced. "I felt his nose like, crunch below my knuckles, isn't that nasty?"

"So I'm thinking we should sling your arm for a bit." Varan said while he smeared soothing balm onto my burned hands.

"Nah dude, it's good." I insisted. Stork poked my shoulder and jerked in pain, glaring at her. She smiled innocently.

"They have ugly girls to do _that_." she said and I swatted at her with my good hand.

"So who were those guys, do you think?" Varan asked to distract us before the situation got out of hand. "They didn't have crests or anything on their armour. I didn't recognize their ship or even what kind of skimmers they had."

"Pirates." I said simply, sounding more confident in my answer then I felt. Some things didn't add up.

"This close to the Scar?" Falshade reminded me. "It's not like pirates have out posts around here, this place is patrolled like a shipping lane."

"Barely. The Sky Knight Legion doesn't give a fuck about this place, they think we're safe, remember? They wouldn't noticed if they put up a death ray around here." I argued.

"Still, it's way too much to just be a coincidence. They started attacking us right after we got out of the vortex, remember?" Varan sided with Falshade because he thinks everything happens for a reason like that.

"Yeah, exactly. Almost like they were waiting for us." Stork added and I snorted.

"Our proximity alarms were off, they could have been there the whole time and it just so happened we ran into them."

"No. They weren't there before we went in." Wasp interjected then, pulling herself over by her fingertips across the floor as if her legs didn't work.

"How'd you know?" Stork asked her.

Wasp tapped her nose obviously.

"I'm telling you, it wasn't an ambush. Ya'll act more paranoid then Merbs sometimes." I stated, folding my arms defiantly.

"Well, okay, say it wasn't. But those weren't ordinary pirates. They didn't have any boarding gear and way too many cannons. And that ship was huge, not your average stealth pirate vessel. And they had skimmers. Pirates almost never attack on skimmers." Falshade continued and I had to give him that. One of the first things we'd learned in the Academy was to know your enemy.

"Maybe some new Talon Cult crew? That would explain why they were so close to the Scar." I reasoned. Varan growled low in his throat and I shifted away from him slightly. He still had his broadsword strapped to his back and I think there was blood smeared across his cheek.

"I dunno about that either. They were too organized, there were too many of them. And they weren't all dressed in those weird cloak things. They weren't uniformed at all, come to think of it." Falshade mused, rubbing at his chin with his thumb.

"So they were a band of rogues, we already figured that, still doesn't give us any idea why they attacked us like that." Stork reminded us all.

"Well the _Merly'_s not a coloured ship, eh." Fraggle stated, using his ridiculous pet name that he'd stuck to our long suffering ship. "If they were just rogues they might have thought we were another crew, maybe one they're in a bit of a spat with, eh. How would they know we're a squadron, right?"

"That could be it." Falshade agreed. "But the odds are still pretty stacked. I still wanna know why they were hanging around here in the first place, and why they just happened to be there when we came out."

"The odds of getting struck by lightning are one in a million and I knew a guy on Saharr who'd been hit twice." I argued. "Meaning it doesn't matter what the odds, you can still be the one. There was no way they could have known exactly where we were, because we didn't see anyone tailing us on the way in and remember that I lost communication with you guys when I broke through the other side. Not to mention our navigations systems went haywire while we were actually in the blotch. There is _no way_ they could have tracked us."

"Angel's got a point. Let's forget about the who and why for now, because obviously all we can do is guess." Varan said. "What we should worry about now is what we're going to do about it."

"Well it should be obvious, shouldn't it?" I said excitedly. "We should chase after them, find out exactly who they are and what they're up to!" This idea made perfect sense to me, but the others weren't looking so convinced.

"Okay, first of all, I don't think they're going to give much chase right about now." Falshade said slowly. "Secondly, what would that achieve? So a band of rogues attack us and suddenly our whole mission goes on hold so we can follow them around, with only a slight chance at finding anything useful from them, if anything at all? You said so yourself, Angel, those guys were just pirates."

"Well, yeah, but Shade they weren't just your average skull and crossbones guild either. They had a lot of metal packed onto that ship, and tons of crystals. Meaning they must have a steady source of income, more reliable then jumping merchant vessels. I have a feeling those guys may have just been stooges of some bigger puppet master, or at least a small chunk of a larger band. Shouldn't we try and find out at least?"

"I dunno…"

"This could be your new evil, Falshade!" I said frustratedly, hopping off the table and standing in front of him. "This could be the start of it!"

"No." he said so confidently and so hoarsely that he left no doubt in my mind he knew what he was talking about. Still didn't mean I had to agree with him on it. "No. This… thing in my dreams…. it's much bigger then a pack of rogues. And much worse. Those guys were butterflies compared to what I've seen."

An uneasy silence settled between us, like a break in a hurricane; I didn't know how long it was going to stay calm for. He stared at me for a long time before clearing his throat and standing up.

"We'll keep going on to Rex. Something tells me those guys aren't going to be causing any trouble for awhile. It'd just be a waste of time to hunt them down." He said, striding past me dismissively. I made a noise in my throat but kept my mouth shut. I hadn't liked how he'd stamped out my theory like a spark, but then again I guess I hadn't been doing much better to him over the past few days, and it was a bit of a low blow to bring up his dreams anyways. It usually put him in a mood. "Stork, why don't you go check out the rest of the ship, see if there's anything bad going on in the interior, okay? Fraggle, keep on course unless we need to make an emergency landing or something. And Varan do you think, if you're up to it, you could make us some lunch… or dinner…. hell I have no idea what time it is, I just know I'm hungry."

The three of them nodded and set off to their given tasks. Wasp had disappeared again, but she didn't really have any set responsibilities on the ship, seeing how she wasn't good at anything productive.

"And you." Falshade said, turning on me. I couldn't tell if he looked necessarily angry or not. I didn't think I'd done anything to deserve it even if he was. It wasn't my fault I was the only one who wasn't ready to give in to his orders. Even Stork was acting reasonable for God's sake.

"Best thing for your burns is to let the air at 'em. Lie down on the couch so we can keep an eye on you, in case you… spontaneously combust or something. And don't you dare even think about doing anything else." Falshade instructed me and I scowled.

"You'd better not be babying me." I warned.

"Now that'd be a bit redundant. Coddling someone who acts _so_ mature and all." he said and I took a swing at him. He caught my arm and pushed me down onto the couch. I flopped down testily and stretched out on my stomach. My back was stinging quite badly now that I paid attention to it, despite Stork cleaning it for me. Or maybe because of that, come to think of it.

Falshade crouched down next to me so I was forced to look him full in the face.

"Never do that to me again." he threatened me quietly so Fraggle wouldn't hear.

"Do what?" I asked, my anger and anxiety flaring back up, wondering if he was going to hack at me again for being such a prick over the last twenty four hours. A small part of me piped up and reminded me that I deserved it if he did.

"Fall like that. If next time they decide to cut your parachute… well, I might not always be there to catch you."

I struggled to sit up again, but he'd already straightened up and walked away. Had I really scared him that bad?

That was Falshade's worst fear, I realized then. To fall. And that didn't just include himself.

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

I needed a bath.

People tell me all the time that I have terrible hygiene. Which I do, I just don't really care. To be fair all of us on the _Merlin_ aren't what you'd call clean freaks. That's one of the first rules you learn when you sign onto living on an airship for ninety-five percent of the time; you gotta get used to the close quarters, and getting messy is unavoidable. _I_ at least have the decency to wear deodorant every day, and I wash my socks more often then most. Still though, I go out of my way to see how long I can go without a shower, kinda like a contest with myself. However, when even _I_ am able to smell myself, well… that's when I realize I need a shower.

Plus there's nothing like getting into a hot tub after a long day of _kicking ass_.

"Anyone need to pee?" I shouted down the hallway. I didn't really matter if I warned them or not. The _Merlin_ only has one bathroom and no matter how many times I ask before I get in the shower or something someone _always_ needs to use the washroom about half a minute later.

"I'm good." Falshade said, stepping out of the kitchen ahead of me and startling me. "And keep your voice down, would you?"

"Why?" I demanded, my rebellious side finally kicking up again. 'Bout time.

"Angel fell asleep on the couch. Probably the first time he's slept in awhile, poor bastard."

I blinked. "He fell asleep? Really?" I don't think I've ever seen Angel sleep before. I'd dragged Fraggle out of bed on several occasions, read silently some mechanic manual or other while Falshade fell asleep with his head on my shoulder and been whacked with Varan's tail when he napped on the couch and flicked it in his dreams, but I've never seen Angel in any state of drowse. Well there was the time that he got food poisoning and only got up in his fever-hazy state to hug the toilet bowl… but you know. I almost wanted to go see him right now, like some sort of freak spectacle. Maybe that's why Shade grabbed my arm.

"Yeah, he did. So just go take your bath or whatever. Lock the door cause Fraggle's been forgetting to knock lately…"

"Is that how you cut yourself shaving?" I asked, prodding the half healed nick on his left cheek. He wrinkled his nose awkwardly.

"I don't shave." He mumbled, slapping my hand away.

"Like hell you don't. I can smell your after-shave!" I teased, easily dodging his half-hearted punch.

"And I can smell _you_." he said, wheeling me about and pushing me in the direction of the bathroom. "You've still got grease in your hair, you know."

I flipped him the finger over my shoulder and then made a huffy show of clomping my way to the bathroom.

Like the rest of her, the _Merlin_'s bathroom is pretty tiny. Barely enough floor space for two of us to brush our teeth at once. I shuffle in and flip the switch next to the automatic doors so no one can come charging in on me, which Fraggle has an annoying tendency to do. I ended up giving him a black eye the day he burst in on me right after I stepped out of the shower and barely had a towel draped across me. That was one of the bendable and unimportant vows I'd made to myself when I'd first agreed to start flying around in a cramped little airship with four boys, and that was I was never going to make it obvious that I was indeed a girl. I'm rather proud of my tom boyish appearance and attitude anyways, but there are some things I used to do when I was on my own that might have been a little awkward now that I shared airspace with four post-puberty (not meaning they're that mature mind you) boys. So I kept my private issues to myself, volunteered to do laundry so no one would get caught in some mortifying under garment situation and I went out of my way to insure I never revealed myself in any way that'd be really uncomfortable for everyone involved.

That's not to say I wrapped myself in freaking robes and layers and shit like that. You could see a tan strip of my belly and my clunky arms and shoulders due to my smallish tank top and I was okay with that. That wasn't anything sleazy or brash or suggestive. And we'd all moved into a pretty mature place with accepting each other's bodies. We'd all went through those painfully awkward puberty years together and even now were a pretty clumsy bunch, so that was one thing we tried not to tease each other about. I'd seen Angel and Falshade and Fraggle in their underwear because for some reason they liked to sleep that way, and Varan liked to train without his leather vest on because it hindered his movements (not gonna lie, scaly chests are haw-t). And Angel walked into my room one day while I was pulling on my jeans. But, as they all were pretty much the brothers I'd never had by now, those were things we could deal with around each other. That was something sort of important to me, like a link between as all that marked our friendship as more then just ordinary.

Usually, because there's six of us and one bathroom, it's common courtesy to take a quick shower and then get out. But my muscles were sorta sore and my head felt like a torrent was racing around inside it, because despite our discovery at the Scar and our victory against those pirate jerks I couldn't fully suppress that uneasy, déjà vu feeling from before. So a bath sounded too good to pass up and I pushed the lever all the way to the top and shoved the plug into the bottom of the tub.

Now, despite the fact that despite a few obvious differences in anatomy I'm pretty much a boy, I do enjoy some feminine things such as (when I do bathe) bubble baths. I remember back in the early days when I bought myself an industrial size bottle of green bubble soap and some of those fizzy sphere things that foam in the water, despite Angel and Falshade's snickers and teasing. Fraggle ended up using the entire bottle on me because he said it made his fur smell good and after that I just gave up and settled for regular baths. But I still had a few of those fizzy things kicking around and I dropped one into the water before peeling my sweaty tank top off my back. I noticed a blood smear on the bottom of my shirt and frowned. Must have rubbed off from someone else, because I didn't remember getting hit by anything except a small piece of shrapnel from the big guy's skimmer that Angel took out, and it only nicked me. Might have been the guy I plastered around the head with the side of my battle axe. I was sure I heard his jaw snap as he went spinning past me…

I kicked my shoes off, grinning at the memory. I felt _really _good about finally mashing some metal under my axes, I'll tell you that. I think we all did. Training was nothing compared to the real deal, and now I didn't feel so worried about if I'd be able to handle the reality of war. I didn't know if I had fighter in my veins.

Quite suddenly I wanted to talk to my Dad, to see if he'd felt the same way I did when he'd been in his first battle. My throat squeezed painfully and I snorted back some mucus that was running down my nose. Three years is a long time to be away from the first person who ever loved you, I realized. I wondered if Lyn were anywhere on the route to Rex. I suppose, being navigator and all, I should have known that.

Shaking my head to push the thoughts of my Dad away so I wouldn't start bawling, I wriggled out of my jeans and pushed them into a pile with the rest of my clothes and then slid into the tub, which I'd made way too hot. However my back was twinging and the heat felt nice on my knotted muscles. I guess I wasn't used to swinging my axe around while riding my skimmer.

I reached under the water, which was now tinted a slight shade of orange due to my fizzy-thinger, and rolled the crumbling sphere down to my feet so that the bubbles tickle my toes. I tried to pick it up with one foot and get it to the water's surface, but fail miserable because my toes are stubby and can't get a good grip on it. I moved my arm and realized that water was splashing on the floor because I filled the tub up too full. Whoops, my bad.

I turn the tap off and then sorta just let myself sink into the water, cracking my back and relaxing. Ooooooh, yeah. Okay, maybe hygiene's not so bad.

I rolled my bath fizzer along the floor of the tub with my foot and tried to stop all the thoughts that are chasing each other around my skull. I shouldn't be worrying, right? We won our battle today, and Falshade's finally been granted some much needed answers. I think our victory today was most important to him, the guy who'd been shot down all his life by strangers who turned their nose up at him and told him to move along. The guy who'd grown to wear the words "you can't" like a second skin. I'd never actually tell him this, but I really admired him for beating on all these years despite everything that must have told him otherwise. In my opinion, anyways, Falshade represented everything that those true blue Sky Knights were supposed to represent. As much as I told him this made me sick, it actually gave me fresh heart every time I felt like giving up and going home.

I noticed a layer of oil floating on top of the water by now, a mixture of sweat, grease, dirt, oily skin and I think a little blood, probably from my arm. Jeez, I was going to need a shower just to get clean from my bath water!

Still though… I certainly hadn't forgotten the intuition I'd gotten while leaving the Scar. I'd been distracted by it during our skirmish, and then while I'd been checking the _Merlin_ for any internal damage that may have been serious. By the time I'd finished with that Varan had dinner ready for us and after that I'd been busy down in the hanger, patching up any damage done to skimmers. It was only then that I'd caught a whiff of myself and clued in to what everyone else had been complaining about. But now that feeling was back, niggling about my frontal lobe like an irksome fly that just wouldn't drop dead.

I tapped my toe against the plug and tried to come to some sort of solution. I wanted to believe what Angel had said, that I was just getting caught up in the paranoid aura of the place and it was making me _think_ that I'd been there before. Because I know for a fact I haven't. At least, I don't ever remember being there, and I think if anyone would remember it would be me. I must have dreamed it or something…

Then again, how do you dream a place that you've never been to before unless it's some sort of subconscious message from the cosmos? I mean, Falshade had dreamed that room, and he'd never been there. But I can't remember ever dreaming of the Scar either… and this feeling, it was so… real, solid, believably simple. I'd been there before. Boom, done, end of story, period.

I sighed in frustration, wishing that those guys up in the heavens wouldn't think it was so funny to send us all these mystic voodoo shit warnings and just give us some damn answers already. Irkishly I pushed my bangs out of my face and realized Falshade had been right; I still had a decent coat of Slick tangled in my hair.

Deciding to try and push aside matters that made no sense for now, I grabbed the shampoo bottle and squeezed a glob onto my scalp. We were almost out because Fraggle used it like body wash. He claims it makes his fur nice and silky. Apparently fur is a matter of pride for Blizzarians, go figure.

My bath fizzer had completely dissolved by now and the water had cooled down a little. Some shampoo trickled into my eye and I was beginning to question whether taking a bath had been such a good idea after all. They joy of it was short lived, much like sex with Angel must be. Oh snap!

Holding my breath I dunked my head under water and shook all the shampoo from my hair with my fingers. It did feel pretty soft afterwards… maybe Fraggle had something going on here. I wondered absently what it must be like to be completely covered with fur and what a child of a Blizzarian and human would look like.

Then I lifted my head back out of the water and felt like someone had hammered a railroad spike right down on the top of my head.

And then it was like all the traffic froze in my brain. I wanted to grab the sides of my head because I felt like my skull was going to explode but I couldn't move my arms. Nothing was obeying my commands, not my reflexes nor my vocal chords, because despite the fact that I wanted to scream in agony no noise escaped my throat. I had never ever felt such pain in all my life and I've thrown my body around a lot. I couldn't even squeeze my eyes shut and I felt like they were about to pop right out of their sockets such was the pressure behind them. My teeth felt like their nerves were being dug at with a jack hammer. Holy fuck, holy fuck, holy _fuck_!!

I can barely suck air in past my lips. I feel like all my DNA is unravelling and there's no room for it all in my too small skull. My heart is racing so fast I can't pick out any separate beats. I want to thrash, to escape my body, tear my own head off to make it stop. Stop, stop, _please_!! Thoughts splinter and dance away, much like the lights twirling and bursting before my eyes; "_pain…too much… help… stop…pain…is this death?"_

I want to scream for help, for release, for someone to pull the nerves out of my head and find the blockage…. something has definitely ruptured up there. Please please stop!

"Fal…shade" is the last word I utter, somehow, past all the chunks of glass that are caught in my closing throat. And then I do thrash, a random spasm from nerves that are not in my control and I slip beneath the water's surface.

I don't even realize the soapy water is stinging my still open eyes. Fear grapples with pain for the right of way and, while about a minute ago I was desperately trying to gulp in air I am now fighting not too, because I am completely underwater. But my body no longer obeys my fruitless commands and I feel water flowing, undeterred and uncontrollably down my throat and nose. I want to cough and gag and vomit but can't. Water is starting to trickle into my lungs; I can feel it because all my nerves are alive like they've been electrified, only adding to my agony. My head literally feels like it is splitting open. It's like someone has shoved an Eruption stone up my nose and right into my brain matter.

Black spots bubble and swim in my blurry vision and I want to pass out so I don't feel anymore, except I know if I do I'll die. Using all the strength I have, nearly breaking my mind in two, I kick desperately at the wall of the tub to try and push my head back out of the water. My leg jerks uncoordinatedly succeeds in splashing water out of the tub. And then I have no more control, no more strength. I feel pressure in my veins, oxygen being squeezed out of every cell and demanding more. I have no more. I'm drowning and dying of a brain aneurism at the same time.

Because I've already used my last words these are my last thoughts: "_Holy fuck, I'm going to die at the bottom of a bath tub."_

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

I heard a banging noise coming from down the hall and rolled off my bed to see what in hell was going on. I almost panicked, thinking we may be under attack again, before I reminded myself that any sort of attack would be much louder then these clanging thuds. Someone was just pounding against a door, that's all.

I stepped out into the corridor to see Fraggle knocking furiously on the bathroom door, hopping from foot to foot moronically.

"Stork!" he shouted. "You don't own that room, eh! Some of us have to piss like a Wallop you know!"

"Would you stop yelling?" I asked him, grabbing his arm so he'd stop banging on the door before he raised every Cyclonian from their graves.

"She could at least answer me." he seethed. "I know you can hear me, eh!" he yelled at the door again.

"Maybe she can't." I said, ever the peace keeper. However I know for a fact that even if Stork had her head under water she'd be able to hear Fraggle going on like he was.

"My furry ass she can't. Stork, you greasy little engine molester, get outta there now!"

"You must really have to go, huh?"

"You'll find out how bad if she doesn't open this door in a second, eh." Fraggle informed me matter of factly and as much as I'd love not to, I knew he was being serious. With an irritated sigh I add my fist to the door.

"Stork, you've been in there for awhile, come on and let someone else in." I said into the metal, feeling like an idiot. No answer. "Stork, this isn't funny!"

Something started to tug on the back of my heartstrings but Fraggle was too worked up to notice my hesitation. He continued to pound on the door and swear at Stork. I listened for her smothered laughter but couldn't hear any. Then someone made a muffled noise at my shoulder and I jumped away in surprise. A very disgruntled and bleary-eye looking Angel sniffed like he had a cold and looked up at me, sleepy and grumpy.

"Waz happ'nin'?" he asked me, giving Fraggle the Stink Eye.

"Stork's hogging the bathroom."

"Did I, erm… fall asleep?"

"Yeah."

"Huh."

"Yeah."

"Hey Stork!" Angel shouted, fully awake now and ready to take up his usual pass time, AKA continue to be the bane of Stork's existence. "Quit powdering your nose and get out here, or Fraggle's gonna bust a kidney!"

That, if anything, should have got her. The three of us looked at each, worry etched on all our faces.

"Stork?" I called. "I know you can hear us. This really isn't funny anymore, please say something.

Nothing. "Okay, seriously, if you don't say anything in three seconds we're coming in, whether your dressed or not."

"We are?" Fraggle whispered and I nod because my throat wasn't working properly. I considered myself to have a pretty keen sixth sense, and I can tell when something feels wrong. And something definitely felt wrong.

The third second struck in my brain like a bell tolling and I moved to open the door before I realized it was locked. Shit.

"Stork, say something!" I shouted at her. Panic was setting the beat of my heart right then and I was just this side of freaking out.

A splash. Not one of someone stepping out of water. A sort of spasmodic and desperate sound, like a plea for help. And that set off all my alarm bells.

"Stork!" I shouted, pounding at the crystal pad next to the door that shows it's locked. I told her to lock it. My throat leapt up about a foot and I feel dizzy. What had I done?

"Fraggle, shut down the locking mechanisms. Now!" I snapped at him. He looked so stunned I doubt he heard me. Angel was kicking at the lock pad, picking up on my distress. Varan skidded on the floor as he ran towards us, his face frightened and tight.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"We have to get the door open, Stork's in trouble." I explained in a rush, so all he probably got was 'Wevetuthedpenstoble'.

"Do you have a Blocking crystal?" Angel asked him, anxiety rippling his tone and making his accent a little more obvious. That was the Angel version of complete hysteria.

"Uh, yeah, hold on." he said dumbfoundedly, turning around so fast he stumbled on his own tail.

"Men are idiots." Someone said in a jungle voice next to my ear and ripped me out of the way. Wasp plunged a machete into the crystal pad and the red light flickered out, static shooting up her arm and making her twitch. But more importantly, the door clanged open.

I forced my way past her and froze when I took in the scene, slipping on the wet floor: Stork's eyes were wide open, staring at me frantically from the bottom of the milky-orange bath water, her face blue and body stiff.

For a moment I couldn't move, as if she'd trapped me in her current state of petrifaction. Then I lunged forward, plunging my arms into the water and grabbing her around the middle, hauling her out so roughly I fell back on my ass, taking her with me. She collapsed on me, a dead weight, across my legs, and she didn't even attempt to move. The only way I could tell she was still alive was the strangled gurgling noise spilling from her mouth.

"Not breathing…" I choked, realizing her chest wasn't moving. "She's not breathing!"

Wasp threw herself down beside me while I fought back the fear rising in my chest like acid. Before I could even register her movements she curled a fist and slammed the flat side of her bunched hand against Stork's naked chest, a little below her sternum.

Stork's entire body jolted and she shot upwards before falling back over my legs and leaning over me like a leverage to drain the water from her lungs, coughing and gagging all over the floor. I was still holding her tightly and only then did I remember to breathe. Wasp pat's Stork's back awkwardly, her palms making smacking sounds against Stork's wet skin and that was when I realized that she was completely naked. I let go of her slightly, my face burning and that seemed to remind her too, because she tries to crawl closer to the nearest thing she can hide herself behind, which happens to be me.

Wheezing she finally looked up at me, eyes stretched wide and her mouth gapping open to try and draw in as much oxygen as she can. She wrapped herself a little closer around me when she realized the others were standing at the door, looking as shocked and frightened as I felt.

After a minute of stupefied silence she finally unwrapped herself from me, panting and occasionally sputtering, spitting globs of saliva and water onto the floor. She shuffled from me slightly before crouching as low as she could to the floor, wrapping her arms around her body to shield her nakedness and pulling her knees in tight. She stared at the floor, not looking at any of us, a torrent of emotions tumbling over and over in her green eyes; confusion, mortification, fright and unease, to name a few.

Wasp stops being a disaster long enough to drape a towel around Stork and I almost saw something normal about her, a caring and understanding sort of attitude that I'd never seen radiate from her skin. She stroked Stork's hair once and then sat herself on the edge of the tub, yanking out the chain before tumbling back into the water as if we were all just playing some sort of drunken game.

I wasn't really paying attention to what Wasp was doing. My eyes were still fixed on Stork, who was shaking as she tugged the towel closer around her.

"S-Stork?" I mumbled after another awkward minute where the only sound was the tub draining. She looked up at me slowly, her eyes still stretched wide and for a moment I thought I saw something in their red-rimmed corners, something like tears.

"What happened?" I asked her quietly as if she were a small animal likely to scare and run off if I spoke too loudly.

She stared at me, unblinking, and her chin trembled as she spoke so quietly I had to strain to hear her: "I don't know."

**A/N: So, there I go again, taking my time updating. I do apologize. However summer break is nearly upon us and hopefully then I'll be able to update more frequently. Hope you enjoyed the update anyways. Also, Bangerang, which I stole from Hook, if any of you know that movie, is sort of their warrior call, because they're all sort of like the Lost Boys that way. More on that later. **


	9. The Collection of Broken Heads

**9**

**The Collection of Broken Heads**

_**In between the lines;**_

'_**What's fucked up' and 'Everything's alright'**_

_**-Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Greenday**_

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

Well I can officially say that the whole waffle spewing incident was no longer the most embarrassing moment of my day.

But on a lighter note…

Hell, I wasn't just embarrassed, I was mortified. Not _only_ had I ended up playing damsel in distress (which really wasn't my scene) and not _only _had Falshade had to save me (in front of everyone) but he'd saved me while I was completely and utterly _naked_ (in front of_ everyone_!_)_

And as if _that_ weren't the end of my worries, on the other hand I had to deal with the fact that I'd just gone through some sort of strange seizure. I mean that may demand some attention too… just maybe. A bit.

I was still hunched under my towel, wishing I could move a bit and wrap it a little more securely around myself, but that would require moving. Moving was not an option, seeing as how the others were still gawking at me and I'd probably end up doing more bad then good for myself by adjusting my towel.

Wasp pulled herself out of the tub, her legs completely drenched, and marched up to Angel, Fraggle and Varan, her boots squeaking a bit on the floor and giving out sideways slightly because they were soaked and slippery. She looked like a foal learning to walk.

"Out." she said. Varan backed up right away, and with a second glance at him Fraggle slipped out too. Angel remained where he was, looking at me and I couldn't remember ever seeing more concern in his thin face.

"You alright Baby Girl?" he asked me hoarsely. "You ain't gonna just drop dead on us?"

I shook my head, feeling incapable of speech. He nodded and ducked out of our micro bathroom, seeming to understand that now was _so_ not the time to be a stubborn asshole. Only Wasp and Falshade remained, but I didn't feel any better about that. The damage had been done.

Wasp nodded at Falshade, who wasn't even looking at her, as if giving him acknowledgment to proceed and sat herself behind me on the toilet seat, pulling her long legs in tight and remaining silent, having used up all her words for the day.

Falshade was watching me carefully, holding an air of someone who was ready to tear their eyes out at any moment. He looked every bit as uncomfortable and awkward as I felt. After a length he cleared his throat and started to reach out to touch my arm, then whipped his hand back.

"Are you okay, Stork?" he asked quietly. I nodded, even thought I felt anything but okay.

"Look, I, erm… I really didn't…" He made a noise in his throat and scratched at his scalp with both hands, a bit of a nervous habit of his that he only did when he was feeling unsure and disconcerted. "Okay, I'm gonna just… ugh. I didn't… see you. Well, I did, but I wasn't paying attention, so it's not like… just don't get all creeped out around me, because I didn't see anything." He blurted disjointedly. "If that makes you feel any better." He added in a rush.

I forced a slight smile onto my face and poked his arm. "Okay. I know you'd never… ya know."

He swallowed and nodded, avoiding my gaze now. "Fuck, you scared me." he whispered.

"_You_ were scared?" I muttered darkly. "_You_ didn't almost drown in the fucking bath tub!"

My voiced cracked by the end and he did look at me as I fought back tears. This was quickly becoming the worst day _ever_. He shuffled closer and put an arm around my shoulders, squeezing me briefly and violating the "Touch Me and Die" rule. Although I had to admit, I didn't really mind. I felt like my heart was trying to bash its way out of my chest and if someone didn't hold me in some way it was going to break free.

I sniffled, feeling like I still had a ton of water lodged in the back of my nose. Falshade wrapped his other arm around my head so that my nose was pushed against the inside of his elbow and pulled me toward him, patting my hair uncertainly yet reassuringly.

"You're safe, you're okay." he muttered and I nodded again, allowing one very tiny tear to slip from the corner of my eye and then held my breath and let it out slowly, blowing away all urges to break down and bawl. Who would've thought near-death experiences would do that to you, huh?

Falshade let me go shortly and stood up, flexing his fingers distractedly. "Okay, well… I'm going to get out of here. Um… yeah, probably best if I go. Try and settle down a bit before you leave, but try not to take too long… Fraggle was on one leg earlier."

I nodded, a small laugh squeezing out of my throat. Falshade smiled at me slightly and then left in a hurry.

I made a choked noise, not a sob and not a groan, and set my head in my hands. My brain felt fuzzy and tumbled, like someone had taken all my thoughts and everything I thought I knew and stuck them in a blender on 'Liquefy'. What was going on with me?

"I knew hygiene was no good." Wasp said and I started, having forgotten she was there. I looked up at her with foggy vision from my place on the floor. My head was still reeling from the lack of oxygen.

"Tell me about it." I muttered, pushing my hair out of my face and shifting my towel subtly.

"You can get dressed you know." Wasp suggested, picking at a scab on her knee. "It'll probably feel better then squatting there in a towel."

"Yeah…" I said, reaching for my clothes.

"If you want I can leave." Wasp said, one leg breaking away from her chest like a coiled spring as she prepared to get up. I shook my head furiously, which in hindsight really wasn't a good idea.

"You can stay." I said. I needed her to stay. I was still so shaken the thought of being left alone made me feel like I was going to be sick.

"Okay." Wasp said simply and swivelled about on her skinny butt so she was facing the toilet's tank.

Stiffly I pulled on my underwear and then fought with my jeans, the fabric sticking to me and feeling like a cheese grater shredding my legs. Kicking my jeans away I struggled with clasping my bra because my fingers were shaking and then yanked my tank top over my head roughly. My legs were drier so I was able to haul my jeans up to my hips and then I collapsed back on my own butt, feeling wiped out and drained.

Wasp slid down beside me cautiously and watched me shiver for awhile before shrugging off her jacket and handing it to me. I quirked an eyebrow at her.

"It makes you feel tighter." She explained, wrapping her arms around her thin chest like she was hugging herself. She was wearing a t-shirt that reached past her butt and towards her knees so that it almost completely hid her cargo shorts. It had one of her underground thrash metal band's name and record cover splashed across the front: Butcher Shoppe Karnival. The design depicted some sort of twisted fair ground with a Grande Carousel as the main attraction, jagged and dark and yet hauntingly beautiful. Small children were laughing and going round and round on horse carcasses.

I pulled Wasp's too large leather jacket over me and felt snuggled and comforted by its warmth and weight, if not necessarily its rough design and smell. It was lined with lamb's fur and I felt like I could curl up and fall asleep in it, as if it were a warm hug.

"Thanks." I mumbled, pushing my face into the collar, which, when flipped up, all but covered Wasp's bat-like ears.

"You seem like you need it a bit more then me. Just mind the pockets, I think I've got a Boo Koo in there somewhere…"

Having no desire to find out what a 'Boo Koo' was, I folded my hands in front of me so they wouldn't brush anywhere near the numerous pockets.

"So I never knew you had epilepsy." Wasp said casually, pinching the pale skin on her bare arms curiously. I've never seen her arms without the jacket hiding them. They were sinewy and muscular and boney and gangly, just like the rest of her. And they were covered with old scars.

"I don't." I said defensively. It was Wasp's turn to quirk an eyebrow.

"You sure?"

"Quite. That's the first time something like that ever happened to me." I explained edgily.

"Can you explain it?"

"… I dunno. It was… weird. Like my brain seized up. I couldn't move. My head felt like it was going to explode."

Wasp clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and said nothing. She shifted her arms slightly and I got a good long look at a row of scattered bite marks all over the soft underside of her skeleton arms. Bruised, red, angry bite marks, one for every day of the week.

I grabbed at her to examine them more closely and she wrenched her freakishly strong arm out of my grasp.

"That's not a good idea." she assured me.

I snorted, biting back a retort because I wanted to keep her in this state that was most un-Waspish, where she seemed grounded and clear headed and aware and relatable. Also I figured you're not supposed to show a wild animal you're afraid of her.

Wasp flicked her tongue over her lip ring like a lizard and then said. "That doesn't sound like your average aneurism."

I nodded. "It was like… something probing my mind." The words slipped out and I had no idea where they came from. Wasp swatted at imaginary flies and nodded as if she understood completely.

"They'll do that to you."

"Who will?"

Wasp shrugged. "The people who want in."

I blinked at her. "In?"

"In." she confirmed, tapping the top of her head.

I shook my head, feeling more confused then I did before. "Maybe it was just from cracking my skull off several hard surfaces today." I said, trying to convince myself more then Wasp. Something, sort of like the something that refused to release its grip on the déjà vu thing, wouldn't let me believe it.

"Sure."

I sighed, feeling the twisted knots in my belly heaving and cramping. I just wanted to go to bed and sleep. This day has just been too full; full of weird, full of fright, full of fight and full of unpleasant surprises. And some guy up there must've been having a lot of fun at my expense. Yeah, when that starts to happen it's a good sign that you should just go back to bed.

I got up and Wasp clambered to her feet in that awkwardly coordinated way of hers. She reminded me of a marinate who was handled by an expert puppeteer but had tangled strings.

"I'm going to bed before I get decapitated or spontaneously combust or something." I told her and offered her jacket back to her. She shook her head and flicked her ears in farewell. I shrugged and then was nearly bowled over by a blue blur as it darted into the bathroom with a slight whimper of urgency. I giggled humourlessly and then headed down the corridor quietly. The last thing I wanted was for someone to pounce on me and start asking me questions I didn't know the answers to.

Once I'd safely gotten to my bedroom I tugged my bible off my shelf and flipped it open so that the picture fluttered loose and I was staring up at a random page, the black script just a darker blot in my vision; I hadn't bothered to turn on the lights.

Stretching out on my cot I bored holes into the pages with my eyes, not even attempting to read the writing there. I'd already read the whole thing over and over, cover to cover, at least three dozen times. I wasn't really seeking comfort in the words. I just needed to hold something that anchored me to reality.

I felt around my sheets until I brushed the photograph and held it up against the full pages like a perfectly fitted frame. His eyes seemed to pierce me through the dark, and I was able to pick them out despite the dark. They were mine after all; I was able to pick them out as if it were my own reflection.

"I wish you were here." I whispered, feeling more like a little, frightened girl then I had in ages, so long now that I'd forgotten what helpless tasted like. I didn't know if I was talking to all of them or just him. "Maybe you'd know what in Hell is going on with me."

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

Something clattered hollowly as I shifted my foot, blinking at the dull light above me. I was sprawled on my back on what felt like a collection of dead tree branches; they were brittle yet hard and sharp, and they were digging into my skin painfully.

I sat up and blinked a few more times, my vision swimming into focus. Then I shouted bloody murder and scrambled backwards on my hands and knees. Skulls and arm bones and skeletal hands shifted like sand beneath me as I tried to get away; I was perched atop a bone yard, fields of broken skeletons as far as my eyes could see.

Breathing shallowly and whimpering in horror and fear, I looked about wildly like a trapped animal, desperately searching for somewhere that wasn't covered by bones. I recoiled in disgust as my hand plunged through the gap in a pelvis and grasped at what remained of the spinal column beyond.

My legs were sinking into the mound of death like quick sand my throat started to close as I tried to scream for help. Thrusting my head skyward so I wouldn't have to look at the white mass that was slowly engulfing me I noticed stained black branches hanging above me. Wheeling around and wrenching my legs out of the collection of ribs and femurs I saw a crippled, stunted tree with no leaves growing among the bones. I lunged towards it, knocking the remaining teeth out of a nearby skull in my desperation. They rattled down through the layers of bones like dice and I flung my hands up to my ears to try and block out the sound. I clambered haphazardously over the human remains, feeling the bones knock and clatter together like a symphony. I hurled myself over the last gap between myself and the tree, clinging to one of its lower branches and hauling myself up and out of nest of death.

Panting and retching slightly I held onto the tree's limbs like a child would their mother and shut my eyes so I wouldn't have to see any more empty eye sockets or toe bones.

There was a slight rushing sound and then my branched bowed slightly as something settled on the end. I looked up, very slowly, and then baulked and scuffled backwards away from the horrible creature that had perched itself on the end of my branch.

It, too, was a skeleton, no flesh on it save for its gruesome, gauzy bat wings that shot backwards from its distorted shoulder blades. They were torn and dangling from the wing bones, looking half rotten and sinewy like velvet hanging from a deer's antler. But although this thing possessed a warped human skeleton, there was something disturbingly non-human about it. Its skull, for one, was slightly elongated like a blunt sort of snout and was domed outward like a rottwheiler's. Except, while its maw appeared to contain a set of broken canine teeth, which I could see through the gap where a nose used to sit, it was more monkey-like then dog-like, which was what gave it the eerie resemblance to a human's. The creature also had a stubby, whip like tail made up of blocky and deformed vertebrae. And it moved using its arms as well as its legs.

The creature, whatever it was, shuffled in an uncanny fashion towards me, sniffing. It seemed to be smoking slightly, thin grey wisps curling up from the center of its ribcage and out behind it. I couldn't sense anything evil about it, although it gave off the aura of something beaten and wretched, pitiful and desperate like a starved dog. I felt guilty about being so disgusted by the thing, but I couldn't bring myself to feel properly sorry for it. It seemed like this thing seemed to deserve its punishment.

I drew back in revoltion when I saw a thick, black tongue roll over its fragmented teeth as it spotted the blood that was trickling down my arm from where it had been sliced by a splintered fore arm. My throat unlocked and I was able to spew a threat at it.

"Back off!" I snarled, fear giving me strength like adrenalin. The bent creature looked up at me dejectedly as if I'd struck it and I got a good look at its hollowed eye sockets, which turned out not to be completely hollowed after all. There was something empty and sad struggling just inside the socket, ashen and smoky. It was almost as if the eyes were still there, but sunken back and with the life extinguished from them. With a wrenching feeling a horrible recognition forced itself out from between my lips without my permission:

"Angel?" I choked, staring at the deformed thing as it wrapped its crooked fingers tightly around the dead tree limb for support as it stretched out its hideously long neck to snuffle at me. I couldn't help but gag slightly at its proximity.

The creature cranked its head away from me abruptly and stared off to some point beyond my vision as if something had called it. I breathed in relief and wondered if I got a head start if I'd be able to out-run it in the bone yard. I almost would have preferred to take my chances down there then keep up this closeness with the thing up here. However I stayed put, squeezing tightly with my knees like I was riding my skimmer for a better hold in case I needed to defend myself; I had no idea what this thing's intent was, but I wasn't just going to sit here and take it if it got any closer to me, snuffling hungrily like it was.

The creature's bones creaked as it twisted back around to look at me and I caught the Angel in its face again. It cocked its head in a sickening mock of a puppy, as if it were trying to communicate with me.

"Can you get me out of here?" I relented. I didn't want that thing anywhere near me, but I didn't know what else I was going to be able to do.

The thing snorted and stood, clinging to the bough with curled feet. Its congealed wings snapped open and it lunged at me before rolling into the air.

The only thing I could feel was a horrible, burning cold stemming from where the creature's skinless hands were digging into my armpits as it carried me up and over the bone yard. The cold made my muscles sing with pain and go numb at the same time, the kinda numbness one gets when your limbs fall asleep. However, my arms weren't quite numb enough not to feel when a thread of the creature's decaying wing curled around my right wrist. I yanked my arm back and shuddered. The freezing cold seemed to flow into my veins all the way into my chest and stabbed at my heart like thick needles. I almost wanted to try and shake myself loose and risk being impaled by the sharp bones below.

It occurred to me then that the creature may be taking me away to eat me. However, I still could feel no ill intent seeping off the thing, and even if it did have gruesome plans for me I was pretty sure I'd be able to fight it off; now that I was being held by the thing I could sense how weak and fragile it was. It probably wouldn't take much to break free of those limbs. No, this thing was a servant of a more powerful being, and it was taking me somewhere, though seemingly not on it's own will.

I didn't know how long the thing carried me for, but suddenly I was able to pick out a shape looming steadily larger on the horizon. I squinted at it and as the creature carried me closer I realized it was some sort of huge tower, a pinnacle, jutting out of the plain of bones like a lonely mountain. It stuck out like the tree had, black and dead looking against a pale, sickly yellow sky. My skin prickled and I felt an inkling of preconceived dread wash over the back part of my brain. I struggled slightly, but the creature's grip tightened on me and I bit my tongue to suppress a yelp.

The pinnacle cast no shadow in the filmy half-light and as we got ever closer I noticed a drop in temperature, even with my skin afire with the cold emanating from the creature. I looked up at it.

"Angel?" I tried again, although I really didn't like to even consider that that thing might be… him. "Where are you taking me?"

I hadn't really expected the creature to be able answer, and it didn't either, but it clicked its jaw slightly and I took it that was all the answer I was going to get.

The creature glided through a yawning gap in the side of the tower and I was plunged into near darkness. Feeling rushed back much too quickly to my arms as the creature let me go. I bumped into hard stone and scrabbled to get my legs under me. I could hear the creature near by, moving shiftily.

"What is this place?" I asked, even though by now I knew how fruitless it was. There was a sniffling sound next to my rib cage and with a shout I lashed out, my fist connecting solidly with slick bone. The thing scuffled away from me and I backed away from its noises until my back was pressed against cold stone. I felt along with my fingers for a crevice or doorway. Anything to put some distance between myself and that thing. All I could feel was smooth stone.

Something flickered beyond where the creature was hunched, sulking silently. I leaned forward, squinting into the dark. Again something flickered, a quick flash like a ripple of light on water's surface. Blinking stupidly I edged past the creature stepped towards where the weird flickering continued to flare on and off briefly, almost like a signal. I stumbled as the floor lowered in front of me to form a sort of step, and then I was standing in some sort of chamber, or at least I thought I was; I could feel it was more airy then the room the creature had landed me in.

A little way ahead of me the light flared again and this time it stayed alit feebly, quavering as if fighting for existence. It glowed softly in the dark, barely lighting up much around it. It did manage to illuminate the silhouette of someone standing behind its source, however, and I gaped in surprise when I was able to pick out the shape of uneven, hawkish hair and a slight, feminine jaw line.

"Stork?" I called out, the volume of my own voice making me jump. The light expanded slightly and I was able to tell now that its source was something smooth and polished and deep like glass. Stork was holding it in front of her, a chunky object with light glinting from the center weakly, so soft that it was among the surrounding dark that I couldn't tell its colour, only that it was a lighter shade then the blackness around me.

Stork didn't react at the sound of my voice. I could see the outline of her fingers wrap around her glassy object tighter and the light seemed to lick at her digits faintly, like a dying animal seeking to try and comfort its care taker.

The creature, which had stayed quiet behind me until now, let out a gargled whimper and with another rushing sound I felt it take off once again. I looked back to see where it was going and realized with shock that the portal through which I'd been thrust was gone, leaving me trapped in the dark with only the silent creature posing as Stork and her light source for company. Wondering why it had taken off in the first place I turned back to Stork and was about to call to her again when something there was a blunted sound of something heavy setting down on the stone. Again the sound echoed, so deeply that it reverberated in my chest. Again and again, coming closer steadily. The floor beneath my feet trembled with the sheer force.

And then it appeared and I understood why the creature had fled.

Huge jaws, longer then my entire body, where the first thing I saw. A nose, with a flared spike of flesh jutting upwards from the top, and below it three rows of glistening, black fangs, thicker then my arms and sharper then shards of glass. All the skin and muscles had been torn from around the teeth as if they'd tried to tear off their own flesh. Bubbly and mottled skin like tar blistered back where the teeth haven't reached, stretching sickly up and over the jaws and then over the brow, which angled steeply backwards so that the head was nearly flat, like a snake's. Horns lined the cheek bones and then, set wide apart so that they're almost on the side of the monster's head, large eyes leered at me, deranged and otherworldly. One was a milky blue, a single colourless orb with no pupil. The other was completely black but for a yellow, horizontal line about the same width as my hand, acting as a pupil.

The monster pulled itself up behind Stork, its body too huge to fit into the chamber. I could only see a small portion of it behind it, a long rib cage with skin stretched taughtly over it, then expanding grotesquely into a belly that reminded me of a queen termite's; it was bloated and covered by only a thin layer of skin so that I could see the abdominal muscles contracting and relaxing. The stench that washed off the thing made me want to kneel down and vomit until my intestines slithered out of my mouth.

Instead I staggered back against the wall, clutching it for support as the monster dragged itself forward a little more so that its gigantic head was hovering above Stork and her brittle light. It had two spindly front limbs, reverse jointed and ended with large, three toed feet with wicked black claws, which scrape ear splittingly on the stone.

"This is the only way, Shade." Stork told me in a monotone and I saw the beast start to lower its head over her, jaws creaking open to expose a mouth with no tongue.

My breath, which for the past several moments had been stuck somewhere between my throat and my lungs, bursts through my vocal chords with so much force it hurt.

"STORK!!" I screamed at her as the beast's maw encased Stork's head like a cave, fangs like black splinters squeezing her pale skin and allowing blood to squirt out as if under pressure. A thick cord of saliva slid out of its mouth and draped over Stork's shoulders like a snake. It hissed and began to melt her skin wherever it touched like acid.

"It's the only way." she explained to me again, her voice like a dull, mechanic drone. And then the beast closed its terrible jaws around her head. Stork's skull cracked and ruptured like an egg shell, a nauseating crushing sound erupting like a snail shell when someone walks over it unawares and smushes the occupant into oblivion. Her face seemed to collapse inward, cheek bones bursting out through her eyes as they shattered beneath the strain and several of her teeth falling from her broken jaws. The monster's black iron teeth clashed against each other in passing as they tore through the opposite sides of Stork's head. Brain matter and blood erupt from the top of her split and splintered skull, oozing thickly over the gums of the monster.

Then the light Stork had been holding revealed itself to be a brilliant shade of green as it blazed like an exploding sun and burned my retinas right down to the nerves.

"NOOOOOOO!!"

I smacked the steel floor so hard it blasted the wind from my lungs as I tumbled from my bed. In response the _Merlin_ groaned as her metal riggings shifted in the slight wind, as if complaining that I was throwing myself around her insides too roughly.

Reeling I clambered unsteadily to my feet and stumbled out into the hallway like a drunk. I half ran, half crawled to the bathroom, fell to my knees on the floor, grabbed the toilet bowl and promptly vomited so violently that partially digested pieces of my dinner flowed out of my nose.

Choking, coughing and gasping for air I retched and vomited again and then fell away from the toilet, banging my head on the bathroom floor and curling into a ball, quivering and sweating all over. They're always so fucking real…

Trust it to take gallivanting around the Scar to bring my dreams back. And just when I was starting to worry that they'd left for good…

**x.x.x Wasp x.x.x**

_Large, two clefted hooves sank into the soft jungle earth as they carried the heavy weight of their owners across the slight clearing. The Canopy's trees were so wide and leafy that the sunlight was still filtered high above, but this particular space of the jungle floor was void of any large tree trunks, and the small herd of animals spread eagerly across this space, grazing on the smaller plants that grew sweeter where they weren't clotted by trees and vines._

_Rothe; bovines of the jungle, large, robust creatures, some of which grew to be over a meter tall at the shoulders. Strong, irritable and hefty animals, and with the males holding ownership to impressive sets of twin horns, they were prey only sought by the mightiest of hunters. Tangling with a full sized Rothe often meant disaster for the would-be attacker, and many of the predators that roamed the jungle avoided them altogether, as they defended their young, easier yet still rewarding prey, more furiously then they did themselves._

_One of the animals looked up and sniffed uncertainly at the balmy jungle air and then shook the flies from its eyes and continued grazing with the rest of the herd. Strength and stubbornness were the only means of defence for the mighty creatures, for they had poor eye sight and not much better hearing. And even if they'd have been able to hear a leaf part company from a twig, nothing was capable of sensing a Faerieshian hunting patrol._

_Four of them prowled among the tree boughs on the outskirts of the clearing, bare feet whispering over moss covered branches as they took their positions. Faces and in Luka's case, hair, blackened by mud, the humanoids were practically invisible in their native environment. _

_Forcing herself into a slight dell between two branches that had melded together sometime during their growth, Wickett dug the pads of her fingers into the fungus that sprouted thickly over the bark. Spores were released from the microscopic orifices in the plant's spongy surface and stuck to Wickett's skin in hopes of being carried with her someplace knew where they could take up root. She flicked out her tongue to swipe a cluster of them from her index finger. They washed over her tongue like grit and she squashed her taste buds to the roof of her mouth in an effort to extinguish the taste. _

_From among the vines and flowers that grew over the tree's limbs she was able to see the group of their favoured prey feeding obliviously on the plant life. Rothe weren't meant for the jungle, she thought, because their clumsy, heavy feet left deep marks in the often soft and damp jungle floor._

_Something landed in her immediate vision and she had to focus on it for a second before it swam clearly into view, so intense had been her hunter's gaze on her prey. A small tree frog, barely the size of her pinky finger and lime green in colour with black splotches, had come to join her in her sheltered vantage point. Smiling she cocked her head to get a good view of its tiny but powerful back legs. She knew this type of frog to be particularly poisonous, but that was only if she touched its liquidous skin. She wondered how things like that worked, how her skin was able to absorb the venom secreted by the frog's. How did it make such potent toxins inside its body and yet remain unharmed itself? Did it have to think about making its defensive secretion or was it natural, like digesting?_

_A wave of mental energy buffeted her aura and the frog, as if sensing this pressure, leapt from her branch and landed on a leaf somewhere out of sight. Wickett looked up to a higher bough were Luka was glaring down at her pointedly, silently trying to get her attention. Wickett flicked her ears to show she was alert._

_Luka tapped her wrist twice with her index and middle fingers, then pointed both fingers at a large female. Wickett glanced at their target and noticed a swelling around the underside of the female's tail. She shook her head and tapped her hip bone. She didn't want to take a pregnant cow._

_Luka looked over the herd again then pointed to a younger female, healthy and muscled but smaller then the first one. That one had no calves and Wickett tapped her collarbone then ran a finger along the curve of her throat. Luka flashed her teeth at her and turned to convey the message to the other two Faeries._

_Wickett rolled her shoulders carefully and leaned forward on her fingertips, angling her spear at her side. Shoulder blades arching like a cat's she pulled her legs tightly under her, muscles bunched and coiled like pistons. Blinking twice and then stretching her eyes wide she allowed her second eyelid, a clear membrane that was all but invisible in the corner of her eye, to stretch over her corneas so as to protect them from any debris the struggling Rothe was sure to kick up. Disconnecting herself from her own corporeal form she was able to feel the energy of her prey, and throbbed in her inner vision with heat while its blood sloshed thickly through its veins. She could feel every part of it, its heart thrumming slowly and sluggishly pushing heat throughout the creature's systems and absorbed its scent until it was lodged in her chest like oxygen and became a part of her cells. _

_Luke made a high, keening sound that could only be heard on the highest levels of sonic waves. Wickett pricked her ears to show she was ready and sank down upon her limbs, feeling her energy circle and build in her belly._

_Luka made a quick jabbing motion with her free hand and Nixa, a fiery red-haired Faerieshian, ribbed through the foliage on the ground where she'd been concealed up to now and charged right at their target Rothe. Stealth thrown to the wind, Nixa let out a fierce cry as she hurled her spear from the tips of her long fingers with deadly precision. The wicked tip of the spear's head pierced the Rothe's thick hide as the stunned animal let out a terrified bellow and bolted, trying to mesh back into the herd so the group of creatures would become large mass with no one target to single out. Nixa's spear dug into the Rothe's flesh just in front of its left hip bone and the creature staggered._

_Wickett detached herself from her branch and sprung down from the tree, spear leading. Heaving her deadly weapon at the struggling animal she tucked in her head and crashed into the spongy jungle earth with her shoulders, rolling to absorb the impact and nearly being trampled by one of the other stampeding Rothe. An enraged bellow came from her right and she threw herself to the ground before she was even able to get back to her feet as another Rothe lowered its head, levelling her with its thick, blunt skull and charged at her. _

_Luka and their remaining hunting companion, Cruxen, had circled their original Rothe and were jabbing at the creature, cutting off its retreat. The Rothe would have no chance out running a Faerieshian through the tangled jungle, however if it gained enough running space here in the clearing, even injured, they might be in for some trouble. Rothe were known for their senseless resilience in the face of attack, and pain and desperation made the brutes fearless and vicious._

_Wickett scrabbled over the leaves and ferns as the Rothe who'd attempted to flatten her, a young male by the looks of it, swung back around for another go. It was what males did in the herd, giving the females and their young a chance to get away. Wickett rolled to her back and lashed out with both legs as the bull thundered past her, nearly catching her with its angry, stomping feet, and kicked it twice in the ribs. Rothe were the bovine equivalent of Wallops, however, and the bull didn't appear to feel anything. And Wickett didn't have her spear._

_With a frustrated growl that bubbled deep in her throat Wickett rolled back onto her feet and pulled out her left-side hunting fang. Crouching low she raised her hackles as the bull spun back around on its haunches, nearly crumpling as the soft layer of top soil sprayed out under its clumsy legs. Throwing its back towards her, two legs pounding into the ground at a time, the bull bawled out a long and fierce sound, trying to either petrify Wickett or send her fleeing into the trees. Wickett of course did neither; there was nothing in the whole jungle that could strike fear into the anarchic heart of a Faerieshian, save other Faerieshians themselves. Wickett hacked out a sound like a spitting cat and felt every vibration tremor through her beloved jungle earth as the bull roared unsteadily and recklessly towards her, tossing its head in testosterone rage. _

_Flat teeth revealed behind a raised, fleshy lip and a brunt skull were the last thing she waited to see before Wickett tucker herself over her shoulder and rolled out of the way of the stampeding Rothe before jamming out one long, stick-like leg and punching her naked heel into the soil like an air brake. Feeling her muscles separate as she resisted her forward momentum Wickett hurled herself backwards in the opposite direction, a split second change that took her right under the Rothe's belly. Slashing upwards with her gruesome primal weapon she let out a guttural hunter's howl as she felt hot blood rain down on her, sickeningly warm and thick in the humid jungle air. The Rothe bellowed, this time in alarm, and its legs folded slightly as pain sang through its lower body and strings of its intestines spilled out through the gap in its belly. _

_Twisting around in mid-roll, Wickett came up running and skidded to a halt before the Rothe, wicked teeth flashing in the scattered sunlight like pearly shards of death as her jaws gnashed and snapped violently like an attack dog's, saliva spraying in strings from her lips and a bone chilling snarl erupting from her mouth. The whites of the Rothe's eyes rolled as it took in the ghoulish creature before it, limbs bent and skewed weirdly and glowing eyes gleaming with something hot and unearthly._

_Arching her neck like a viper lining up its strike, Wickett tilted her head on her shoulders and sneered, one word rushing up from her chest and rattling in the air:_

"_Run."_

_And the Rothe did run, quaking and bellowing in terror and crashing into the undergrowth with abandon, even though it would never understand the word that had been drilled into its ears. _

_Something collided and slid a short distance in the leaves by Wickett's feet and she whipped away the leg closest to it, thinking for a moment it may be one of the tree snakes that hurled themselves from branch to branch and were often cranky and would strike without reason upon such crash landings. But the thin object remained still and Wickett realized it was her spear, throw off the still thrashing Rothe that had been their original target._

"_Wickett!" Cruxen hollered at her, bashing at the cow's skull with her spear as the panicking animal reared up as high as its heavy frame would allow and then slammed back down to earth repeatedly with both its front legs, attempting to squash the wiry jungle native. _

_Wickett snatched her spear from the ground and charged forward as Luka tried to come to Cruxen's aid and held her spear at an angle as the Rothe female came down again. The spear tip dug into the cow's massive chest and Luka was forced back by its immense strength, her entire spear bending and shattering like a dry twig beneath the cow's weight. Luka looked down at her hands in shock, which were bleeding and littered with splinters, now only holding a broken shaft. Cruxen only just managed to grab her around her thin waist and bowl her out of the way as the cow's broad skull came swinging towards her, attempting to batter the life from her twiggish body._

_Wickett's eyes narrowed and she dashed across the span separating herself from her quarry, a stalking killer closing in. Springing from the ground and momentarily casting herself from the bonds of gravity, Wickett came down on the shoulders of the bucking cow, ramming her spear into its tender flesh behind its shoulder blades for support and clenching with her knees. The cow bellowed and thrashed in newfound dread as it realized its assailants were closing in all around it. Throwing its back end up and twisting wildly as if released from its spinal column's boundaries. Wickett dug in with her blunt but jagged fingernails and felt tiny streams of blood burst from the layer of skin atop the cow's thick hide and swirl around the quick of her nails and wrapped her legs tightly around the animal's barrel rib cage, denying the cow the full capacity of her lungs. _

_The Rothe's fear scent was coating Wickett's tongue and drool dripped from the corners of her mouth as she flung herself flat over the animal's neck, curling her fingers around the cow's short and bristly mane and sank her fangs into the exposed flesh on the side of its neck. The cow made a bawling noise on a higher pitch, its cries going from enraged and panicked to completely hysterical._

_Nixa's red hair flared briefly in Wickett's vision as the Faerieshian joined in the violent orgy with a second spear, thrusting into a gap between the creature's ribs. Screaming and bucking frantically and erratically the cow whipped its head around, whites of its eyes etching themselves in Wickett's inner eye until all she could see was a glaring white haze. A solid muzzle punched into her collar bone desperately as Cruxen stabbed her spear into the cow's belly and Wickett was dislodged from her hold on the cow's neck. Thudding into the ground Wickett blinked furiously, letting her second eyelid slide back into its place in attempt to clear her head of the blazing fog._

_She could feel the tremors rippling towards her, hear the cow's laboured breathing and the others shouts of warning and smell the blood and fear and sweat pooling in her nasal passages as the cow made one last frenzied attempt at freedom and vengeance and ploughed towards Wickett like a warhead._

_Wickett felt the assault coming but did not try to scramble out of the way. With her vision still rendered a strange sort of super sensory latched onto her and she reached out with her right hand and grasped the splintered shaft of Luka's broken spear. _

_And just as the Rothe was about to swoop down on her and dash her to bludgeoned piece she thrust the fractured shaft upwards and felt a brief resistance before it sank deep into the Rothe, tearing through muscle and an artery. And as if someone had peeled a cataract from Wickett's eyes her vision returned, colour and shape and dimension nearly blinding her with their suddenness. Blood splattered over her face and torso and ran in thick rivulets down the spear and over her wrists as it flowed without constraint from the volcanic wound Wickett had opened in the Rothe: the sharpened end of the shaft had plunged right into the junction above its sternum and below its spine, puncturing its trachea and shredding its jugular. _

_Eyes bulging outward and blood trickling from its nostrils, the Rothe heaved out the last of its energy, the force of its momentum punching the butt of the spear into Wickett's ribs. The cow took one more forward step, its massive hoof coming down between Wickett's arm and torso and pinching the softer skin of her upper arm before collapsing sideways, crushing Cruxen's spear beneath its dead weight._

_Wickett rolled back from the shuddering animal as its life force leaked from its pores and pushed her sweaty hair back from her face. With a triumph, fulfilled cry Nixa grasped her about the shoulders and swung the larger Faerieshian about briefly before dropping next to Cruxen, who was hacking into the Rothe's chest with her hunting knife. The sound of the bone sawing through bone made a wrenching noise and it sang bitterly in Wickett's ears._

_Luka touched her elbow softly from behind. "Yick." she commented, prodding the ugly blood blister that had bubbled up just beneath Wickett's skin where the cow had caught her skin beneath its incredible weight. Lifting Wickett's arm to her mouth she sank her teeth into the swelled bruise and Wickett chewed her tongue until it began to bleed like her now punctured blister. Warm blood trickled like a snake down her arm and made her twitch as if tickled. Luka drew her rough tongue over it once; Faerie saliva was naturally thick and it coated a wound like a scab to protect from infection, as well as having slight anti-bacterial properties._

"_Thanks." she muttered, watching Cruxen carve a hole into the Rothe's chest. She looked up, blood soaked up to her elbows, and motioned Luka closer._

"_The heart, quickly, while its still a warm." She instructed the younger Faerieshian. Luka flicked her ear in surprise._

"_Me? But, Cruxen…"_

"_You lead the hunt, Luka. You deliver our success to Artemis."_

_Luka cricked her fingers, excited and terrified at the same time. Timidly and self-consciously she kneeled in front of the split chest cavity and reached in with both hands nose twitching as she drew in the scent of the kill. Her muscles jumping like taught vines as she grasped the massive, stilled heart of the dead Rothe, she began to pull. Blood ran down her arms in small lines as she squeezed the mighty organ and broke several smaller vessels. There was a series of wet pops and snaps as she tore any surrounding veins in an effort to pull the dormant heart free of its chamber. Eventually the red lump came free in her arms like a child slipping silently into the world. Luka blinked at Cruxen, holding her breath._

"_Go on, send our thanks to Artemis." Cruxen ordered, a little more impatiently. Luka lowered her head and mumbled a quick prayer to Artemis, their hunting goddess and then, hesitantly, raised the heavy organ to her lips and bit deeply into its ropey surface._

_Tearing away a large chunk she passed on heart to Nixa and then Cruxen, both who bit deep into the rosey flesh, the center of life. Lastly the organ came to Wickett, Cruxen depositing into her open hands carefully. _

_The heart felt foreign and heavy in Wickett's thin hands. The smell that flowed off it was sticky and blunt, clogging up the back of her throat like a block of copper. Lifting the huge muscle to her awkward mouth she sank her teeth into the strange flesh, feeling the wiry fibres shredding and dissolving between her shard-like teeth. Thick, coagulating blood gushed out thickly over her gums. The meat tasted like nothing, composed of too many threads of dense muscle. Wickett swallowed it quickly, imagining she could feel it throbbing still as it dropped down her throat and pulsing in her stomach lining. _

_Cruxen nodded in approval and began to slice through the Rothe's carcass, dissecting it carefully into quarters of meat that the lithe Faerieshians would be able to carry back to their village. Rothe preferred to graze on the far side of the valley's mountains, sticking to the higher grounds were the foliage was less dense, and they were far from their encampment. With such a large kill their patrol might even have to make two trips to get it all back._

"_Wickett, you little blood whore." Cruxen said teasingly, running a finger under Wickett's eye and leaving a splash of blood like war paint there. "You ripped up that bull nice and ugly, didn't you?"_

_Wickett's mouth twitched into her werewolf grin. "My mistake." she said brazenly._

"_Once I get this mound of meat cut up Nixa and I will follow it to see if it drops. We'll collect the rest of this on our way back." Cruxen said and Wickett nodded. Cruxen, a Faerieshian hunter of eighteen Monsoons now, was the oldest of their little group and the most experienced; even though Luka had led the hunt, it was up to Cruxen to make the decisions. Pushing her midnight blue mats of hair out of her sharp face and smearing blood and sweat over her temples, Cruxen tore the last of the skin away from the back leg of the cow and pulled it from its company. Luka peeled back a thin layer of hide and stuck it on Nixa's tongue, cocking her head for an opinion. Nixa flicked her ear twice and smiled, a small cord of fat and spittle leaking out from between the wall of her fangs._

"_Oh, Nixa." Luka sighed melodramatically "We all love you so much. Why do you want to leave us for the Arcane? Hunting won't be the same without you."_

_Wickett wrinkled her nose and pushed her brow into Cruxen's dreadlocks experimentally, feeling the stiff hair scratching like coarse grass on her pale skin. Nixa pinched at Luka's knee affectionately and looked up at the smaller, younger Faerieshian apologetically._

"_Luka, you're old enough to be hunting on your own now, we can't be together always." she explained. "Besides, I'm not like you or Wickett or Cruxen. I have too much mother in me."_

_Luka pouted and grabbed Wickett around the waist, hugging her adopted sister tightly even though she knew she didn't like being held. "I don't feel that old. Besides, you're only seventeen Monsoons! That's way too young to birth a child."_

"_Farr wants to join the Arcane this season." Wickett muttered into Cruxen's tangled, navy locks. "And she's only a Monsoon older then us."_

"_It's because she's finally got her Blood." Cruxen explained shrewdly. "Every female wants to join the Arcane after her First Blood."_

_Wickett looked at Luka with alarm. Her sister, who Wickett knew was not her sister, laughed at her worried expression. "Don't look so upset. I have no desire to join the Arcane." Luka, unlike many of the other young Faerieshians, was not haughty and obnoxious about her First Blood and only teased Wickett minimally about the fact that she had not yet had hers. This she could appreciate. However Wickett, despite what Luka's caring and gentle attitude might have suggested, was not at all upset about this fact. On the contrary she didn't really care if she ever got hers. There was nothing she wanted more then to stay in her jungle motherland forever, prowling and clambering about the rich-smelling braches, watching the micro worlds of all the strange and fascinating creatures that lived here develop and change and build and crumple with every day's turn, feeling the thunder and lightning on her skin like a sheen of sweat and clawing at the good hot jungle earth with worn hands. Nothing was worth giving that up. Not a layer of blood that poured down her legs every Cycle, not rearing a child in the under the ever-changing jungle sky, not even hunting by herself, an honour which came after your First Blood. Nothing._

_Technically by now Luka didn't have to stay with Cruxen and Nixa, the two older females who'd taken them out into the jungle to hunt and train after their mentors had pronounced them fit for the jungle when the two sisters turned ten Monsoons old. However because Wickett still had to stay with them, not as if this were a chore or a burden, Luka still came along, unable to break the bond she'd formed with the older Faerieshians just yet._

_Cruxen pushed Luka and Wickett away and tossed the other hind leg at them. "There. That's about half. Nixa and I will collect the rest later. Get out of here, you Twiglets, before the maggots set into that."_

_Wickett hefted one of the large leg slabs over her wide shoulders. For a Faerieshian her age Wickett was unnaturally large, tall and willowy with broad shoulders and blocky hips. Luka slung the other leg over her back and collected her broken spear, wiggling her fingers as the other two Faerieshians set off after the gutted male. Tugging at the weaved hide belt of Wickett's loincloth she led her back towards the tribe's settlement, cutting through the undergrowth effortlessly, legs and feet barley making a whisper against the plant life. The mud she'd rubbed into her pale lavender hair, and unnatural colour even among Faeries as it stuck out like a signal in the darker forest back drop, was starting to crumble in dry clumps and bits of her near-white hair were shining through like fangs in the dark._

_Wickett watched these bouncing wisps and thought about how deep rooted her love and friendship went with this female. She's known for a long time that Luka was not her sister, not by blood anyways; her smell was different, her blood tasted different and she had a daintier nose. She wanted to say how much this didn't matter to her, wanted to try and draw up an image of what her real mother must have looked like, one with her blood-scent and Luka's doe-like almond eyes and wondered how tiny little gelatinous blobs became vibrant green and blue tree venomous tree frogs. Instead she dug up the part of her that was afraid of her own Blood and said: "Still though, it'll be weird." as if adding to a conversation that had been going on for some time now._

_Luka knew better then anyone how to click with the conversation that Wickett was picking up from maybe days ago, or maybe had never even started. "What'll be weird about it?" she asked, smiling briefly back at her and stepping over a cluster of luminous mushrooms._

"_Well," Wickett went on, licking a water droplet from a violent red flower petal in passing "Once I can hunt on my own, I'll have to eat the heart all by myself."_

**x.x.x 10 weeks ago x.x.x**

_I couldn't remember where we were or why. But we'd docked the flying metal bird cage at the air docks of some Terra or other and I was practically ecstatic to be in the unfiltered sunlight again. I wondered if maybe I'd hyper-evolved over the last two weeks and developed that thing where you're afraid of small spaces…claustrophobia. I pushed the thick skin on the heels of my palms into the gritty asphalt next to the wharfs and sniffed interestedly at a wad of pink gum that had been rejected and ejected heartlessly on the side walk._

"_Poor little guy." I murmured, peeling it from the walk and sticking it to a nearby post next to a worn out looking rusted staple for company. "There. You guys are cute together."_

"_Hey, um, Wasp, are you coming with us or not?" Stork asked me, raising a hand to touch my shoulder and then dropping it. I titled my head at her in intrigue._

"_Where are we going?"_

"_We need supplies, ya know, crystals, food, stuff. Maybe you could help us pick out some good grade rocks?" Stork asked me carefully. Oh yeah, I was their crystal expert._

_I looked up the street a bit. "There are lots of you around here. And it's daylight."_

_Stork furrowed her brow and then a look of understanding sparked behind her eyes. "Oh, you mean people. Yeah, it's nice weather, everyone wants to be outside. Anyways, if you're coming we should probably stick with the others."_

_I picked up a pebble and stuck it under my tongue before chasing after her, looking around with tingling curiosity. This place was _nothing _like Macabre…where was all the graffiti? I missed the techni-colour word vomit. And there weren't any of my gutter buddies about, no one to trade bottle caps and play I Spy with. _

_Jingling a few of the best bottle caps I'd brought with me in my pocket sadly I watched a pigeon pecking crumbs out of the cracks in the stone street. Now _that_ was weird. Pigeons had learned long ago not to land on the streets of Macabre, for fear of being disembowelled and devoured by a starving dog or cat or burn-out. Didn't people eat around here?_

"_I'm hungry, eh." Fraggle, the Blizzarian with the weird hat, reported. I echoed 'eh' to myself and clawed at my throat until I felt the skin scrape back. It was hot here, and dry. _

_Falshade sighed. "Okay, I don't wanna hear about this all day, so let's sit and eat somewhere before we do anything else."_

"_Oh man, no, Shade, I don't wanna go sit somewhere." Varan muttered, and I watched his tail flick with interest. _

"_I wish I had a tail!" I announced loudly, prodding his with my toes. The others turned to look at me, and Varan shuffled back a tiny but obvious step._

"_That's, erm, cool, Wasp. Are you hungry?" Stork asked me._

"_Hi."_

"…_Hi. We," Stork explained, motioning to the rest of them. "Are going to get something to eat. You wanna come?"_

_I rolled the pebble out from under my tongue and pushed it against my lower lip. "Nuh-uh. Have you ever been on the inside of a poison control clinic?"_

"_Can't say I have."_

"_Okay."_

"_Are you kidding me?" Angel demanded of her. "We are not letting _her_ stay outside alone. You, Faerie." He turned to me and I tucked back my ears slightly. "You're coming with us."_

"_I have no idea what a 'Faerie' is." I explained to him slowly._

"_That's you. If you want I can call you Freak instead."_

_I moved my hand up to my scalp and felt all the crusty patches where I'd scratched too hard and had half-hearted scabs forming now. Hair scabs are different then regular ones, they don't form properly. "My name is Wasp." I told the red flakes on my fingers. "W-A-S-P. See, I can spell. I can also kill a man by ripping his jugular open with my teeth. Wanna play ball?"_

"_Okay, okay, knock it off." Falshade intervened, hauling Angel back. "Wasp, you know where the _Merlin_ is, right?"_

_I flicked my ear, forgetting that humans don't understand that. _

"_I'll go with her." Varan interrupted my non-verbal answer. "I don't wanna hang out here, and it's not like you guys need my help."_

_Falshade looked at him sadly. "Okay, go ahead." he said after a moment. As they turned to go and I followed after Varan, careful not to step on his tail as I marched like a five year old in boots through puddles would, I heard their angry conversation:_

"_She's a disaster! And what good is a fucking 'crystal expert' if she won't even help us get half decent crystals?"_

"_Shut up, Angel."_

"_You shut up, I wouldn't be complaining if _you_ hadn't plucked her off that bloody Terra in the first place."_

"_So…" I said to Varan brightly, skipping and flapping my arms, imagining I could fly if I jumped high enough. "Wanna see my bottle caps?"_

* * *

_Later, Stork was taking another stab at bonding with me and was trying to teach me how to eat a popsicle properly as the two of us sat on crates at the wharf. _

"_You're supposed to enjoy it slow, don't just scarf the whole thing down." She told me again and again. I bit into the stick and felt a splinter pierce my gums._

_Then I noticed something in Falshade's hand and practically tackled him in my haste._

"_Hey!" I shouted, even though I was only two feet in front of him. He jumped. I was proud of myself; it had only been two weeks and I could already remember all their names._

"_Y-yeah?"_

"_You done with that?" I demanded, jabbing a sticky finger at the newspaper in his hand._

"_Um… sure, I guess." He looked at me, shocked, as if he didn't have a clue what I could possibly want it for. It probably hadn't occurred to him that I could read and that I was interested in what was going on in the Atmos. I bet he thought I just wanted it to line my nest with it or something._

"_Thanks." I said, tearing it from his hand and scooting up the ramp and into the room Stork had told me was mine._

_Now that I was inside and could properly taste the fruity flavour of my popsicle twanging on the back of my taste buds I didn't feel so great. I was proud of my eagle-eyes and I knew I'd seen what I'd saw outside. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see the rest of it or not._

_Flipping page over page carefully, I meticulously tore out the word 'martyrdom' from one smaller headline because if gave me strength, licked the back and stuck it on my forehead like a ward to keep the evil things back. _

_Then I found it._

_A smallish blurb just before the obituaries. It didn't take me long to read it. Fuck, they didn't give her a lot of space._

_My eyes glazed and words seem to bounce off the back of my retinas like half-dead hornets: paraplegic… sibling…discovered… suicide._

'_Martyrdom' fell off my forehead and fluttered down onto my pillow, the words from the article on the other side showing themselves like an infected dog's underbelly: "… crisis avert…"_

_Yeah, right._

_**Martyrdom, Eris? Dying for a cause? Or prolonged suffering?**_

_Both. Neither._

_**You don't know the meaning of the word**_

_Oh, yeah? Why's that?_

_**Because you never fucking die for anyone**_

_Maybe not. But I think I know suffering pretty well by now._

_So she'd been dead all along. And now Fli was too._

* * *

_I waited until I was sure Stork was in her room before creeping down into the hanger. By now I'd scouted out every nook and cranny of this tin can and I had no trouble navigating through the cluttered hanger in the dark. I rolled the bay doors open with the pulley and ran my skimmer across the runway until I reached the end and cast both of us out into the open air, my Gremlin and me. I knew I'd wake the whole damn crew if I started the engine too close so I let myself plunge though the cloud layer for a long time before finally grinding out the wings and straddling my ride clumsily._

_I knew we couldn't be that far from Macabre, and my internal sense of direction guided me without question as I tossed Velocity after Velocity crystal into my Inductor. Not because I was really in a hurry to get there, no way. But I wanted to get there and back before sun up, because if the others discovered I was missing I could tell nothing good would come of it. I guess I must have ESP or something._

_I could smell it coming up ahead and I felt my heart throb out of sync a few times. Two weeks felt like a life time ago since I'd been here. Just to me though, not to them, and I went down into a nose dive, aiming for the Wastelands. My ride was way too recognizable._

_I found a place were I couldn't sense any tectonic gaps and wedged my Gremlin into a space between to petrified slabs of molten stone._

"_If I don't come back…" I trailed off, rubbing the handle bars. Then I fled, afraid to stay near it too long for some reason. I scuttled over the charred black rocks until I was staring at the towering terra wall, a solid mass of sharp stone._

_A large dollop of something semi-solid splattered on the ground next to me and sizzled slightly on the hot earth. I looked up towards the mouth of a broken pipe, one of the sewer grates that brought all the filth and waste down from the terra above to be incinerated in the Wastelands. _

_Finding several hand holds I scurried up under the pipe's mouth and grabbed the rim, swinging myself up into the tunnel. A thick layer of oozing sludge had coated the bottom of the pipe, and I was nearly knocked over backwards by the smell that rushed into my nostrils and banged on the front part of my brain like a bolt of lightning. Fetid things all washed down from the streets above, garbage and raw sewage and probably half-decayed corpses too, all swirled into a putrid miasma of things that once were something. Now they all were down here, waiting for a rush of rain water to spill through the clogged pipelines and spew them out into the Wastelands to be burnt up._

_Sloshing my way through the graveyard of human refuse and trying not to breathe I began the long, dark climb up the sewer tunnels and into the Terra mainstream. Several times I had to break through barricades of collected waste or claw my way through tighter passages. Pretty soon I was covered in slimey, oily ooze, brown water dripping from my hair and pooling in the bottom of my boots._

_As I fought my way up and up through the winding labyrinth I distracted myself from the garbage and shit that was floating all around me by remembering things, a small tribute to Fli's memory; I remembered the way I admired her for being able to hold something in the same hand as a lit cigarette, usually a bottle of stylish, feminine juice, and how I missed the way things burned beautifully when you lit them right. I remembered her attractive, stubby toes with the nails painted purple and green, and I remembered her innie belly button of which I'd always been jealous. I wondered how she'd killed herself and where she was now, and what the definition of the word 'cytokinesis' was. There were a lot of things in the world that I could only remember now, and there were a whole lot more that I didn't know._

_I had forgotten what I was doing until a blast of air washed down of me from a grate up above. I'd reached the top level, the sewer below the gutters. Now I just had to find the right spot._

_As I had before I started counting random numbers of corners and grates that I passed, thinking as I had before that I'd never remember such an erratic sequence. Then I reminded myself that that had been the point and continued on carefully, making sure I never got anywhere close to making a sensible pattern._

_I watched a glass bottle drift by, miraculously intact even after its fall from the streets above and imagined there was a tiny person inside, hammering on the walls of its glass prison desperately with miniature fists. I snatched the bottle out of the filmy water and sat it on its mouth on the cement rim next to me. Then I paused next to a slight shelf beneath a drain and reached inside the tiny alcove. A large roach scuttled over my wrist in attempt to escape the fleshy monster that was my hand that had thrust itself into its home. I caught it in my free hand and crushed it against the wall, feeling the shell break stickily beneath my palm. I hated those little bastards, they'd been the bane of my existence too long in the upper levels, biting and crawling through my clothes. Wiping the gooey mess on my shorts I pulled my hand back, a stained, rusted key in my fingers. I smiled slightly. Nothing ever changed on Macabre, not even a key's location after more then a year of solitude._

_I moved along the tunnel until I found a loose grate and forced myself through, surfacing upon the black, acrid streets of Terra Macabre. It still smelled the same, a gumbo of rotten, acidic, sour, sweaty, grimy, smoky and bloody scents stirred together among my nose hairs. Smearing some of the sewer's contents from my thighs I looked around absently, trying to figure out exactly where I'd come and where I had to go. I pressed myself against the nearest wall as I felt a group of people approach, and as they passed one of them flicked the butt of a joint down my alley. Its pungy smelling smoke wafted towards me and caught in the back of my throat like the guts of some unknown creature. I pulled a face and skittered down the way between to lopsided buildings, heading for the warehouses._

_Night fell like a smothering blanket over Macabre, and all the gases and toxins and smoke in the air blotted out the stars, turning them to murky little splotches of light. This shrouded the streets in a fitting darkness, which of course was inviting to its shadowy and stalking inhabitants. However I knew that even though night was when the Terra came alive like a nocturnal, radioactive bee hive that'd there was little to no chance I'd see anyone else out here. Nobody stayed on the streets at this hour unless they had a bargain the deal out or a death wish. That or you didn't have anywhere else to go; most people were in nightspots or drug dens by now. I wasn't worried about the humans around here even if I did happen to run into some. I knew how to avoid being seen and was even better at defending myself if it came down to it. In so many ways Macabre was like the jungle, but some ways it wasn't, and one of those ways was I didn't have to be afraid of any of the humanoids here. They were all too slow and stupid and loud. They knew nothing about shadows and how to hunt. Or to avoid being hunted for that matter._

_As I was climbing over and over pass wall and making ready to jump down into the ghetto level street below I felt the vibrations of the metal thrashing through the sonar waves like a mechanical beast from the Mosh Pit, even though I wasn't anywhere near the place. The bottoms of my feet started to itch and I snorted a couple of times to expel any desire of joining the Brawl Cage from my head. I leapt down from the wall and crouched on the crumbling street below, reaching out to touch the handles or a three-wheeled shopping cart in greeting before realizing I wasn't the only breathing thing down here. Straightening up I spied two small shapes huddled together, tucked up in the lee of a pillar. Two children, a small boy and a sickly little girl, staring with wide, darting eyes at their surroundings in paranoia. There weren't many children on Macabre, none of them planned and fewer owned. They didn't last long alone on the streets, not with their tiny, delicate bodies and still forming brains. Most of them were lucky if it was starvation or illness that finished them. I watched them from the place where I'd landed, still unnoticed to them, for awhile and noticed the boy, barely seven by the looks of him, was clutching a long handled knife. Poor little idiot. That thing made him more of a target then if he had of been defenceless. _

_Turning my back on them abruptly I hurried on down the narrow, crooked street, close to my goal. I took a short cut through a run down old warehouse, now probably used as a meeting place for gangs to make pacts between each other and settle on territory. I hauled myself through a broken window and glanced around briefly for any sort of traps, like a strong drawn over the trigger of a rat trap with an Eruption stone on the receiving end for example. That's a fast way to lose an eye, believe you me. Finding none I set out across the large empty space, listening to my stamping feet echo off the walls. Empty spaces are always less scary if you're loud._

_On the other side of the warehouses there was an almost completely dilapidated area designated to rentable storage houses. It reminded my of some sort of freak doll house, a bunch of boxes all stuck together. People used these storage compartments mostly to hid things they neither cared about nor wanted anyone else to see. They were like time capsules really, taking you back to a different place, a different time, and uncovering the roots of an old life. Personally, it gave me the creeps._

_I stalked down rows and rows of the boxes, feeling like I was looking at a display of giant coffins. At the end of the row I found the number I was looking for, number forty seven. I stopped in front of the big metal door and tried to conjure up an image of something that might give me bravery. My knees were shaking slightly as I pushed the key into its slot. I twisted it slowly because it grinded slightly against the tumblers and I was terrified that it might snap off inside the hole and all the treasures on the other side would be lost forever. _

_I was even more terrified when the lock clicked open, the sound moving in my head like pulling a pin out of an explosive. However I did what I did best when I was feeling anything and roughly shoved all thoughts and feelings aside and let my legs do the work. The door squealed slightly as I lifted it open and marched into the storage room._

_Everything was exactly how I'd left it, as if I'd just shut the door for what I'd thought was the last time yesterday. There in the corner was the jar of rain that Rainer had collected on the day when the biggest storm of the year hit Macabre, three years ago now. He'd told me it'd make me feel like I was always in the rainforest. And sitting purposely atop a stack of boxes was his antique set of dominos, which had always reminded me of big, yellowed, flat teeth. There were his converses, set beside a box as if he'd just kicked them off, one lying on its side, the laces tied in fat, complicated knots because I'd never learned how to tie them in a bow and he never had the heart to correct me. Everything was here, and when I stepped in they all stopped talking and looked at me expectantly, as if they'd known all along I'd be back._

_And maybe it was because I was being stared down by all of Rainer's old possessions, or maybe it was because I was still choking on the fact that both he and Fli were gone now, or maybe it was the thick coat of sewer sludge I was wearing, but I ended up puking all over the floor. And again and again and again until a huge pool of thin liquid, a combination of popsicle and Buzz juice, and stomach acid was seeping across the floor like a stab wound victim's lifeblood._

_My back teeth were hurting as I spat a huge glob of bile and spit onto the floor next to my lake of vomit. I skirted around the mess and waltzed into the jungle of Rainer's stuff, feeling bravery rising up from my now empty stomach. While it was heart cracking to be among Rainer's old things it was comforting too, like goodbye sex or the last song of the night. While part of you wanted to bawl the other part rose up and made you feel strong and grown up and ready to feel every part of the bittersweet moment because that was what you really needed. And I needed this, to touch everything Rainer had ever owned and touched and left his cells on, to draw in his smell like it was oxygen and to let all my scattered and frayed feelings regroup on my skin._

_Rainer's pack of Jaegers, the last one he'd had and that he'd never got to finish were lying like a deck of cards on top of the box of his books. I'd put them there on purpose because Rainer loved to read and smoke at the same time. I grabbed the box and pushed from the bottom to open the top like I'd seen Rainer do so many times. Grabbing his lighter from the sleeve I chain smoked all seventeen remaining smokes in a row even though I hated smoking and wasn't really good at it; I always got smoke up my nose and in my eyes and never could light them as gracefully as Rainer or Fli. But I smoked them anyways, right down to the filter and then set the butts up in a circle around me like a pentacle. Afterward I felt light headed and dizzy but I didn't mind too much. I could taste the ashy, nicotine flavour on my tongue and was reminded of Rainer's fingers and the way I used to suck on them after he smoked._

_I opened the box of books and took out the top most one, his favourite, the one he'd read so many times he practically had known it by heart. The spine was cracked and white in places, and it was almost impossible to read the title. The covers of the paper back had little wrinkled blisters from where he'd gotten water on it, rain drops and damp fingertips when he read it in the bathtub. One page was burnt through where he'd dropped a hot ash from his cigarette on it, and the pages were yellowed and worn. But it was a hardy book and loved the attention greedily, and wore the results of such affection proudly. I'd read the book myself, one of the first ones I'd read on my own. It wasn't a strange and erotic sci-fi or a dark fantasy like his usual novels, but rather was an ordinary sort of story about a band. However the style was anything but ordinary and I could see why Rainer'd treated it like a bible._

_I pulled all his stuff around me in a semi-circle, dug out his candle holder shaped like a dragon and lit the green candle still cradled inside and then set up his record player, splaying all of his records across the floor so I could see all the album names. I sorted them by band; Socially Awkward, StraightJackit Parade, Self Destruct Selected, Runlord, Butcher Shoppe Karnival, Underdark, Return to Ground Zero and Darwin's Rejects. His favourite bands, turned my soul's noise. I thrived off their music. I bled it. _

_I pulled open his box of clothes and pulled on all his t-shirts and his jeans, then set a record under the needle. Turning it down so the song washed over me like white noise I turned to all Rainer's worldly possessions and began reading. I held the book carefully, turned the pages as gently as if they were moth's wings and worked hard to pronounce every word properly and not make the sentences too broken or jumbled. I read the whole damn book, all three hundred and twenty seven pages and only stopped to change the record or announce to my audience, Rainer's inscence burner and collection of metal dragon figurines and all his other treasures, that I was starting a new chapter. _

_I turned over the last page and started coughing roughly, feeling like my esophagus was being forced up from the bottom of my throat. I puked again, mostly spewing my own bile which was tinted green and was foamy, probably from smoking all those cigarettes. I dry heaved and gagged fruitlessly a few times before straightening up and throwing up my hands, fingers sticking out in the rocker salute formation, as if I'd triumphed over something. Cranking up the record player I bashed my head sideways against the wall and rocked my hips to the beat of the drums, not in a sexy or suggestive way but in a violent, hostile way. Metal didn't demand much in the movement department._

_At the end of the song I slammed a foot down next to the record player and caused the needle to bounce off the track. I slid the record back into its sleeve and then set about unpacking and repacking everything more compactedly, _

_In the end I had everything in one large box and an old chest. It'd take me two trips to move everything to my skimmer, and I set about taking the chest first because undoubtedly it would take me longer. I took a longer route back to my grate because I could hear a group of harsh voices collected beneath the over pass and with the chest dragging behind me I was a little more conspicuous. When I was down in the sewer tunnels again I hefted the thing onto my back, taking great care to make sure nothing repulsive came into contact with my precious cargo. The sulphuric, sultry air of the Wastelands were a welcome smell for a sore nose as the hot winds blew refreshingly into my face as I neared the tunnel's exit. Jumping down the fifteen foot drop from the broken pipe's mouth the dusty earth my knees bent beneath me and ground into the stone, shredding the skin. Cursing I carefully place the chest on the ground and licked the grit from the raw skin before tying the chest securely to the back of my skimmer. I patted the handle bars briefly before darting back into the pipe and scrabbling back up to the terra surface._

_Before I left the warehouse I locked the door and placed the key in the center of the floor, in the ring of cigarette butts. Before I'd left all Rainer's things here and hidden the key well, so well that I was sure even I would never find it, because I wanted to make sure that if anything every happened to me that Rainer's memory would die with me as well, so that it could never be tarnished. That was why I'd come back to move it with me to my jail cell of a room aboard the _Merlin_. I'd moved, and so would Rainer's memories. _

_I could smell the fresh painted coat of blood and death on the air as I carried the box, this time taking the route under the over pass. My heart contracted in dismay but not surprise when I spotted the little boy's broken body, not too far from where he'd been sitting in vigilance a few hours before. He was still weeping blood as I approached, his body split and abandoned not very long ago. I turned to face the pillar where the little girl remained, unharmed. She was staring with huge, vacant eyes at the boy, most likely her brother. His knife, bloodied, lay near her feet. I hoped he'd managed to poke one of his attackers with it before he was overwhelmed. I set my box down and approached the girl from the side, drawing in the scent of her fear, fever and feces. I bent next to her and noticed the sheen of sweat on her pale skin and tangled hair. Her glazed, bright little eyes didn't even flick in my direction and she didn't flinch from me as I leaned towards her. Poor thing; she'd already become too numb, too uncaring. When that happened you were as good as a corpse, bloated and maggot ridden in the gutter._

_I leant over her body and drew my tongue over her burning forehead, leaving a thin trail of saliva; a little bit of Faerie spit for good luck. I reached out and pulled her chubby little hand towards me. It didn't matter how emaciated they were, a child's hand was always plump and stubby. I pressed two gold Flecks into her palm and butted my head against hers gently before getting up and clutching my box again, setting off on my way without a second glance back at the girl._

_Nothing ever changed on Macabre._

_Lobbing an empty whisky bottle at a hunched man who was watching two smoking prostitutes across the street with a hungry, dangerous gleam in his muddy, blood shot eyes, I ducked out of sight before he could even figure out I'd been there and fired a snot rocket out of my nose before continuing. The air here always made my mucus membranes go into overdrive._

_By the time I slipped out of the pipe's mouth for a second time I was caked in half-dried muck and stunk like I was festering and rotting myself. I strapped the box on carefully in front of the chest and then squeezed myself onto my seat, starting up the engine with a kick. _

"_So, I'm back." I said, patting the runner boards. "Go figure, huh?"_

_The engine roared at me as I was flung forward and then lurched into the air. I broke through the layer of plasmic heat and thick smog of the Wastelands and felt my eyes water as the thankfully cool wind whipped into my face. Sliding my second eyelid over my eyes I turned about one last time to take in the hazy lights of Macabre and spat the last of its taste back at it. The glob of saliva fell like a cold goodbye back behind me and I nodded, swallowing my closure and feeling anguish build up at the bottom of my nose._

_The words from the back of 'martyrdom' swam before my eyes and I blinked furiously, trying to force back the pressure building behind my eyes. And I snorted and laughed bitterly as I thought of those words, the fiercer, deadly side of me rising up to protect all my soft spots. I laughed in the face of Fate because that was all I could do now, laugh in the face of my tormentor because it was the only thing I had left to fight it._

_And then I threw my head back and screamed, brutally and so harshly I felt the chunk of glass that was my soul swell at the bottom of my throat, being forced up and rejected. And I kept screaming until I felt my consciousness slipping away fuzzily. I screamed for the injustice and the bitterness and the hopelessness of it all. Because no crisis had been averted, because Rainer was still dead and now so was Fli, and because nothing would ever, ever change on Macabre._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I woke up because my nose was bleeding.

Long ago I'd been trained how to slip into a meditative state, a state during which my body could rest and regenerate and my brain cycle and sift through everything it did when the rest of me wasn't aware of it, yet all my senses stayed close to the surface, ready to snap into wakefulness at a moment's notice. I don't know if I ever really sleep anymore.

In this state I was able to feel the blood moving sluggishly down the back of my nose and throat and I jerked upright and horked curiously, wondering just how much blood had already seeped into my airways. I'd been sleeping on my back and could feel it tickling the place just above my lungs.

Rolling out of my bed I slipped out of my room and went to the bathroom, cupping my hand just under my chin so I could catch the droplets of blood that were cascading freely from my nose. I was used to this sort of thing by now; as if my vessels had been designed too tightly and thinly for my heart's rhythm the smaller capillaries in the weaker places of my body burst constantly like the veins in a drunk's nose. They broke most often on the inside of my nose and under the thin membrane skin on the underside of my ears. Sometimes they'd rupture between my fingers and toes or under my tongue or in my eyes or gums. I prodded and inspected myself daily in anticipation now, looking for bubbles of collected blood beneath the skin that I could pop.

I could smell the sour scent of vomit lingering in the bathroom as I pounced on the toilet paper and rammed a wad of it up each nostril. Wondering vaguely who'd been sick I flushed the toilet a few times, watching the water swirl and then get sucked out of sight. Wrinkling my nose I sat on the rim and pushed my knuckles into my eyes until I could see sparking, twirling colours exploding like fireworks on the backs of my eyelids.

"So a lot of crazy shit's been hitting the fan." I explained to my toes. "About time."

My toes wriggled at me in response. Convinced my nose would be fine on its own I got up and went to head back to my room. I jumped when I saw someone move along the wall and looked into the mirror at my own reflection. I rarely saw myself anywhere and I always forgot what I looked like. My hair hadn't been washed since I'd come back from crawling about the tunnels of Macabre, and it was starting to mat and clump like dreadlocks. My strange, unmatched eyes leered back at me, each one threatening to pull me into a different dimension. My face was drawn slightly and I wrinkled my arching eyebrows inquiringly at myself. Inspecting the torn edges of my ears and then leaning close I realized my lip ring was starting to get infected. I squeezed the sides and greenish yellow puss squirted out and spattered on the mirror like a burst slug. Twisting the ring a bit so that it tore at the congealing ooze I grabbed the bottle of peroxide from the cabinet and poured it over my lip liberally, watching it fizz and foam violently. Swishing some of the alcohol in my mouth like a rinse I spat the burning liquid into the sink and ran a tongue over my white, sharp teeth. Sick of myself I pushed myself away from the mirror and exited the bathroom, stalking silent as a shadow down the hallway so as not to wake any of the others.

The moment I slipped back into my room I did a few random snap kicks in the air as if I were a Sky Fu master. Forcing back the demons I twirled once and stopped in front of Shadowfax, my favourite dragon statue from Rainer's old collection. I met him when he was still nameless and home above Rainer's bed:

"What are you?" I asked him, cocking my head curiously.

"_**Why, I'm a dragon, my dear."**_ he explained to me in a voice that wasn't the usual one but still not mine. The very first time I ever heard Varan talk I imagined Shadowfax's voice was just an older version of his.

Shadowfax didn't talk anymore, as if his voice had left with Rainer. But his eyes still followed me wherever I moved as if keeping an eye on the gremlins that floated above my shoulders and tore bite-sized holes in my aura. I gnashed my teeth at him in greeting

Claustrophobia started to crawl over my skin like spiders. I flicked some away and wondered if the word "claust" had come from "closet". It'd make sense after all, small spaces I mean.

Lying flat on my belly I dragged myself by my fingertips to the door, finding the air down here smelled different. Fresher. Less used. My throat seized up for a few seconds as I thought of the idea that we all were breathing the same air, over and over, sealed up inside the ship, with no fresh pockets. Trapped.

I bit into my finger until I could taste blood, reminding myself that there was fresh air in here and that I could still fly. I was being more paranoid then Sketcher used to be, when he sunk into one of his manic states.

I gagged on my blood and leapt to my feet, running back to the bathroom and hurling my guts into the toilet. I smashed my head repeatedly against the rim, cursing my stupid, stupid head.

"Why do you make me?" I demanded, not caring how loud I was now. There I went again, changing faces. I dug my fingers into my temples until I felt the skin break and warm blood roll down my cheeks like rain. I used to love the taste of my own blood. It centered me. Now it made me sick. Moving from the jungle to the underground was a huge shock for me, since I'd breathed moist jungle air until it was a part of my brain cells for thirteen years. The outside world was so toxic and industrial… it took my forever to learn how to eat, how to breathe. Only two things soothed the chemical ache that had begun to grow two ribs below my heart: music and my life blood, Buzz Juice. My first drink of the stuff was like a shot of blended hot jungle earth right to my intestines.

But those damn pills… those cold, hard seeds, white like the back of an eyeball… they were in me now, part of my blood, whisking about an inch below my skin. I could taste it, blunt and harsh yet subtle, as if they thought they belonged there. They ate away at all that was good in there, gnawed at the elastic walls of my veins and made them hard, ready to blow beneath too much strain. They rotted the inside of my stomach until the protective layer sloughed off and allowed them to be absorbed. And then they reached in with fat fingers and plugged up my bloodstream…

With a shriek I puked again, hoping that maybe there was some trace of them still in my gut, and if I tried hard enough I could force them up. Gasping I plunged my fangs into my arm, sucking, feeling the hot blood seep out and wash over my gums like hot tar. Still there, always there… I ripped myself away from the marks that Stork had seen the night before, marks I left at least twice a week, checking, always checking, puncturing my arm like a junkie's syringe.

This was the only time I hated Rainer, hated him for making me promise to never ever stop. I hated my head even more for making it start in the first place.

"I'm going to flee now." I announced to the tiles on the floor. And then I was out of there, leaping out onto the bridge and crawling under the table. I clawed at the underside until splinters injected themselves under my nails. Ashes, bones and splinters… keepsakes from the Spirit World. Hurray for infections.

"Hurray for infections and the end of the world! Hurray for injections and those hard to get girls!" I said, banging the top of my head against the table by complete accident. Ah, StraightJackit Parade, I heart thou.

Feeling a bit better I rolled out from under the table and hunted down a scrap of spare paper and a nubby pencil from the shelves. Lying flat on the floor with my feet in the air I started to draw, my hand slightly skilled after years of watching Rainer and his expert fingers. I waved my legs back and forth like a child, kicking myself in the spine and giggling.

"_All I have it a picture in my mind how it would be, if we were together. _

_Let's pretend that you're far away, let's say you write to me…_" I warbled, feeling like the little orphan Anne-Marie. Sweet little Anne-Marie, golden despite it all. Like Fli.

"…_And you promise in your letters that you'll come home_

_Come home to my heart_

_Come home, we'll never be apart_

_If I keep dreaming of you, keep believing it's true, then you'll come home_

_Come home to my heart…"_

"Don't we all wish, baby." I said, kicking myself extra hard. "Don't we all wish…"

I stayed pressed to the floor for some time, my hand drawing out rough lines, sketching out those whose name's I'd learned in only two weeks. I had a finicky time drawing Varan's scales, Fraggle's fur and Stork's freckles. I barely got through Angel's hair… he was much too like drawing Rainer. He reminded me too much of Rainer in general and I couldn't shade in his skin. I drew in Varan's mohawk evenly and made tiny ovals for Stork's freckles, faint but visible. Her freckles were light and pale brown, like someone had spattered flecks of dirt on her nose. Fli's had been pink like her hair and were closer together. I drew in the cartoon skull on Fraggle's toque with great care, my tongue poking out between my teeth. I smiled when I sketched in Falshade's jaw line and crooked, devilish smile that I saw less often these days and never directed at me. I penciled in his hand resting on Varan's shoulder; Falshade wasn't afraid of his affection. He liked to share it. Charismatic, that's the word. Falshade and his soft love was charismatic.

I chewed on my tongue, frustrated, when I got to the eyes. I'd always had trouble with eyes; I could never get them the same size and shape. Plus eyes, to me, were like little painted panes into the soft, squishy parts that were protected by the rest of the body, by ribs and personas. The little dark finger holds that were otherwise swallowed and hidden in the deepest part of your gut. I could never capture that dimension and it aggravated me.

Irritated I abandoned my work, leaving it lying like a lost thing on the floor and climbed onto the table, crouching like a gargoyle, folding my arms protectively over my chest. That's the way Falshade found me when he wandered absently onto the bridge. He leapt a foot in the air when he finally noticed me, miming a statue.

"God damnit!" he wheezed at me, clutching his wide chest. "What are you doing up there? Don't stand on the furniture!"

I hopped down and approached him in a rush. He leaned back from me as I pressed close to examine him in what he must of thought was a subtle way. He reeked of sweat, fear and a rough night, and his face was haggard and pale and drawn.

"It was you!" I declared.

"It was me what?"

"Who puked last night." I stated matter-of-factly.

He blinked and shifted. "You, erm… heard me?"

I shook my head, my leathery ears slapping my neck. "No. I smelt it this morning. Do you think you have food poisoning?"

"Don't let Varan hear you say that. No, I'm fine, don't worry."

"Oh, great. I can't go in hospitals." I explained. He nodded in understanding. "But, hey, people don't get sick for no reason, you know. Not if they're fine." I went on.

"It's nothing, Wasp, don't worry about it." he said tiredly. He looked only half alive. I felt like blowing extra oxygen up his nose. I tapped his collar bone in a way of quick comfort. He was watching me cautiously, like a wary animal.

"Well, I'm not so great at worrying, you see, but I am kinda a curious person. You know, Faerie and all." I flapped my hands like baby wings, hating the word Faerie. He quirked his mouth briefly. "So, since I'm not really worried, wanna tell me anyways?"

Falshade tilted his head slightly, taking me in. "Just… stuff. Lot of shit went on yesterday. It's just messing with me, you dig?"

I squinched up my nose thoughtfully. "Not really. And yes. But I mean, shit happens, just like falling stars and loosing teeth."

"You've got a point. I've gotta expect that kinda stuff now, right?"

"Well, maybe not your squadys drowning in the bath tub." I admitted and he stiffened.

"…Yeah. Definitely not that." he said quietly.

"You wanna know something?" I whispered to him. He cocked an eyebrow, listening. "I don't think Stork should worry too much that we saw her. I think she looks alright naked."

He looked at me, startled. I shrugged honestly. He glanced around briefly, looking like he didn't know what had come over him, and breathed out before passing me on his way to the kitchen. "I think so too."

I giggled in the harsh way that I own, sounding like I was choking on a bone, and slithered into a sun beam, feeling released from my eyes dilemma. Stretching out languidly like a black cat I closed my brown eye slowly and then my amber one.

"What does Bangerang mean?" I asked aloud. No one answered because no one was there. I shrugged and day dreamed about marshmallow shapes. Until the rainbow one turned into red paint…

I sat bolt upright and startled Stork, who'd been trying and failing miserably to walk by quietly, considerately trying not to disturb me. My hackles quivered and I clamped my lips beneath my teeth, trying to stop breathing. Well, this was odd…

I had a bit of a difficult time adjusting to Stork's constantly changing female scent. It reminded me way too much of rituals bathed in moonlight and blood, jerking spasmodically as if possessed and revelling in fertility. Usually, though, her body transitioned slowly into her Blood, giving off familiar yet foreign and unique scents of passing in and out of heat. But this time her body seemed to have jumped abruptly right into the heaviest part of it, even though she'd only finished her Blood barely two weeks ago. She seemed in discomfort as she watched me hunched in the sunlight like a beast caught between flight or fight. I forced my muscles to relax and stopped bristling.

"Hi." I said hoarsely. She came closer to me, concerned. Ugh. Poor thing, this strange, unexpected Blood felt oppressive and demanding, a thick lining sloughing away…

"You okay? You look sick." she asked me carefully. I flicked my ears nonchalantly. "Here." she added, draping my coat over my shoulders. "Thanks, for letting my borrow it."

"I'm fantastic. You smell different. Everything okay?" I asked, burrowing into the curly fibres, drawing up their scent. Home.

Stork looked at me, alarmed and almost like she was begging to confide in me. I assumed that Stork had been the only girl for a long time and wasn't one to want to talk feminine details anyways. But compared to me she was practically a runway model. She'd tried to talk to me once, about cramps I think, and I'd gone into a spiel about how great things the glowed in the dark were. She hadn't tried since then.

"You can… smell… me?" she asked quietly.

"I smell lots of things. Varan's making those flat things…"

"Wasp, I'm kinda worried here. I never… like this. You dig?"

Everyone seemed to be asking me that lately. Go figure. Imagine me, a shrink! I could make my own ink blot diagrams… "I know. I can smell you." I repeated.

Stork sat next to me, not looking any less uncomfortable and mortified then she had the night before. As she drew her knees into her chest I realized her and I were in the same boat at the moment; it was way too awkward for any of the boys to talk to either of us right now.

"I think this has to do with… the tub thing." she whispered. I'd never seen her so unsure. Stork was usually the epitome of confidence. "I have no idea what happened, but I know it wasn't just some freak migraine. Something weird is going on."

"I'm not a good doctor, I can never remember where the spleen is…"

"I know you're no doctor." Stork said hurriedly. Someone was coming down the corridor. "Just… if you can smell me, do you smell anything… off? Like…I'm not…gonna…?"

I felt really sorry for her. Stork had the ability to look like a little girl forever, even when being tough or snotty. But right then she looked just so… small. Lost. She was younger then the rest of us, and the only girl, really, because I don't think I hold any use for either gender. She was alone here. Right then I wanted to be her best friend like on the after school specials, to braid her hair and show her my diary and when we were older practice kissing. Because I cared really hard, I leant forward and sniffed her bare shoulder, ignoring the lurching of the muscles in my abdomen.

"You aren't going to expire. You smell fine, like, citrusy. I've heard of this happening after like, stressful or intense experiences? It's just a fluke, babes."

My tongue went cold on 'babes'. That was the first thing I'd ever called Stork, when I'd saved her virginity and probably her life, when I first met her. It seemed to comfort Stork though; she relaxed visibly.

"Okay. Thanks, Wasp." she said, just as Fraggle staggered onto the bridge.

"I require coffee, eh." he slurred. Varan, as if by magic, came out of the kitchen and set Fraggle's mug on the table before sitting on the couch with a bowl of oatmeal.

"Don't go in the kitchen." he warned Stork, who'd gotten up to go get some breakfast. "I knocked Angel's eggs out of the fridge by accident."

"Wasn't that hungry anyways." Stork griped, sitting at a chair as far away from the males as she could get. My reassurance had boosted her from uncertain and frightened to just unnerved around those who'd seen her. All of her. Everything was back to normal.

Falshade and Angel were yelling at each other in the hallway, obviously chased out of the kitchen by the reek I could detect from here:

"… just because you're dumb as a stump doesn't mean we all are! Forgive me for conducting an experiment of great value, had it not shattered all over the floor!"

"Yeah, 'cause people haven't discovered dysentery yet. Clean that shit up before the smell gets into the ventilation system!"

"I ain't cleaning it up, Varan was the one who dumped 'em!"

"They wouldn't have been in there if I told you to get rid of them in the first place!"

"I wasn't about to keep them in my room!"

"Why the fuck did you have to keep a carton of rotting eggs anyways?"

"I was _going _to try and examine crystal energy effects on bacteria, but I needed something that occurred naturally. Eggs contain a lot of the same aspects as human cells."

"…You're a crack head." Falshade threw over his shoulder before leaning wearily against the wall of the bridge. Fraggle was trying to keep his laughter under control and was snickering and snorting so badly he was spilling coffee everywhere.

"And you shared a room with the guy?" Varan asked snidely.

"Let's not even go there. This isn't the first I've heard about using crystal energy for biological engineering, and frankly it makes my head hurt." Falshade said.

"Hey, Chief, you alright? You look like you slept in a thunderhead, eh." Fraggle reported, still chuckling to himself. Falshade nodded and straightened up.

"I'm fine. So, let's talk about our game plan for today. Stork, are you still up to patching up the _Merlin_ or…" Falshade trailed of awkwardly. He was looking at Stork intently, as if he thought she was going to break into pieces if someone sneezed.

This, of course, did not sit well with Stork. She stuck out her chin defiantly. "Of course I am, what'd you take me for, a cream puff? Like, I get a cold so now I can't help save the Atmos?"

"I was _trying_ to be considerate." Falshade grumbled. Oh yeah, things were back to normal. "Right, so how long do you think you and Fraggle will need to fix up our bird?"

"Not long, two hours, maybe. Most of the damage was just dents in the armour and scratches in the paint. The thing that might take some time is the starboard side engine and the exhaust system on the port side, where we got hit real bad when they snuck up on us. I might need to replace some parts if we want them to hold up next time." Stork explained in a rush as if she couldn't wait to get the words over her tongue.

"So three hours, for cushion." Falshade said. "Okay, while you're doing that I guess the rest of us can… try and be useful."

Angel slouched in to join us, looking thoroughly annoyed and a tinge green. He avoided Falshade and Varan pointedly. He sat next to Fraggle and propped his feet up on the table. "Being useful is a stretch for some of us. Why don't we fly some recon while they're doing the repairs?" he suggested evenly, directing his words at Falshade but talking to the wall.

Stork leaned over and pushed his boots until the slid off the table. "What if Fraggle and I wanna fly recon too?"

"Tough beans, Baby Girl." Angel said, plunking his boots back on the table top. This time Stork stood up and pushed him right over backwards. Fraggle looked down at him casually.

"Hey, just like your eggs, eh!" he said in mock astonishment.

"Oh, go take a flea bath." Angel growled, rubbing the back of his head.

"If we're going to fly recon, we'll all go." Falshade said firmly, putting an end to any further argument. "The rest of us will find things to do, there's lots of things that need to be done."

"There is?" I asked, feeling like I should probably say something at least.

"Look, Shade, it's pointless to have all six of us hanging around this rock, wasting half the day, when Fraggle and I are going to be the only ones who can really do anything useful." Stork said prickly. "You should take your skimmer and fly on ahead to Rex and start doing some research, we'll catch up with you later."

Falshade looked uneasy. "All… by myself?"

Stork made a noise in the back of her throat and I nodded in agreement. "You're a Sky Knight for god's sake! Don't tell me you're afraid of flying monkeys or something!"

"Aw, Falshade, you don't have to be afraid of flying monkeys, I heard they went extinct like, centuries ago." I said encouragingly. He narrowed his eyes at me before levelling his glare on Stork.

"Okay, _first _of all, missy, there is nothing in those skies that I'm afraid of… yet. We'll see how these dreams of mine turn out and if they do then trust me, you'll be scared too." He said pointedly. Stork drew herself up to her full height and tilted her chin with a sneer, ready for a brawl.

"I'm not afraid of _anything_." she clarified. It was Angel's turn to make a noise.

"I seem to remember a certain incident with some spiders…" he said airily and Stork kicked him in the shin.

"Next time I'm tearing into your back!" she promised as he hoped on one leg, cursing.

"_Second _of all…" Falshade continued loudly. "You are _my_ squadron, and it's _my_ job to look after you kids to make sure nothing comes along and blows you out of the sky. The _Merlin'_s still in rough shape after yesterday and if you get attacked as unexpectedly as we did yesterday you might not be as lucky."

"And I'm sure having you here will make _all _the difference in the Atmos. How horrible would that be, us poor, defenceless, amateur _squadys _left alone and unprotected! I guess we're all pretty much doomed without the great, almighty Falshade to protect us!" Stork warbled melodramatically, grasping my shoulder for support and throwing her other hand over her forehead theatrically.

"Good thing I was here last night then, eh?" Falshade ground out and Stork froze. I could smell her skin simmering. She marched right up to Falshade's chest and glared at him with enough force to make a Wallop stop in his charge.

"You wanna say that again?" she dared him hoarsely.

"This is getting really pathetic, even for you two." Angel reported, pushing between the two of them. Varan was looking away uncomfortably, his tail flicking like mad, while Fraggle was watching from over my shoulder, shamelessly attentive and safely out of splatter range. I thought I should award Angel a silver rose for bravery there; I hadn't known either of them long, but I'd never seen Falshade or Stork look so livid with the other. It made me feel hurt in a way: after all I'd witnessed their warm and fuzzy little moment the night before. With fear and awkwardness between the both of them though, I suppose it's easy for love to get a little frayed.

"He's not afraid of anything." Angel said sternly in Stork's face, and her eyes turned on him dangerously. "And you should be glad that he cares enough about your two-toned scalp that he doesn't wanna just leave you here like that. Why would you want to send him off alone anyways, especially after our fight yesterday?"

"He can look after himself." Stork said snarkily.

"Not if he runs into a gang of Vultures like yesterday's." Angel confirmed

"You're confidence in me is astounding." Falshade droned from behind him.

"He doesn't wanna go on his own because he can't read." Angel spilled in retaliation to Falshade's forsaking the fact that he was siding with him.

"Angel!" Falshade yowled. "I can too read!"

Stork's eyes flared wide for a second before narrowing again, this time boring into Angel. "You're a fucking idiot." she told him. "I've been watching him for months with his nose stuck in that damn field guide! He can so _read_!"

"Congratulations, Sherlock. Yes, he can read." Angel corrected himself peevishly. "Just not well. The kid's dyslexic, didn't you know?"

"Angel!" Falshade yowled again.

"What?" Angel shouted back, turning around. "It's not like I just announced you have an STD or something! So you're dyslexic, so what? I'm an insomniac, Varan's a vegetarian, Wasp's a fucking psycho, we all got something, join the fucking club! Now would you quit yelling at each other, it really hurts to listen to you're fucking eunuch voices!"

Fraggle snorted with laughter. "He's got a point, eh."

"If you're so fucking in heat with him then why don't you go with him?" Stork suggested to Angel irritably, but in a lower voice. I let go of my ears gratefully. "Go be his body guard."

"I didn't even want to go to Rex in the first place, it was your dumb idea." Angel scowled.

"Oh yeah? Well then I'll go with Falshade and read the books out loud to him while you stay here and fix the _Merlin_'s engine, how's that sound?" Stork asked him, stepping dangerously close to his feet. Stork liked to stamp when she got huffy.

"Oh, fuck off, both of you. Since neither of you can apparently stand to be with me I will go by myself and maybe then I'll have some fucking peace and quiet." Falshade growled and turned on his heel.

"Hold on, you dumb fuck." Angel yelled after him, leaping onto his back and wrapping his arms around his neck. "I'm coming, I'm coming. Jeez, someone didn't have their juice this morning."

Falshade let out a rough sigh irritably but grasped Angel's wrist in gratitude anyways. He turned back to Stork, seemingly calmed at least and Angel rested his chin on his soft hair like a puppy.

"Alright, happy now? We're going. I'm still gonna be worried about you all here alone though. Are you sure you'll be alright?" He asked in a more reasonable tone and Stork deflated slightly.

"Oh yeah, we'll be fine." she said confidently. "I'm actually more worried about you two. Angel, for once, had a good point, if you run into a group of Vultures or god-knows-what the same size as the one yesterday…" Stork trailed off.

"Aw, we're a family again!" I cheered, wrapping an arm around Fraggle's shoulders happily. He shrank back from me with a strained smile. I released him and flung myself to my belly near the corridor, spying the cricket which had been trapped aboard the _Merlin_ since we'd left Atmosia and steadily driving me up the wall. "Gotcha, you little bugger." I said softly, crushing it beneath my elbow.

"…be fine." Falshade was assuring Stork as I stood back up, standing on one leg experimentally. Oh gravity, do you ever get lonely? Surely your sin is Greed.

"Let's split the team evenly, there's six of us after all. Take Wasp with you, she won't really be any help to me, she doesn't know anything about repairs." Stork was saying. I wrinkled my nose.

"Make Varan go." I pouted, concentrating hard on the tacky yellow splot on the ground, the former cricket.

"I need Varan's help in case I have to lift some scrap metal." Stork explained to me. I think she was most patient with me. Varan let out a relieved sigh.

I slammed my boot to the floor, defeated, a little louder then necessary. "Where are we going?" I asked dejectedly.

"Terra Rex. You're going to get a head start on some research with Angel and Falshade while the rest of us repair the _Merlin_." Stork told me slowly. As if on an after thought she added more slowly "You… can, erm, read, right Wasp?"

I held out my arm, palm cupped and facing me as if holding something. "_If music be the food of love, play on._" I drawled, my eyes shut dreamily. I opened them again to take in five faltering faces.

"It's Shakespeare." I explained and then skipped past them, heading for the hanger, flapping my arms which were now secured wrapped back in their mummifications, my Green Sleeves.

"_I'm flap, flap, flapping my albatross wings_!" I screeched, colliding with my Gremlin and falling backwards, laughing. I'd never read Shakespeare. It was a line in a Runlord's song, and Rainer used to say it a lot.

Angel straddled his Slip Wing a little while later, in full armour, his Sight clipped to a headband that pushed his feathery hair from his face. Thin, wispy hair…

"I want to taste your hair." I muttered quietly. He looked down at me, where I was still sprawled on my back, and the corner of his mouth twitched in a sneer that would have been had I been worth his effort.

Feeling like a ball of ice was blocking my intestinal passages all of a sudden I clambered onto my Gremlin and sat still, hunched and gloomy.

Falshade was talking to Stork in the shadow near the door way. I couldn't hear them because Angel had started his engine pointedly, but I saw Falshade reach out briefly and press two fingers to the top of her wrist, and she didn't pull back. I think she even smiled a bit.

"You two got enough fuel for the trip?" Falshade asked us, hopping onto his skimmer as Stork flipped the lever to open the bay doors. "Shouldn't take us more then five hours."

I oogled at him and wanted to jump off my ride. "That's a long time, in human minutes!" I shouted.

"Yeah it is, so make it a little less aggravating and keep your damn mouth shut." Angel barked at me before speeding out of the hanger, Falshade on his exhaust pipes. I glanced at Stork, who gave me the thumbs up, before taking off after them. I dropped off the edge of the runway and bumped against the earth of the tiny terra we'd landed on the night and sped towards the edge. How far could I drop before I lost all desire to pull up? How long could you hold your breath, how close to death could you get and still be able to make it back to tell about it? Close enough to smell the other side?

I pulled up before I got soaked by the cloud layer and shot after Angel and Falshade. The two of them were swinging in close to each other and kicking at the other's wings and ribs like the boys they were.

"Hey, keep up, okay?" Falshade hollered at me, noticing how much I was lagging. "It's a long way to Rex, I don't wanna lose you in the clouds!"

I motored up so I was closer to them, close enough to smell their burnt crystals and sweaty male smell. Wishing absently that I hade my record player, I played at changing the gears on the side of my skimmer, switching from land-mode to air-mode and back again. I shrieked with laughter as I felt myself plummet, hair and ears being whipped upwards as if electrically charged, my skin trying to peel itself free from my bones and abandon ship. It was only in the little spaces between converting back to my wings, those tiny seconds between being mauled and being released from gravity, that I remembered I'd forgotten my parachute. My signal of salvation was the grinding as the gears shifted, and I savoured the grating sound, because I knew one day I wouldn't hear it, probably when I needed it most.

The trip went on for three ages of the sun, it seemed to me. A blood blister burst under my tongue when I sucked too hard on my back molars and Angel attempted to beat me around the head with his crossbow when I accidentally bumped into the back of his ride, rattling both our heads on our necks, because I think I feel asleep. Other then that, nothing of great excitement happened and I was so bored and irritated I wanted to gnaw on my own ears. I figured they'd probably taste like jerky.

"I Spy with my X-Ray eye…" I intoned at one point As per usual, I was ignored. But that was okay, because I didn't really have a good object to be I Spied upon anyways.

"Land Ho!" Falshade shouted after an eon, his voice ringing through the dust in my head and vibrating on moth's wings. Wow, I needed more sleep.

"Final-fucking-ly." Angel groaned, angling towards a landing strip in the center of a large stadium, shaped like a horse shoe.

"Mind they don't try to shot you down!" Falshade called after him, spiralling downwards after him. I hurried after them, enthused despite myself. More to stretch my cramping legs then anything, but also because, up to my count, this was only the fifth outside Terra I'd ever been on. I was interested to see what the dirt smelt like, how the wind felt. It's different everywhere, you see.

The three of us touched down in different degrees of grace on the smooth strip. I promptly flung myself from my ride, ignoring it as it clanged down behind me, and shoved my splinter-filled finger pads into the runway.

"I'm alive!" I crooned.

"Halt!" a stern voice demanded, and I was abruptly facing a pair of boots.

"Ooh, damn, you got some polishing skills!" I announced the stranger's toes and straightened up slowly.

A cluster of armed humans had appeared on the strip, some stepping off skimmers, some just walking in from the sides of the stadium, armed openly. Out of habit my hands twitched towards the hilts of my machetes.

The man in front of my was stocky and had a bigger barrel chest then Falshade did. His hair, blond with a few lines of grey as if he'd combed his hair with a dusty comb, was pulled back in a pony tail, which made me want to giggle. He held his nose up with an air of one who felt a lot of self-importance. I didn't like his cologne.

"I believe it's fair to ask who the three of you children are and what you are doing on our landing strip." he told us haughtily. His voice had a strange accent to it, clipped and smart. I wanted to slice open a line in his throat with some wire and pull it out, a razor thin disk wedged atop his vocal chords. I wondered if it hurt him.

Falshade stepped up to my side protectively. "My name's Falshade." he introduced himself a bit curtly. I got the feeling he didn't like this snot's attitude. "These are my friends, Angel and Wasp. We're part of a new squadron, the Gargoyles. We came to look in your archives, if you'll have us."

"Oh, have you really? Hmm." The guy looked all of us up and down, a look of disapproval cinching around the corners of his nose. He eyed up my knobbly knees and oily hair critically, blue eyes lingering on my ears. I tucked them back as if to hide them from his burning bright gaze, Elvin eyes fitted in the wrong head.

"I am Harrier, Sky Knight of Terra Rex and head of the Sky Knight Legion. I've never heard of your squadron before, Falshade." the man said at last, after taking in Angel's thin chest, no longer hidden behind his overcoat because it was effectively half melted and charred. He looked upon us skinny adolescents in much the same way the wind bags that had decided whether or not we'd earned a squadron title on Atmosia had. Falshade was twitching his arm muscle next to me, trying to keep up a positive facade.

"We're new. Like, really new. Just signed up about three days ago. But I've passed the Trials and so has Angel, and the Council dubbed us a squadron, you can contact them if you like." he said confidently, drawing himself up. He was taller then this Harrier guy and looked impressive in comparison to this older Sky Knight. Falshade didn't need fancy uniforms or a pony tail to look like a hero. The title Sky Knight wore him without shame.

Harrier furrowed his brow. "Well, Falshade, if you are the leader of this 'Gargoyle' group you insist that you are, then where is the rest of your crew? Surely it's not just the three of you?" He was doubtful of us, probably didn't think three raven haired kids could stand up to a strong wind much less anything of larger scale. Oh, he had no idea where we'd been. I didn't like the way he said our name, like it was a laughably pathetic insect.

"Do you know what people used to do with gargoyles?" I asked him, pulling my shoulders backwards. "They used to put them up above their house, on those downspout things, like on churches and stuff, to ward off evil spirits. We may be ugly, but we're here to protect that perfumed neck of yours, so maybe you shouldn't spit in our faces about it."

Angel grabbed me by the shoulder and yanked me back, but I swear he squeezed me in a silent 'that's right, you tell them what's what' way. Several of Harrier's counterparts were giving me hostile looks by now, some even clutching weapon hilts. Aw, how perfectly _pathetic_.

"I wanna go home." I whispered to Falshade. Something bad was going to happen if I didn't. He touched my hand briefly before turning back to Harrier.

"The rest of my squadron are a few hours from here, they're patching up our carrier ship. We got into a fight with a strange band of pirates yesterday." he explained, putting emphasis on the fact that we'd been in battle. Emphasis on the fact that they weren't the superiors here.

"Have you now? Well, at least you aren't complete novices. What do you require from our records?" Harrier asked a little more reasonably.

"We'd just like to do some research about the old war. It's hard to explain, but we think it'll be useful to us."

"And I assume the rest of your squadron will be showing up sometime later this day?"

"Yes sir." Falshade said and Angel kicked him in the ankle. These guys weren't sir worthy.

A small blonde girl was watching me from the corner of her eye with a guilty curiosity. I could feel the disgusted intrigue of them all pressing on my skin. There I go again, playing circus act… I flattened my ears against my head and felt a growl stir in my throat.

"Well, Falshade, I believe your word, despite your unruly appearance and attitude towards your elder Sky Knight." Harrier said at length. "If it is our Record Hall you seek then some of my squadron would be happy to lead you there."

"I'll bet." Angel muttered.

"You and your friend are welcome on our Terra streets. Sky Knights, no matter how young or foolish, are always welcome among us." Harrier bowed slightly here. Falshade returned the gesture stiffly, but looked pleased.

"Thank you, Harrier. We won't be any bother to you and will be gone later today. We don't want to impose on your hospitality." Falshade said as politely as he could summon. His fur was obviously ruffled.

"_Im-pose_." I echoed pointedly, smiling wolfishly at the blonde girl, who looked away.

"However, I am afraid that the Faerie will have to come with me to await your return." Harrier continued and something not entirely unexpected exploded in my stomach lining.

"What?" Falshade demanded, his polite and calm demeanour breaking and falling away at last. I'd sensed it trembling for about five minutes now, barely clinging to his arm hair. Angel tilted his chin sharply.

"The Faerie's part of our squadron too." he said scathingly. Falshade nodded in agreement.

"That's right. Wasp is our… friend and is an excellent addition to our crew. She has as much right to be here as we do." He announced firmly.

"I do apologize, but we cannot let a Faerie walk among our streets, at least not without an escort. It doesn't matter how tame this one of yours may be, there will be alarm among our citizens. We've heard terribly stories of the savages of Terra Faerûn." Harrier said, his own demeanour slipping.

The words 'tame', 'savage' and 'Faerie' rung in my head like a deep note on a piano. I had always taken jibes surrounding my heritage in stride. Quite frankly I felt rather unattached to the rest of those 'savages' from my homeland. However, this tight assed bastard offspring of two undeserving socialites's words fell on my head and dug in places that I neither liked nor could deal with.

_**Poor dear Eris… savage suits you… if only they knew how just**_

_Shut up! Shut up!_ I screamed at my shaking limbs.

"_The Faerie_ has a name!" I declared, grinding in my heels determinedly.

"_Wasp _doesn't require an escort." Falshade confirmed at the same time. "She's not a criminal and won't be treated like one."

"Then we will detain her here at our air strip until you return." Harrier said insistently.

"With or against my will?" I asked casually. Beneath the surface, my lava blood roiled on, carrying around my favourite word to all its purposeful destinations.

"That's entirely up to you."

I sucked back hard on my nose and horked in my trademark way. Stretching my jaws in opposite directions clownishl I gave all around a good, glory view of my mucusy saliva. I sifted it between my fangs, sorting out a vein like a placenta thread among the blood that had drained down from my nasal passage ways and swallowed obviously. Looks of disgust filtered over all the faces of the Rexians. You really wanna touch me now?

"Look, Shade, you two go to this record dealy place, alright?" I told him, worming a reassuring look into my eyes. "I'll hang out here, wait for the others and try not to disembowel anything."

Falshade winced at me and shook his head. "No way, Wasp. We'll all stay here and wait for the others. I won't leave you here alone."

"How touching." I said, putting a hand over my heart to keep it in its chamber. "Seriously, I'll be fine. Angel, you don't like me, you tell him."

Angel looked at me, slightly disarmed. "I… Look, no way I'm letting these guys win. I'd have to beat myself if I knew one of my squadron was detained. That's just embarrassing. If Falshade's going to play Loyal Leader and stay here I'm staying too. I have issues being alone."

"Was that a joke?"

"…It was supposed to be. I can't really stand any of you after all."

Falshade turned back to Harrier. "Look, we're staying here until the rest of my squadron gets here. I'm not letting you lock Wasp up all alone…"

"Yeah, I'll probably end up eating my arm or something." I added.

Harrier heaved an annoyed sigh. "As you please. You'll understand, of course, if we keep an eye on you until your friends get here."

"Of course." Angel said in a mocking way, bowing so low he could have kneed himself in the nose. "Your hospitality is astounding!"

Apparently Angel was the only one who was allowed to treat me like dirt. Nobody messed with his Faerie.

One of the Rexians, another snot rag with black hair lacing artificially under the blonde (was everyone blonde here?) mop atop it, made a move in Angel's direction. Angel grinned at him challengingly, his thin lips curling to show off his insanely white teeth.

"What brand of toothpaste do you use?" I asked him loudly. More strange looks in my direction. I should make a collection.

"Run before the carnival freak! She'll drink your brains though a straw!" I shouted at them, cackling. Several of them did back up. This only made me laugh harder, and the harsh, hacking noise chased them from the stadium and back to their posts, pretending to look scoffing and dignified.

"I fucking love how scary I am." I announced to Falshade, spinning with my arms arched over my head like a crack ballerina.

"You're the only one." Angel told me. We returned to our skimmers and wheeled them as far from the now obsessively vigilant guards. We pulled ourselves right up the edge of the terra, making a small shield from our rides and then seating ourselves on the cliff face, the swirling miasma of the Wastelands blowing evidently in our faces.

"Well, that went smashingly. Couldn't have made a better first impression, if you ask me." Angel announced, squinting up at the uncovered sun in annoyance. "Course it has to be so bloody hot out here."

"Oh, shut up." Falshade growled, dropping the scorching earth heavily. "You didn't want to leave her either."

Angel grunted and gave me a look out of the corner of his eye. I ignored him, scratching at the dirt with my frayed nails. I didn't feel like I owed Angel an apology and frankly I didn't think he'd accept it even if I did. However I did feel a bit bad about mussing up Falshade's plans, even though I hadn't done it on purpose.

"Hey, Shade?" I asked, making a chess board in the sand.

"Mmph?"

"I can call you Shade, right?"

"Sure you can." Falshade said, running a hand through his hair tiredly.

"Okay, cool. You can call me Wasp."

"Alright."

"So I hope I haven't totally wrecked your day or anything." I said, my tongue tumbling around the words awkwardly. I was never good with apologies, and I didn't think I had to be all out remorseful either; I wasn't the one with the affliction.

Falshade sat up a bit straighter so he could see me around Angel and stared at me, shocked. "That wasn't your fault, Wasp." he said after a moment. "I don't blame you. To be honest I'm pretty pissed off at Harrier and the Rex Guardians. Rex is supposed to be the head of the Sky Knight Legion and the golden image of what it is to be a Sky Knight and all that shit and they're discriminating against the different races? It's disgusting."

I shrugged. "That bit didn't really bug me. Everyone's allowed an opinion, right? I thought he looked like a metro with the pony tail."

Falshade snorted a bit. "Angel, if your hair gets any longer we'll be able to pull it back like that too. We can even braid it for you!"

"You know how, do you?" Angel asked him grumpily, shoving his shoulder.

"Anyways, Wasp, don't worry about it, okay? We'll just wait for the others to get here and decide if we want to stick around here or not. I'm leaning more towards not."

"Jeez are you every scrappy today." Angel commented, scratching at the inside of his thigh casually. "You'd think you have crabs or something."

"I'm just tired. I didn't get a lot of sleep." Falshade told him shortly.

"Poor baby." Angel teased. "Why not?"

"I had another dream."

Angel's whole attitude shifted immediately. He straightened up at attention and examined Falshade with concern. I tilted my ear towards them, slightly curious. For all the talk of Falshade's prophetic nightmares I'd never heard him talk about having one. I'd never dreamed in my life, so I was a little interested in the matter.

"Was it really bad?" Angel asked carefully.

Falshade nodded wearily and slumped against his skimmer. "Not like the usual ones, wasn't so glitchy, but it was definitely… part of them."

Angel wrinkled his nose sympathetically. "You, um, want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly."

"Oh, good." Angel said, sounding genuinely relieved "Almost started to sound like I cared for a second there."

"Heaven forbid." Falshade said sardonically.

"How long do you figure until the other's show up?" I asked. "I think I left the light on in the bathroom."

"Well it took us about five hours to get here." Falshade yawned. "And Stork said it might take them around three hours to get everything done… so three hours, maybe two."

"Oh, great! We can have a Hangman tournament!" I said excitedly. "I know some great new words!"

"Very tempting, but I'll pass." Angel muttered.

I shrugged again and tilted my ears outward to allow the heat flow to be directed away from my head. I couldn't believe how many days of good weather there'd been in a row. I missed the rain and electricity. What we needed was a really good storm to wash away the sticky heat and the grittiness that was starting to build behind all our teeth.

I pushed my face into the collar of my jacket, glad to have it back. Stork's scent was all over the inside though and it made me feel a bit queasy, the coopery taste of her blood clumping behind my tonsils. I dug around in the pockets absently for a Buzz and went over the events of the evening before. Something strange had happened when I'd touched her skin, something I hadn't mentioned to her because I didn't want to scare her anymore then she was and because it didn't sit very well with me either. It reminded me of something I'd long ago tried to bury under the weight of my brain and I didn't feel like pulling it out just now. Still… I made a mental note to keep a closer eye on Stork from now on, and I don't think I was the only one to resolve to such a thing. Even when he'd been angry with her I'd seen the concern in the lighter parts of Falshade's violet orbs. And his fear for her the night before had been so intense I'd been able to feel it coat my tongue like thick milk.

My eyes rolled slowly to the corners of their sockets. Angel's dark tan skin was shining in the sunlight, a light sheen of sweat painting his collar bone. You could see him and all his bird bones now that he didn't have his bulky overcoat, his willowy frame revealing all his bones beneath a thin layer of skin and muscle shamelessly. I bit down on my hand in the junction between my thumb and index finger, trying not to look at him anymore. In the shadow of his Slip Wing his skin looked a few shades darker, almost dark enough o be…

I pushed the fingers on my other hand into my hair and scratched at my half-scabs. I was glad I'd left the fleas behind on Macabre, as well as the maggots that used to crawl into my boots or behind my belt to nibble the infected skin away. As much as I appreciated it, it creeped me out. However, I hadn't left the gnats behind; in the hot air they swarmed around, wings working extra hard to support their heavy, gluttonous bodies in the thick air, increasing the whining pitch. I released my hand and arched my neck back like a cobra taking aim and spat, catching one such bug in a thick glob of spit and sending it down to a sticky end in the Wastelands.

"What does Bangerang mean?" I asked casually, jerking my head towards my shoulder and back again to some erratic beat I could only half remember.

Angel rubbed his nose and didn't answer me right away. "It's our retarded warrior call." he answered me right when I thought he'd forgotten me. "Stork made it up."

"I like it." I commented.

"It has its charms." Angel said, keeping his eyes on the clear sky. When he spoke I could see his canine teeth at the sides of his mouth; they curved slightly like fangs that had stopped halfway through the growing stage. I wondered what they'd feel like, scraping against my skin, forty shades lighter then his own. I shuddered and shook my head so my ears smacked my cheeks scoldingly.

Falshade had fallen asleep against Angel's shoulder even though Angel was a head shorted then him, even when they both were sitting. Sleeping people always reminded me of corpses; if you died the right way it just looked like you'd gone into hibernation. Angel kept looking at him out of the corner of his eye like an older brother.

"You used to live in the desert, right?" I asked, playing with my shoelace and wishing it were a different colour. I used to have electric blue laces, but I'd got rid of them when…

Angel ignored me and I shrugged a third time. I'd only wanted to know if they had a monsoon season in the desert too. I looked up at the sky for a while too, still groping in my pockets…

Until.

Until I felt all my muscles go slack and rigid at the same time, like water and corn starch.

Until I could see the scene perfectly, Stork, trying to sleep wearing my jacket because possibly I'd done something of value for once and had leant her something that comforted her. Stork, remembering my warning about the Boo Koo I'd had stashed in my collection of pockets, Stork making sure nothing of importance was in my pockets before she fell asleep with them covering her like dragon scales. Stork, finding what I had just found in one pocket, the inside pocket next to my hipbone, Stork pulling it out, half out of courtesy to me, half out pf a shameful curiosity like how that blonde girl had looked at me like a specimen in a zoo. Stork reading what was written in that harsh black type…

Until I released that, contrary to what I'd thought I'd done, I hadn't left them on my desk but rather had stashed them in my pockets, close enough to burn but out of sight.

Until I felt the tube-like cage beneath my thumb, the tube that imprisoned my favourite words.

**Alright. I know what **_**some**_** of you may want to say. Where the hell is the evil already, right? Now, on the surface, this chapter might have seemed a little mundane. However! There are things laced in here, important things. This will be the only time I go out of order with Wasp's flashbacks. This one was bouncing around my head for awhile, so… anyways, yeah, some important stuff in here and I promise that everything will be revealed all in good time. And we will find out what happened to Stork! And trust me, I can guarantee that in the chappies hence forth evil is going to take wing and some serious shit will start hitting some serious walls. Now on my profile I've got a small section designated to Gargoyles stuff because there's some background stuff I don't get to mention and because I'm a shameless self promoter. If you wanna check it out… and if you have any questions feel free to ask, any song suggestions for characters or things you'd like to see on said section, by all means do so (I'm sooo lonely!). I was thinking of posting a crash course of Faerieshian culture on there, so if you'd like to see that then feel free to say so. **

**I've decided on some more songs, which can also be found on the profile:**

**The Gargoyles (battle and theme combined): Through Fire and Flames by Dragonforce**

**Angel and Falshade (not suggesting yaoi): Kiss by Korn**

**They fuck you at the drive thru!**


	10. Dead Bodies Everywhere

**10**

**Dead Bodies Everywhere**

_**One; nothing wrong with me, Two; nothing wrong with me**_

_**Three; nothing wrong with me, Four; nothing wrong with me**_

_**One; something's got to give, Two; something's got to give**_

_**Three; something's got to give, Waaaaaaaaaaaah!**_

_** -Bodies Hit the Floor, Drowning Pools**_

**x.x.x Varan x.x.x**

"_I'll come back for you."_

_I took the bottle back from his hand and stared at the circular mouth without much conviction. There was nothing great about alcohol; it smelled bad, it tasted bad and after making you forget the contents of the night before it often made you sick. And I kinda wanted to remember tonight._

"_You don't have to." I assured Falshade as if this were the hundredth time he'd told me this. In fact it was the first, but I'd seen it coming for months, since the very first day he'd decided that this was the year he was going to the Academy. _

"_It's not a matter of having to." He said. "It's a matter of wanting to. I want you to be in my squadron, once I pass the Trials."_

_I'd always admired Falshade and his confidence. He wore it in a quiet way, not egotistical about it or overly reckless due to his belief in his abilities. He'd always been reckless, but that was just because he was so much of an air head. My feet were a little more firmly planted. And there he was, assuring me there'd even be a squadron. He wasn't at all troubled by the fact that first he'd have to get through the Academy even though it took him hours to read about four pages of any novel, and then pass the Trials, get approval from the Council, find a handful of crackpots like myself willing to believe him and join in his crazy little circus, get himself a carrier ship… and then after all that, then what? Where did you go in the pursuit of nightmares?_

"_Yeah but I mean, there are lots of more capable potential squadys out there compared to me. I don't have a skimmer, I don't have a weapon, I barely know how to spar with you and we use sticks for god's sake." I reminded him shamelessly. It was all true, after all._

"_I don't care about all that. Sure, gear and training and papers, that all helps, but what really matters is what's in here." Falshade assured me, thumping his chest before taking the bottle back from me when he realized I wasn't drinking any of it. Falshade had thought it would be more ceremonial if we both got drunk the last night we were going to be together. However I was sure he would have been able to find much more suitable drinking partners then myself, seeing as how the rye he'd taken from the chest full of his dad's old stuff made me cough and gag._

"_That's a nice thing to think, Shade, until you run into some guy twice as big as you with a war hammer or something." I said. Someone had to level out Falshade's extreme to the point of annoying optimism, so maybe that was why we got along so well._

_Falshade shrugged as if this were an unimportant detail and took another swig of the murky brown liquid, banging his heels against the cliff side. We were up on the plateau, overlooking the entirety of our home terra, our childhood playground, our nest that Falshade was leaving now. We used to come up here all the time, imagining we were the only things protecting the terra, the whole Atmos, from Falshade's danger that he assured me would wash over everything like a great black wave. It just seemed right that we came up here, the night before Falshade left in hopes to stop that wave, one last time._

"_I'll train you then, when I come back. Or you could get training here. Owhl could teach you, he's like, a Jedi master." _

"_A Jedi?" I asked, wondering if he'd had too much of that bottle for himself. I took it back and reluctantly swallowed back some of its liquid fire, just to insure that he wouldn't have that much more. "How can you think you're ready to go off to the Sky Knight Academy when you still refer to things from comic books?"_

_Falshade snorted. "I'm fourteen. Aerrow was only fourteen when he became an official Sky Knight. My dad was sixteen. It just feels right to me."_

_I could give him that one. Falshade wanted to be like his father in nearly every way. I'd caught his mom crying once because Falshade had kissed her on the cheek before going out for a ride on his new Ultra. She hadn't intended for me to find her, but she'd hadn't sent me away when I had either._

"_He just looks so much like him… I thought it _was_ him." she told me, spluttering, trying to laugh at herself. One thing I could appreciate about being so tall for my age was that I could hug her, and, being taller then her, feel like it was something more then a pathetic attempt of a child condoling an elder. Like it actually meant something. _

"_Or…" Falshade said so suddenly it made me jump. He punched me in the arm, an old ritual of ours. The two-for-flinching thing, Falshade's attempt to break me of my skittish ways._

"_Or what?" I asked, rubbing my arm good naturedly. _

"_Or you could come with me."_

_This, too, I'd seen coming. However I was a little less prepared for this one and didn't have much of anything to say, so to cover it I sucked back a little more rye and ended up choking on it. Falshade took the bottle back from me so I couldn't spit any more then I already had back into the bottle. _

_Wiping my mouth roughly I decided not to mention that he himself was already taking a gamble at getting in because he had not contacted the Academy beforehand and was planning to show up on their front step with nothing better then the reference to his father. I also decided not to mention how extremely unlikely it would be for the Academy to accept a Raptor into their system. That was sure to cause an issue. Besides, I wasn't Sky Knight material; I had my doubts I was even squadron material. _

_The biggest thing I decided not to tell him was that if I was to come along and almost certainly be rejected, I might not just lose the chance for myself (not that I wanted it that badly anyways). I was more concerned about ruining it for Falshade._

_I decided not to tell him any of this because Falshade was the kind of guy who would have ruined his own chances if the Sky Knight Academy would act only as they naturally should have and sent me away. I wasn't about to take that away from him, not for my account._

"_I can't go, dude." I said, snatching the bottle back out of his hand because he was getting a little too good at taking big gulps of the stuff. He pouted at me in his ever childish way. "You have to fly tomorrow." I reminded him. "Have fun doing that with a hangover."_

"_Why can't you go, then?" Falshade asked, examining me critically. Falshade was more delusional about the ways of the Atmos then I was. He had a harder time believing that people outside our tranquil and accepting little terra could be so vicious and cruel to someone just because they had scales. I was a little wiser, a bit less optimistic about the level of forgiveness that people contained. _

"_Why? Because it's your dream, not mine." I told him simply. Falshade possessed confidence and optimism. In turn, I contained a painfully high level of honesty._

_Falshade's teeth flashed in the moonlight, his trademark smile, childish and roguish, the kind of smile that made his mother cry and anyone else go along with whatever harebrained idea he'd cooked up, namely me. "Oh yeah? Well then what's your dream?"_

"_My dream?" I reiterated, laughing softly and taking another swig of the rye. I didn't wince this time, it didn't burn as badly and I figured that for now, that was good. I looked up at the stars, laughed again and answered: "Peace."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Pass me the longer sheet." Stork called down to me. "Not the fat one, the long one!"

When looking at several wonky strips of sheet metal, it's kinda hard to discern between 'fat' and 'long'. "Do you mean width or length?" I asked. I heard her make an irritated noise.

"The _long_ one, that one, under the stubby one." she said as if this should be obvious. I dragged the one she was pointing at out from under the 'stubby' one and turned it over so I was gripping at the edge. I examined it momentarily, discovering that it was pretty much the same thickness as all the other ones I'd passed her. So she'd meant length…ah.

I hefted it up to her, balancing it on its side carefully because it didn't want to just thunk it into her hands, seeing as how she was hanging _upside down_ from the engine. I'd refrained from suggesting to her the idea of a safety harness because I really wasn't in the mood for another 'thanks mom' jibe.

"Watch you hands, the edges are a little sharp." she warned me, pulling the sheet up alongside her on the engine. For the last hour we'd been working on patching up the engine's turbine, which had taken more damage then I thought it had.

"I know." I said, not bothering to mention that my hands were already scraped raw and bleeding. I also decided not to mention how that could have easily become a 'thanks mom' jibe because Stork also didn't seem in the mood.

"Okay, don't watch." she warned me, flipping down her welder's mask and setting to work. I stared avidly at the ground, wriggling my toes a bit. It was another bright, sunny day and the earth was hot. My kind of weather.

As I stared down at a random pebble I was reminded of home for some reason. Maybe it was because the earth here was dry and pale, like the scorched top of the plateau. Maybe it was because I was reminded of all the times Falshade had scrambled up to the very top of a tree and left me to stare at the ground with my ears covered because I was certain he was going to fall and kill himself. Raptors, while excellent at climbing and manoeuvring in rocky places, aren't the best tree climbers. Our tails get in the way (as I'd discovered the hard way). Either way, I was reminded of home and that brought around a bit of a debate I'd been snagged on for awhile now on whether or not I missed it.

I figured we all had mixed feelings towards home. I knew Fraggle missed the snow and the cold. In fact on hot days like today he got pretty cranky, in which case it was best to avoid him. I figured he must have missed his family too. I think, of all of us, Fraggle had the least broken yet equally (or even more so) strange family. He had both parents after all, even if his father wasn't biologically related or even his species. He had a mom and even a half sister, which made him the only one of us to own the novelty of a sibling (or curse, I wouldn't know). I think I was the only one who knew that, mostly because Fraggle and I had a bit of an unspoken bond. He told me stuff about his old life (the one before Falshade) in passing that he didn't mention around the others.

Angel, while he never voiced it, assured us he did not miss his desert home in the slightest. All he'd ever told us was that if he died (Angel was pretty blunt with formalities) not to worry about sending any letters to relatives, because he didn't have any. Stork had never brought up family, and had only mentioned home once or twice. However I got the feeling she had somebody out there, a parent or at least guardian, who she missed. Sometimes I would catch her looking lonely and sad, if only for a brief moment, and I knew the expression pretty well. A lot of the kids back on Vatican often held the same expression, the one of a longing for a space to be filled that no surrogate could ever stretch across.

I had no idea where Wasp had originated from or how long she'd been on Macabre, who she'd known there and before, or if she even cared for that matter. Then again, come to think of it, I didn't really know much about Wasp at all. I think she missed being outside the most, which was why I suspected she had indeed been born in the jungle, mostly because she would get twitchy and irritable if caged upon the _Merlin_ too long and had a habit of eating local plant life at whatever terra we stopped at, no matter how briefly.

Falshade was the one I had a hard time reading on the subject. He was the only one onboard the _Merlin_ that I'd known longer then two years, and having grown up along side him, I knew a lot. Therefore, it seemed to make figuring out which side he stood on even harder, if that made any sense anywhere. You'd figure the more you know someone, the less trouble you should have understanding them. I knew he missed his mom, or at least was discomforted by the fact that he'd left her alone for so long. However, I also knew there was nothing in all of Atmos he'd rather be doing then being out here, doing what he'd been born to do. It was all he'd ever seemed to talk about, Sky Knight this and Save the Atmos that. I knew he didn't miss home, just the people he'd left there. Maybe that was why he'd been so bent on coming back for me.

In the year and a half he'd spent away from home I'd dropped out of contact with him, and when he'd shown up, exactly two days after my sixteenth birthday, with two tough looking and headstrong strangers in tow, I'd accepted the fact easily that I'd gone from best friend to childhood friend. I'd never worried that he'd only come back out of obligation (well, maybe a little), but did worry that this new, stronger, more learned Falshade might find me bothersome and irritating next to his bold new friends. However, a slightly altered perspective and thicker muscles seemed to have been the only thing that had changed about Falshade and I learned quickly that I needn't have been so worried. Rather I moved onto the fact that while Falshade still saw me as the newt he'd grown up with and played heroes alongside with all his life, Stork and Angel might not. I had taken Falshade's advice and been trained by Owhl, the old ex-Sky Knight on Vatican, the one before Falshade's father and Falshade himself, but in comparison to these scrappy and fierce little humans, I wasn't sure if I was going to be viewed as very useful. Again, however, it became evident that I needn't have worried. At first Stork had been just as unsure about me as I was her, although she tried to hide it by acting tougher and crabbier then usual. My size and heritage had shaken her in the beginning, but she soon discovered that she and I shared a common outsidership. She was the only girl among us, after all, and for the longest time I was the only non-human of the group. I think that and our mutual respect for the other was what we were able to build our bond over. Angel of course went out of his way to make himself irksome and even loathsome at times. I'd thought forever that he didn't like me because he ignored me and kept to himself unless necessary. Falshade though, picking up on my distress, announced to me one day, while flinging his arm over Angel's shoulders, that "You didn't become Angel's friend, you just learned how to tolerate him." That was the first time Angel ever genuinely grinned at me, reassuringly if not particularly friendly, and after that I knew he and I would get along alright. I demanded quite a degree of tolerance myself, even though I was at the opposite end of the scale about it; while Angel was strangle-worthy obnoxious, I was annoyingly meek.

Eventually, even before we met Fraggle and moved onto the _Merlin_, while we were still just a gang of four hot-headed and fool-hardy (okay, maybe we still were) teens with skimmers, I was able to accept Falshade and his (eventually mine also) friends as my family, and the hurt for home ebbed away a bit. While Bogaton was my place of birth, Vatican had been my home, and I did miss it at times. I also missed my adopted mother, felt bad for leaving her and not dropping by to say hello since. I don't think it matters how old you get, what gender or species you are or how many new people you meet, you never forget those who loved you first, and it will always bring pangs to remember them, remember you've forgotten them again. Maybe that, too, was why Falshade had come back for me.

"Hey, you, dreaming salamander, toss me my ratchet would ya?" Stork called, dropping a bolt on my head to get my attention. The more you were able to take Stork's teasing and jabs, the closer your bond was with her, or so I'd deduced.

"Which one?" I asked, hunting through her tool box. By now she was done welding and had moved on to replacing one of the fan blades in the engine.

"Size… hmm… 39, should already have the bit on it." she told me, climbing into the induction turbine.

I found the right ratchet and tossed it to her, never doubting her hand-eye coordination. In response she dropped her welder's mask carelessly and I diligently picked it up and set it alongside her tool box.

Stork shuffled about and cursed to herself for a few minutes before dropping two fan blades, both bent but not so horribly warped that they'd put the engine's operation at risk, just it's performance.

"Alright, pass me the two good ones down there… damn, this means we're going to have to buy some new ones in case this happens again. I wonder if I should update the armour around the engines, it wouldn't affect the _Merly_'s speed that badly…"

"Okay, first of all, never say that again." I told her, handing up both fan blades. "And second of all, we've already been at this nearly three hours, and you told Shade it shouldn't take that long. He'll get worried about us."

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Heaven forbid we should get Falshade's panties in a knot." she griped, starting on the blades.

"Never say _that_ again and it'll be too soon." I said and she laughed, the sound echoing metallically in the engine chamber.

"Oh come on Varan, don't try to tell me you've never envisioned Falshade wearing some nice frilly pink-"

"I am so close to telling Fraggle to start up the engine it's not even funny." I growled. She was giggling like a madman to herself. "Save that material for Angel, okay?"

"But knowing him, it'll probably be true!" she protested, squealing with laughter.

I wrinkled my snout at that. I'd never attack someone's orientation, especially when said victim wasn't there to defend himself, but the thing was, Stork had a point. Angel was an oddity that way, and Stork and I weren't the only ones who had suspicions that he was probably bi at least. However I didn't want to get into a discussion about it, because I didn't have a problem with people and their diversities, first of all, and I also would have been a hypocrite if I did.

Stork must have sensed I didn't share her humour on the matter and was struggling to subdue herself. I had a feeling she was slightly hysterical, because she never got squealy if she could avoid it; this was probably her way of blowing away some uncertainty and awkwardness about the bath tub incident.

"Well, there we go." she announced, serious mechanic attitude returned. "OKAY, FRAGGLE, START 'ER UP!" She yelled.

Of course Fraggle took it literally and started the engine up _right then_, and Stork was nearly sucked into the newly repaired fan blades. She flung herself from the intake and I caught her before she broke something upon landing. The engine roared away, back to full ability and ready to take us somewhere.

"Nice job." I commented, setting her on her feet quickly because she was twitchy at being held. She brushed herself off and stared up at her handiwork, hands on her hips proudly.

"Why thank you." she said, even though she didn't require praise; she was quite the self-promoter. "Okay, let's go kill Fraggle for nearly turning me into mincemeat and get to Rex before Falshade has kittens."

I helped her carry the spare metal and her tools back into the hanger, setting the sheets down carefully against the back wall and slicing my hands up some more. Stork saw me and my shredded palms (one of the only places I didn't have protective scales) and stuck out her bottom lip sympathetically. She grabbed me by the wrist and half dragged me onto the bridge, where Fraggle was powering down the engines.

"Good job, eh. _Merly_'s back in top shape." he rubbed the handle bars affectionately.

"I know, I'm brilliant, you're welcome." she droned offhandedly, forcing me into a chair at the table and going to fetch the first aid kit from the bathroom.

Fraggle scratched at his head under his toque and sat across from me, pushing a sheet of paper across the table towards me. "Found it on the floor, eh." he explained. "Check it out."

I pulled the sheet of paper a little closer so I could better make out the pencil lines and titled my head in surprise at the drawing before me.

"It's us." I stated obviously.

"Yeah, pretty good too. Think it was Wasp, eh, 'cause she's not in it."

"Yeah, and I think Wasp is the only one who would draw us all without any eyes." I added and Fraggle looked as if he couldn't decide to grimace or laugh.

"That'd better not be something naughty, unless you intend to share." Stork said, coming back and sitting on the table, taking my hands and squishing a wet cloth between them.

"You don't share that kinda stuff, it's creepy, eh." Fraggle informed her. "Found it on the floor."

Stork scrutinized the drawing briefly before smearing some antiseptic onto my palms. "That can't honestly be Wasp's drawing." she said blatantly after a moment. "She doesn't have that kind of attention span."

"Yeah, but who else would do it?" I pointed out and Stork gave a brief nod of agreement.

"What's on the back?" she asked.

Fraggle flipped it over and the three of us peered at a series of quick doodles, which all joined together in the center to form something that…

"Hey! It's us!" Stork said.

"Us?" Fraggle and I echoed, confused.

"The Gargoyles, stupids! I think that's Wasp's idea of a squadron crest…" Stork said. "I actually think it's pretty good."

I frowned at the rough sketch. It did look like a gargoyle, blocky and disjointed like the other squadron emblems. It looked fierce, caught in mid flight with the wing stretched over the body so that most of it was hidden. One front limb was stretch past the wing membrane, reaching forward, gnarled paw and wicked claws stretched wide. A little of the hind quarters were visible behind the large wing, as well as a long, whip-like tail that came back up towards the belly, a large barb at the tip. The head was dome-like and reminded me of a dog's, with long ears whipped backwards. Oh yeah, definitely Wasp's design.

"It has its charms." I said, sounding like Angel. Because of that both Stork and Fraggle smacked me upside the head.

"I like it. Can you imagine that painted across the side of the _Merly_? In bright screaming orange, eh!" Fraggle said enthusiastically.

"I am _not _flying around in a carrier ship with an orange gargoyle splashed on the side." Stork informed him. "That's just tacky."

"Coming from you, eh?"

"What's that supposed to mean, Mr. I Have No Skull So I Wear A Toque To Protect My Meatball Brain?"

"Watch what you say about the toque, eh." Fraggle warned her.

I made a noise between a groan and a sigh and Stork reluctantly went back to wrapping my hands in some bandages.

"How in hell am I going to be able to hold my broadsword?" I asked.

"Do you wanna do this?" she shot back. "They're not that tight, you'll be fine. _I_ am looking out for your well being, be grateful."

"I don't have to be grateful. I feed you." I pointed out and she smiled while aiming a lazy kick at my knee.

"Okay, so the engines are good to go, and so are we." Stork announced after knotting off the bandages and hopping off the table, going for a map. "Rex'd be that-a-way." she said, pointing in a north-west direction.

"Righto, Captain." Fraggle said, revving up the newly repaired engines and making a slow (but not graceful) arc in the direction Stork had motioned, the same direction Falshade, Angel and Wasp had taken off in a few hours previous.

I examined my newly bandaged hands uncertainly. Going to Rex definitely did not sit very well on top of my stomach. I could just imagine running into some issues there. Not only that, but I was worried that reading over the records of the old war wasn't going to be very useful, mostly Talon bashing and elaborated victories on our part. And if that was the case, then what? We'd be back at square one, no leads, no anything. Just a handful of nightmares and a cranky crew.

"Did Falshade mention any back up plans if this whole Rex thing goes down the tubes?" I asked aloud, fiddling with the careful knot Stork had tied on the back of my hand.

"None that I'm aware of." Stork said without much concern. "It's nice to know you have so much faith in my ideas."

I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't attacking it, I'm just saying, it's always best to have an exit strategy."

Fraggle chuckled and we both stared at him. "What?" we demanded in unison.

"Exit." he snorted and Stork placed her head in her palms, rubbing at her hairline.

"I don't want to know, I don't want to know…"

Fraggle slumped over the controls, giggling. I had a strong desire to tether his ears to something to make him stand up straight.

"Okay, well, the map's here." Stork told the back of his head, trying to smother out her own laughter at the scene. Blizzarians have a way of making you smile, even if they're just being plain retarded. "Now, I dunno about you guys, but I am gonna be bored as _hell_ this whole time. No offence."

"None taken. I'm about as interesting as socks." I said and Stork dug her knuckles into my shoulder blade because it's kinda hard for people to give me a nougie.

"Hey man, never under estimate socks." She reminded me, pulling off her left boot and wriggling her toes in my face (I was still sitting, you see, otherwise this feet would have been impossible). She was wearing a long stocking, stretched to her knee I suspected because I could see flashes of it's colour through the hole in her jeans on her calf-muscle. It was striped dark purple like Shade's eyes and violent lime green. The lime green parts were spotted with mini purple bats and the purple stripes were decorated with leaping little green frogs.

"Aw, cute." I said because I knew words like 'aw' and 'cute' drove her up the wall. "When's the last time you washed them?"

Stork stuck her tongue out and pushed her toes a little closer. I snapped out my arm and grabbed her around the ankle before she could react and stood up, flipping her upside down and holding her about half a foot off the ground.

Several things fell out of her baggy pockets as she yowled at me. "Varan, you big _toad_!" she screeched like a she-cat. "Let me go RIGHT NOW!"

"Jeez you're light." I commented, lifting my arm higher and then dropping it again and then lifting again like I was testing the weight of a bag of lemons. Fraggle was laughing so hard he'd completely let go of the controls and had promptly fallen over, clutching his sides.

"Varan!" Stork continued to howl, pushing her palms against the floor in attempt to gain some balance and kicking at me with her free foot.

"Oh man, would it be too mean?" I asked Fraggle, making a tickling motion with my fingers above Stork's exposed foot.

"Do it! Do it, eh!" Fraggle wheezed, clutching a stich under his ribs and attempting to get back to his feet.

Stork's piercing laughter hurt my ears as I attacked the underside of her foot relentlessly, laughing myself. Stork was laughing so hard she was crying, probably a mix between being mercilessly tickled and her strange predicament. I make an effort not to touch Stork too much, let alone hold her in the air by her ankle. However today I figured I could bend that rule a bit; her feet did smell rather bad.

"For the love of god, _stop_!" she squealed, clawing at the floor comically. Her face was turning red from all the blood rushing to her head and breathlessness so I lowered her until her shoulders were flat to the floor and then promptly dropped her. The rest of her torso and legs collapsed to the floor with a thunk and she Sky-Fu chopped my feet while trying to catch her breath.

"Good thing you stopped, eh." Fraggle choked, hauling himself to his feet at last via the controls. "Was about ready to piss my freaking pants."

"Wouldn't be a first for you." Stork wheezed, now beating my feet ruthlessly below her elbows. "You are such a _male_!" she told me with a scowl.

"Oh come on, if you could pick me up you would." I insisted and she grinned craftily.

"I'm could probably pick Angel up, you know." she said, changing the subject. "I'm nearly taller then him."

"Ah, give the little Sky Krill a chance, eh." Fraggle said, sounding like he was calming down as far as Blizzarians can, thankfully. "He's still got some growin' to do, ya know."

"Well so do I." Stork insisted with resolve. "After all, I'm a year younger then he is. It could still happen."

"Girls finish growing before boys even start." I reminded her and she scowled again. "Hey, just stating the truth. It's a proven fact."

"Yeah, and boys also take longer to mature, _that's _a proven fact too."

"Oh, _please_, eh." Fraggle drawled. "Just the other day I watched you shoot milk out your nose. For fun, eh!"

I quirked an eyebrow at her. "In what universe is shooting milk out your nose _fun_?"

Stork bit her lip, trying to fight back a smile. "Falshade didn't think I could. He did it too. I totally beat him though. Mine went _way_ farther."

"Oh god, is that why the floor was all wet?!" I demanded and she giggled before shooting off towards the hanger. I shrugged, figuring she'd just gone to get out of range. Stork acted all tough and cut-throat around Angel and Falshade because she didn't want to give them an inch over her. But around me and Fraggle (this wasn't the first time the three of us had been left to our own devices) she got pretty lax and giddy. I took that as a compliment, that she trusted us enough to bring her walls down around us. For my part I got a little bolder and Fraggle… well, actually he pretty much stayed the same.

Stork appeared a moment later and deposited a little boxy device on the table in front of me proudly.

"Check it out." she said. "It's my new project."

I picked whatever it was up carefully and tilted it so I could examine it better.

"Ooooooh, what is it, eh?" Fraggle asked. Knick-knacks, gizmos and useless little dust collectors fascinated him.

"It's an Electro-Magnetic Force-Field Detector. It'll pick up anything from crystal energy to plasma flares. Reads non-organic energies, basically." Stork explained in a self-righteous manner.

"An Eemuh-Fu-Fuh-Duh!" Fraggle cheered. "Beauty, eh!"

"Nifty." I stated. "But, ah, don't we already have one of these up with the other scopes? You know, on the dashboard?"

"It's ain't a dashboard! It's the control board, eh!" Fraggle corrected peevishly.

"Whatever."

"Yeah, we have a Magnetic and Crystal force field detector. But they both went haywire in front of the Scar. It gave me a bit of an idea. They're meant to read the energy levels. But because the Scar was so unstable, they didn't get a solid signal. I'm trying to make one that won't do that, stay set." Stork explained in an excited, annoyed tone like she was talking to a couple of dim-wits. "But mine is _also_ portable."

"Well that makes all the difference." I said approvingly and she poked me hard in the jaw bone.

"But get this. Mine will not only pick up the scale of the energy, but its frequency." She went on in a rush and Fraggle and I exchanged a look.

"Um… what's the difference, eh?" We both asked at the same time, minus the 'eh' on my part.

Stork started to roll her eyes but caught herself. "Okay, I actually didn't use to know either. Angel explained it to me once. But apparently, things like magnetic and even crystals energies can be detected and/or used at different frequencies. Like sonar waves, kinda. Sometimes you can't pick up on them if they're at different frequencies. He knows more about it then me, and he's real into it and all that shit. He tried to make me throwing axes, before the cable idea, which has obvious flaws, and you know Angel and flaws… anyways, he tried to set them so they'd come back to me on a certain wave length using magnets. If he just would have used magnets I woulda got sucked to my skimmer's wings, right? So he tried it on this frequency thing, which is really hard to do, apparently. It worked, but it also sucked one of his fillings out during our test run."

Fraggle and I made "ouch" faces. Stork nodded in agreement.

"Oh yeah, he was not a happy camper after that. That's when he scraped it and moved onto the retractable cables. Anyways though, it occurred to me after yesterday that maybe that's why our scopes went so wild, and maybe what also set off the proximity alerts, as opposed to something supernatural."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, eh, we gotta get that fixed up." Fraggle interjected, snapping his fingers. I'll never know how he managed to do that with hair covering his digits.

"Shush, I'm not done! So yeah, frequency thing. Very possibly is what coulda done it." Stork went on, waiting for my reaction when she finished.

"Well… that's a pretty impressive theory." I said considerately, even though, and call me a nut case if you will, I still firmly believed that there was something otherworldly, not other-frequency, about that miasma. "And the Eemuh-Fu-Fuh-Duh will definitely be useful once you get it finished."

"I'm hoping it'll be more like invaluable." Stork said before sitting down with a grunt. "The thing is… I have no idea how to even begin to build something with the sorta radar that'll pick up other frequencies."

I couldn't help but chuckle here. She glowered at me while beginning to tinker with the scope with a set of extremely delicate looking tools. "I'm sure you'll think of something." I said to make up for it.

"I hope so. Maybe when Angel gets back, if he's not going to act as per the norm and be a jerk, he can give me a hand. He knows way more about it then I do."

I nodded in agreement. Angel wasn't one to give up rubbing how much smarter he was then Stork in her face just to be an asshole.

Silence stretched out for awhile, and not the awkward kind that makes it hard to move, because you know your bones will creak or your stomach will growl or you might just say something stupid. No, it was a good kind, unusual among our crew, but still enjoyable. I stretched out a bit and was non-verbally thankful that Fraggle hadn't yet remembered that the record player was nearby.

"Any idea what Fazaclo is?" Stork asked suddenly and I started, bumping the table and earning a glare from Stork, as if she was dissembling a bomb and not constructing something she didn't know how to make work in the first place.

"Fazaclo? Sounds like some sort of super strong laxative, eh." Fraggle offered, twiddling the steering lazily.

"Thank you for that image, Hairball." Stork said sarcastically. "That doesn't help me."

"Why do you ask?" I asked her, having no idea where she'd even heard the word. I had no idea what it was.

"Just wondering."

"Well you said is. Is it some sort of frequency related thing?" I prodded, wondering if this had something to do with her gizmo thing.

"No, I um… I think it must be a type of vitamin supplement. Or medication. I dunno."

I pondered this. "Well do you know what the medicinal name is? Fazaclo sounds like a brand name deal, like what they sell it as in a pharmacy."

"What kinda people do they give Clozapine to?"

Something clicked on Clozapine. I'd definitely heard it before. When my mom had taken me to the doctor on Vatican about my little episodes, around the time I'd lost my book. Of course I'd never been on any sort of medication, but it had been suggested. What kind of person _did_ they give Clozapine too?

"Clozapine? That one sounds like hemroid cream." Fraggle stated bluntly.

"You'd know, I suppose?"

"What are you implying, girly?"

"Nevermind. Forget it, it's not important. In fact it's stupid, forget I brought it up." Stork grumped, going back to her work. I however was now hung up on her question. Cloz-a-pine. Pine… pine… I bet that was some sort of old-Atmosian suffix or something. Why did they use old, dead languages for the broad-term name of something when hardly anybody remembered the language anymore? Wouldn't that be genius, taking some pill or something only to find out that 'pine' or something along those lines meant 'cyanide'.

What kind of people did they give Clozapine to?

Basket cases.

"It's an anti-psychotic." I recalled. Adults used big words like that around children so as not to scare them, to keep some sort of big secret from them that they can find out when they're old enough for it to destroy them. I, being the too smart for my own good salamander that I was, made a habit of remembering words like those.

"Ehwha?" Stork asked distractedly, her tongue poking out from between her teeth.

"Clozapine. It's an anti-psychotic." I said slowly.

"What's an anti-psychotic?" she asked, looking up and I snorted. She'd strapped on her goggles, made with the same lens types as the one in Angel's Sight, which she'd made for him in return for her throwing axes, and they magnified her eyes comically. She looked like a dragonfly.

See, if the others were here, or even just Angel, she would never have asked such a question. In fact, she may have even pretended she understood, the ol' smile-and-nod. Not that it was a degrading thing not to know, in my opinion. I mean, if no one in you knew needed that kind f medical care, where would you have heard the word, right? However, Stork was careful not to leave herself open for attack like that, even if she really didn't understand. Stork's dominant sin was Pride, and one of these days she was going to pay for it.

But it was just me and Fraggle, and Stork didn't fret about the risk of looking stupid.

"It's what they give to basket cases, eh." Fraggle said, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"Oh so it's not hemroid cream?" Stork asked sarcastically.

"They wanted to put me on it." I said to the table top and felt both of them whip around to stare at me.

Fraggle was all over his previous statement. "Jeez, I'm sorry, eh, I didn't mean what I said there. I mean, that's what it's for, but I didn't mean to say it like that, eh."

"You're not a basket case." Stork added quietly.

"Don't worry about it, Fraggle. Hell, aren't we all a bit of a basket case? I mean, you're the guy who wanted to make our squadron crest orange." I said and he laughed good naturedly.

"Got a point there, eh."

"And I'm probably not a basket case, not to that extreme anyways." I told Stork, who was stuck between reaching to squeeze my wrist comfortingly and not doing so. "I'm not that bad, not really. In fact, I'm pretty okay."

"That's right, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. There's nothing wrong with you, Var."

"Just because you're on medication doesn't mean there's something wrong with you." I argued reasonably.

"That's right too." Stork nodded. "I actually think it's pretty impressive that you're the way you are, if you don't mind me saying so."

"What, afraid of my own shadow?" I asked with a grin, wishing we could change the subject.

"No." Stork laughed. "You're not afraid of your own shadow."

"I should be. I _am_ rather scary." I pointed out in a good imitation of her haughtiness. She swatted at me.

"What I mean is," she went on pointedly "Is that considering what you've been through you're still a real decent guy."

"Lizard." Fraggle corrected in agreement.

Stork squinched her nose at him. "So what are you, a kitty-cat?"

Fraggle looked down at himself inquisitively. "I'm a stud." He said after a moment of consideration.

"Oh, _puh_-leaze."

"Fraggle's special." I said, slurring 'special' goofishly.

Chuckling he beat his chest twice and pointed two fingers at me. "Thanks, eh. Love you too, brother."

"Never call me that again. Ever. Even if you're dying."

"I can do what I want. I'm special."

"Oh yeah, you bet you are." Stork muttered, going back to the dissection of her device. "Anyways, Varan, you're a good reptilian humanoid dude." She told me and I scratched the underside of my chin awkwardly.

"Thanks." I mumbled. It's not every day someone calls a Raptor a good guy. No, I'm serious.

Things got quiet again, Stork twiddling away with her Eemuh-Fu-Fuh-Duh, Fraggle bopping his head erratically and humming to himself in little spurts and me trying to think if there was anywhere in the Atmos that I'd rather be. It didn't take long to arrive at the answer, of course.

"So how many Merbs does it take to screw in a light bulb?" Fraggle asked aloud after maybe an hour, maybe two, I'd lost track of time. I sighed and set my head on my arms on the table as Stork and Fraggle went into another one of there rounds, in which they tried to think of the wittiest responses to the most harebrained questions they could come up with. It was a travelling game they'd invented. Maybe it was because they both shared a love for fast airships and decked out skimmers, or maybe it was because they were on the same blonde wavelength, but I swear to god they could have been siblings. They had that kinda childish hate/love relationship only relatives were capable of.

I guess, if you got analytical to the point of neurotic like myself, you could see that we really were one FUBAR, hybrid, tight-knit family; Falshade was the Daddy figure, even though he could still pass off as one of the kids. I had landed myself as Mom (go figure). Stork, Fraggle and Angel were the kids, the kind who needed an attitude adjustment and had ADD. And has serious parental rebellion issues. You had to keep on eye on them to make sure they weren't tearing each other's hair (or throats) out or getting into mischief. I suppose Angel was more like the snotty older brother who pretended to want nothing to do with his younger siblings, but secretly enjoyed sending them into a frenzy. And Wasp… well Wasp was like that cousin who showed up at family reunions, the one you weren't quite sure had come with anybody or was even related to you, but was an… erm, interesting addition all the same. As one who'd only known proper family briefly, like a fleeting glimpse in a shop window as you walk past, I had nothing to really base any of these strong, warm-and-fuzzy I'm home feelings off of, but they were there anyways. And I think sometimes it doesn't matter what you know. If you feel it, then it's there, and that's all that matters.

"Land ho, eh!" Fraggle announced, pointing enthusiastically at a terra a little ways ahead of us. Even from here I could make out the horse-shoe design of Rex's coliseum landing strip.

"We made it alive!" Stork cheered and Fraggle swatted at her.

"My flying's not that bad, eh."

"You can say the same about your haircut, doesn't make it so." Stork told him, tugging at one of his long, blonde ears.

I got up hesitantly and joined the two of them at the helm, making a face at the oncoming terra. I didn't know much about Rex, but I'd heard enough accounts of how uptight and polished the Rex Guardians were said to be, and it made me feel edgy. Then again, that wasn't really an unusual experience for me, so maybe I was just overreacting. I'd made myself quite literally sick before we'd landed on Atmosia not three days ago and that had turned out alright in the end, so…

Stork, who had a surprising knack for picking up on other's discomfort (I assumed because she normally liked to mess with it) reached up and put a reassuring hand on my blocky shoulder.

"It'll be fine, you'll see. Falshade's already there, right? So I bet he's already given them a bit of a heads up about you anyways." She assured me and Fraggle nodded in agreement.

"Girly's got a good point, eh. You worry too much. You'll give yourself an ulcer one of these days. Or a hernia. Which is the one you get from stress?"

I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. "That's an ulcer."

"Right, well that's what you'll get in your stocking for Christmas if you don't watch it, eh."

"And you'll get hemroids, I'm sure." I retaliated and he barked with laughter. Fraggle knew the score real well; if you're gonna dish it out, make sure you can take it in.

"Uh, hey, would that happen to be our kids down there?" Stork asked suddenly, squinting down at the steadily growing shapes of three dark haired people and their skimmers, sitting at the edge of the terra. I also narrowed my eyes and recognized Falshade's broad shoulders even from this distance.

"Uh oh." I muttered.

"They can't seriously be done already, can they?" Stork asked, sounding apprehensive. I agreed with her doubts. Falshade, despite his efforts and practice, still took an excruciatingly long time to work his was through any sort of writing, and I wasn't so sure how much help Wasp would have been. They couldn't have found anything important yet… could they?

"I smell trouble, eh. Let's get down there and see what's the haps." Fraggle said, taking the Merlin in carefully over their heads before touching her down with minimal bumping and gear screeching.

Stork was the first down the ramp, running over to face a disgruntled looking and slightly sun burnt Falshade. Wasp waved at her happily.

"I got seven in one blow!" she informed Stork proudly. "New record!"

"That's spectacular, Wasp." Stork congratulated blatantly before turning to Falshade. "What are you guys doing out here? Don't tell me you're finished already."

"Far from it. So far in fact we haven't even started." He told her gruffly. She gaped at him.

"Well you're a real productive man aren't you? And I mean, with handyman skills as mediocre as yours I'm sure you'll make some lucky woman very happy one day. Thank god you've got a decent face."

"Not in the mood." Falshade said shortly.

"Well what did you expect a nice umbrella drink after your hard morning of doing nothing? Why in hell-"

"We've been detained." Angel explained to her sharply, coming to Falshade's aid. Wow, twice in one day. Now there's a record.

"Detain… what?" Stork demanded.

"Well not Angel and I, exactly." Falshade elaborated irritably.

Stork turned to Wasp, who was sucking on the tip of her ear. "What the hell did you do?" she asked warily.

Wasp looked positively outraged. "I didn't do anything! I said he had nice boots!" she defended herself, allowing her ear to drop from her mouth, a thin cord of saliva connecting it the corner of her lips. "They're jealous of me, I think, so they won't let me any further onto their terra. I don't mind though. It smells funny here."

Stork turned to Falshade for conformation. He leaned forward and muttered into her ear and it was her turn to look outraged.

"That's fucking retarded! How can they-"

"Excuse me, but this is a private docking area. Unless you can confirm the liability of this uncoloured ship, we will have to ask you to leave our landing strip." came a haughty, accented voice from the center of the arena. A cluster of armed guards had appeared in the air field, looking groomed and arrogant, gold on their identical uniforms flashing slightly in the blazing sun. Except, the sun didn't seem so bright and inviting anymore. I had the sudden urge to crawl under my bed and stay there.

Except I never got the chance, because Fraggle shoved my encouragingly the rest of the way down the ramp before turning a steely eye on the man who'd spoken, a bowlegged but obviously fit fellow, wheat coloured hair pulled back in a ridiculous pony tail. However, who was I to mock hair styles, right? I assumed this must have been the Sky Knight of Rex, old Harrier himself. Something stirred in the more acidic place in my stomach, something totally different then fear or anxiety. For the first time in my whole life, was angry with a human. If I remembered correctly, it had been Harrier who had introduced the regulations on Raptor breeding. I felt a small flourish of pride in the fact that, despite that I was now eighteen and at the age that I was supposed to, I hadn't registered myself in the Sky Knight Legion's system.

"Excuse me, eh, but this happens to be the Merlin. She doesn't have to be coloured." Fraggle informed him shamelessly. He'd defend the good name of his ship ruthlessly, even if it would have killed him.

"This is the rest of my squadron." Falshade added, coming up beside Fraggle supportively. These guys must have previously pissed him off, because I'd never seen him so bluntly rude to a stranger. Or anyone. That and he'd referred to us as 'his squadron'. He never said that. He was a much ours as well as we were his.

The look on Harrier's face was about as far from approval as you could get. He looked over Fraggle, taking in his wonky skull toque and his untrimmed hair, then made the mistake of looking at Stork without any respect in his blue eyes. Her eyes narrowed in a dangerous warning sign and she ground her feet into the dirt obviously. Then his eyes, clear and sharp like crystals, fell on me.

And I was proud of myself for not shrinking under that patronizing gaze. However my tail began to thump slightly against the earth and I squirmed under my scales. This was a bad idea, no offence to Stork.

"Well, despite several uncouth aspects, it seems you have a…tasteful squadron under your command." Harrier said at length the Falshade. "I assume you still wish to visit our archives?"

"I'm debating on that." Falshade answered without abandon.

"Well, should you see it is still your desire, we still grant you are permission. As I've stated before, a few members of my squadron would see fit to lead you, you're two friends and the Blizzarian to our record hall. Now that your carrier is here, I see no issue in allowing the Faerie to stay aboard there until your return."

"Alright, that'll give me a chance to explore the air vents!" Wasp declared and I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

"Hang on a minute." Falshade interjected. "What about Varan?"

"While the Faerie seems too erm, distracted to be of any threat if left to her own devices aboard your ship, under close watch may I remind you, we cannot allow a Raptor to go about anywhere on our terra without secure surveillance. It'll have to come with us until you return."

Sometimes I wonder why I bother to wind myself up like I do. I worry, I get frantic, I make myself sick, I lose sleep, I tread on fragile hopes, wondering when I'll go through like they're ice and be plunged into frigid waters… and yet I still do it, no matter how many times it happens, no matter how deep it cuts, no matter how well I know exactly what'll happen. And yet there I was, dropping to the bottom again, knowing it'll only be a matter of time before someone winds me up again like a child's toy soldier.

However, I gotta admit, '_It_' was a new one…

Fraggle had to grab Stork around the middle, hauling her in close against his torso and narrowly avoiding catching one of her flailing fists in the snout. However he wasn't looking all too under control either; his arms were shaking and a snarl was playing about his nose. And trust me, while they may look all cute and cuddly normally, Blizzarians hold true to their animal exterior when it is called upon them. They can look pretty vicious all too easily. It was hard to tell which of whom was doing the most restraining between Angel and Falshade; both had the other's shirt bunched in a non-too-subtle fist at the back. Even Wasp's ears went back, a sign I'd deducted to mean shifting levels of aggression.

"You wanna come closer and say that, you slimey sack of shit?!" Stork shouted at him, trying to shake Fraggle off. "You look real fucking tough with all your little faggot body guards around!"

"His name," Falshade spat menacingly "Is Varan. And he is worth twenty of your pathetic little brown nosers! How dare you call yourself the leader of the Sky Knight Legion when you're so cowardly that you have to detain someone on your side! Did you not sign the legislation along with all the other Sky Knights that stated we are at peace with the Terradons?"

"The legislation," Harrier ground out, face red beneath his mane of blonde hair "Also states there are restrictions to that peace agreement. I have every right to detain the brute while he is standing on my terra."

"Falshade?" I muttered quietly. "Let's just go, huh? It's not worth it."

"What's not worth it, Varan?" Falshade demanded of me, not bothering to keep his voice down. "Are you saying that you're not worth it? That all those Terradons on Bogaton who were butchered mercilessly, for no reason, aren't worth it?"

That one stung. We all had are little personal boundaries, the wounds you didn't pick at. The slaughter of Bogaton was mine. No matter what kinda situation my heritage dragged us into, no matter how angry someone got with me, no matter how heartless an argument, you just didn't bring up Bogaton. We all respected that about each other. Or so I'd thought.

The hurt and (as ashamed as I was of it) the anger must have showed on my face, because Falshade's expression became extremely apologetic. But he wasn't done with these Rexian prejudice bastards just yet either, so he couldn't out and tell me he was sorry just yet.

"Listen, Harrier." He growled, turning back to the man. "I don't think we require your resources anymore. And I really don't fucking appreciate what you've said about my friends today. Trust me, we won't forget that any time soon. I'm sure you don't think that has any consequence, that we're of no great importance and you can think that all you like. You can take that disgusted little sneer of yours and wipe your ass with it for all I care. But one day you're going to be very sorry indeed for thinking all those things. And when you realize that I'm going to be there to laugh in your smug little face."

In affirmation Stork spat a massive glob of spit right onto his shiny, polished boot. He recoiled in disgust and several swords came out of his lackey's belts. Stork sneered at them.

"Try it." Angel threatened, snapping his sight down over his eye and lining up his crossbow in one fluid motion. When it came to the grit he would protect us doggedly and Stork was still being held back by Fraggle, quite defenceless, after all.

"Gargoyles, enough! Get back on the Merlin, all of you." Falshade ordered, giving Fraggle a good shove to get him going. Stork managed to get an arm free long enough to flip the group of Rex Guardians off before being shuttled up the ramp. Falshade jerked his head at Angel to show he meant what he'd said and watched him up the ramp in case he tried to pull something stupid, like, oh, say, as a broad example, fire a couple rounds at the Guardians feet like bottle rockets. Lastly he turned to me and gave me a look as close to pity as he'd ever gotten with me and I almost wanted to punch him in the jaw for it. However I tried to give him a reassuringly look instead, because under his current fury I knew he felt remorseful.

In all the red hazed confusion, however, we'd completely forgotten about Wasp. Until, that was, she marched right up into Harrier's face and leaned forward so that her nose was only an inch away from his.

The Guardians drew there swords and pointed them at her, some lowering them so close that they nipped at her jacket. Falshade and I both made jerky movements in her direction, but none of us seemed ready to make any grab at the Faerieshian, who was looking like a feral she-cat at the moment. Her ears were drawn tight against her skull and her upper lip was twitching. Harrier was too shocked to even lean back away from her. Everyone about just waited with baited breath.

"_Oh, please, _please_ don't let her tear his head off."_ I prayed to any god present.

Wasp cracked her neck sideways suddenly and spewed out in a dead-pan voice: "You look like a girl scout with your hair in that pony tail."

One of the Guardians, another chunky guy with a black soul patch got a little too close then with his yellow emblazed sword tip. Wasp turned in his direction and spat at him, not like Stork had but like a real animal. Froth was ejected from her mouth, her hackles came up like a Nordian wolf's and her fangs, teeth like broken razors, flashed dangerously in the sunlight. And the eerie sound she admitted was so… not humanoid, it was just bone freezing.

As abruptly as she'd decided to show her ill feelings to the Guardians, Wasp seemed to have forgotten where she was again and turned on her heel clumsily, prancing up the ramp breezily and taking a moment to stop next to me and pinch my hipbone in what must have been here way of being sympathetic.

"There's just jealous." she whispered to me in a scratchy, soothing voice. "They want a tail too."

"Right." I choked out and she promptly melted into the shadows of the hanger.

"Well, erm, what she said." Falshade muttered and ushered me up the ramp. "GET US OUTTA HERE, FRAGGLE!" he bellowed as soon as the bay doors clanged shut and then stormed past me and Stork, who'd hung back to try and soothe him apparently. And console me, which she did do after being ignored by Shade. She grasped my bandage hand in one of her small, girly ones and squeezed gently.

"You okay?" she asked me quietly.

I forced a smile onto my face. It hurt and held out thinly only until I realized Stork wasn't going to return it. "I'm fine. Fantastic."

She punched me in the ribs and regretted it. "You know I can't stand liars." she told me, rubbing her knuckles.

"That would make you a hypocrite though."

A banging noise from above made the two of us hurry through the door to the bridge. Fraggle had lifted us from the air strip and had us cruising away from Rex in record speed, but it wasn't his agility (or lack there of, I should say) that had made the noise.

Falshade had already kicked over one chair and was in the act of ramming his boot into another, blasting it out of his way as he paced madly. Angel was sitting on the table, knees drawn up out of the way and watching him with a mixture of disgust, sympathy and fascination. Fraggle was hunched over the controls sombrely, seeming afraid to say anything or make any sudden moves.

Falshade kicked over one of the last remaining upright chairs and then grabbed two fistfuls of his hair and let out an enraged yowl:

"ARRRRGGH!"

"Dude, calm down before you pull something." Angel suggested, sounding unconcerned by Shade's behaviour.

"People SUCK!" Falshade shouted to apparently no one in particular and kicked over another chair.

At this point my irritation towards him had evaporated and I felt really bad about his current mood and figured I should try and calm him down before he blew a blood vessel.

"Falshade, look, I'm-"

"Don't say it!" he yelled, rounding on me. "Don't you say it, Varan! If you even think of apologizing I'm going to have to beat the snot outta you! I'm not angry with you! In fact, _I _should be the one to say sorry. I'm angry at them, at how stupidly, small minded some people can be!"

"Here here." Angel agreed, flopping back on the table and rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes.

Stork, who still had my hand apparently, squeezed it again in light of Falshade's wild eyed reaction. My tail was whipping back and forth and she stepped on it for me.

"Falshade…" she began slowly. "I know you're really pissed off at the moment, and not to say I'm not, but maybe you should tone it down a little?"

"Tone it _down_?" he reiterated as if she were acting like the nut case and not him. "Those guys treat Varan like shit and you want me to _tone it down_?"

"It'd be a little easier on the ears, eh." Fraggle piped up cautiously.

Falshade stared at him manically before dropping down the floor, directly on his ass, so fast I wondered if he really _had_ hurt himself. Something told me Falshade's system didn't take to kindly to losing his temper like that. Now all the life and energy seemed to have been sucked out of him, like someone had stuck a vacuum under his chest. Angel rolled over to peer down at him, finally radiating a flicker of concern.

"How many years have we been at peace with the Terradons?" Falshade asked quietly, drawing in his knees and looking glassy-eyed and distracted.

"Fourteen." Angel supplied.

"Thirteen." I corrected. "Bogaton was decimated a year after the treaty." Which was why any surviving Raptor today would tell you that the treaty had been a clever idea of the Sky Knight Legion's to leave the Raptors vulnerable and open to attack? Well, aside from me, but I'd seen it first hand, and I knew the Legion was not capable of even okaying such a massacre. I had to believe that.

"Thirteen." Falshade's head lolled in a nod. "Thirteen years and yet… and yet the head of the Legion himself, the guy who approved the treaty, won't even let one harmless Raptor from Vatican set foot on his terra without putting him in custody. It's sick, it's racist and it goes against everything Sky Knight is supposed to stand for. Not only that. You don't even have to be a Sky Knight for that kinda discrimination to be just plain _wrong_."

He was hurting. His friends had been attacked, and his faith in his fellow Sky Knights had been battered. Falshade was too optimistic and when his belief was rattled like it had been today it stabbed at him. He'd fantasized himself into thinking that everyone on our side, all the 'good guys' were the same as he was, as his father had been. For years his world, his morals, had been so simply black and white; Atmos had taught him to know better in the space of three years or so, but he still crashed and burned on occasions like this. He was too much a child for his own good.

I came and sat next to him and Stork crawled over to his other side, pouting at both of us sympathetically.

"I hear you, buddy." I told him, clapping him on the shoulder. "But you know, as much as it may seem wrong, think of it from their perspective. I mean, you weren't around in the old war, but Harrier for one was, and he saw first hand what kinda horrible things my species did to yours. You grew up with me, you know I'm just a little newt, but he doesn't. You can't expect him to just roll out the red carpet for me. It's hard to give up grudges like that."

Falshade and Stork oogled at me. "You know, sometimes it amazes me how full of philosophical _crap _you are." Stork told me and Angel snorted with laughter.

"It's nice that you can understand his reasoning." Falshade said. "Even though you have to admit he didn't have to be that rude about it."

"Touché."

"But people can't use that as an excuse." Falshade went on "Your species could just as easily put us on a spit and blame it on the Bogaton massacre. We have to move on, on both sides, learn to forgive each other, or it'll never stop."

"Well, that's why there's people like you, right?" I said and he smiled a little.

"And like you. And Wasp, wherever she went. I felt bad about that too. I'm sorry both of you had to go through that. And I'm sorry I brought up Bogaton." Falshade said sincerely, running the back of his hand under his nose as if he'd been crying, except he hadn't.

I shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine. You get used to it."

Falshade winced. "Don't lie. You gotta admit, 'it' was pretty low…"

Stork growled like a lap dog on his other side. "That shot my Grr Factor through the roof alright." she said darkly.

I patted her head condolingly. "You sure can look pretty nasty for being so-"

"If the words 'short' or 'cute' are about to leave your mouth I highly suggest you _not_ say them, or the Tooth Fairy's gonna need one big sack for you tonight." Stork promised me.

Angel snorted again. "Short I'll give you, but cute? Come off it, everyone _knows_ that _I'm _the cute one."

"Oh puh-lease, Mr. Ego Issues. _Fraggle_ is obviously the cute one. Varan's the strong, sweet, silent type, Falshade's the smexy one and you… well, you can be the funny one." Stork corrected.

"I wanna be the smexy one!" Fraggle whined from the helm, visibly relaxed now that Falshade's temper seemed to have blown over.

Falshade's cheeks were painted red as he asked. "What the heck does 'smexy' mean?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out. Don't let it go to your head either, I only said it because you're cranky." she assured him.

Falshade pouted in a most un-leader-like way. "Am not cranky."

"How 'bout you tell that to thems poor chairs, eh?" Fraggle teased and Falshade scowled.

"So I flipped. You were pretty P.O. yourself."

"Thanks you guys, by the way." I interrupted them and was met by several puzzled expressions, including Fraggle's, who was _supposed_ to be, you know, piloting. Some things don't change, no matter how often you get screamed at.

"Thanks for sticking up for me." I explained. "It meant a lot to me." Even if it meant we were never going to be allowed within a light-year of Rex ever again.

I got a lot of "What else did you expect?" and "Of course we would have, stupid!" thrown my way, and sucked it all up like a sponge. Comments like that mean a lot to me. Being the horribly insecure guy I am, it's a good feeling to know you've got people out there who'll back you up, no matter what.

Somehow, it fits Wasp character that she usually has to make things uncomfortable. I blame her entrance style. Today she decided to come careening onto the bridge, throwing her usually cloak and dagger style to the wind and promptly tripped over her over sized, untied boots. She did a complete tumble over herself and then just lay, twitching, on the bridge floor.

Stork was the only one with the guts to approach her. "Um…Wasp? Do you need a hand?" she asked hesitantly.

Wasp was on her feet so fast I didn't catch her moving; it was like a snap in a time lapse photography sequence. One minute she was lying down, next, boom, leering in Stork's face and panting like a black dog on Saharr.

"Can't you feel it?" she wheezed and snatched something invisible out of the air above Stork's right ear. She peered at the nothing in her hand maliciously and then squeezed her fist tight as if crushing a trapped insect. "Gotcha!" she cackled.

"Feel what?" Stork asked, sounding more then a little frightened.

Wasp snapped her head gaze upwards to take in Stork as if for the first time. "I smell it _everywhere_."

"Smell what?" Stork demanded, shaking her roughly by the shoulders out of her own discomfort.

Wasp cocked her head until it was parallel to her shoulder. "It only hurts when I breathe, my dirty little secret, and now I smell it _everywhere_! What's the aeronautical term for right?"

"S-Starboard." Stork said, stuttering for perhaps the first time since I'd known her.

"Right, yeah… turn that way, and you'll feel it then too." she said and dropped into a cross-legged position on the floor and stuck out her hands, palms facing upwards, index fingers and thumbs curled together. "Look, I'm Zen!" she announced, seeming very pleased.

Stork looked to Fraggle then Falshade. "Well… it's not like we had anywhere to go, right?"

Falshade stood up and managed to bang his head on the side of the table. Rubbing the back of his skull he stepped past Wasp and looked out the windshield. "Yeah. We had no where to be. Hang a right, Fraggle, and keep on it. North-east, just for a bit."

"Righto it is then, Chief." Fraggle agreed and spun the _Merlin _about ninety degrees, so quickly that I slid about three inches along the floor before getting up as well.

"What exactly are we, erm, looking for, Wasp?" I asked, joining Falshade at the helm.

Wasp was still sitting in a mockery of a meditation position on the floor, eyes shut and humming to herself, acting as if she had not just broken her own record at being creepy.

"_Feeling_ for." she corrected. "You're feeling for it."

"Hey, I'm feeling something!" Angel said as if struck by sudden realization and we turned to look at him curiously. He sat up and pressed his fingers to his forehead like a telekinetic. "Yes, I'm feeling… a huge surge of _bull shit_."

"Wow, have you ever considered stand up?" Wasp asked him, eyes suddenly wide open and admiring. "However I beg to differ. I feel something weird in the air, like black electricity."

Angel grimaced at her. "That's called _static_. You get it when you drag your feet across a carpet."

"We don't have a carpet."

"My god, Wasp, you have got to be the most retarded thing I have ever had the misfortune to-" Angel cut himself off and straightened up, muscles going stiff like a dog whose scented a rabbit. Abruptly he leapt off the table and hurried past me and Falshade to practically mash himself against the windshield.

"What?" Falshade demanded edgily.

"Smoke on the horizon."

Falshade and I now had ourselves pressed against the glass, eyes narrowed to try and pick out what Angel had seen. However we didn't own a pair of eagle eyes and it was difficult to see anything.

"Are you sure, Ange? Maybe it was just a cloud." Falshade suggested. Angel shook his head, eyes fixed on the horizon line.

Stork grabbed hold of the periscope and peered off in the direction Angel was staring at so keenly. After a moment she made a sharp inhalation of breath.

"He's right!" She confirmed. "Smoke, dead ahead!"

Now I could feel Wasp's black electricity. It crackled on my skin forebodingly and my tail started twitching as if it had a separate nerve system

Stork continued to squint into the periscope while Angel, Falshade and I stayed glued to the window as Fraggle continued forward. After two tense moments I finally was able to see what Angel and Stork had insisted upon; a column of black smoke, rising from some unseen point in the distance.

Falshade saw it too. A hard look came over his face as he turned to Fraggle. "Keep us going towards it, Fraggle." he directed and Fraggle nodded solemnly.

"Oh my god…" Stork breathed suddenly, her knuckles going white from the pressure she was exerting on the handle bars.

"What is it?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know.

Stork swallowed and broke away from the periscope. "It's a Terra."

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

Black smoke hit me like a wave as I leapt from the deck without waiting for Fraggle to land the _Merlin _properly. Coughing I pulled my arm up to my face to cover my nose and mouth and squinted into the ashy haze. Among the dark, thick plumes of smoke I could see murky blots of orange and red, smouldering embers and solitary flames that were crackling all around me.

I'd landed upon a pile of rubble, something that had collapsed near the edge of the terra. The stone beneath my feet was still hot and I had to keep shifting from foot to foot to keep my boots from melting.

My eyes were stinging and I could feel a layer of smoky grit layering on my tongue. This wasn't good; I shouldn't have just leapt into the thick of the smoke like that. My nostrils were burning and my skin was starting to feel tight from the heat.

Something grabbed me from behind and tried to shove something into my face. Half blind in the smoke I wheeled around on my attacker and landed a decent punch before I received a kick in the shins and a smack around the face simultaneously.

"It's me you moron!" Stork's voice came, sounding tinny and wheezy. I peered through the smoke and realized she was wearing some sort of ventilation mask over her mouth and nose, and was trying to attach a similar apparatus to me.

"S-Sorry." I coughed and took the mask from her, strapping it over my face and feeling instant relief from the now filtered air drawn in through the mouth piece. "Thanks."

Stork nodded to show she'd heard and stepped up onto the rubble beside me. "What happened here?" she asked.

I couldn't give her an answer because I really didn't know myself. We'd approached the burning terra at record speed once we'd realized that was what it was. We'd flown one circle over it and had seen nothing from the air, so dense were the clouds of smoke. I knew we had to go down in here ourselves to find out what had happened, but now that I was here, in the thick of the smoke, I didn't know how useful an excursion on foot was really going to prove either.

The others came down the ramp of the _Merlin_, all wearing similar masks. Angel had something in his hand as he approached Stork and I. He, like Stork, had been clever enough to snap on a pair of goggles as well, the old scopes he'd used before Stork had made him his Sight.

"Here!" he called to me, pressing a greenish lump into my hand. "Stick it in Sliver and clear back some of this smoke!"

"Where in Atmos did you get a Wind crystal?" Stork asked him as I pulled the Striker from Sliver's induction slot and carefully placed the Wind crystal in instead.

"Saving it." he explained as Sliver's blade flushed a neon green colour. I'd never used any sort of Weather crystal before, and I wasn't exactly sure how to use it.

"Just give it a bit of a wave." Angel answered to my quizzical look. I turned to face the roiling smoke and swish Sliver through the air in front of me, one long arc. Abruptly it was like a whirlwind was released from my blade and all the smoke was blasted backwards away from us. My eyes still watered but stopped smarting and we were finally able to see the entirety of the damage.

Stork nearly took me to the ground as she grabbed hold of my arm and whipped behind me with a yelp.

"Oh my GOD!!" she screeched in my ear and it took me a moment the figure out what had upset her. When I did I recoiled in horror, dragging her with me.

A body.

It was sprawled over the rubble barely two inches from where I'd been standing. One blue, empty orb stared up at us lifelessly, glazed over from the smog. The other eye wasn't present, as the corpse's skull had been obliterated on that side, smashed open like an egg. Its limbs were bent and skewed over the rocks, oozing thick blood and blistering in places were dead flesh met the hot debris.

I'd never seen a dead person before.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…" Stork was rambling incoherently next to me. Angel backed up a couple steps, eyes starring blankly at the corpse, unable to look away from the brain matter that had sloughed away, set free from it's cranial prison, and was seeping down the cracks in the rubble.

"HOLY FUCK!" came Fraggle's voice from where he'd still been hanging back, unsure, by the _Merlin_. I turned to see him leap onto the ramp again, panting and starring at shock at another pair of corpses, one of which's chest cavity seemed to have been carved out as if by a giant ice cream scooper. The other's arm was almost completely severed, hanging on to the rest of the body by a few ribbons of muscle fibres and thin blood vessel.

By this point Wasp had joined us on the sordid pile of rubble and was looking out at the rest of the terra, where the smoke had been for the moment cleared, drawn back like an ugly black curtain to reveal a sight worthy of one of my nightmares.

"Dead bodies everywhere." she breathed, holding her hands over the nose piece of her mask.

The whole terra, still smouldering with embers in some places and housing solitary little flames in others, was littered with smoke, ash, crumbling buildings… and more bodies.

"Oh god…" Stork croaked.

I pushed her hands off my gently and stood atop the pinnacle of the mountain of rubble beside Wasp, the highest vantage point I could see from here.

Without even thinking about what I was doing I tore off my mask, drew in a deep breath of hot, gritty air and stared shouting:

"HELLO?" I called at the top of my lungs. "HELLO? ANYONE ALIVE OUT THERE?"

Angel came up behind my and flung a hand over my mouth. "Are you _insane_?" he hissed in my ear. "This is exactly the kinda thing pirates do to set traps! Whoever did this might still be here! Keep your voice down!"

I shook him off. "There might still be survivors down there!" I pointed out with alarm. "And if there are we have to find them, quickly!"

Angel nodded. "I know we do, but we have to keep it low profile. We don't know what else might be alive down there."

"Right. We're going to split into groups." I announced, scrambling back down the rubble to explain the plan to everyone. "We've got to see if there's anyone alive out there, and we'll cover more ground if we split up. We'll go in pairs, okay? And consider this… Varan?"

I'd only just noticed him from where he was standing like a statue next to the ramp. I would have expected him to be twitching and shivering like mad. However he wasn't; he was standing stock-still, entire body ridged as if rooted to the spot. And that set off all my alarm bells.

His eyes were stretched wide, seeming to be bulging out of his head as they roamed over the destruction. I wasn't even sure if he was breathing.

"Varan?" I tried again, concerned. "Varan?"

He didn't even appear to have heard me. His eyes rested on those two corpses nearest the _Merlin_, his nostrils flared and eyes just staring like two yellow suns witnessing the explosion of all the planets.

"Varan!" I demanded, grabbing his arm and shaking him. He jumped and seemed to snap out of his gaze, looking at me with wild eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. I hadn't even thought about how much worse this spectacle must have been to him. It was Bogaton all over again.

He blinked at me. "I'll be fine." he muttered hoarsely.

"Yu don't have to come, you can stay on the _Merlin_ if you want to." I offered and he shook his head.

"No. I'm coming."

"Okay, Varan's sticking with me then." I declared, turning to the others. "Angel and Stork, you two be the second group, and Fraggle and Wasp, you too be the third. Stick with your partners, search everywhere you'd think someone might be hiding or hurt. Be careful, we don't know who did this and if they're still here. Keep on alert at all times. We'll meet in the middle of the terra in an hour."

"An hour? That doesn't give us very long to look!" Stork objected.

"I know, think if it as a check point. I'd rather check in with you guys in an hour and find out your gone missing then wait three hours to find out. We'll keep looking afterwards, don't worry. If you get into trouble or find something signal. Wasp and Fraggle, you guy's will have a green flare, use Wasp's machetes. Angel and Stork use blue, and Varan and I will be purple." I explained, swapping crystals and tossing the Wind crystal back to Angel. "Cool colours, not warm, remember that."

Everyone nodded to show they'd understood. My heart was hammering like mad in my chest; the last thing I wanted to do was separate my team. But time was of the essence here, and if there were people out there we had to find them as soon as possible.

We split three separate ways, Fraggle and Wasp taking off to the left side of the terra, Angel and Stork to the right and Varan and I down the middle. I felt cold spots on my sides as my friends moved further away from me but shook my head and set into the task I had to do. This was definitely not the time to realize the value of having family by your side.

The next hour was the longest and most intense hour of my life. Things seemed to blur through my consciousness and I forgot every moment that had happened the second before. Like in battle things seemed to speed up and slow down at the same time; I fell out of contact with my limbs, yet could feel them moving around me with some new sort of power. Adrenaline spiked and waned in my blood, making my jaw muscles feel strained. Varan and I hunted all through the blazing wreckage, suffering from burns when we fought our way into half-lit buildings and inhaling a good deal more smoke. While Varan put his muscles to work and shifted heavy chunks of wood and stone and metal I crawled into cellars and crumbling houses, searching for anything that still owned a pulse. We called out and spoke as little as possible and the two off us seemed to fall in and out of little fits of paranoia, leaping out of skin when something collapsed or crumpled further and looking over our shoulders at erratic intervals. I felt like a hunter being hunted in the act of hunting, and the unknown threat of some masked enemy stretched my brittle nerves and made it hard to focus at times.

By the end of our time limit we were smeared with blood and soot and had managed to gather several minor injuries each. And we'd found no one alive, nor any signs of anything living among the ruins. This day was quickly becoming the worst day in the history of my life. I couldn't even begin to imagine how Varan must have been feeling; while sifting through debris he'd uncovered more dead bodies and he was starting to stumble around like an animal and shock. I was extremely worried about him.

As we clambered into the fallen terra square we spotted Fraggle examining areas under collapsed doorways and dilapidated stair ways. He didn't seem any better off then were, his fur singed and matted with rusty coloured blood. His eyes were glazed and blood shot form the smoke as we approached.

"Anything?" I asked fruitlessly as he took off his mask.

"Nothing, eh. Sorry Chief."

"We didn't find anything either." I stated obviously. "Where's Wasp?"

"Wandered off, eh. I lost sight of her. One minute she was there, then I turn around and she's not. Need a freakin' shock collar for that one." he said offhandedly, sitting on what remained of a set of stone steps.

"Alright, well, I'm going to go send up a signal flare so the others will know where we are. It's been an hour already, they should be around." I explained for the sake of talking, pretending I had a plan. I climbed up a rickety set of wooden steps that led up the back side of a desecrated building and looked out over the burning carnage. The fires were lulling into smaller blazes now, leaving dark, charred spots in their wake. There was still a lot of terra out there, in the burning path of the still deadly flames that we hadn't searched. Panic swelled in my chest and I wished I would have thought of calling out for assistance from any nearby squadrons when we were still back on the _Merlin._ This was going to take too long with just the six of us, and there was already so much we might have overlooked…

Running a shaking hand over my eyes I lifted my arm and shot a purple bolt right up into the air like a flare before scrabbling back down the stairs and to where I'd left Fraggle and Varan.

When I'd returned to them I found Varan being violently sick over the edge of the stone steps and Fraggle rubbing his shoulder blade comfortingly. I felt horrible for having let Varan come out here, when it was obviously paying some sort of wicked psychological damage to him.

Fraggle gave me a sad look when I sat next to him, watching Varan shake and heave and having no idea what to do about it.

"This is just so sick." Fraggle stated bluntly, tugging at his ears absently. I nodded in agreement.

"What I want to know is who did this and why, eh? These people here, they had no armour on any of them, no swords or anything like that there. So why? Why attack them, eh? They were just minding there own business."

"Did you find anyone who didn't look like a civilian? Maybe that'll give us some sort of clue." I asked, although know didn't feel like the time to start bouncing theories off one another. These people weren't even cold yet.

Fraggle shook his head. "Nothing."

Something clattered from behind a pile of rubble and I leapt to my feet, Sliver aimed at the top of the mound. "Who's there?" I demanded in the toughest voice I could summon at the moment.

"You're supposed to start with 'knock knock'." Wasp scolded, crawling up over the pile of debris and sliding down the other side. "It's just me, by the way."

I lowered my scimitar and frowned at her. "You were supposed to stick with Fraggle." I growled at her reproachfully. "What the hell did you think you were doing, running off on him?"

"I'm not a dog." Wasp informed me, tossing something at me feet. I took a hesitant step back.

"What's that?" Fraggle asked with little interest.

"Got it off one of them."

I glared at her with new repulsion. "You were robbing dead people?" I demanded, half in disbelief and half in disgust.

Wasp pulled a face. "There's a fast way to get haunted. And no, I wasn't. That thing there looks a lot like an emblem to me. And the guy wearing it wasn't one of the natives here."

I blinked at her and then picked up the metal disk she'd thrown at me curiously. It did appear to have some sort of design on it, but it was too covered in soot and hardened dirt to tell what exactly it was of.

"You're saying you got this thing off some guy who wasn't from the terra?" I asked slowly.

Wasp nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I think. See, I was looking for people who weren't dead, like you told us to, remember? And I came across this one guy who was trying to crawl away. His smell was funny though so I jumped him. He tried to knife me and I killed him by accident before I could get him to talk. My bad."

My head was reeling and I could barely think of what to ask first. "You say he smelled funny?"

"Yeah, like not like the people here. And he was wearing armour and stuff, which, using my elementary-dear-Watson skills, I realized none of the other peoples had been wearing. He wasn't one of them."

I looked over at Fraggle and gave him a look of uncertainty.

He shrugged. "Wasp's got a good nose there, eh. I'll believe it."

"That's true." I nodded and turned back to Wasp. "You're sure he's, um… dead?"

"Yup. I can show you where he is, if you like."

"Later. We've got to wait for Angel and Stork now." I explained and she nodded and went about scourging all the little nooks and crannies I couldn't fit in around the square.

I sat back down with Fraggle and Varan and squeezed the Raptor's shoulder.

"Varan? You gonna be alright, buddy?"

Varan nodded weakly, wiping his mouth. I figured it best to just leave him be for now and try to keep my own head collected.

It didn't take long for the other two to show up, but when they did I realized immediately that there was something wrong with Stork. She was clutching her left arm carefully and a large hole had been torn into the side of her shirt.

I was up and running towards them in an instance, skidding to a halt before them and revolving my hand for an explanation.

"What happened?" I demanded.

Stork gave me a reassuring half-smile. "I'm fine. Dislocated my shoulder, but Angel popped it back into place. We're golden."

I winced in sympathy. "How'd you pull that off?"

Stork grimaced, looking ashamed of herself. "Went to crawl into a broken window and slipped. Totally dumb-ass move, I deserved it."

I turned my look now to Angel and was surprised to find that he and Stork weren't alone. In his wiry arms he held a small girl, her little eyes bugging out of her tiny face in fear and trembling. Her green hair was matted with dust, soot and blood and her arm was cut, but other then that she appeared only badly shaken. She couldn't have been older then six.

"Haven't gotten her to talk yet." Angel explained, making his was down the pile of rubble to two of them had climbed over. "She doesn't like me much, but luckily Stork inspired a little more confidence. She coaxed her out of where she was hiding."

The girl, whether she liked Angel much or not, was clinging to him tightly and bunched her fingers in his shirt all the tighter at the appearance of me in all my ramshackle glory. I smiled as best I could in such a good awful place at her and then looked back to Angel.

"Was she the only one?" I asked, feeling my hope slide another few notches.

"There was a woman down there with her, maybe her mother, I don't know, but she was already dead. Crushed, it looked like. It's a good thing we got her outta there when we did." Angel reported, sounding as nonchalant as he usually did, but had a sad, queasy look lingering around his eyes. "You guys didn't find anyone else either?"

"Well, Wasp found someone, but he died right afterwards, apparently. And we think it might have been one of the people who attacked the place." I told him in a low voice. He gave a short, solemn nod and followed Stork over to the others.

"How's the big guy doing?" he asked me quietly.

"Not so good."

"Poor bugger. This place must be like a nightmare all over again." Angel muttered with a touch of empathy. "Speaking which, any of this looking familiar?"

I hadn't even thought of that. Glancing around at the gruesome scene around me I tried to think if any of it clicked. But none of it seemed to match up with any of my flash-clip dreams, and definitely nothing from the night before. "Nothing does. Whatever this was, it was meant to come without warning." I said and knew it was so.

"But it still has something to do with them, you think?"

"Maybe. I'll know when I get a better look at the insignia Wasp found."

Angel nodded and carefully set the small girl down on the steps next to Stork. "Try and get her to talk to you, Stork." he suggested.

However I got the feeling that the little girl might not be talking anytime in the next few days at least. She certainly looked like it anyways, and her eyes stretched even wider in fright as she took in the sight of a very dishevelled Varan and an inquisitive Wasp. Considering the view from her perspective, I probably wouldn't have blamed her.

"Hey there." Stork said in a soothing voice, smiling at the younger girl. "You don't have to be so scared. We're the good guys. We're here to take care of you."

The little girl just oogled at her.

"Can we maybe take a look at your arm?" Stork asked with a voice like honey and it was almost scary. She reached out to try and take her hand, but the little girl scrambled back from her, tears running a track down her cheeks.

"Oh no, please don't cry." Stork pouted. "We're not gonna hurt you."

The girl back away from her a little more and bumped into Fraggle, who'd been watching the spectacle unfold until now.

"That's not how you talk to little kids." he informed Stork and crouched down until he was at eye level with the little girl.

"Hi. You don't have to be afraid of me, eh. I'm practically a teddy bear." he said in the most comforting voice I'd ever heard him use. Angel and I exchanged looks as he stuck out his arm and let the little girl touch his blue fur tentatively.

"See what I mean? Fuzzy, right? I'm like a stuffed animal." he went on and the girl stroked his fur with a bit more confidence. "And you know what?"

The girl looked up at him, eyes no longer so engorged.

"As a stuffed animal, it makes me really sad to see you crying, eh. Do you think you could turn off the water works?"

And just like that, the girl stopped crying. Stork's eyes widened in disbelief.

"That's better, eh. Gee, you know, with that hair, you kinda look like a pixie. I bet you have a real nice pixie name to go along with the hair. Do you?"

The little girl seemed to ponder this then nodded.

"Really? What is it?" Fraggle leaned in close and tilted his ear so he could hear her. To all of our surprise the girl leaned forward and whispered something inaudible into Fraggle's ear.

Fraggle pulled back from her and gave her an amazed look. "Whoa, eh, that is like, a pixie _princess_ name! You're sure are lucky!"

The girl nodded again, a little more enthusiastically.

"What was it?" Stork whispered, as if worried she might break the spell if she spoke too loud.

"Pippa."

The little girl leaned forward again and said something else into Fraggle's long ear.

"My name?" he asked when she moved away. "I'm Fraggle, eh. My name's not as nice as yours though."

A ghost of a smile tugged at Pippa's small mouth and she seemed to be enthralled suddenly by Fraggle's toque. Noticing this he did something he'd never done around us before and _took if off_, placing it instead on Pippa's head.

"There, eh. You look like a right little Eskimo now." he informed her, pulling the rim down over her eyes teasingly. She did smile this time as she pushed it back off her forehead and beamed at him.

"I don't believe it." Stork breathed.

Fraggle shrugged and hefted the small girl in his arms. She snuggled into his jacket and put her head under his chin, her trembling considerably lessened. "What can I say? I love kids, eh." he said with a grin.

I shook my head, still not ready to believe I had witnessed what I had just witnessed. "Uh… right, well, I don't think it's a good idea for her to be out here among all this… among this. So why don't you take her back to the _Merlin _while the rest of us keep searching?"

"Fine by me, eh. I'll take Varan back with me, so he can do something about her arm." Fraggle agreed and I had to applaud his clever little idea; despite the fact that he looked like a shipwreck, Varan would have undoubtedly continued the morbid search with us and subjected himself to further torment, even if we told him to go back. At least this way we had an excuse that wouldn't make him feel so bad.

"Movin' out, big guy, let's roll, eh." Fraggle said, poking Varan in the shin with his toe. Varan looked up at him as if he couldn't remember where he was or what he was doing here.

"Huh?"

"Just follow me, and don't wander off like _some_ people I know." Fraggle instructed. Wasp giggled.

"If we're not back in three hours, it means we got into trouble." I told Fraggle. He nodded and led the way back to the _Merlin_, Varan following distractedly. I was glad he hadn't asked what he was supposed to do if we didn't come back at the end of those three hours. I hadn't really thought of that.

"So are the rest of us splitting up again or what?" Stork asked, picking at her torn shirt with annoyance.

"Let's just fan out, but keep within shouting distance. One long sweep." I suggested, that idea seeming a little more practical now that there was less of us.

Fanning out among the rubble we searched for the next two and a half hours. I got the scare of my life when I forced myself through a broken air vent only to be pitched down an impromptu slide and to land in a dark room somewhere below, which was full of disgruntled rats seeking shelter from the blaze. I ran into Stork at one point, who'd been brave enough to venture up to the very top of a five storey building barely clinging to its supports, only to find more mutilated corpses.

By the time we all met each other at the opposite end of the terra, my moral was nestled somewhere just under my foot and I wasn't feeling very good at all. The others didn't look any better off and the walk back to the _Merlin _was a sober and silent one. Today had just been on lousy misadventure after another and I was about ready to crawl under my bed and never surface to see the sun again.

We did make a short side trip to take a look at the guy that Wasp had… dispatched, but even this proved unsuccessful. Aside from some patch-job armour and a dagger, the guy looked like all the other corpses we'd passed. The only thing I noticed was that he appeared to be less maimed then the other unfortunate inhabitants of the terra, which all but sealed my resolve that this guy, as Wasp had thought, was not a native to this place at all. However, had he been one of the attackers, or had he been someone else who'd maybe come to help the defenceless people? I figured the emblem Wasp had torn from his uniform would hold the key.

"Wow, I think I'm gonna need a nice big anti-depressant milkshake after this." Stork said as the _Merlin _loomed into view.

As much as I'd love to just sink into an oblivious state of mind about the whole ordeal like Stork had suggested, I knew this was only the beginning. A beginning. Something had been put into motion now, and we still had a lot of work to do to keep up with it.

"You'll have to put a rain check on that 'til later. We've still got a lot to do."

Stork looked at me wearily. "Falshade, are you saying what I think you're saying? Because if you are I'm going to have to rain all over your little parade right now. We have no idea who's responsible for this, or even where to start looking for them. Are you seriously thinking of abandoning your whole Dooms Day theory to go chasing after… who ever did this?"

"Let's wait to talk about this with the others." I suggested, feeling my thoughts being torn two different ways. Stork was right, we couldn't just forget about the mission… but what was to say that this wasn't a part of it? This could have been the first strike, to warning alarm. What had happened here couldn't just be ignored either, even if it had nothing to do with my premonitions. The only question was what were we going to do about it?

I couldn't remember a time when I'd felt happier to step into the hanger. Compared to the morose, open atmosphere on the outside, where hot winds fuelled by stubborn flames singed us and we couldn't look anywhere without seeing a corpse splatter or splayed over the ground, it was like stepping into a warm hug inside the _Merlin_; the walls wrapped around us comfortingly and it smelled fresher and cleaner. I let out a long sigh of relief.

Fraggle was pacing the floor of the bridge when the four of us joined him. He smiled in relief and stepped towards the helm.

"Where to, eh?" he asked, and I'd never seen him so pleased to take orders. Like the rest of us, he just wanted to get the hell outta here.

"Anywhere. Just get us off this rock." I said and moments later we were airborne and gliding steadily away from the terra of massacre.

Only then did I realize that Fraggle wasn't not only missing his toque but his jacket too. I looked over at the couch and spotted the little girl, Pippa, wrapped in it snugly. Her tiny, pudgy arm had been cleaned and bandaged it even looked like someone had combed out her hair with a wet brush.

Varan was sitting vacantly at the table, the only sign of life the tip of its tail, which would flick upwards and then drop slowly in random spurts. He just looked so hollow, as if a tiny breeze could push him over.

Understand that our medic was currently mentally MIA, Angel took charge of looking after everyone else, allowing me to have a chance to clear my head and come up with an idea.

"Stork, we should probably sling your arm for a bit, until the muscles heal. Wasp, go wash up a bit, I don't even wanna know what you're covered with. Falshade, you've got shrapnel in you leg, did you know that?" Angel asked me while rolling out some bandage to make Stork an impromptu sling.

I looked down at my leg and realized I had a wedge of wood lodged just above my knee cap. Angel tossed me an antiseptic pad and a wad of bandages and I sat down next to Varan to patch myself up. I let out a hiss as I yanked out the chunk of sharpened debris, but it actually wasn't in very far or was very large at all. An over-grown splinter, really.

Pressing the antiseptic pad into the cut and trying to ignore the stinging I cleared my throat to get everyone's attention.

"I've made up my mind." I announced. "I really think we have to try and track down whoever slaughtered that terra."

Yeah, there it was, plain and simple. No point in dawdling or beating around the bush about it. When it really came down to it, I'd barely had to think about it; how selfish of me would it have been to continue chasing my own cloudy dreams when there was something real and solid out there, butchering unarmed terras for no apparent reason? It wasn't supposed to be a choice of priority. It was the simple fact of right and wrong. As a Sky Knight, it was my job to keep that in some sort of balance.

Angel looked pleased. This was what he'd wanted, after all, a good hunt, some action. He felt better when he actually did something, where as I felt the need to stop and try and tackle the bigger picture. Stork, on the other hand, looked at me with incredulity.

"Don't get me wrong or anything, here." she started. This was sounding a lot more like the old Stork then I'd heard from in awhile, and to be honest it made me feel more secure about my solution. When Stork argued with you, it usually meant you were right. "But this… I mean if this is a taste of what's going to happen if your nightmares come true, shouldn't we, you know, try to nip that in the bud instead of wasting our time? We have no idea who they were, why they did it, where they've gone or if they even have something to do with your dreams."

"My dreams don't matter at the moment. I don't want to find out something like that happened again. We're going to try and stop it now, _this_ is what we need to nip in the bud. And for all we know it _could _have something to do with my dreams; we'll know once I get Wasp's emblem cleaned up so we can see the symbol on it. Even if it's nothing, what do we really have to go on with my dreams right now anyways?" I argued, pacing.

"What do we have to go on with these jerks?" Stork pointed out. "A dirty little crest? That thing could be anything, a good luck charm for all we know. Apparently it just ran out today. How are we even going to begin looking for them? It's not like they left us a map."

"Well, what do you suggest? Any better ideas then mine? Or do you just wanna let these guys get away with it?" I asked evenly. She narrowed her eyes at me all the same.

"You know that's not true." she snapped.

"I'm with Falshade. Even if these guys have nothing to do with his dreams, they might lead us to something that does." Angel said, taking my side _again_. I wondered absently if the real Angel was bound and gagged in his closet.

Stork scowled, hating to admit when we were right. From where I was standing, there really wasn't any other sensible option anyways.

"Well if you guys are gonna gang up on me then I _guess _I'll just jump on the bandwagon." she said gruffly, not allowing Angel to help her put her arm in her sling. "Speaking of that dumb little doubloon thingy, give it here, I've got some metal cleaning stuff that'll have that thing shiny as a silver dollar in about an hour." she said, holding out her good arm. I dug the disk out of my pocket and dropped it in her palm.

"Get me a glass from the kitchen." she ordered as she disappeared into the hanger. I only obliged because I wanted to get a good look at the disk's symbol as fast as possible. I set the glass on the table and stork returned a moment later, pouring a thin, clear liquid into the glass carefully until the glass was half full. Then she dropped the disk in with a splash. It dropped like a lead weight and clinked ominously at the bottom of the glass, and abruptly began to fizz.

"That stuff won't, um, eat the whole thing, will it?" I asked fretfully.

Stork looked at me as if I were stupid. "Of course it won't, what do you take me for, an airhead?"

"Something like that." Angel muttered and earned a smack upside the head. Apparently Stork still had perfect use of her good arm.

"Right, well, you plan's all nice and gift wrapped and whatever, Shade, except for one tiny thing. Two actually." Stork turned back to me. She always had to have the last word.

"And what would those be?" I asked.

"Well for one thing, where are we going to start looking? And two, what are we going to do with the kid? She can't stay with us."

"Aw, but I wanna keep her!" Fraggle said in a mock-whiny voice.

"She's not a _puppy_, Fraggle." Stork told me. "Besides, she's only a little thing. She needs someone to look after her, someone who isn't a half-deaf sky jockey."

"Well, closest place I could think of is Rex, but I think that's out of the question." Angel said. "But we need to alert the Legion, in any case. Wherever we take her, it should be somewhere with a Squadron."

The answer hit me so easily it was like finding something you'd lost in the last place you'd think to look. It was so obvious I could have laughed.

"Stork, go get a map down of the eastern quadrant. I know _exactly_ where we can take her, and alert the Legion too. And it's not even that far." I said, feeling more proud of myself then I had in ages.

Stork looked at my curiously. "Back to Atmosia?" she asked, sounding reluctant.

"Nope." I said, clapping Varan on the shoulder. "We're going home for a visit. Set course for Vatican."

**Anyone who was offended by Rex bashing, I apologize. **


	11. Time of Dying, Prt 1

**11**

**Time of Dying, Prt 1**

**I know Fraggle didn't get much of a run, forgive me. This won't be the last we hear from him, hopefully. Also, his parents, just so we're clear, are the random blonde Zero always seen yet never heard. And his mom is the purple-haired Blizzy that sticks with Suzi. **

**This chapter was too long and took my computer forever to upload, so I spliced it in two. I didn't want to, but on the other hand it might break it up nicely. Anyways...**

**Also, I've found some more songs:**

**Halo: In the Land of the Pigs (the Butcher is King) by Meatloaf**

**Carrion: Chop Suey! by System of a Down**

**After this, nothing will be the same again.**

_**Show no mercy; people here say**_

"_**Kill the damn fool!" **_

_**- Hold on, Korn**_

**x.x.x Fraggle x.x.x**

"_You're going to smell like fish all the time. Maybe I don't want you to visit if you're going to smell fishy, eh."_

_Younger siblings would be much more convincing that they hated your guts if they didn't follow your around for days before your departure insisting that they hated your guts._

"_Yeah? Well maybe I just won't visit at all then." I countered, trying to force the zipper shut on my rucksack._

_Starla's eyes widened in alarm momentarily before she could catch herself. Quickly she rearranged her face into one of sneering indifference. "Well then maybe _I'll _have to pelt you with snowballs before you leave."_

"_And maybe _I'll _have to fly you to the top of the Fanghorn and leave you there, eh. You'll make a nice little snack for the wolves."_

_Starla frowned at me before abandoning the argument. She slid off my desk and crawled on top of my duffle bag to help me get it closed. "You will come back and visit, right?" she asked me in a considerably less hostile voice. "'Cause, you know, Mum'll miss you a lot and be real upset if you don't stop by sometimes."_

"_Course I'll come back, eh." I promised her, finally tugging the zipper closed. "Someone's gotta stop by and make sure you're not gettin' into too much trouble here, eh."_

_Starla made a face at me. "Who's gonna make sure _you're _not gonna get into too much trouble then, eh?"_

"_Me? Trouble? You got the wrong guy there, sister." I said and she snorted._

"_Maybe it's a good thing you're leaving. There won't be half as much trouble goin' on 'round here with you outta the picture."_

"_Yeah, you'll be _so _bored."_

_Starla rolled onto my bed and started picking at one of my glow-in-the-dark stars. "Yeah, I will." she muttered, not looking at me._

_I sighed and sat down next to her. "No you won't. You get into enough trouble without my help, eh."_

"_Yeah, but that's not the point!" she objected sitting up and punching my arm in rapid succession, still not meeting my gaze. "It's more fun when you _are_ helping me!"_

"_Starla-Louize, please don't get into this again." I told her sternly, trying to use her full name like some sort of mental blocking device. Of course it didn't work._

"_Why do you even want to go become a Sky Fisher anyways? What a lousy, boring, stupid job to want to have. And you're not even that old yet!" she said fiercely, tugging at my fur angrily. _

"_Ow! You know, maybe if you want someone to stick around you shouldn't try and tear out all their fur, eh." I said. She only pulled harder. _

"_What's so great about being a Sky Fisher?" she demanded, twisting my fur into little knots._

"_Are you kidding me? Think about the adventure, eh! Spending weeks out in the open sky on a wicked cruiser ship, massive hurricanes, port side bars that don't care how old you are… and I'll get paid to do all that stuff, eh!" I said dreamily, unwinding her fingers from my hair._

"_And that's really worth leaving here for?" she asked me, finally meeting my eyes and glaring at me. I had my father's eyes and she had hers, a bright, piercing blue. They were only magnified by her blue eye lashes, tiny little symbols of her half-Blizzarian heritage. Her eyelashes, arm hair and even the little bit of facial fuzz that all humans seemed to get were electric blue in colour. I thought her cheeks looked like genetically mutated peaches._

_I sighed and pulled her into a tight hug. She struggled for a moment before melting into me and making a sad, resigned noise._

"_I'm really gonna miss you, eh." she told me._

"_I'll miss you too, kiddo. But I'll be back, don't worry. And I'll write you letters too, if you want."_

"_Well you don't have to go overkill on me." she insisted._

"_Alright. Just visits then. Whenever I can."_

_She nodded. "Sounds good to me. But promise me one thing, okay?"_

"_Shoot."_

"Never _bring home any trophy catches. I don't even want to get a whiff of those things."_

_I laughed harder then I had in awhile. "No promises, eh."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

There were days when you'd come back from an entire fourteen hour day of hard-core fishing, with nothing in the hold but some half rotten fishing nets, totally beat and sore and bummed out because you hadn't caught more then a Mud Eel. And it was those days when it was nicest to just step into the Skyside Shanty, where you're always among friends no matter how bad you smelled and could just sit down at a table, stick your feet up and drink Plasma Whisky and the Shanty's specialty brew, Storm's Eye ale (and even a good helping of Quadruple Malt Vinegar on a dare) until you felt comfortably numb.

I called those days Mondays.

Ha ha, nah, kidding. I wasn't that bad around the drink (no, I swear).

But after today… ugh, today felt like one of those days, even though I was pretty sure it was a Thursday. And I was really itching for even a bottle of Malt Vinegar, even though that stuff will make you feel anything but numb.

I don't think I'd ever seen the entire crew so down before. Of course I couldn't blame them, but it wasn't really a healing sort of environment. I don't enjoy wallowing in misery. Maybe it's just me being a Blizzarian, but I'm generally a perky guy, and I hate wallowing in anything for too long anyways, even if its good stuff. This sort of mourning the others seemed to have taken upon themselves was just bringing me down. I wasn't good at grieving.

Stork had given me basic directions and that had been the last I'd heard from anyone. Wasp and Angel had both vanished. Stork was watching over Pippa on the couch and Falshade seemed to be keeping vigil over Varan, who looked like he could use some Storm's Eye himself. I felt terrible for the guy and wished I was good at cheering up more then just little kids. I could sure make people laugh, but only if they were willing to. Cheering up was a little different.

I hoped Falshade didn't have any intention of flying on through the night to get to Vatican. I wanted to leave the wheel and go take a shower. I felt like I had worms wriggling through my fur. It was a horrible feeling, like there was something matted in there, alive and crawling all over me. It was almost like having fleas, except I'd had fleas twice before and knew this was different. I was considerably less itchy for one thing. But this was definitely not bugs. Seeing all those maimed bodies had given me the willies and I still felt rather queasy. I didn't know anyone capable of handling this side of war. I just wanted to forget about it.

"I don't know how I'm ever going to get to sleep tonight." Stork mumbled from the couch, stroking Pippa's green hair methodically as if she wasn't aware of her own actions. I was glad she'd finally said something or I was gonna have to, and I'm not known for sharp remarks.

"That must have been like going into the Scar for recon after the Final Battle." Falshade muttered. "Well, I imagine that would've been worse, but… god. I wasn't ready for that."

"I don't think any of us were, eh."

Falshade scratched his scalp long and hard as if he were the one with the fleas. "You know what, Fraggle, let's find a place to dock her for the night and just keep going in the morning. It's been a long day."

I groaned. "We're not gonna get up _early_ again, are we?"

"Well considering "early" to you is the crack of noon, then yes, we are." Falshade informed me with a grin. I made a face like he was putting through honest to god pain and switched on the coasting engines and powered down the rest of the ship.

"Right here?" Stork asked me with a quirked eyebrow.

"Hey, girly, if you wanna stop at the next five star hotel be my guest, eh, but you're flyin'." I yawned. Stork stuck her tongue out at me and then I remembered it wasn't just the six of us on board tonight.

"Oh, shoot, eh, what're we gonna do about the kid?"

Stork looked down at Pippa, who was still fast asleep. "She can camp out on the couch, she's already asleep anyways."

"Yeah, but what if she wakes up and she's all alone out here, eh?"

"Okay, then she can bunk with me. My room's not too _small_ or anything." Stork said.

"For the two of you leprechauns there I imagine not." I said and she attacked me, leaping onto my back and digging both fists into my scalp while Falshade laughed.

"I-am-not-_short_!" she ground out through pummelling me.

"Okay, sure, but can you say one thing for me, eh?" I asked, catching Falshade's eye mischievously. See, _this _is how I grieve.

"What?" Stork asked, halting in her barrage momentarily.

"They're after me lucky charms!" Falshade and I crowed at the same time and Stork screeched in fury. Even Varan managed to cough up a chuckle as she went back to slamming her knuckles into every available inch of my exposed body.

* * *

Someone was knocking on my door. Ugh.

"Whatever you're selling I don't want it!" I groaned and pushed my head under my pillow as Stork marched into my room.

"It's not time to go yet!" I whined as she tore my pillow from my head.

"Stop being such a baby. I brought company." she said as I felt someone crawl onto my bed and curl up against my side.

"She woke up and wanted you." Stork explained, sitting on my chest of drawers and smiling despite herself.

"Hey, you." I said, ruffling Pippa's hair and sitting up. I dragged the curled little girl up to my pillow and pulled my blanket over her tenderly.

"Awwwwwww." Stork drawled.

"Can it, eh."

"It's just… well, it's you. I didn't know you liked kids."

I shrugged. "I'm a man of mystery, what can I say?"

Stork put a hand down on my dresser as she prepared to hop off and knocked over Starla's photo by accident.

"Watch it, eh!" I said sharply.

"Sorry." Stork picked up the frame and examined the picture. "Who's this? Don't tell me you've got a girlfriend somewhere?"

I laughed. "Nah, eh. That's my sister."

"Thought she looked a little young." Stork said, tilting the picture and squinting at Starla and her bombardier toque complete with goggles and ear flaps that made _me_ look like I had some sort of fashion sense.

"Hey, are those… ears? Is she…?"

"Half Blizzy, yup. Told you she was my sis, eh."

"Wow. I didn't even know that was, er… possible."

I had to laugh. "Don't think my mom knew either, eh."

Stork smiled at the absurdity of my family. Guess I hadn't changed my scenery much, so to speak, after taking on these kids.

"She's cute. What's her name?"

"Starla."

"Love the hat."

"She's got a better noggin for 'em then I do." I said god naturedly. "Actually, you wanna know something weird, eh?"

"What's that? And damn, you need some new pjs."

I examined my Dash Lightning pyjama bottoms curiously. "What's wrong with 'em? Dash Lightning was my favourite comic book as a youngin, eh."

Stork smirked. "Okay, okay. What was something weird and then I'm going back to bed before this gets awkward."

"Well I just find it weird 'cause you remind me a lot of her, eh. Maybe that's why I think I can get off the hook for not visiting in years."

Stork moved to sit beside me. "You haven't been home in awhile either, huh?"

"Nope."

Stork sighed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders briefly. "Well, Falshade and Varan get to visit home tomorrow, maybe if we pull some strings we can do the same sometime."

"That'd be nice, eh. Hey, you got any siblings there, eh? Never asked too much about you."

Stork shook her head. "Just a few brothers and one psycho sister." she said earnestly with a sad little grin.

"Aw, well, you ain't missing out on much there." I said, mussing up her hair.

"Yeah, I think you guys are all the siblings I can handle." she said and I laughed. "Anyways, I better get going. You're already hard enough to get up in the morning." she teased, sliding off my bed and going for the door. She stopped on the verge of leaving though and turned back to me.

"You'd better take care of her." she instructed, pointing at Pippa, who'd fallen asleep next to me. "Wanna know something else weird?"

"What's that there, eh?"

"You're not the first person who's told me that I remind them of someone they knew." she muttered. "Go figure. Anyways, 'night."

Wow, she really was like Starla. She had a good knack for coming up with things to say that made no sense anywhere. And barging into your room at one o'clock in the morning.

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

There are some instances, in which I realize what a horrible and disgusting person I am to be around, when I wish I could fit under my bed. As a kid I took comfort in that small, dark and dusty little place because it made me feel like I was back in my mother's dried up womb and I'd never existed. Not existing was my happy place. It made me feel more human then anything else.

After my mother erased herself from my life I took refuge in the desert more often then under my bed at home. With the sun scorching down on me and blistering my skin and the vastness around me that confirmed I was the closest I could get to Hell without being burned, well, I found salvation. I only returned to the six inches beneath my bed when I felt sick from smoking too much and sleeping too little and I needed something over my head to contain all my spiralling thoughts before I could lose them in the stratosphere. It was my quarantine place when my body felt too small, to catch my thoughts and feelings before they could burst through my pores like seeds from a pod and get dispersed among the wind. Because I needed those feelings like a ball of razor wire bobbing up and down under my heart and above my stomach every time I swallowed. Without them, I might as well have been swept up in the dry desert thermals like surface dirt. I needed them and a safe place to cry.

But these days it was pretty much impossible to fit under my bed anymore. I may have still been small, but those six inches were less forgiving these days and aside from that Stork had bolted my bed to the floor because we had a pilot who thought it was hilarious to pull hairpin turns without using his blinkers. So instead I was camped out under the kitchen table, drinking myself sick off pilfered chocolate milk (Stork had a large supply in the back of the fridge for 'hormonal reasons') and feeling incredibly lonely.

It was kinda funny really. After my mom died I'd been alone almost all the time. I'd run away from the small residence her old friend had taken up in Oasis after living there for all of three days. She only stayed on Saharr a week more before she left me. The thing I could really appreciate about that woman was she'd known when to let people go. Rare gift, seriously. After that I'd only stopped by my old home on the edge of Oasis when there was a serious sand storm warning or the jackals got a little too bold for their own good. Sure, sometimes I stopped in at Tent City when my legs were long enough to touch the ground while straddling a skimmer because I liked to ride, but for the most part my domain was the wide open stretch of dusty land between Tent City and the tracks and Oasis, the larger, more permanent residence of Saharr. By the age of twelve I was as much a part of the desert as the pillars of stones and the burrowing owls. I knew every mountain passage and water pool that had managed to survive the dry season. The desert raised me as if I were made of sand and I looked after my homeland as much as possible in return. I watched over the wild goats and rehabilitated scorpions, tarantulas and even the adders and side winders that had slithered and scuttled too close to human territory and were sure to have been killed if found by anyone but me. And I probably had less hair on my head then the number of traps I'd sprung and removed that had been set out for the jackals, or Dirt Devils as the rest of the terra referred to them as. A terror to livestock and mischievous little buggers they were impossible to eradicate; I'd seen more of them then I could count on both hands limping about the dunes with only three legs as they'd as soon as chew their own limb off then be left in a trap to either be destroyed when the traps were checked or to be forgotten and starve slowly in the heat. Once I'd come across a mother jackal who'd already been set into by the vultures despite the fact that she wasn't quite dead yet. Two of her pups, born pre maturely, had died at her side, their tiny bodies protected under their mother's carcass in one final act of maternal instinct. However the third, the only female, wasn't quite on death's threshold when I finally cleared back all those ugly carrion eaters. I brought her home and did all I could to bring her back. I hadn't expected her to make it anyways but the next morning I was pleasantly surprised to see she was still breathing. My little trouper, dubbed D'Arcy, grew into a healthy little thing and was my companion for more then nine months before she found herself a mate. The desert's inhabitants built who I was in a way, or at least taught me everything I became. Over the years I learned to be stubborn like the goats, sneaky, cunning and resourceful like the jackals, swift and silent as the nimble footed and rarely seen sand deer, no taller then myself at the time, stealthy and cold like the dusk eagles and sharp like the sidewinders. However my favourite of the desert creatures, the ones who taught me the most and caught the most of my attention, where the Sand Merlins. Daring and taunting little creatures they went after the smaller creatures like kangaroo rats and the tiny little mice who ate cactus flesh. I'd seen them taunt sidewinders and dive bomb vultures, easily twenty times their size, who went after their hatchlings. Once I'd found a fledgling, secondary feathers barely coming in, in the maw of a jackal and it was the first time I'd ever attacked one of them. The fledgling wasn't quite dead else I'd let the jackal enjoy his meal in peace, and although I managed to nurture him back to health he would never know the joy of the wind in his feathers again. I had to remove his left wing, it was so badly damaged and I cried the whole time I did it. I named him Thorn and it was he who taught me the ways of a sniper. With his fiercely bright eyes he could see for miles out over the sand if given the proper vantage point, usually my shoulder, and when I picked up on his body language I was able to get in touch with what he saw, what fascinated him. Eventually, while I'd never possess his unmatched vision, I'd trained myself to seek out what it was that had caught his attention, really began to feel my surroundings. My vision grew sharper, more fixed and when I focused on something like he did I was able to pick it out in sharp detail, even if it was several meters away. I become his lost wing and in return he shared with me his incredible sight.

Something Thorn and the other merlins shared with me was their solitude. I never felt quiet so lonely among the desert life, as long as I could feel the grit under my boots and hear the jackals howl at night. It wasn't until I left the emptiness of the desert, which in a way was so full of life you'd think twice before calling it barren, and entered the teeming world of human activity that was the Academy did I learn what loneliness really felt like. I craved it as much as hated it. It became my anti-drug, since I gave up smoking. If I separated myself from the other kids at the Academy then I had a better chance at feeling like I wasn't a stain on human existence. I found another way to avoid existing, and I grasped it desperately. And yet that lonely feeling was only welcomed because it felt like the lesser of two evils, like a less dangerous drug. Being an insomniac meant I had a lot of time to waste, a lot of time with myself. In the desert I'd put that time to good use; in the darkness of my room at the Academy it drove me mad. Time and space became my mortal enemy; I fled from it, burned my way through books and taught myself how to build things to avoid the inetible, the part where I sat back and realized I was simply a blip in my own being. The Academy became my hell, and I only stayed because I needed to know I could finish it. I stalked the hallways, a grim presence like a foreboding shadow and was treated as such, for people didn't bother to smother the whispers and rumours that chased after me as I walked by. Life became as repetitive and as morbid as the beep of a heart monitor.

It was Falshade who saved me in the end.

He joined the Academy three months after my class division had started its training but he was thrust into our hector anyways because, let's face it, there wasn't much of a group besides us. That nearly killed him; the kid could barely read and keep up even if he wasn't already behind. Only in theory, mind you. He excelled in field practice. For the first few weeks I blatantly ignored him despite the fact he'd attempted contact a few times and watched him from afar in any class periods we shared. A lot of the other guys tried to save him from my company, always asking him over to their rooms to hang out or inviting him out with them on weekends. Falshade though was and always will be a soft-hearted moron and he stuck by me as if he wanted to try and save me from whatever affliction I seemed to have. I learned all I needed to know about his righteous personality from the hallway just inside the main entrance, home to a wall-to-wall plaque with the names of all the Sky Knights who ever became something. His father's name, Falco Ravenscroft, resided four segments from the end of the hallway and I saw him more then once stop and look at it with an expression smattered between pride and ache. I listened to him breathe at night when he ate up all the sleep in the room that I was so starved of and heard him on occasion when he woke up from his nightmares. I watched him struggle through his studies while I breezed though the chapter, my brain practiced and beaten into near perfection from my self-tormented avoidance. I got used to his form being a new addition in my lonely, bleak little world, learned to handle sharing my space and got used to a second source of warmth. He was silently patient with me, never shot me the ugly looks I earned from everyone else, didn't call me a freak or a faggot when he thought I couldn't hear him like the others, although he did ask me if I was the latter once. And in his unvoiced acceptance, his nonverbal reaching out to me, I found something I could latch on to. I began to know something I hadn't before, a trust I'd only felt for the desert and the way it accepted and enveloped me without complaint or compromise. I'd never felt that towards another human. I'd only ever known rejection, and Falshade's acceptance became addicting. I was able to become corporeal inside myself around him. Being lonely became a secondary resort as Falshade slowly, without knowing, allowed me to become obsessed with him instead. He became my anti-non-existence.

Maybe that was why now, with loneliness sitting as coldly and as thickly inside me as Stork's stolen milk, I felt so much hatred towards him. Him and myself. I'd found something good in my loneliness, the single good thing that had come of it, and that was the ability to handle it. At least when it had been my constant I'd been able to function, even if it wasn't properly. Now it was just so foreign and heavy, like my own blood, that it was making me feel sick. And not just the sick from drinking three and a half cartons of chocolate milk kinda sick. Making the leap to Falshade's world and away from my own hadn't left me with a bridge to get back across. I'd effectively trapped myself. Because I realized, even though I didn't want to, that Falshade's acceptance hadn't grown cold. I'd put up my own wall, the wall I'd known before, the thing that had been there before obsession. Its name was desire, to see what could be there and to long and ache for it all you wanted but never fully possess it. Like a glass wall I'd put it up and now I was effectively able to see both mine and Falshade's worlds and was equally effectively a part of neither.

And I was only angry with Falshade because I didn't know why the wall had come back up. So I blamed him. It was just easier. That and I blamed him for coaxing me out of my comfortably miserable, post desert world, out from under the bed.

With a sigh I thunked my head back against the table leg and knocked a belch loose from my too full belly. Stork was going to scalp me for this one. However it wasn't fair for her to assume that she could just go and buy things like food and claim them as her own. That hadn't worked with my cache of chocolate chip cookies and neither had it worked with Fraggle's supply of microwavable mac and cheese. I was teaching her a lesson, plain and simple.

Sometimes, just like the tiny, unimportant seconds during which I felt bad for hating every time Wasp breathes, I wondered if I only made Stork's life hell because I blamed her for the hairline crack that formed in my bond with Falshade. But then I brush that thought away, because Stork, in that obnoxious way she possessed, was also my saviour in a way, on a different scale, in an alternate universe. And she was my second best friend, the second one I'd ever had that was human (I guess merlins and jackals and scorpions don't really count). She was always the second character in our three way mutual friendship, but she was in it just the same and I required her presence at times. Like two people who circled around each other grudgingly at a bar, trying hard to push away the fact that there was something chemical that attracted them to the other, Stork and I played hard to get with the other and liked our rough love. In a total non-sexual way, I mean. Maybe if she wouldn't flip me off so much or pull my hair or remind me of all the ways I was an undesirable, arrogant jerk I'd find her fierce green eyes alluring in that kinda vicious way, think her freckles were cute and that strip of honed belly the shade of honey desirable in the 'I wanna bite you' way. But she wasn't my type, aside from all that, and I sure as hell wasn't hers. Especially not after slugging back all her emergency PMS chocolate milk.

No wonder everyone thought I was a faggot. I sure don't seem to dig a lot of chicks. But in my defence most of the only ones I knew would soon as tear your leg off and drag it into a closet to chew on as look at you.

My tongue was coated by a cool, sticky layer of syrupy milk-saliva as I pressed my burnt fingers to my mouth to soothe them. Before I'd dragged my sorry carcass into the kitchen I'd been working with some scrap metal in my room, bending and twisting it into shapes and attaching the finished pieces to bolts. I'd finished up my prototype and even made a stab at the first one before being chased from my room by Varan's snoring; for such a quiet guy he must have had some horrible sinuses. I was glad that he'd managed to fall asleep though, after today's ordeals. He'd probably taken half the bottle of aspirin in the bathroom cabinet to knock himself out though. Raptors have the enviable ability to take the equivalent of any sort of over the counter drug that'd practically dissolve the liver of any human and shrug it off the next day. Even for a little guy, by his species' standards anyways, Varan could have won any type of drinking contest, hands down, if the bugger would let me and Fraggle get him anywhere near a bar. I was disgusted by my own light-weight tendencies, quiet frankly. Hell, I was already gonna be in a juicy little chocolate hangover in the morning, and I'd only been drinking milk for god's sake. They give this stuff to kids half my size by the pint.

By the time I'd finished off the fourth carton of milk things were swirling into that hazy state of sleep deprivation, when everything seemed to glide into the second dimension and back again like dancing pixies on acid. Blurry then solid in the darkness things like the handle of the fridge and the table leg would leer out at me and then sink into the background before I had time to register it properly. I flicked some droplets of milk from my fingertips as if to ward back the objects that were squeezing in on me claustrophobically. I really didn't need drugs for a good ol' mind fuck.

I started talking and singing myself to keep myself in one state of gravity and to dissect my accent a little, try and decipher its origins, what it punctuated and inflicted on so I could train myself to get rid of it once and for all. No matter how far I could suppress it I could never fully get rid of it and that bothered me. It's strange and sick to be afflicted by things that were bred into you, that gave you no hint to its genesis but were just there. They scared me; what else had been set into my genetics like a time bomb, what else was lying dormant somewhere, twined around a DNA strand?

"_What you hanging up for? What you doing that for? What you packing up for? Why, hushabye_………………………………….."

Sometimes I wonder what the real definition of 'coma' is. Because I swear I'll slip into them, not asleep, not unconscious, not fully alive, and then by shaken out of them by some of the strangest things.

Like dark eyed little girls.

I jumped when I realized a small face was hanging in the space in front of mine and that the kitchen was no longer dark. I'd gotten lost in the echo of half-forgotten song lyrics and my stupid, stupid accent. My eyes had lost focus and now I was jolted to alertness and felt rather disorientated. Pippa, the girl Stork and I had coaxed from her hiding place in a half-collapsed root cellar the day before, was on her hands and knees in front of me, peering at my curiously.

"What the heck are you doing under there, eh?" Fraggle's voice asked from above as I blinked several times at Pippa.

"Huh?" I asked, feeling slowly coming back to my numb limbs. Damn, I really needed to take a piss… "What're you doing up?"

"My main girl Pippa here wants some breakfast."

I scratched my head. "What time is it?"

"About eight o'clock."

"Fuck, you're up early."

Fraggle groaned. "Don't remind me, eh. And watch your mouth around the kid there."

He crouched down to entice Pippa out from under the table and took in the scene of the crime. He let out a low whistle. "Stork is gonna force feed you a Swarm crystal." he reported.

I snorted. "She can try it, she won't get far. My muzzle's still in the shop."

"Been using it to much, huh?"

"Nah, the guy in my closet got away. Probably taken up residence with you, am I right?"

Making sure Pippa wasn't watching, Fraggle bent over the edge of the table and shot me the middle finger.

Varan stumbled into the kitchen a little later, once I'd pulled myself out from under the table and was leaning against the door frame and Fraggle had sat Pippa down with a bowl of Cocoa Sugar Bombs. Great, that's all little kids these days need, more sugar. Can I get an amen for the ADD nation?

Rubbing his head Varan seemed shocked to see Fraggle up and functioning already and didn't seem to notice my sulking presence.

"I think those aspirins' expiry date ran out." I told him and he jumped.

"Thanks for telling me that _now_." he muttered, seeming in a considerably more stable state then the day before, I was pleased to note.

"Ugh, Fraggle, you aren't feeding her those _things_ are you? She needs something more then empty calories and a cavity, she's a growing little human girl you know." Varan scolded.

"Well since you're suggesting it, how's about some eggs and bacon there, eh?" Fraggle asked and Varan rolled his eyes.

"You'd be in a malnutrition induced, diabetic coma if it wasn't for me, you know that don't you?"

"Nah, eh. That's what them humans there are for. They're good with barbeque sauce. Not that one there, though, he'd be all stringy and tough." Fraggle said, jabbing a finger at me.

"Falshade's got more meat on his bones." I agreed.

"Is it still cannibalism if I'm a different species, eh?" Fraggle pondered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"No, that'll put you in a category we call Wasp."

"Cool, I've got my own classification!" Wasp cheered, bounding into the kitchen as if on cue. "Do I get one of those fancy genus and species names?"

"Oh sure, it's called _crackhead psychoticus_." I invented and she cackled, pleased, and alarming Pippa, who whimpered and clambered onto Fraggle's lap.

"Varan, do I have spiders on me? I feel spiders." Wasp asked, shoving her bare arm under his snout. "That's what I came here to ask, originally."

"Erm, no, you're good." he said, tip of his tail twitching.

"Oh." she said, looking put-out. "Okay. I have to go now." and she spun around to leap out of the kitchen again, nearly running into Stork in the doorway and shooting her a very strange look in passing, barely for a moment but I saw it anyways. There was something frightening about it, because while her face was apologetic her eyes glinted with something feral and cunning. It was times like that when she jumped from animal to monster and my hand twitched towards my sabre subconsciously.

However my concern was short lived as Stork entered the kitchen, opened her mouth to say good morning and caught sight of the quartet of empty milk cartons splayed over the floor and her eyes jumped in my direction murderously.

"You little _creep_!" she thundered and tackled me in one flying leap. Fingers went immediately for my ribs, pinching me mercilessly while she clambered atop me so I couldn't wriggle away.

"You jerk, those were _mine_! I'm going to stick a straw in your gut like a milkshake if you don't pay up _right now_!" she yowled at me like a she-cat, one hand squeezing my throat and the other punching into my sides repeatedly.

"You're gonna get it all back _right now_ if you don't get off." I warned her as she dug her knees into my stomach.

"It'd serve you right if you do get sick, you selfish piglet!" she said before Falshade, who'd only just entered the kitchen, came to my rescue and pulled her off by her belt.

"I am so sick of you two." he informed us as Stork struggled to get out of his grasp. "You really didn't expect to hog those all to yourself, did you Stork?"

"He didn't have to drink _all_ of them!" she objected in pure outrage, twisting at his wrists to get free.

"True. Angel, you owe her for this one."

"Right, sure dad. I suppose you'll want me to return all her doll heads too, huh?" I asked, sitting up and nearly catching Stork's kick in my chin. See, this is one of those moments when I certainly don't think her freckles are cute.

"In about three seconds I am going to go serious father mode on your ass and make you do the dishes for a year if you don't smarten up." Falshade warned me.

"You'll send me to my room too I expect?"

Falshade and Stork exchanged a look. "Is it your turn to hold or mine?" Stork asked him.

"Yours I think." he answered and released her.

* * *

Ah yes, I do enjoy feeling sore in the morning.

As per my usual tendency I was sulking on the couch about an hour later as we continued our flight to Vatican. Because Fraggle was busy piloting Stork had hunted down some crayons and a stack of old paper and was trying to keep Pippa occupied by colouring with her on the floor, glancing up every once and a while to shoot me the Stink Eye. The others were off doing their own thing, except for Falshade, who dropped down beside me and started poking me to get my attention.

"You seem to have forgotten I'm ignoring you for life." I huffed.

"You're such a cry baby."

"I have an abusive parent, I'm allowed to be. And besides, I'm older then you. If anyone's the baby around here it's Stork."

Stork looked up from her work to stick her tongue out at me, in a real mature way.

"All these daddy jokes are getting really lame, even for you." Falshade informed me.

"Whatever. Hey, I forgot when your birthday is, so I've got a surprise for you, so you can't get mad at me later for missing it."

"My birthday's not for months. What is it?"

"Can't show you, it's not done yet."

Falshade dug his knuckles into my bruised ribs. "Tell me!" he said in a mock whiny voice.

"Now look who's the cry baby?"

"Still you, Angel Cakes."

I pouted and slid onto the floor. "How long is it gonna take to get there anyways? We're wasting time if you ask me." I said, just to be mean. I really do hate that nick name.

"Everything I do is a waste if time in your eyes. Why don't you be leader for a day and I'll do the complaining for once?" Falshade suggested sourly. "Trust me, I'm not just dropping by to see how my mom's doing, seeing as how that's such a crime and all. But we've got to find somewhere for Pippa to stay, and where better then Vatican? Besides, we can alert the Beast Keepers, they'll be considerably more helpful then the Guardians at least."

"I dunno about that, Shade." Varan said, appearing from the kitchen with a dish towel over his shoulder. "This new guy they got wasn't too fond of you at all, and you didn't leave on a good note exactly, either."

Falshade shrugged as if this were unimportant. "They'll listen to me all the same, new guy or not. Half of them are still my dad's old friends, and I know Ozprey wasn't too fond of him, she told me so. Even if Drake doesn't think what I have to say is very important, she will."

"Oz? Isn't that the one who practically begged you into being their Sky Knight instead? Didn't you use to have a monster crush on her?" Varan asked casually. Falshade's cheeks turned scarlet and a huge smirk wormed its way over my face. Bloody brilliant…

"Ozprey? The explosives expert for the Keepers? Wow, she's like, what, three times your age?" I asked and Falshade dropped his head into his palms as Fraggle started to giggle uncontrollably.

"Thanks for that, Var." Falshade muttered darkly.

"Hey Falshade man, don't worry about digging older chicks there, eh. I've had my share of the seasoned ladies. I'll tell you this much, you have a lot more fun with-"

"DON'T EVEN!" Stork shouted, making Pippa jump as she leapt to her feet and jabbed a finger in Fraggle's directions. "I seriously don't need to hear this!"

I tugged on Varan's tail to get his attention and muttered in a stage whisper. "Someone's jealous."

Stork glared at me while Varan laughed to himself. "You looking for another beating there, Angel Cakes?" she asked, cracking her knuckles menacingly.

"Knock it off, Stork." Falshade said to his hands.

"Me? He started it!" she said, outraged at the childish injustice. "You're only taking his side because you feel like an idiot!"

"Yeah, that's it. Hey, nice hickey by the way." I said, sitting back on the couch, feeling pretty cocky. "Maybe that's why you're so upset Shade here's got another lady friend?"

"WHAT?" both of them demanded at the same time while Fraggle craned his neck around to get a look at what I was talking about. Stork smacked a hand to the side of her neck, her face turning dark pink.

Falshade had me pinned under his shoulder in an instant. "What in hell are you implying?" he growled at me and my smirk grew wider.

"You're the one who thought of it, dude."

"That mouth of yours is going to get you a real nice shiner one of these days." he warned me.

"Seriously, Stork's got a mark on her neck. But maybe I give you too much credit. Maybe Stork's the one with a lady friend."

Falshade glowered at me before turning to look at what I was talking about. "Stork?"

"It's nothing." she insisted. But we'd all already seen. The mark I noticed wasn't the only one decorating her throat; she had three more bruises on the other side, where she didn't have her hand wrapped around.

"Did you try to choke her earlier?" Falshade asked me while Stork wrapped both hands around her neck self-consciously, not meeting any of our gazes shiftily.

"No, she was the one who had me." I reminded him.

"It's nothing." Stork said again.

"Jeez, girly, it looks like someone tried to strangle you, eh." Fraggle said before we all shot him a meaningful look and he took the hint, turning back around to face out the windshield.

"Seriously, I'm fine. I bruise like a freaking peach, probably happened when I was crawling around in the engine yesterday." she claimed pathetically.

Varan, Falshade and I all shared a look as Falshade let me go. Call me a bit of a suspicious character, but I don't know how you can manage to get bruises on your neck repairing an engine. Her story was just way to sketchy for us to believe, but I doubted we'd get anything out of her if she was that insecure about it.

"Oh, lookie what I see, eh!" Fraggle exclaimed, pointing out the window. "Home sweet home, Chief!"

Falshade leapt off the couch to join him at the helm and Varan seemed to perk up a bit.

I couldn't remember the last time Falshade's face seemed to light up like it did now. "Home sweet home." he repeated. "Take her down there by the dry docks, Fraggle. We won't get a greeting like we did last time."

"Good, cause if anyone lays a finger on the _Merly _I might have to start… making some serious… noise." he finished lamely.

"Lost that one huh?"

"Yeah, I got nothing, eh."

"Hey, Shade, are we actually gonna get to meet the infamous mother figure this time?" Stork asked, scooping up Pippa to show her the view of Vatican stretching out beneath us as Fraggle brought the _Merlin_ in for a landing.

Falshade wrinkled his nose and looked to Varan for advice. He shrugged. "I wouldn't mind dropping by your mom's place. Might check in on the ol' Drill Sergeant too, she'll never forgive me if we visit and I don't stop in to say hi."

Falshade grinned slightly. "Yeah, why not. But for the love of _god _I don't want to hear any bickering, quarrelling, smart remarks or 'mature comebacks' from either of you two." Falshade warned Stork and I. We both cracked identical, innocent grins as if to say 'who, us?'

"Don't even look at each other funny." he threatened and then gave Fraggle a reprimanding look as the _Merlin _scraped against the dry docks during landing.

"My bad." Fraggle said with a small grin.

"Hey, it's your ship, not mine. Okay, let's go out and terrorize the place." Falshade said. "Wasp! C'mon!"

The seven of us stepped onto the wharf and already I noticed how much more at ease I felt here then I had on Rex. I'd only been to Vatican once before, but the place already kinda felt kinda homey to me. It was a laughable name for the squadron here to be titled, the Beast Keepers, when the place was so peaceful and lax. It was almost like an inside joke; in all reality it had something to do with the first Sky Knight of Vatican's history, a guy named Fabian the Peace Keeper and Protector of the Refugees. That was what Vatican was, after all, a refugee terra for those who'd lost their homes in the war. The name Beast Keepers got stuck to the gentle terra because of Fabian's companion, a legendary gryphon whom which Falshade had been named after.

However, despite the warm feeling Vatican gave off, the whispers that followed us from street corners were more then unnerving, even though I got the feeling that for once they weren't nasty rumours or remarks as per the norm:

"Is that Ravenscroft?"

"He's back! He must have been on that airship that came in!"

"Yes, look, there's Varan!"

"Jeez, I didn't think he could get any taller!"

"Who're the kids' Falshade's got with him?"

"Don't tell me he actually got his own squadron together after all!"

"If you ask me, he should have stuck with the Keepers, where he belongs."

"Wow, check out the blondie Falshade's got with him!"

"Shade? Varan? Is that really you?" a voice broke out louder from the rest. A shorter girl with violent orange hair rushed out from a nearby café, where a group of girls, obviously her friends, were watching curiously. She skidded to a halt in front of Shade, folding her arms and looking up at him and Varan reproachfully.

"Well you could at least look like you recognize me." she said, sounding peevish.

"Roo?"

The girl's face split into an ear to ear grin. Jeez, she looked like a real punk. Orange hair pushed back by a black hair band so that her bangs hung over her forehead and into her eyes, which were so brown they looked black, flecked with gold. She had a bio hazard tattoo right in the corner of her mouth, which Wasp was ogling with admiration. And she had a bull ring between her nostrils.

"Yeah." she said. "Good, I don't have to beat it out of your brains. So I heard you became a Sky Knight and then left us all without even saying goodbye, huh? What brought you back?"

"Oh, just some Sky Knight stuff you wouldn't understand. What happened to your hair, Sparrow? You look like a carnival side show."

"It's still Roo, mind yourself there." she warned Falshade. "Oh, the hair? Had an accident while I was experimenting with a Rainbow Smoker and an Eruption Stone. I was trying to make some of those firecrackers like you used to do, Var. Anyways, hair changes colour about once a month now, although I gotta say the orange is pretty kick awesome."

"An Eruption stone?" Varan asked in disbelief. "Roo, you lucky little SOB…"

"Nice to see you too, Var. By the way, really dig the six pack, you been working out?" she asked and Varan's face turned dark green. Stork giggled behind her hand, even though she insists she is not a giggler.

"Seriously though Shade, why'd you up and leave us? This place hasn't been the same with Drake running the Keepers, everyone thinks you would have done much better. We miss ya." Roo was saying.

"Maybe if I didn't already have an ace squadron I'd come back. But I don't think I'd run the Keepers." Falshade said humbly. "By the way, this is my squadron, in case you're wondering. Roo, everyone, everyone, Roo."

Roo eyed us all up, matching Stork's challenging gaze until they both smiled at the same time and winking at Fraggle. She quirked an eyebrow at my uninterested glare and then ogled Wasp in the same fashion that she'd been ogling her.

"Love the lip ring." she said and Wasp grinned in her maniac way.

"Can I lick your tattoo?"

Roo laughed as if she thought Wasp were kidding. If only she knew…

"Anyways, Roo, we've got some stuff we gotta do." Falshade explained and Roo made a pouting face at him.

"Jeez, haven't seen you in years and you can't even spare a moment to chat, huh? Well I won't keep you away from your Sooper Secret Sky Knight Stoof. Say that five times fast huh? Are you guys sticking around later?"

"Doubt that. We've got things to do, places to be."

"I know how it is." she said. "Well, okay then. But you know, if you're not in too much of a hurry stop by my ol' place, sure my mom would be happy to see you both. Are you going to visit the Honeycomb?"

"Yeah, later."

"Make sure you say hi to my dad then. Catch you later, I guess. See you, Var." she added over her shoulder, sticking out her lower lip in a sexy little pout before joining her friends again. Varan refused to look at any of us and his face turned even darker.

Of course, we couldn't let him off like that:

"Well _damn_, Varan…"

"Maybe we should stick around, let you to, uh, catch up?"

"Jeez, you sure can slay the ladies, eh. Must be the mohawk…"

"Shut up." Varan growled.

"Did anything ever go on between you two after I left?" Falshade asked innocently. Varan scowled at him. Payback's a bitch.

"No." he said shortly.

"Aw, too bad, you always did have a thing for her…"

"Shade!" Varan groaned as he was bombarded by whistles and cat calls from the rest of us.

"What kind of a name is Roo?" Stork asked him teasingly. "Pet name?"

"No. Her brothers pinned her with it, she doesn't like Sparrow." Varan said defensively. "We used to be good friends with her brothers and she used to tag along. That's how I know her, that's all."

"Yeah, I swear by the age of eight she could hit a Sky ball further then any of the boys on our street." Falshade recalled. "And she used to paint her toenails green for Varan."

"Damn, that's hot." Stork drawled, elbowing Varan and he sighed in defeat.

"She'd paint them purple and black too." he added aimlessly.

"Her dad's Rayvin." Falshade said to me as if this would pique my interest. "I'll definitely have to stop by and see him. Him and my dad, they were good friends, you know."

I nodded to humour him. Maybe that was what was really bothering me about this place, not the glances and whispers that followed us, but the talk of Falshade and his famous dead father. Don't get me wrong, I didn't envy the attention, I felt happy for him, that he could walk so proudly among his homeland where no one laughed at him and his crazy premonitions. But it made me nervous all the same and I hunched my shoulders, wishing I had my coat so I could shield my face behind the collar. Falshade wasn't the only one with an infamous daddy…

"Is this the place?" Stork asked, passing Pippa to Fraggle when we halted outside a small, square house at the foot of where a large plateau jutted up like a lone fang from the earth. A large barn sat around the back and a lone goat was pegged to a nearby dog house, but other then that the place looked pretty barren. Falshade's face seemed to crinkle when he noted the desolation of the place. He must have felt guilty for leaving his widowed mother here all this time, alone. He used to tell me about her all the time, back at the Academy. I enjoyed his sparse little childhood stories; I almost felt as if I could have been a part of them at times. Maybe because I wished it so desperately. The only thing colder then the empty place where a mother used to be was the place where a mother had been, but never completely. Now that I thought about it, I wasn't sure if I wanted to meet her after all. I didn't know if I'd be able to handle it.

"Yeah, this is the place." Falshade said with a jerky nod, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans and leading us forward. "What's to bet she'll pop me right in the jaw, Var?"

"You're mom? Nah, she'll aim a little lower." Varan said, his tail twitching as he followed after Shade.

We all crowded onto the front porch and Falshade raised a hand and rapped on the stained wooden door quickly before withdrawing his hand as if the wood might burn him. We stood for what felt like forever until footsteps echoed inside and the door creaked inwards.

Falshade, for all the things he'd told me about her, had never described her. So it was surprising to see her, even though I knew Falshade was supposed to take after his father more. Looking at the alternate set of genes now, I almost wondered if Falshade had been adopted.

She was a slender woman, someone who'd obviously been the stubborn wife of a Sky Knight. She just held herself in that way, that "I can look after myself" pose, straight and proud. Her hair was long and thick and curly, dark, glossy blue in colour, that hung to her waist in a 'V' shape. Her eyes were blue as well, a bright, electric, clever blue, sparkling and fierce looking but tinted around the sides with sadness. They were so much more alive then my mother's had been, even despite her loneliness. She was about my height and, despite her still youthful features, looked very grown up. And when she took in her tall, broad shouldered son standing before her with a joyful, hesitant smile spread over his face, she stuck out her hip in a way that'd put Stork to shame and folded her arms, crystal eyes narrowing.

"Hey Mom." Falshade said at length, his toes flexing inside his boots.

She continued to stare at him for a moment before suddenly punching him with a solid, hollow thunk right in his chest, hard enough that his air left him with a whoosh.

"Don't you come dragging your sorry carcass back here after two years and then expect to get away with a 'Hey, Mom'!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him and squeezing him so tight he had trouble regaining his breath. I don't know if the rest of us felt safe to smile at this display or to back away slowly. Falshade's mom had that immediate energy of a strong woman who you really shouldn't tangle with. Not like the type of demeanour that Stork struggled to maintain, but something undoubtedly capable, proud and intense; a she-cat, a mother.

After a moment she released Falshade, after seeming content with the amount of time she'd made him struggle for breath and held him at arms length, eyeing him up critically as if checking for damage and being disapproving at the same time. "Well you don't look quite starving yet." she said finally. "Someone's been looking after you."

"Only reason I came back for Varan." Falshade said with a grin and she looked over his shoulder to take in the sight of said Raptor, who shrank slightly in the gaze of the smaller woman.

"Ah yes, there's the other one. You broke Marle's poor heart you know, Varan, so don't you even think about setting foot off this terra before you go back and beg for her forgiveness." Falshade's mother told him sternly. Wow, I don't think I'd ever seen Varan flat out cower like that.

"I was going to." he said lamely in his own defence.

A smile finally broke over her lips almost grudgingly and she hugged Varan too, standing on tip-toe to reach his shoulders. "You always were a good boy." she told him. "You've been keeping my son out of trouble I hope?"

"I've tried. He doesn't listen to me."

"He doesn't listen to anybody. He's just like his father." she said, trying to sound scornful and not quite getting away with it. She released Varan and then her crystal blue gaze levelled over the rest of us. Stork fidgeted nervously for maybe the first time in her life since I'd known her, and Fraggle hugged Pippa a little closer, whether in her defence or his I couldn't tell you. I felt myself start to shrink down inside, all my organs dropping down several inches. I shoved my hands into my pockets and hunched my posture a bit to keep my muscles from shaking.

"And who are these sorry looking characters you've dragged onto my door step?" she asked Falshade, who was trying to fight down a smile at the sight of all of us looking so apprehensive. Oh yeah, his squadron could handle the Scar and pirates and the Sky Knight Council, no problem. But mothers? We'd just discovered our kryptonite.

"Mom, these are my friends, the Gargoyles. We're an official squadron, didn't I mention that?"

"No, you didn't." she said reproachfully. "And I'm sure they all have names, don't just leave them all cowering there, they'll think I never taught you any manners."

Falshade grinned good naturedly. "Well, you tried anyways. This is Angel and Stork, I met them while I was in the Academy."

"I'm Stork." Stork said to clear up the confusion, because Falshade had only motioned in our general direction and common sense would have led his mother to believe that Stork would have bee Angel and vice versa. We liked to complicate things.

"Stork." she repeated, sticking out a hand which Stork shook hesitantly. "Please tell me he didn't just drag you into this mess, did he?"

"I dragged him into my mess, actually."

"Good girl. And you're Angel?" She confirmed, turning to me instead. I stuck out my hand stiffly.

"Yeah, that's me." Normally I have no problem holding people's eyes. They usually look away first. But when Falshade's mother burned her blue gaze into my icy orbs and held it I felt my skin crawling backwards, away from those eyes. They scorched right into my optical nerve and into my head and lit up all the shadows that had been hiding under their own beds up there, as if she could see everything I was. I had to fight not to look away. I jerked my hand back before she could take it; I was afraid of her skin.

Falshade gave me an inquiring look before continuing. "And this is Fraggle, Mom. He's our carrier pilot."

Falshade's mom held my stare for a moment longer before breaking away finally, allowing my eyes to water in her absence. Fraggle smiled and stuck out a hand around Pippa, who was staring at Falshade's mother in a mixture of uncertain fright and desire. She was clutching Fraggle's bomber jacket with one hand and watched Falshade's mom with wide eyes as she greeted Fraggle.

"This little one better not be yours, Shade." she told her son as she held out her hands in permission to take her from Fraggle. Stork barely suppressed a snort and Falshade's ears went red.

"She's not. Does she look anything like me, Mom?" he asked, scuffing his boot on the porch and looking sulky.

"Luckily, no she doesn't." Pippa clung to Fraggle for a hesitant second before sliding into Shade's mother's arms and curling against her chest as if she could sense the maternal instinct in her grip and smell. Fraggle seemed to sag sadly without the small girl's warmth.

Lastly Falshade's mother approached Wasp, who'd been watching the goat by the doghouse with the utmost of fascination (hunger too, which was putting the rest of us on edge; she hadn't eaten any breakfast, after all) and didn't seem to have any notion to what was going on. Falshade made a nervous expression as Wasp slowly revolved her head around towards his mother.

"And this is, um, Wasp." he introduced hesitantly.

Falshade's mother held out a hand, which Wasp stared at in confusion, before peering at her face and then Falshade's and back again, her nose twitching.

"Hold on a second. Are you two related?" she asked suddenly.

Stork smacked a palm to her face and Falshade's mother cocked an angular eyebrow, in displeasure or curiosity I couldn't tell.

"Yeah, Wasp, this is my mom." Falshade explained.

"I've got a name too. I'm Caspia, and it's very nice to meet you all." she said, taking her hand back from Wasp's direction and entering her house again, beckoning us to follow. "Of course my son couldn't have been courteous enough to warn me he was going to drop by with a pack of half- emaciated kids in tow, so I don't have much to offer you. There's some cookies I just pulled out of the oven, you can help yourselves to those. Go ahead, sit." she said as we entered a smallish kitchen, yellow and blue in colour with white washed window sills and dried flowers on the table in a small green vase. Stork and Fraggle's eyes lit up at the mention of cookies and they practically pounced on the plate after a few hesitant moments after sitting down. Varan retrieved an extra chair from a near by room as if he'd grown up in the place as well and I sat on the kitchen counter edgily, trying not to breath in too much the scent of home.

"So I think you owe me a bit of an explanation, Falshade." Caspia said, sitting down in her own chair after setting some glass and a pitcher of milk on the table. She looked at me, my dark form sticking out like a bruise from her bright kitchen background. "You can sit at the table too, you know, Falshade can grab you a chair." she invited, staring at me in that way again, that analytical way that seemed to pierce right into my shrouded chest and take out all the oily secrets from my clogged vessels.

"I think I'll stay here." I said.

"Angel, you've got to try these cookies. C'mon, they're _chocolate_ chip." Stork accentuated as if this could coax me over. "These are the best cookies I've ever had." she added to Caspia. Brown-noser. "I can't cook worth a damn."

Caspia smiled. "Nor can I, honestly. I got the recipe from Marle."

"How's she doing, by the way?" Varan asked tentatively while Caspia handed a cookie to Pippa, who was settled comfortably on her lap.

"She's fine, for the most part. Never got used to not having you around, though. That woman's got too much nurture in her for her own good." Caspia said and Varan seemed to sink guiltily. "That reminds me, though. What were you planning to do with this one?" Caspia continued, ruffling Pippa's forest green hair and turning to Falshade.

"Well, actually, that's one of the reasons we came here, Mom." Falshade said, suddenly sounding serious. "She's an orphan. Her terra's been slaughtered. We didn't find any other survivors."

Caspia's face didn't change expression but I saw her muscles tense and she hugged Pippa closer subconsciously. "Tell me everything."

And so Falshade did, with some help from Varan and Stork, starting from our visit to the Scar and ending with our departure from the massacred terra yesterday. Caspia listened without interruption through the whole account, only halting Falshade twice to fix him with a stern glare, once about our escapade into the Scar and the second to his rash actions on Rex. However, she did reach out and squeeze Varan's hand when Falshade's told her about the Guardian's treatment of him and I knew she probably would have acted just as recklessly had she been there. Falshade didn't have to look like her; you could just tell he was her son as much as Falco's.

"And so we decided to come here, to find Pippa a place to stay and to alert the Keepers so they can send word out to the Legion." Falshade finished and Caspia nodded, stroking Pippa's hair in a comforting way as the tiny girl dropped off to sleep in her arms.

"Well I must admit, you seem to have _some _good sense in that head of yours." she relented at length. "I take it you were hoping I'd take the girl?"

"You or Marle." Falshade said honestly.

"I think it'd be good for Marle. I've got Raphael out there to keep me company." Caspia said, jerking her head towards the window in the direction of the dog house. "And I have no idea how to raise girls."

Falshade's mouth tipped downwards in a subtle little frown but he made no further comment. Caspia wasn't done speaking anyways.

"There's something that I'm wondering, and I don't like the thought much. But what if this group of pirates who attacked you outside the Scar and the people who decimated Pippa's terra were linked somehow?" she wondered aloud and we all exchanged looks. I think we'd all been wondering the same thing.

"I'm worried about that too, but there's some stuff that doesn't add up. None of any of it matched up with anything from my dreams, for one thing." Falshade reminded her.

"And the Scar and this terra weren't exactly close by either." Stork added.

"But if they were linked that means they must have a large band indeed if they could dispatch two units almost simultaneously." Caspia countered evenly. "That worries me." she looked up at all present at the table and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And I suppose you're planning to take up the chase, are you?" she asked accusingly. Varan scuffled his tail against the floor like a guilty child and Fraggle froze in mid chew as if he were unsure how to answer.

"Yes, we are." Falshade said confidently. She levelled him with her stare.

"You are too much like your father, Falshade. You shouldn't just throw yourself and your squadron into a chase like this. It's dangerous, especially considering you don't know anything about who you're hunting."

"Mom, you weren't there. They _butchered_ that entire terra, every last person. And they weren't even armed. I don't care how much I do or don't know about these guys, I'm not gonna wait around to find out more and let it happen again." Falshade said firmly, holding his mother's stare unwaveringly. I admired him for that.

"Falshade's right." Stork spoke up, not having said anything bold in awhile and considering herself over due. "If there's a band of scumbag psychotic jerks like that marauding about the Atmos I don't wanna wait around for them to give us their business card."

Caspia sighed. "In the defence of trying to sound like a good mother, I don't think it's the best plan of action. But in the voice of someone who's been raised among people like Pippa here, I think it's absolutely the right thing to do. And I'm sure Falco would say the same thing. He'd probably lead the hunt, come to think of it."

Falshade smiled to the table top, his hair hanging in his face so nobody would see the single tear drop roll down his nose and shatter like a ball of glass on the table top. From my place on the counter, I saw.

"Right then, we better not lose any more time. We've got to go talk to the Keepers. We're um, we're parked at the dry docks, you know, Mom, in case you wanna come say good bye…"

"I'll see what I can do. But Varan had better go see Marle before he meets you at the Honeycomb." Caspia suggested for him as she stood up, jostling Pippa from her sleep.

"I will. I'll catch up with you guys." Varan agreed with a nod. Fraggle grabbed a few more cookies from the plate as we all left Caspia's tiny, hollow house. She waited for me at the doorway as I followed out after Wasp. She grasped my wrist just before I made it to the porch and pulled me back for a second.

"It's Angel, isn't it?" she asked and I nodded stiffly.

She examined me and my limbs started to go numb and tingly. My heart was throbbing at a painful rate and my mouth felt dry. She met my gaze again and under the layer of fierce pride I saw the raw love and hurt that was buried under years of being alone. Those eyes, like Falshade's, weren't afraid to say something, not like mine. In the weakest points of those brilliant orbs like blue fire, I saw something desperate struggling, the same flicker that was drowning in my storm cloud eyes. And in that second I knew that she knew.

"You're way too thin for someone your age." she told me in an almost gentle voice, much different then the tone she'd been carrying all this time. "You make sure Falshade looks after you properly." she squeezed my hand and I felt in her veins as they pushed against mine how much she wanted to care for me, and how much she did not trust me one bit.

Her eyes told me two things as I left her dark, empty home, her own space under the bed. One was the mother in her: _I wish you could have been my son. I could have saved you. I still can save you._ The other was the warrior, the one who'd seen the resulting destruction of my legacy, the widow of a Sky Knight, the more frightening side of her: _If you hurt him, I will kill you._

I sucked them both into the cess pool under my heart's chamber, wearing them both like the promise they were.

We parted from Varan at a crossroad that led one way back into town and the other that swept up the other direction of the plateau. I think I'd managed to pinpoint what it was about this terra that gave me the creeps as I watched a woman with her young son, by the looks of him, in tow pass Varan on his pathway and not shy from him in fear or disgust. Actually, she even smiled at him, as if she knew him (which come to think of it she probably did. That was the thing that was annoying me). Everyone on this terra seemed so close, like they all could have started from one seed and not hundreds of other terras and histories. It was like one, big, step-sibling, adopted brothers, aunts-by-marriage and foster parent family. Everyone knew each other, everyone loved each other. There were the young and timid, their eyes still glazed by tragedy and there was the fierce and bold who looked after them, like a colony of gryphons. They were like a huge cluster of Falshade clones, and it made me scratch at my arms like a meth addict. That kind of open affection, acceptance… it made me ache somewhere I'd forgotten about around age eight. I could only take that sort of charismatic, open-chested crap from one person and that was Falshade. Otherwise I risked getting addicted, over dosing and then dying in a brain dead state some years down the road.

"Can we get a goat?" Wasp asked at one point after scooping a butterfly from its perch on the center of a flower and vaulting it high in the air, licking the powder its wings left behind from her fingers.

"No." came Stork's immediate response. "Hell, you kidding? The _Merlin_'s barely big enough for us as it is."

I shoved Wasp away from me as she came happily careening in her walking "Hi, my name's Evolution's Missing Link" fashion right back onto the path in front of me and tried to step on my dangling boot lace. As if she thought this were a wonderful new game she shoved me back and I punched her right in the jaw.

Not _hard_ of course. I didn't exactly have much room to swing.

Falshade looked as if he'd heard the sound of my knuckles connecting with Wasp's thick jaw bone, but Wasp just waved at him airily and after a second glance at me he turned back around. Wasp scissored her jaw a few times, watching me as she walked backwards, starring at me without anger, accusation or hurt. Just a strange type of examination.

"Your left hook _sucks_." she told me flatly.

"Well, keep it up and I'll let you judge my right, how's that sound?" I growled at her and she grinned infuriatingly at me, the words 'I Dare You' forming in the corners of her mouth.

"What's up? Are you upset because we aren't getting a goat?" she asked as if she could relate.

"_No_." I stressed. "And there is nothing up with me. At all. So just shut up and go be an abomination somewhere else."

"You're like, the fourth person to tell me that. Can't you think of anything more imaginative?"

"How about I just slap a sticker on you with an arrow pointing up that says 'When Darwin gets Drunk'?"

Wasp seemed to ponder this for a ridiculously long time. "I do like stickers." she said at last.

I rolled my eyes. "Just fuck off, Faerie, okay?"

"So do you like me, _Hu-man_?"

_What_? "What?"

"Do you like me? I assume that's why you hit me. That's what boys do to girls they like."

I gawked at her and nearly stumbled over a rock in the dirt. "No. I don't like you. I am so far from liking you I practically hate you."

"Oh." Wasp said casually, examining a hangnail on her grotesquely long pinkie finger. "Okay then. I just assumed, because you hit the others a lot and everything. You never touch me."

"That's because I am disgusted by you. I hate to think you and I share the same air, let alone bathroom, refrigerator and living space. I refuse to have my dirty _underwear _washed in the same load as your clothes. I feel like I have bugs all over me whenever you get too close. I'd rather drink bleach then from any cup you've had your lips on. I could go on all day, but frankly, I find you're kinda a waste of my time." I told her, my voice never wavering.

Wasp flicked her ear nonchalantly and I hated her for her lack of response; I guess that's how people feel when they deal with me, actually. "I don't have fleas anymore." she assured me at length.

"Wow. Why don't you tell that to someone who cares?" I suggested to her and strode past her to walk along beside Falshade, who peered at me with concern, which annoyed me. There wasn't anything wrong, damnit!

"You okay?"

"Bloody brilliant. Your mom's hot."

Understatement of the year.

Falshade wrapped an arm around my head and rubbed his knuckles into my hair so furiously I think I smelt my hair starting to burn.

The Honeycomb, as it turned out, was like the Beacon Tower back on Atmosia. It was the center of the terra, the record hall, and the Beast Keeper's head quarters. I had no idea how it had landed itself such a lame-o name, but then again these people seemed to have an odd sense of humour.

Just outside, in the middle of the square, was a large statue, a monument to Fabian and his loyal gryphon companion. Carved out of the same dusky sort of stone as the plateau that forced itself into the skyline, the face of the old Sky Knight stared down upon us, amicable and determined. Kinda a stereotypical Sky Knight embodiment, but none the less impressive, because I felt like this guy, unlike so many other shrines to long forgotten heroes, really had been as mighty and righteous a prodigy as his memorial suggested.

I cocked my head as I stared at the gryphon's face, eye to eye with its stone depiction. Wow, they'd picked a real good mason; the whole statue was really well detailed.

"I can see the resemblance." I told Shade as he stared up with a smile at the face of his terra's founder. "You guys both have that beaky look to ya."

"Oh, ha ha." Falshade grumbled, still sore about my comment on his mom.

"What're you talking about?" Stork asked, looking at the gryphon as well, eyebrows furrowed.

"Don't you know? This here birdie is Falshade's name sake. Falshade the Ferocious, right?" I asked as he groaned and put a hand over his face.

A silly smile spread over Stork's face, her teeth revealed wickedly. "More like Falshade the Fruitcake." she said and I laughed.

"Jeez, that gryphon's got a set, eh." Fraggle commented in admiration. "Why on Atmos would they carve _that_?"

Stork and I were laughing so hard we both fell over, Stork plonking down on the stone square and myself dropping into the shadow of Fabian's statue, right below his massive longbow, which he had up in one stone hand impressively.

"Okay, now that I wish I would have left you all on the _Merlin _to succumb to heat exhaustion, let's go talk to the Keepers before you three think of anything else clever to comment on the statue. Which, may I remind you, is like, a freaking place of worship to a lot of people here. You might as well go swear in a church." Falshade told us as the three of us tried to settle down. Fraggle kept sniggering though, which made Stork snigger, which made me bite my tongue to stop myself joining the retard parade.

As we entered the large, airy hall, I finally realized why it had been dubbed the Honeycomb. Once on the inside of the place, which was bathed in yellow light from an array of Flare crystals which were stuck in a large, hanging, porous ball that reminded me of the inside of a pomegranate, I could see that the place branched off in dozens of directions, along side passages, up winding staircases and down dark but not foreboding tunnels. If I remembered my history well enough the whole terra was threaded with underground subterranean passageways, a labyrinth like a rabbit's warren, not uncommon on terras, seeing as how in case of aerial attack you could safely hide the entire population below ground. It was like stepping into a bee hive; even the walls were honey coloured and lined with gold in places. It was a lot more comforting in here then the exposed, cold Council Hall on Atmosia.

Stork let out a low, appreciative whistle. "Ritzy." she commented.

Wasp was staring around with engorged eyes. "It's so _sparkly_!" she gushed.

"Can I assist you?" A not-so-assisting ready voice asked from somewhere off to the left. A woman was standing in one of the archways, watching us from the last step of whatever chamber the staircase led from.

Falshade's mouth was quirking. "I doubt it." he said told the woman, who was drumming her fingers impatiently on her tanned arm. "You're rarely very helpful, Oz."

The woman squinted at him for a second before her eyes widened in realization and she vaulted from the step and practically tackled Shade, only keeping him upright because she had her arms wrapped around him.

"Ravenscroft, you're certainly a sight for sore eyes!" she exclaimed, giving Falshade a nougie that put his earlier one on me to shame. "Or maybe just a sore sight. What the hell are you doing back here?"

"Came by to see you." Falshade said, struggling free.

"Aw, really?"

"Well, not really. Listen, Oz, I really need to talk to the Keepers about something important. Are they in today?"

"First of all, yes, _we_, meaning the Keepers, are in today, yes." she told him firmly, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm still the explosive expert, believe it or not. Second of all, where's that scaly friend of yours, Varan? Heard he left with you about two years ago."

"He did. He's visiting Marle right now."

"Ah, well, good of the newt to do so, she's been way too lonely in that ol' house of hers. Speaking of which, your mother's taken to talking to goats these days, you oughta go say hi to her." Oz lectured him, jabbing a finger into Falshade's chest. She sure talked like an explosive's expert alright; bold and really loud.

"I already did, thank you very much."

"Okay, well… good. And third of all, I'm not letting you pass until I get a proper introduction." she said, planting herself firmly in Falshade's path. He sighed.

"I've been doing this all day, can't you give me a break?" he asked her. She shook her head, the long bang that fell over one half of her face swishing with the movement.

"Fine. These are my friends, the Gargoyles; Stork, Angel, Fraggle and Wasp. Guys, this is Ozprey, she's the Beast Keeper's explosive's specialist."

Oz grinned broadly at us all. "Welcome to the Honeycomb. Boring as hell, I know, but you make do with what you got. Now what'd'ya need to see the Keepers for, Shade?" she lowered her voice and leaned in close. "It's not those dreams of yours again, is it? Because you know what Drake thinks of them…"

"Well he can go jump off the plateau if he isn't going to hear me out because of that. This is something more urgent." Falshade assured her. I could already see Stork starting to prickle at the mention of another thick skulled douchebag who was prepared to accuse Falshade of spouting bullshit.

Oz inspected him and made a half hearted swat in his direction. "Believe you me, I didn't like the way he treated you last time one little bit, but he's still my Sky Knight, so keep the bashing on the other side of those doors, okay?"

"I'll try." Falshade said, and I noticed the same glint in his violet eyes that had been present when he'd faced down Harrier. Whoever this Drake guy was, he must have said something really stupid in the past.

Oz looked over the rest of us briefly as if to make sure we weren't packing any detonation devices or ratchets (Stork) before motioning us forwards. "Alright, come on then."

Falshade nodded at us encouragingly and ushered us up the spiralling staircase from which Oz had just descended. I let out a bit of a sigh as I skittered up the steps with the rest of them, being careful not to catch the back of Fraggle's heels as we moved steadily upwards: assuming Ozprey was taking us to see the rest of the Keepers and not planning to, say, devour us or something instead, that meant there were more people at the top of the stairs we'd have to be introduced to, shake hands, blah blah blah… there's only so many times you can tell someone your name in a day before it gets tedious; _nice to fucking meet you… and you… and you… and you…_

Then again I think I owed it Shade to try and be polite and act like I was hyped to meet the Keepers, if for nothing else then for the time he and Stork had sat through Lock Jaw 4 with me at the old run down theatre down the road from Finch's. To be fair, they'd pushed it that we do something together that _I _wanted to do, but… well, the Lock Jaw epic has probably got to be the most gruesome, god-awful bloody _brilliant _saga ever created. But even Stork was looking kinda green by the credits, and she'd let me eat all the flame corn she'd bought (which, coming from Stork, is epic in itself). They never let me pick a movie ever again.

We reached the top of the winding stairs just as we all started to feel dizzy and Oz knocked on the large, wooden door, which I gathered must have been a rare occurrence on her part, seeing as how she looked kinda confused on how to position her fist on the wood. That made me feel slightly edgy; I knew this wouldn't be a repeat of the Rex fiasco but I got the distinct feeling this might not go all tea party and ponies either. Especially if there was this Drake douche everyone seemed to be bad mouthing was present.

The door was hauled inward by someone on the other side and Oz skipped quickly into the room, making space for the rest of us to crowd in. A dark haired man at the table was in mid speech when he realized Oz had not come alone and closed his mouth with a quirked eyebrow. A similar look of puzzlement was given form the guy who'd opened the door, a heavy set fellow with a long braid of navy hair at the back of his head and none anywhere else.

"Hey." Oz said, making a broad wave to all present. "I brought company."

"Ozprey, we are in the middle of a _meeting_ here, why the hell would you-" A skinny little boy-man with green hair stood up from the head of the table, his chair scraping obnoxiously, began to say, then changed direction when he realized whom Oz's company was. "Oh. Hullo, Falshade."

"Hello Drake." Falshade relented with a bit of a nod. Stork's eyes had already narrowed with discontent at Vatican's Sky Knight. Stork, while not the best judge of anything else, was great at judging the worthiness of other people. If she didn't like him, I didn't either.

"Keepers, these are the Gargoyles, Falshade's squadron." Ozprey introduced us. The dark hair man, muscled and scarred, had gotten up and was smiling at Falshade while he shook his hand.

"Long time no see, Ravenscroft. Your own squadron, huh? What, we weren't good enough for ya?"

"Well, no offence, but you always had this kinda funny smell, Rayvin." Falshade said and the older man grabbed him in a headlock and hit him in the ribs twice before ruffling his hair with a laugh like sandpaper.

"Mind if I introduce myself to your squadron? They're looking kinda lonely there." he asked and Falshade nodded. Rayvin turned to us now.

"Who's the blondie?" he asked Stork, who gave him a look like poison.

"Not his I assure you." she told him gruffly and he laughed again, taking her hand from where she had it tucked under her folded arms and shook it. "Like you already. I'm Rayvin."

"Stork." Stork said shortly but with less bite.

"Stork?" he said curiously. "I'm sure I've heard that name before…"

"Well, I'm kinda famous."

"She means _infamous_." I corrected and she scowled at me.

"Ah, right, gotcha… and you are?" Rayvin asked me. _The_ Rayvin. Last I checked his stats, he was like, the third best sharp shooter in all the Atmos. You'd think I'd be a little more ecstatic. However, I don't do fangirl.

"Angel." I said, sticking out my arm as if electrocuted.

"He's _our_ sharpshooter." Falshade supplied and Rayvin raised an eyebrow at me in a challenging sort of way.

"Really? Hmm, always nice to get a look at the competition. Have you ever been to Smash Fest?"

"Never."

"Well, one day you go and we'll see who's got the better archer's eye." He told me and the corner of my lip went up just slightly. Always nice to meet someone with a sense of humour.

"I'm Fraggle, eh." Fraggle said, shaking Rayvin's hand good naturedly. I wondered if he wondered if the Zeros and the Keepers had ever done anything together.

As if he'd read our minds Rayvin examined Fraggle critically for a moment before asking. "Is your father Charlie-Sloan?"

"Was, yeah." Fraggle answered, his ears drooping a quarter of an inch.

Rayvin clapped him on the shoulder. "My apologies. He was a good man, saved Oz there's neck once, him and Billy."

"_To be fair_ it was from a quintet of phoenixes." Oz reminded him sullenly. "Anyone would have needed a hand."

"True say. And who's this? Is she a full blood Faerie?" asked Rayvin, taking in Wasp's ears.

"This is Wasp. She doesn't talk." Stork interjected. Wasp looked at her with puzzlement, opening her mouth.

"_She doesn't talk_." Stork stressed to her, stepping on her foot obviously. Wasp continued to look perplexed and then an expression on dawning lit up her face.

"Oh, I get you. See, Stork doesn't want me to say anything because I'm a psycho and I'll probably say something, you know, psycho-ish." Wasp explained unabashedly to Rayvin, holding out her hand while Stork muttered something to herself. "Don't worry, I won't eat your hand. I'm not a cannibal, you see. I'm a different species." She added brightly. Fraggle snorted.

Rayvin's mouth twitched. "Wasp. Okay. Well, that's all of you… I'm Rayvin, you've apparently already met Ozprey, the big guy over there is Nimbus." Rayvin motioned to the hulk who'd opened the door for us, who waved and grinned sheepishly. "The albino at the table is Aries."

"Contacts." Aries, who had hair like snow and skin to match, explained to my curious look at his amber coloured eyes. "I'm blind as a bat."

"Bats aren't blind." Wasp informed him reproachfully.

Aries laughed. "Well then I've got sub-par vision compared to ol' Ray there." Wasp nodded with approval.

"I'm a Scorpio." she informed him as if he cared. Again he laughed.

"I'm actually a Pisces." he said. "Close though, huh?"

"Yeah really… whoa, that's almost like Fate!" Wasp exclaimed excitedly. Stork stepped on her foot again.

"And the one scowling over there is Drake, our Sky Knight." Rayvin finished, earning a deeper scowl from said Sky Knight.

"I can introduce myself, thank you, Rayvin." he growled.

"Wait, let me guess: You're Drake, their Sky Knight?" Stork asked with mock concentration. Falshade had to bite his lip, examining the laces on his boots with the utmost fascination. Oz made a noise in her throat like smothered laughter.

It was Drake's turn to narrow his gaze on Stork. Both of them had green eyes, I noticed with dislike. Stork's were nicer though; his were the exact shade of snot.

"Falshade, I wonder if you were thoughtful enough to inform the Council that Vatican already _has_ a perfectly functional squadron when you signed you and your delightful little party up?" he asked Shade with a voice the exact _tone_ of snot while still trying to stare Stork down.

"Well I'm quite sure the Council is smart enough to figure that out on their own. Besides, we aren't representing Vatican." Falshade informed him evenly. Damn he had some restraint. He was really good with the passive aggressive stuff though; that was his preferred form of aggression, you see.

"Oh no? Which terra accepted you then, Faerûn?" Drake asked, folding his hands behind his back and miming curiosity.

Wasp growled at him, and not Stork's kinda Pekingese-y type growl either. We'd picked up early on that mentioning Faerûn and/or Macabre was a big no-no. Of course none of us ever had the interest (or balls) to ask why.

Drake faltered from the imposing savage we'd brought into his safety zone before turning to Falshade for an answer. Something possessed me at that moment and I ran the back of my finger over Wasp's sleeve briefly as if to soothe her so no one would end up with a broken arm.

"We're freelancers." Falshade explained to him curtly. "And I actually came here because I need to speak with you all."

"Sorry, but this isn't a psychosis clinic; we don't have time for more of your nightmares, Ravenscroft." Drake explained to him snidely. Oz did a bit of a double take and made a baleful expression appear on her bronze face.

"Hang on, Drake, you don't have to attack him like that!" she interrupted and Drake gave her a silencing look. Mutiny was etched into her blocky but fine features as the woman's back straightened in disapproval. Apparently those looks weren't accepted by her anymore then they were Stork. Can I get another amen, for the women who don't let men run them over? Especially not barely-hit-puberty little fucktards like this guy.

"_Do not _even start giving me looks like those, Drake, or I swear to-"

"Ozprey, if you're going to go into another rant about your impending self-termination due to the way I run things around here you might as well turn around and leave again, because I'm not in the mood for it and apparently Falshade has something more important to say." Drake informed her sternly and Falshade shot Oz a '_what?!_' look from under his bangs.

"Drake, calm down and leave her alone." Rayvin interjected, looking a little mutinous himself. Hell, and I thought _our_ squadron was dysfunctional…

"Sorry to disappoint you, Drake, because I know how much you love to hear about them, but this isn't about my dreams." Falshade said to try and break up the tension. Ozprey was clenching and unclenching her hands behind Nimbus, who'd stepped in front of her as if to shield her from Drake's negative vibes.

"What's happened, Shade?" Aries asked from the table.

"We found a terra about twenty miles out from Rex, levelled." Falshade explained and Oz stopped looking furious to give him a look of disbelief. Aries straightened up in his seat and Rayvin tilted his head, confused.

"Levelled?" Drake repeated.

"To put it gently, yeah. We found one survivor, a little girl. She's with my mom right now. Other then that…" Falshade swiped hands across in front of himself, his palms parallel to the floor. Flat-lined.

Rayvin rubbed his hands over his face. "When?"

"Yesterday."

"Any idea who?"

"Nothing. Wasp found one who we think might have been one of them, but he died shortly afterwards. All we have to go on is the emblem she tore off his shirt."

"Better not be those fucking cult activists at it again…" Aries said, flexing his fingers.

"Whoever it was, they're still out there. We came here to tell you so hopefully you could alert the rest of the Legion, make sure they're aware, maybe send out a hunting unit…"

"How come you didn't alert them yourself?" Drake demanded. "You said you were close to Rex. Why come all the way out here? That would have been the proper course of action. By now these rogues could be back in their little hidey hole, or too far away to ever find."

"We had a bit of an issue on Rex. It wouldn't have been a good idea." Falshade told him stiffly. He knew it was a risk making the boot all the way out here, he didn't need someone to rub it in his face.

Oz mouthed the word 'issue' and Falshade mouthed back 'Varan'. Oz pulled an expression of shocked disgust and then went back to being outraged at Drake and appalled by our news.

"Look, it doesn't matter now where he went. He didn't have any lead on these bastards in the first place. We'll send word out to the rest of the Legion as soon as possible." Rayvin assured Shade and he smiled with relief and gratitude.

"Thanks, Ray. They'll at least listen to a distinguished squadron."

"This little girl you mentioned, do you think she'll have any recollection of what happened, remember faces, ships, or over heard anything?" Aries asked.

"I dunno. She looks like she might only be around six, and that aside she was in serious shock when we found her. She hasn't said anything to us." Falshade told him.

"Hang on, she talked to Fraggle!" Stork pointed out.

"Yeah, all of seven words, eh. I wouldn't push her anyways, she's just a youngin." Fraggle said defensively, worried about Pippa's well being.

"I wouldn't want to put a child through anymore stress then she's already in." Rayvin agreed. It occurred to me he might have been the one who found Varan during the scouring of Bogaton. Varan never talked about it, but Shade had told me once that it was the Keepers who were the first to comb the place. It would explain why he'd been brought here, after all, and not put under quarantine on Rex or Atmosia.

"Is that everything you had to say?" Drake asked, not sounding as impassive as he had before but still quite arrogant. I wondered what he thought he had that made him so great… apparently not his charm with the ladies, as he'd already given the only three females in the room the desire to shred him. And he was short and bowlegged. I mean _I _was arrogant too, but at least I had a nice nose…

"Also you might wanna tighten security on the Scar. We got in, no problem, and we weren't the only ones hanging around." Falshade told him and Stork punched him in the arm.

"Stop telling people that!" she seethed.

"Falshade…" Nimbus groaned. "Do you know how much shit you should be in for that?"

"Freelancers, man." I said. Jeez, there I went again, taking Shade's side. And after he thoroughly bruised mine too. "We'll drive you crazy. Good thing we don't get a cut of the tax dollars or people are _really_ gonna start to get pissed."

"Not the time." Falshade told me out of the corner of his mouth.

"Never a good time to bring up politics." I huffed, folding my arms.

"You're lucky I'm going to let that comment on the Scar slide, Ravenscroft, but only because you've brought us some important information." Drake relented at length, the word 'important' barely making it past his teeth. "We'll do what we can to put the Legion into action. About time we had something to do…"

"Was starting to wonder why they kept you around, eh." Fraggle said and the rest of us made the expression that generally comes before a face-palm. Drake snapped him a look, acid in his snot green eyes.

"Just kidding, dude." Fraggle assured him.

"I think it'd be a good idea if you left now, Falshade. Rest assured we'll make good use of the news you've brought. At least one Sky Knight from Vatican should do their job properly."

Ow… the pain of missing the jibes on that one. My brain almost fried from overload.

"Yeah, probably." Falshade agreed to humour him. "It was nice to see everyone again though. Let us know, if… you know, you find anything."

"What kind of trouble are you getting into that's more important then this, Shade?" Aries asked him, waving goodbye to the rest of us.

Falshade grinned. "Ah, you know, chasing nightmares, all that jazz. One Sky Knight from Vatican had to do something properly."

"I'll lead you out!" Ozprey burst out as Drake's whole face went red. She practically pushed us down the stairs and howled with laughter the whole way.

"Oh Shade man, I missed you." she wheezed, ruffling his staticy hair. "Lord knows I need a good laugh once and awhile."

"I'll say. What's all that shit about quitting?" Falshade demanded.

Oz shrugged as if it were nothing. "Oh, well, Drake's a right prick about everything and frankly I'm getting tired of it."

"But Oz what would you do without the Keepers?" Falshade asked her, seeming positively upset. Heh, that's a bit of an oxy moron.

"Dunno. Hey, maybe I'd be a freelancer like you, brother." she said, resting an elbow on his shoulder. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." she assured him but he didn't look like he believed her one bit. On her part she didn't look very convincing.

Falshade sighed and let it go though, because he'd learned long ago you rarely got anywhere once a woman said "I'm fine." "Okay then. Just… you've still got the others, right? Remember that."

"I know. Drake doesn't get to me that badly. Not all the time."

"If you say so. Thanks though Oz. Tell the others thanks too, for listening at least, even Drake. We should get going."

"I know the story." Oz squeezed Falshade in a brief but tight hug and smiled at the rest of us. "It was nice to meet you all. I'd follow you guys into battle any day. You guys should come to Smash Fest, seriously. All squadrons are invited you know."

"We'll see what my dreams have to say about it." Falshade told her. "Hey, Oz, can you do me a favour?"

Oz rolled her eyes. "I'm _always_ doing you favours."

"I'll make it up to you, I promise. Can you just… keep an eye on my mom for me? She doesn't look…" Falshade trailed off and revolved his hand in the air. "She's got a freaking goat!" he said at length.

"Lucky." Wasp mumbled.

Oz's liquid chocolate eyes softened. "Yeah, sure I will, kiddo. She'll be okay. She's got all of us." she assured him, squeezing his hand. Falshade nodded and rubbed at his scalp uneasily.

"Thanks."

"Brotherhood of the Wing, man. You just take care of yourself and these little maniacs here." she told him, motioning to the rest of us. "Because I like them. Anyways, I should go do some damage control upstairs, no doubt Drake'll want my hide for embarrassing him like that. Good luck, Ravenscroft."

"Thanks." Shade said again. As she stepped up on the first step, Oz paused then said, without turning back to face us, "Drake asked me to marry him." And with that she left us.

"Ah, yes, that makes perfect sense." I said aloud.

"Probably why he picks on her. He's the sulky type, holds terribly grudges. Worse then you, Angel." Falshade explained as we headed for the exit.

"Damn, that means I'm not doing my job."

"So anyone wanna make a bet on how long the rod up that guy's ass was?" Stork asked as we stepped back into the sun. "I'm thinking about four feet."

Fraggle and I laughed but Falshade looked up at the sky thoughtfully.

"I dunno. It's not completely his fault they all hate him."

Stork ogled at him. "Are you kidding me? That guy was a douchebag with a capitol douche."

Falshade snorted. "Okay, he doesn't have to be so snide like he is. But, and yes he is a jerk, but he also got shoved into being a Sky Knight at seventeen, into an already established and tight knit squadron who were still mourning the death of their previous Sky Knight and best friend. That's gotta be hard on someone, to know the whole terra hates you because they loved your predecessor more. That's why he hates me, because everyone here, and not to sound arrogant mind you, wanted me to be their Sky Knight after my dad died. They thought when I went to the Academy that's what I was planning on doing." Falshade explained, running a hand though his hair distractedly. "It's a big, complicated story."

Stork nodded considerately, thought for a moment then asked "Any takers for five feet?"

Even Falshade managed to laugh, besides his big, complicated story.

We took our time getting back to the dry docks, as Falshade was stopped by several other people on the way back and the whole introduction game got played again and again. We also stopped at the docks to get some more crystals, since the _Merlin _seemed to suck down more juice then Wasp did. Stork was just complaining that it'd be useful to have him here with his muscles when Varan wandered back to the wharfs, looking dishevelled and shifty. Falshade and I exchanged knowing little grins.

"Now don't try to tell me you spent all that time visiting your mommy." I called to him and his face turned a shade darker.

"She's a talker that woman." he tried to pass off.

Wasp squinched up her nose contemplatively at him before asking "So what did her tattoo taste like?"

The rest of us fell over laughing.

Just as we were getting ready to leave someone cleared their throat behind us. Caspia, true to her word, had come down to see us off, accompanied by a very short woman, a little less curvaceous then herself and with flaming red hair. Said redhead was holding Pippa in her arms and I gathered this was Varan's adopted mother. Well, now I knew why Varan was so skittish…

"Ran into Oz, she said you raised some hell with Drake." Caspia informed Shade, taking one of the last crates by herself despite Fraggle's offer to take it and carrying it up the ramp. She shot her son a look, caught somewhere between disdain and disapproval. And amusement.

"Well, you'll be happy to know I've done my share of hell raising for the day." Falshade assured her.

"I've always told you, dear, he takes after you." Varan's mother informed Caspia, nudging her with an elbow. Caspia snorted.

"Don't tell him that, he'll think he can get away with it. Nice carrier, very sleek." She added to Fraggle, who grinned from ear to blonde ear.

"She's a beauty alright, eh. Hey, um, I've got two favours to ask you there, eh."

Caspia cocked her head. "Shoot."

"One, um… well, look after the kid." Fraggle strung out awkwardly. Marle smiled at him and nodded reassuringly.

"She's in good hands, honey, I promise." she told him and Fraggle nodded stiffly, wiping at his nose.

"And, secondly, if it wouldn't be a lot of trouble, do you think you could…er… well, just contact my mom back on Nord. _Merly_'s radio isn't strong enough to make it all the way out there, otherwise I'd do it, and…"

Caspia squeezed his arm. "I'd be happy to do it."

Fraggle fiddled with his coat sleeve awkwardly. "Thanks a lot, eh. You just gotta ask for Maxi-Ruth. Could you just tell her I'm… I'm alright?"

Caspia gave him that mother-look that only works on practiced sons. "That's all?"

"And, um…" Fraggle glanced at us then leaned into her ear and whispered something. Caspia's thin lips twisted into a grin, dimpling her cheeks. "Of course." she promised him and gave him a quick hug goodbye. Fraggle turned to Pippa, who was still in Marle's arms.

"Well, erm… goodbye, kiddo. You look after yourself now, eh." Fraggle sniffed and seemed to think about something before digging something out of his pocket. "Here, you can have this. My sister made it for me, but I don't think she'll mind, eh. Not my colour."

He slipped a home made necklace over Pippa's tiny head and let it rest against her stomach, as the cord was rather long. Multi-coloured wooded beads were threaded in a careful pattern near the bottom, five on each side of a tiny fang.

"It's lucky, eh." Fraggle told her. "You'll probably get more use outta it then me. Anyways, I'll… I'll see you, Pippa."

He turned to get on his ship, but Pippa clutched at his jacket and after exchanging a look with Marle, Fraggle took her from her arms and hugged her tightly. I was a little worried about the tiny girl's ribs, but she didn't seem to mind; she wrapped her stubby arms around Fraggle's neck and hugged him back, tiny nose crinkling as his hair tickled her face. Fraggle gave her one last squeeze and handed her back to Marle before turning on his heel with a wave to Caspia and Marle and brushing past us.

"I'm going to my room." he announced, voice kinda cracking by the end. We held back all teasing for the simple respect of Gargoyles' rule number three: No teasing is permitted when victim is about to cry.

"As for the rest of you, try to keep safe." Caspia told us sternly, handing Stork a brown paper package. "There's some cookies for you in there." she explained to Stork's perplexed look. Stork practically beamed at her. "Make sure he eats some." Caspia said, nodding in my direction.

"Thanks a lot." Stork said with a nod and she too earned herself a hug. She said a quick goodbye to Pippa, shook Marle's hand and then skipped up into the _Merlin_'s hanger so she could get a fair chunk of our chocolaty spoils to herself before the rest of us set into them.

Caspia hugged Varan tightly without saying anything and let him go say goodbye to his mother before turning to Wasp.

"You don't wanna hug me." Wasp assured her pleasantly. "I bite."

"She does." Falshade and I confirmed in unison.

"But can you hug your goat for me?" Wasp asked and Caspia laughed.

"Depends, we'll see if he got into my flower beds again." she said evenly and Wasp cracked a werewolf grin before prancing away, leaping on her tip toes, arms straight out like sticks.

"_When I join the circus will you come to my show and throw roses when I fall from the ropes and laugh at all my jokes and powder my nose is falling from my face again hand me my mask and lets go to the show is over folks …"_ she warbled, half opera style and half screamo. "_Pink elephants, pink elephants, pink elephants all around another round for me!_"

"Well, something tells me you're never bored." Caspia said and Falshade grinned.

"Unfortunately not."

Lastly, before she said goodbye to Falshade, Caspia turned to me and I almost took a step back. Almost. The plummet to the Wastelands might have been a welcome alternative. But her blue eyes snagged me and I simply froze.

I wish I could have said that I bit.

Things were rattling loose in my chest as Caspia came towards me. My skin went tight and cold. If she hugged me it was going to break like a razor thin layer of ice. Please don't hug me. I'll start biting just for you…

She did hug me and all traffic stopped. Blood stopped pulsing, brain stopped throbbing, heart stopped banging on the back of my ribs.

A deep, rattling breath punched into my chest and I drew in too much of her smell. It was like desert wind hurling itself down my throat. It pushed into all the spaces in my lungs greedily and stayed there, stuck in the tar that had built up over the years, stuck under the bed.

I never wanted to exhale again.

Her body was strong. And warm. Was I just naturally cold? Had I spent so long in the merciless desert heat that my insides were permanently chilled less they risk heat stroke?

Caspia, after a lifetime of the stars, broke away from me and held me at arms length like she had Falshade and I saw all that I was and feared to be in her dark side of the moon orbs. And I realized she was the one, the one who'd known when to let me go, the one who tried to stop me crawling into that casket with my mother's corpse, my mother's only friend. I'd tried so hard to blot out her face I'd forgotten her perfectly and completely.

And I realized all that what was… and what could have been.

And I realized that she'd seen me cry.

And I remembered I'd promised never to cry in front of anyone ever again. I'd crawled into the damn casket anyways.

And I had never let her wipe away those tears.

So when she reached out and rubbed one pale thumb under my eye today, as if she were smearing on the black resin I'd used to put under my eyes to protect them from the desert sun, I let her wipe those old tears away. We both needed to be done with them, let the other go.

"It was my idea." she told me so quietly I never even heard her.

And I walked like a cold zombie up the ramp and into the hanger, letting those words I hadn't heard bounce around my blender of a brain. Of course it had been her idea; I sure as hell had never been my mother's angel.

I ran into Stork as I entered the bridge and she looked at me with a flicker of concern. "Hey, you okay?" she said around a mouthful of crumbs.

And I finally let out the breath I'd been holding so that it felt like the seams of my lungs had been about to burst, let out all her scent in one long breath and said "I think I'm going to have one of those cookies."

**End of part 1**


	12. Time of Dying, Prt 2

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

Ugh…

That pretty much summed up how the next three days went as we flew to just about every place we could think of that might be a desirable bad-guy hangout.

And I was so damn bored I almost wanted to smash my skimmer with something heavy just so I could fix it.

Well, maybe not _my _skimmer per say. She'd never forgive me…

Falshade wanted us to be constantly at the ready. Even when I went pee at three o'clock in the morning, I was to be at the ready. Vigilant, that's the word. Angel and I began to sling it at each other whenever we passed in the corridors: "Stork, are you being VIGILANT?" "Yes, Angel, I'm being VIGILANT. I'm so VIGILANT that VIGILANT is being me. Are you being VIGILANT?" "Yes, Stork, I too am being VIGILANT."

It usually went like that until Falshade threw something at us.

Aside from being VIGILANT (did I mention I was being VIGILANT?) I practiced. Falshade, wanting us to be VIGILANT, didn't want us out on our skimmers to practice aerial combat, but I did manage to get a lot of training in the hanger, even if it seemed a little less practical if you ask me. Falshade sparred with me mostly, sometimes using our weapons and sometimes playing Capture the Flag with the wooden staffs we kept. According to Falshade there were two types of practice: Weapon practice and Personal practice. Capture the Flag was designed for the latter. Basically all we did was stick the Flag (an old bandana I'd once used as a grease rag) in a pocket or belt loop and your opponent had to try and get it. It's a blocking and parrying technique, trains you to keep people out of your bubble. We got into the habit of using the Pussy Staffs (as Angel had dubbed them) because once I cheated and just kept making wide sweeps with my battle axe to keep Falshade at bay. And then I hit him (by _accident_. The jerk jumped into my arc!). Other then Capture the Flag we did some hand-to-hand combat and played Hot Hands, apparently to keep our reflexes practiced (plus it's just fun).

I wrangled Wasp into some sparring whenever Falshade or I (usually me) weren't speaking to the other due to bad form on the opposite's part. Bad form just means you got hit too hard and got cranky. I liked training with Wasp too because she didn't keep telling me things like "Hey, that was good!" or "Keep moving your feet!". Sometimes I think Falshade forgot he wasn't my teacher anymore. Plus were Falshade could get pretty intense in a sparring match, Wasp could get plain vicious, which really kept me on my toes. However she could stop on a dime in mid swing or plunge if she thought I looked like I'd been hurt or was out of breath. At one point she caved and traded me her machetes for my axe for one session, so we could get a feel for the other's weapons. That was not a good idea on my part, I will grudgingly admit (but not to Shade. To him I insist it was a pragmatic and clever idea); I tore Wasp's jacket. She put a dent in the hanger wall.

But no amount of training, sore muscles, exercising my powers of being VIGILANT or annoying Shade with my powers of being VIGILANT could eat up the boredom forever. So on the morning of day four I slouched back down from breakfast to the hanger, prepared to put a good dent in Angel's Slip Wing (and by dent I meant take apart the engine and clean every piece) because he'd spit in my orange juice and didn't tell me until I'd drank it all.

However the jerk must have been on to my scheme because he intercepted me just before I was about to vanish into the hanger. "Hey! C'mere for a second, I've got something to show you." he said, ignoring the daggers I was shooting at him. He looked too damn ecstatic though for me to ignore, and seeing as how Angel's emotional capacity usually rivalled that of a goldfish's I rolled my eyes and followed him back to into the kitchen, where the others were sitting expectantly.

"Okay, wait here for just one second, I'll be right back." he told us before taking off down the corridor.

I raised my eyebrows at Falshade as I sat down beside Wasp. "Any idea when he slept last?" I asked him.

Falshade shrugged and drew sticky lines over the table with the orange juice that remained in a few little puddles. I decided not to tell him that most of it had gotten there because I'd coughed it out my nose.

Angel came back a moment later and dropped his pillowcase onto the table top. It made a loud, metallic clunking sound on impact.

"See, _that's_ your problem." I explained to him. "No wonder you can't sleep."

Angel made a face at me and then pulled a twisted hunk of metal out of his pillowcase and handed it to Falshade. "Tah da! Remember that thing I couldn't show you before? Well, that's it, it's done."

"Uh… oh. Okay." Falshade said, tilting said thing in his hands and examining it carefully. "That's great. What, um… what exactly am I looking at?"

Varan, Fraggle and I, however, knew exactly what it was.

"It's our crest!" I exclaimed, jumping to me feet. "Angel, you made our crest?"

"Yeah, brilliant, I know. I found that piece of paper you guys left lying around and thought we should at least try to look professional." he explained in a haughty tone, dumping five more crests out of his pillowcase. I pounced on the nearest one and examined it closely. There was our gargoyle, tail, ears and all. Angel had even added a little fang to the open mouth. I had to hand it to him, he'd crafted it to near perfection, all the little sections welded together seamlessly and the scrap metal he'd used polished so it shone like steel.

"Aw man, Ange, these are great, eh!" Fraggle said excitedly, taking off his jacket so he could start attaching his crest to the back of it. "Now all we need is to get the _Merly _all painted up with it too!"

"Well I mean we don't exactly having matching outfits, so I thought this'd kinda unite us." Angel said, rubbing his finger nails on his shirt front smugly.

Falshade grabbed him round the shoulders, smiling. "They're brilliant." he told him and Angel cracked a little grin of his own. As if he needed more things to inflate his ego with…

As I enlisted Wasp's help in clipping my shiny new crest to the back of my shirt I was reminded of another emblem we'd yet to look at. The glass with Wasp's doubloon in it had been moved to the shelves by someone or other who'd thought it was in the way and we'd completely forgotten about it.

Wasp snapped the last bolt into the fabric of my tank top and I nodded in thanks before zipping back out onto the bridge, eager to take a look at that disk now. The metal gargoyle sat with little weight on my back and I felt like I'd grown a pair of wings or something. Before I headed for the shelves I did a small spin in mid step, revelling in the feeling of having that thing strapped to my back, a connecting thread to all my friends, a way to show people who I was.

And right after my little pirouette I felt like someone had abruptly fired off a nail gun in my temple.

The drop to the floor never registered to me. One moment I was standing and the next my new crest was being shoved into my back by the floor. My muscles seized up, my limbs going stiff, my jaw clamping shut. All that was real shattered and gave way to a second dimension, where all that existed was the horrible pain in my head, worse then last time, worse then anything.

I couldn't see anything but a red haze, but somehow I knew somebody had found me and was calling my name. It seemed to bounce off something, somewhere but only half registered. It was such a weird feeling, the slight fraction of something I was aware of besides that pain in my imploding head. It was like something had been disconnected, wires somewhere uncrossed and my brain had tried to detach itself from my body. Things only pulsed and shimmered faintly on my nerve endings. Well, except the ones in my damn head…

Just when I thought the place at the top of my that and bottom of my nose was going to burst open and all sorts of matter was going to spill free, Angel's face was looming over mine and all the blaring pain dissipated like a swarm of killer bees.

Gasping for breath and brought my hands up to the sides of my head, checking for fractures or leaks carefully. The front of my head felt sore and numb after the attack but at least it was still intact. After a long, silent moment I looked up at Angel's face and his concern bombarded me ruthlessly.

"Are you alright?" he was saying over and over again. I gave a shaky nod and wished I hadn't.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." I choked, watching the pace slow in the vein on his neck. Frustration, humiliation and fear washed over me like a tidal wave and I wanted to break down and cry right then. What was going on with me? Why why why was my own brain trying to kill me? Why why _why_?

Angel let out a long breath of uneasy relief and then lifted his right palm to be examined. Turning his hand over and over the two of us watched the muscles near his fingers twitch once and then we shared a very strange expression.

"You felt it too?" I whispered and he nodded. When Falshade, about seven days ago now, had pulled me out of the bathtub, I'd been able to feel his hands holding me, his energy whisking about under his skin. But it had taken Wasp's touch to get me breathing. I'd blamed that on the fact that she'd hit me in the chest, but when I thought about it… at the same instant the pain had stopped. And it had seemed like Wasp's connection on my skin had sent a shockwave down into my body as it was shutting down, ripples of her energy pushing back the black light the was burning the gaps in my brain's construction. I'd brushed the whole thing off, to horrified and mortified by the whole situation to put that much thought on it…

But I remembered it all now as I realized there was an aching spot on my shoulder where Angel had shook me. And at that junction of contact, something had reared up inside me and tried to chase his touch back, striking like a coiled snake through a channel and me and stabbing right into his arm.

It didn't make sense, I knew that. None of it made any sense at all. But as Angel stared at me with some sort of struggling conviction in his shards of glass eyes, I realized that making sense didn't matter anymore. Because things were happening anyways.

But just as I was about to try and start explaining it all, our newly patched proximity alarms went off and Falshade came careening onto the bridge, nearly tripping over us to get a hold of the periscope.

"Two cruisers, four o'clock, and they don't look like merchant vessels!" he called out to the rest of us. Angel, after one more quick glance at me to make sure my head wasn't going to roll free of my shoulders, was at the windshield while Fraggle turned the _Merlin _in a slow arc so we all could take in the monstrous battle cruisers hanging like giant mechanical hornets in the air ahead of us. And as we watched with unease they both swung back around to face us, making no effort to contact us via the radio.

Which is often a sign they want to eliminate you.

"Is that them?" Angel asked in a low voice. Falshade was hopping from foot to foot, torn by uncertainty; if we opened fire on these guys, bad things were going to happen. If we didn't, worse things could possibly happen.

"Hey, this is the _Merlin_ to UFO's, eh." Fraggle said suddenly and we jumped at the loudness of his voice. He was barking into the _Merlin_'s unreliable old wave radio. "Please identify yourselves, eh, 'cause this birdie's loaded and I'm not afraid to use 'er."

Falshade gave him a look like he'd dearly love to strangle him and we listened with baited breath for a response from one of the battle ships. Oh man… while one of the ships seemed only maybe twice our size, no where near as large as the last ship that tried to blast us out of the skies, but the one next to it… well let's just say that it looked like it possessed the ability to tear the _Merlin_ to bite size little pieces and ingest them. As a snack.

The radio snapped a few times before a voice washed over the air waves and struck something cold into us all. "Hello to you too, Fraggle." it said and Fraggle froze in shock.

Angel shook his head and shoved Fraggle aside, taking the mouth piece from his hand. There were few things I allowed myself to appreciate about Angel's presence, but one was his capability to think of something snarky to say, even in a freak fest situation like this one.

"Alright fucktard, listen up. You either get the hell off our sonar screens in the next five seconds or we're going to come over there and crush you so small you won't show up on it!" he snapped into the mouth piece. Whoa, somebody forgot to eat their Wheaties this morning…

The voice on the other end began to chuckle softly. "I thought you might say something like that, Angel. I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you though. You see, we're the ones who usually do the crushing. Tell him, Carrion."

Angel was staring at the radio with a mixture of fury and shock. "Who the fuck am I talking to?!" he demanded.

Suddenly the voice on the other end was replaced with the most horrible sounding voice ever to beat it's way past the wax in my ears and strike on my eardrums:

Scratchy, tinny and harshly high, this new voice cackled like mad into their own mic before telling us one thing, sweet and simple: "You're all going to BURN!"

"Falshade!" Varan, who'd until now been watching the spectacle unfold from the door way with confusion, pulled us all back to attention and jabbed a finger at the window. Skimmers were pouring out of the larger cruiser as if the whole hive had been stirred for the attack while the smaller cruiser was spinning around and heading towards the _Merlin_ from the starboard side.

"Fraggle, take care of that smaller ship! Everyone else with me!" Falshade shouted, releasing the periscope and dragging Angel away from the radio.

"Our game plan?" I demanded as we screeched into the hanger, my head still reeling, a combination of my recent brain attack and that horrible, sugary voice.

Falshade grabbed his hair in a tight fist as he leapt onto his skimmer. "Take them down." he muttered, having absolutely no idea what else to tell me. Understandable, I suppose. So much for being VIGILANT.

I straddled my Hornet and revved up my engine, nodding at Angel as he roared past me to show I was going to be okay. Then I got that feeling you get when you think you've forgotten something and did a quick run over in my mind: Skimmer, check. Axes, check. Armour, check. Parachute?

I wiggled slightly and felt the familiar weight on my back. Check. I was just going crazy. What else is new?

"C'mon Stork, move!" Varan hollered at me, tugging at my handle bars in passing and I shot after him, punching into the open sky and almost immediately getting nailed by a bolt of red energy. I went into a barrel roll to shake off anyone else who might have been targeting me and got screamed at by Falshade to move just as Fraggle brought the _Merlin _around to take on the smaller airship. I just managed to pull hard to the left and shoot straight up through the gap between the _Merlin_'s hull and the port side engine.

"Sorry, eh!" Fraggle's voice said from beneath my wrist.

"Just take care of those jerks and don't do that again, alright?" I snapped into my mic and tried to pick out a target.

**x.x.x. Falshade x.x.x **

I turned back around after I made sure Stork had avoided getting squished and was met by the business end of a colossal halberd wreathed in flame screaming right towards me. Faster then I could blink I had Sliver up to deflect that mighty blow and my shoulder screamed at me when it took the brunt of the force to keep that sword at bay.

Wheeling about so I could take in my attacker as he sped past me, I got a brief glimpse of hair so blonde it was white before something crashed forcibly into my ride and I was nearly shaken from my seat.

Whipping back around, thinking I'd been hit and was about to experience engine failure, I cried out when I came face to face with a face so twisted with malicious glee the lips were drooling.

"Oooh, you're a pretty one, aren't you?" there it was, in corporeal form, that piercing voice like metal being twisted into shapes it wasn't meant to fit.

And it came from a woman so psychotic looking she made Wasp seem like a respectable dentist.

One eye the colour of blood, the other simply a white orb with a pupil, stared down at me with equal vicious purpose. Hair, as red as her eye, hung to her belt and flopped over her forehead in black bangs. Other then her face, she wouldn't have looked that imposing, fact aside she was standing on the front of my skimmer. She was practically a wraith, thinner then even Angel.

But she was holding a war hammer as thick around as my torso. And the disturbed air that hung around her told me she was prepared to make my brains into a smoothie with it.

Getting over my shock I kicked out at her legs and nearly succeeded in knocking her from my skimmer. She let out an enraged shriek and literally pounced on me, long, curved nails scratching into the skin on my neck as her eyes bulged with fury.

"Think that was funny?" she demanded, one hand wrapping around my neck as I kicked into her gut with my free leg, the rest of me pinned beneath this freakishly strong crack-head. Her other hand grabbed hold of her hammer and lifted it above her head, her lips splitting as she smiled wickedly down on me.

"Sweet dreams!" she shrieked and at that moment I hooked my foot under my skimmer's handle bars and kicked upwards, sending us spinning in an out-of control barrel roll and cling to my seat for dear life.

Her nails bit into my chest as she tried to hang onto me to avoid being flung free, but with that hammer in her hand she got over balanced and tumbled loose with a screech that nearly blew my eardrums out. Panting I forced myself back into a sitting position and pulled my ride out of its blender-like spin. Looking down I realized the woman had not plummeted below the cloud layer like I'd hoped. Rather she'd caught a hold of her abandoned ride, one of the strangest looking skimmer's I'd ever seen, and was rocketing towards with murder in her eyes.

"You tried to KILL ME!!" she roared at me, her hammer lighting up with violent orange energy and she hefted it high to fire a blast at me.

But she never got that far.

Because Angel came pounding into the side of her skimmer from out of nowhere, blue light flashing as his sabres put multiple new vents into her skimmer's engine compartment and ramming his shoulder right into her side.

The woman shrieked and changed direction, swinging her hammer down in an attempt to squash the life out of him. Angel barely got both sabres up to block her, catching the hammer's shaft just below the head and standing on his skimmer to push it back away from him.

I wheeled around and fired three rounds at her skimmer while Angel had her distracted. All three burrowed into her skimmer and she screamed in frustration, kicking Angel in the chest with huge, heavy, steel coated boots and flinging something pulsing in my direction. It clattered to an abrupt halt on my left upper wing and I realized with horror it was a magnetized bomb. With a whining noise it began to glow bright purple and I threw myself onto my wing, hacking at the thing to try and shake it loose.

"SHADE!!" someone shouted nearby just as I managed to tear it free from my wing and toss it overboard. A second later it went off and my ride dropped like a dead bird, spinning in tight circles that kept me vacuumed to my seat. For about five seconds I thought my skimmer had been gutted by that bomb and I was going to have to tear myself free or crash into the Wastelands. But then my steering obeyed my command again and I changed directions, shooting straight upwards until I was level again.

Angel was still grappling with the psycho, both of them too furious to back down. I fired another round at her skimmer and she turned back to see what had hit her, her eyes narrowing to slits when she realized I was still alive.

"You little FUCK!" she shouted just as Angel, fed up, leveraged himself with his handles bars and kicked out like a kangaroo with both feet, punching into her ribs and sending her reeling off the opposite side of her skimmer. Firing one round from his crossbow after her without really taking aim he sped over to make sure I was alright.

"Who the hell was that?" he asked, wiping some blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Her name is Carrion." the first voice informed us and a blade as thick as my forearm and spitting off flames whistled down between us. I managed to jerk my wings out of the way but Angel wasn't so lucky. Looking up at his attacker I watched as the scope of his Sight clattered down over his wings and dropped into the open air beneath us.

White hair was illuminated by the ill mood of the shining sun and eyes the colour of mud bored down on both of us. My first thought was of Harrier, because this man had the same square jaw and blocky body. But as this guy leered down on us, halberd slung over his shoulder, I knew right away he was most definitely not a Sky Knight.

Angel and I reacted at the same time, his arm coming up to fire his crossbow as I flicked Sliver in an upwards jerk, two rounds screaming up towards this new guy. His sword came up and battered them both away as if they were troublesome moths and the sent a wave of roiling fire down at us. We rolled opposite ways, Angel cursing as he smothered out the flame that had sprung up on his pant leg.

With a speed I couldn't register, he was in front of me again, blade shining as if burning star fuel. He grinned at me, white teeth lighting up in an ill fitting mouth. "And my name is Halo." he announced to me.

My tongue made its presence known in my mouth "And I should care why?"

Stork's gut wrenching scream made me break one of the ten most crucial rules of being a Sky Knight: never turn your back on the enemy.

"ANGEL!!"

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

I watched it all in slow motion: Angel taking out the three skimmers (Nightflyers, by the looks of them. Damn sexy rides, really fast, armed to the teeth… but I digress) that had been tailing after Varan, then getting clobbered from below by the woman with red hair, the screechy one. His entire Slip Wing flipped over itself, the under belly smoking and spitting sparks. Shit, that wasn't going to be cheap…

But then, while Angel for the first time in his life fumbled with his sabre (his arm was hurt I realized) the woman cam back for round two, swinging a low, devastating blow with that hammer that'd put my axe to shame. And that one swing tore off both of Angel's port side wings.

And then she slammed downwards, using the momentum from that first sing, and ripped the _entire_ front end of Angel's skimmer away from the back end, nearly taking Angel with it.

My scream hurt my own throat as it tore through my lungs like a small detonation had been set off under my ribs. Varan rocketed over head of Angel, reaching for his hand and missing by a fraction of an inch. And then Angel's ride started to drop.

"ANGEL!!" I screamed, fluid bursting free from my lips and eyes such was the force of my volume. Angel's skimmer went perfectly vertical, plummeting in a straight line with one destination.

Varan whizzed past me in order to bash the face in of one fucker with his bare fist as the guy had been coming up from behind to behead me. "Grab him! Grab him quick!" he shouted at me, something dancing in his yellow eyes I had never seen there before.

"W-w-wha?"

"He's stuck!" Varan bellowed at me. "His leg's caught in his ride! Do something!!"

What was I…? How was I…?

"Angel, hang on, I'm coming!" I shouted, throwing the throttles into overdrive and kicking my brand new Turbine into action at the same time.

Angel, ever the arrogant jerk that he is, refuses to ask for help. Ever. And even now he seemed to have things under control. Because, while he had no use of his steering anymore, he was throwing himself to the side repeatedly. At first I thought it was because he was trying to tear himself free, but then I saw the looming shape of an airship blot out the skies below us.

"Angel, no!!" I shrieked at him, but he never listens to me.

He hit the runway of the _Merlin_ at about sixty miles per hour.

I threw my hands over my face, knowing I'd never eat again if I saw his guts forcefully expelled from his splattered body. The horrible crunching noise was enough to give me nightmares for weeks.

"Angel!" Falshade was shouting. Fraggle was swearing and hyperventilating into the radio.

Peeking from between my fingers I watched as Angel staggered to his feet, the impact obviously knocking him loose from however he'd been stuck. Coughing because he'd obviously knocked the wind out of himself, he scrabbled, his legs not quite working properly yet, through the open bay doors and moments later we heard his voice, by some work of a miracle, over the intercom.

"I'm okay. Falshade, do me… do me a favour and bring me that bitch's… head would ya?" he wheezed, trying to sound casual and light but not quite getting away with it.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Falshade scolded him.

"I'm fine, damnit. I'm taking the top side blaster, since my ride is totalled." he said and moment later the revolving gunner's seat lifted from the top of the _Merlin _with a roughed up and shaky but definitely still breathing Angel manning the blaster. I let out a sigh of relief and went to take care of the homicidal bitch before she almost killed someone else I loved.

My hair sizzled and was tugged along in the slipstream as a bolt of crackling red energy barrelled past me, barely missing my ear. I turned around and ducked as another bolt shot past me. I could hear the guy who was chasing me laugh as I flitted back and forth to avoid getting nailed.

"Angel, get this jerk off my ass!" I demanded, near death experience forgotten.

"Kinda busy here, Baby Girl." he growled back.

I grunted irkishly to myself and, struck by sudden inspiration, I abruptly shoved myself into a nose dive and then rolled back around so the underside of my ride was parallel to my opponent's. Letting go with one hand I grasped my axe tightly and as I pulled right side up I swung my axe, my Hornet's speed and my own strength to deliver possibly to most powerful blow I ever had. And it showed, because I _shredded_ his skimmer's side, man.

"Oh snap!" I crowed down on him, even though I was trying to get into the habit of not oh snapping.

Falshade came out of nowhere, rolled his skimmer over top of mine so that our heads nearly knocked together and his stunt went from expertly controlled to just plain dumb lucky and ruffled my hair with one hand in passing.

Wasp, who'd recently dispatched a jerk of her own, appeared at my side with a wicked little grin playing all over her face.

"What?" I asked.

"I've got an idea."

A crafty little grin of my own spread over my lips. "I'm listening."

"It's more of a play as it goes kinda thing."

"Just our style then. Okay, lead the way."

Whatever it was I'd tried to thing Wasp might have cooked up in that backwards head of hers, it certainly wasn't this. She turned her Gremlin around, switched the steering so she could have her hands free and came up behind me, bony, alarming strong hands grabbing me under my armpits and lifting my free from my ride.

"Ahhh!! WASP!" I hollered. "What are you DOING?"

"Shush, this is gonna be fun. Okay, on three you're going to play jump rope."

"What?"

"One…" Wasp began to count, angling us towards a guy on a well armoured Nightflyer. By well armoured I mean it had spikes protruding from every available surface.

"Wasp, don't start counting if I don't know the plan!" I screeched, kicking furiously.

"I'm gonna throw you. Two…"

"WHAT? Bad idea!! Bad idea!!"

"THREE!!" Wasp howled with glee and she really did throw me. And it was all I could do not to scream.

What the fuck was jump rope?!

The only thing I could think of was…

I snapped one of my throwing axes from its holster on my hip and threw it desperately as I started to lose momentum and decrease in altitude. It spun three times around the Nightflyer's wing and then bit into the metal and held there. I wrapped my hand in the cord so as not to pull my wrist out of socket and swung upwards along the angle of my rope like a trapeze performer.

And my dare devil stunt brought me right up at the perfect angle to kick with both feet and send the guy spiralling from his ride before he could even figure out what hit him. And allowed me to land perfectly in his seat instead.

Okay, so it wasn't a _terrible_ idea.

Wasp was laughing like a maniac as she pulled up alongside me. "Most excellent!" she cheered and I half glared and half smiled at her.

"Yeah yeah. But never do it again, kapeshe?"

Wasp blinked at me. "No."

I rolled my eyes and turned around to realize I was heading on a collision course with the side of the air ship, the one on steroids. I saw the gleaming letters, splashed their like wet blood, that spelt the name _Monstro_ over the side of the hull. And I was tied to the very ride that was taking me there.

Oh for fuck sakes…

I struggled with my axe, trying to wriggle free. Of course it was my right hand that was bonded with the left win, so I couldn't even reach around to grab the steering properly.

"Wasp!" I yowled, struggling with my bracer to try and release the clasp.

At the last possible second Wasp weaved in and sliced through my cord with one good chop of her machete. I leapt free as the Nightflyer collided with the airship's hull and promptly exploded. I plummeted for twenty feet before Wasp appeared below me, having ponied my Hornet alongside her and positioned it under me so I fell right into the seat.

Except I didn't exactly land on the seat. I hit the metal just before the handle bars, right in the bird. And I didn't mean the _Merlin_.

And I mean I won't even pretend I know what it feels like to get kicked in the balls (although Lord knows I've done it to enough boys to form an idea). But guys can't seriously think we girls have it easy down there, if you know what I mean.

I turned to Wasp, my mouth the forming word 'ow' and she wrinkled her nose sympathetically, before abruptly being literally bowled over by the psycho with red hair. I'm serious, this bitch grabbed Wasp by the shoulders, while still flying her skimmer, and bowled her over, dragging her free from her ride in what she must have thought was an easy shot at dropping her into the Wastelands.

Except she hadn't met Wasp yet. And Wasp never made anything easy.

And then it became the battle of the psychos.

Wasp clambered up onto the Nightflyer and went right for the creeper's neck, all fangs and nails and snarling. Carrion, I'd gathered by the sound of that voice, clawed at Wasp's face and sank her own sharpened teeth into Wasp's exposed ear. Wasp's knee pounded into her gut and as Carrion doubled over slightly Wasp landed an uppercut right into her nose. Carrion screeched like a dying rabbit and smashed her forehead into the bridge of Wasp's long nose. Neither of them seemed to realize how close they were getting to the blasters on the far side of _Monstro_'s hull. And _Monstro_, for its part, was now moving in on Fraggle and the _Merlin_, while Angel and Fraggle were still trying beat off the smaller air ship and some of the skimmers that had gotten past Varan, who'd been circling the _Merlin_ like a hawk.

Damn it, we were either going to get squashed or shot in a matter of moments if I didn't tear those two apart.

"Die you freak!" Carrion yowled at Wasp as she clenched both hands around the sides of Wasp's head as if trying to crush her skull. Wasp still had her stubborn fangs sunk deep in Carrion's shoulder and was using her free hands to hit every square inch of flesh available. Carrion screeched in pain as Wasp squeezed down harder and re-positioned her hands, her fingers digging under Wasp's chin in attempt to snap her neck with one easy twist.

Of course I couldn't let that happen.

I threw my remaining axe at her and it bit deep into her back, the exposed, defenceless place with no armour.

Carrion threw her head upwards, a silent screaming expelled upwards to the heavens. Wasp took this opportunity to grab her wrists, so perfectly presented to her beneath her eyes and yanked them hard in opposite directions until I heard a definite snap. Carrion fell limply from her skimmer, dropping without complaint into the open air. As she reached the end of my cord my axe was torn free from her flesh with a sickening wrenching noise. And then she just dropped, her arms fluttering lifelessly in the air.

Oh god… had we just…killed her?

"Good riddance." Wasp growled, spitting a glob of red spit down after her. Not for the first time did it cross my mind that Wasp may very well have killed people before.

"C'mon, let's… let's go back to the others and help them out." I said shakily. Wasp nodded and zipped off ahead of me, firing random shots off with her machetes and not looking to see if they hit anything or not. I made a mental note to stay behind her.

By the time we got back to the _Merlin _things weren't looking good for us at all. I mean, we'd already lost one set of swords in the sky, that being Angel, and although I'm sure he was doing a fabulous job up there on the blaster it didn't change the fact that we were getting hammered by that stupid little cruiser and now the pilot of the _Monstro_ seemed to think this was a fine time to move on and join in the hammering.

Varan was panting slightly when Wasp and I pulled up beside him, and we took shelter under the _Merlin_'s runway briefly so we could scrape together some sort of plan. Obviously Falshade's first one wasn't working to our advantage.

"Bloody fuck…" Varan growled. "These guys just keep on coming. We've got to hold that big mother off as long as we can or they'll barbeque our bird."

"Got any clever ideas?" I asked, sounding a little more frustrated then I meant to.

Varan nodded and dug something out of his side compartment. "You go, Stork, you're smaller, harder to target. Wasp and I'll stay here and help Falshade keep those guys off the _Merlin_." he handed me something metal and lumpy with two crystals sticking out from the sides.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Newest invention. It's a Raptor Rapture."

"Catchy."

"Not now. All you have to do is pull the pin out of the bottom. Not now!" he yelled, swatting my hand away. "Once you do you should have about five seconds."

"_Five seconds_?" I reiterated.

"Hopefully. No promises."

"You're quite the motivational speaker there, Var."

Varan opened his mouth to tell me to can it when we were interrupted by a cross bolt hammering into the _Merlin_ just above our heads.

"I'm on it." Wasp volunteered and shot off after our attacker, cackling.

"Pull the pin and throw it." Varan told me again. "Get it as close to that ship as you can, okay? And… be careful."

I tossed the Raptor Rapture in the air and caught it casually. "But of course." Did I really have to hold the damn thing?

Another bolt came a bit too close for comfort and Varan roared off, his Bone Wing catching the sun's rays on its numerous spikes and armour plates. I counted to three to make sure he'd given me a good head start and then gunned it, heading around the blind side of the _Monstro_ as it moved ever closer. I dodged several blasts and nearly got clobbered by some douchebag with white blonde but didn't let anything stop me. I was a girl with a mission. And a highly explosive and more then likely very unstable (not to mention not field tested) in my hand. Don't try to tell me you would wanna get there ASAP too.

I rolled into the shadow the _Monstro_ cast over the battle field and heard someone let out a bone chilling shriek, but it didn't sound like any of my guys, so I kept right on going. I sped along the underside of the massive ship where the blasters couldn't get me, on a path for the engines at the back. If this thing had as much firepower as Varan seemed confident in, then if it hit the engines it'd be bye bye _Monstro_. Or so I hoped. Knowing our luck the thing'd be a dud.

I nearly got clotheslined as a periscope snaked down from the bottom of the ship and swung around in my direction. Being the crabby person I am I aimed a solid kick at it and hoped the jerk at the receiving end got a decent black eye.

I pulled a Sharpie to the left and could already feel the heat from the engines as they worked hard to power the colossal ship towards the _Merlin_ and my friends. I pulled to a stop and picked my target, a junction between two outboard engines and a rudder. Kissing the Rapture for good luck I yanked the pin out of the bottom and made ready to throw.

And then was spent spinning as a cannon went off next to me and punched into the side of my poor Hornet.

And, possibly even worse, I dropped the bomb. Literally.

It clinked against the seat in front of me where I'd nearly broken my pelvic bone early, skittered forward a few inches and teetered at the edge of my Inductor. And then fell in.

"FUCK!" I screamed and plunged my hand in after it (instead of bailing, which would have been the smarter thing to do). Luck was sure smiling on us Gargoyles today, because my finger tips closed around it, I yanked my arm back out and cut myself on the lip of my Inductor and hurled the Raptor Rapture at the ship. Then I turned around so fast I was surprised I didn't ruin my controls and you better believe I hauled ass outta there.

The resulting explosion sent my ride tumbling wing over tire and I nearly was pitched from my seat. A shockwave rattled through my bones and the heat scorched my back as if I had flown too close to the sun. There was a grinding sound as some large part of the ship parted company with its riggings and fell free and I turned around to watch four engines explode into teensy weensy bits and pieces and rain down like metallic hail.

I punched up my arm in victory as the _Monstro_ began to keel in the sky, dropping steadily into the clouds.

The suddenly something hammered into my Hornet's engine and smoke made an immediate presence.

I leaned as far as I dared over the front of my handle bars and saw a large chunk of shrapnel embedded in my baby's motor.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, rummaging in my side compartment for a wrench and crawling out even further. My poor, poor Hornet was emitting awful spluttering and grinding noises and spewing smoke into my face.

"Hang on, baby, hang on." I said. Fuck, this didn't look good. The shrapnel had obviously done some serious damage; my meters were going haywire.

Frustrated I turned back slightly, still unable to grab my wrench and caught the flash of sunlight bouncing off my new Gargoyle's emblem, which had been there the whole time, the familiar weight.

Oh _shit_…

And it was as the nose of my skimmer started to tilt that I finally remembered what I'd forgotten:

My parachute.

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

Now this was humiliating.

I had to be the first one to ever crash amongst us. Ever. And to top it off, I'd lost my Sight too.

Then again I suppose I was glad it hadn't been the others to crash. I mean, I barely made it onto the runway at all.

But I'm a sulker by heart, and since everyone was okay (for now), that's what I was doing. That and taking my revenge on those bastards on the Nightflyers.

I dunno, something about manning the top side blaster just felt lazy to me. Spin, shoot, shoot, spin… that about sums it up. However I was taking out guys like they were flies, so I guess it wasn't so bad. By now I was a little more concerned about that air ship. I'd already bulls eyed one of the engines, but their carrier must have been one of those ones Stork raves about all the time, with dual engines on separate power supplies. Way more price on fuel, but apparently that was worth it in battle. Plus these guys weren't making it easy; their pilot knew his stuff and was zipping around the _Merlin_ like a live bolt of lightning, and had a nasty habit of flying underneath before I could get any decent shots. Varan had hurled a couple of his trademark detonators but even those seemed to have little effect. Apparently these guys had a jumbo of a crystal shield.

I saw someone encased in blue plunge down past the runway as Fraggle took a shot with his energy staff through the brand new drive-thru window in the _Merlin_'s windshield. Fraggle was not gonna be a happy camper later, that I can assure you.

I picked off two guys who were getting too close for comfort to the hull and then spotted Stork and Wasp, who were grappling together with the red haired bitch, Carrion or whatever the fuck whitie had introduced her as. I watched as Stork threw her axe to try and ward her off Wasp and it actually stuck in her back. Stuck and stayed there. Ooh. Stork seemed pretty shocked, hanging there stock still, but Wasp still had control of her limbs and whipped her off her skimmer by her arms before hopping back onto her own ride and coming back towards us, Stork in tow.

"Falshade, look out!" Varan shouted and I wheeled around in a one-eighty to see Falshade nearly get crushed between the _Merlin_'s hull and the hull of the ship that had been the bane of mine and Fraggle's existence for about the last half hour. The _Drone _it was called. Wow, original.

Falshade managed to shoot through the rapidly closing gap at the last minute and I fired five rounds in rapid succession into the top of the _Drone _and watched the guy who'd been chasing Shade who was not so lucky; his skimmer seemed to fold under him as the two airships sandwiched him between then and I heard two horrible crunches as his legs were crushed on either side. As the ships continued to grind against each other I saw blood spurt up and paint the side of the _Merlin_ bright crimson. When the airships finally separated the poor bastard feel away from his demolished skimmer and dropped through the sky, the skin from his leg flapping in the wind.

Well, there goes my lunch plans…

A sudden explosion rocked the air around us, buffeting me in my perch. I could here Varan whooping and I assumed that must have been the new project he'd been working on finally showing some value. I looked towards the mighty battle ship that had been slowly advancing on us and watched its back end begin to crumble and break away while Stork punched the air triumphantly.

Then something went wrong. Her ride began smoking and tipping slightly. I wondered if her ride hadn't been able to handle the resulting shock wave.

I blasted three more skimmers out of the skies and witness Wasp breaking someone else's arm before checking back in on her and realized she was steadily losing altitude.

I pressed my intercom button. "Shade." I called. "Keep on eye on Stork."

After a few minutes during which I shot less and watched Stork more I was starting to get more alarmed when Shade finally buzzed me back. "What?"

"I _sa-id_ keep on eye on Stork." I informed him. Still watching Stork I saw her ride suddenly plummet about ten feet before she got it back under control.

"Falshade!" I shouted into my voice box, watching Stork lean over and start hammering the front of her Hornet and completely ignore everything else around her. And that's the one thing you should _never_ do in battle.

"You know Angel, you could fucking be a bit more useful up there, I've-"

"Look at Stork!" I interrupted him desperately, throwing my wounded pride aside.

Falshade stopped now in mid air to finally check up on Stork and I blasted the shit out of the rider who tried to get him while he wasn't paying attention. As the skimmer spiralled down in two separate pieces I caught a glimpse of red hair flashing among the other colours that had been driving my eyes into chameleon mode. I blinked twice. _What the hell_...? Peering through the pathetic scope on the blaster I got a good long look at our friend the scitzo, making a bee line towards her intended victim with a murderous look on her thin, twisted face.

And Stork, oblivious to all except the well being of her damn Hornet, didn't even see her coming.

"STORK!" I bellowed into the box, somehow already knowing her radio was out of order and hoping beyond hope that somehow she'd hear me.

I fired three shots at her even though the distance was too far to get a proper bead on her and they were all deflected by Halo, who'd appeared out of nowhere and was batting the balls of energy away like we were playing Sky ball.

The word fuck was racing through my mind and spilling out with my breath as I fired again and again until the blaster clicked and fired only blanks, completely out of ammo. And a horrible feeling washed over me, the same one I used to get every time I looked up at my mom and wished I could help her in my stupid child's brain:

Utter helplessness.

**x.x.x. Falshade x.x.x**

I looked back over my shoulder after I narrowly avoid becoming Falshade jam between the slices of bread that were the _Merlin_ and the _Drone_ and winced at the gruesome scene of the guy who'd been tailing me for too long being mulched between the two massive ships.

I didn't have much time to dwell on it as Angel started to tell me something from his position topside. I didn't have much time to dwell on that either as two Nightflyers came in on either side of me and attempted to steer me into the line of fire of one of the _Drone_'s cannons.

By this time I was pretty fed up with these guys. Frustration helped fuel my fist as I slammed it into the jaw of the guy on my left and knocked him pretty senseless. Now that he was no longer driving his skimmer into mine I was able to roll over him and freed myself of their little trap, dragging the guy on my right directly into the energy blast intended for me. As I weaved past the first guy, who was still spinning about half-consciously I caught sight of another skimmer coming at me and made a split-second dive, slashing out with Sliver and slicing his wings off.

Righting myself I pressed down on my intercom button. "What?"

I could practically see Angel rolling his eye in his response: "I _sa-id_ keep an eye on Stork!"

What? Why? I looked over my shoulder and tried to pick out a flash of blonde and black scalp amidst the mess of skimmers and crystal energy that was swirling all around like carnival lights and making me feel like I did when I was trying to read small, tightly-spaced text. I was nearly run over by a Nightflyer larger then the other models and looked up from my duck into the dark, sparking eyes of Halo.

"You should pay more attention." he informed me, taking a chop at me with his giant halberd. Sliver squealed against the fiery blade as I deflected his blow and as he grabbed hold of the handle with both hands to try to bring it around in a wide arc I kicked out at his knee cap and then ducked under his skimmer, dragging Sliver along it's underbelly and causing oil to rain down on me in thick glops.

"Falshade!" Angel's voice yowled at me, sounding slightly muffled under the sheen of oil that was now covering my radio. I wiped it away roughly with my sleeve and noted with irritation that Halo had vanished into the battle again.

Frustrated I clicked the button down again. "You know Angel, you could fucking be a bit more useful up there, I've-"

His voice ran over mine mid-way through my rant and the desperate screech that was laced under his words finally got my attention.

"Look at Stork!"

Angel worked hard at making sure nothing too emotional ever slipped into his voice, so his frantic tone wasn't one to be brushed aside. Feeling my heart rate pick up erratically I hunted for Stork in all the commotion and finally spotted her and realized with dread that she was in trouble.

Her Hornet appeared to be sinking in the air, a trail of smoke spewing from the engine. Stork was bent over her handle bars, attempting some sort of stunt I couldn't decipher from here.

"Stork, are you alright?" I said rather hurriedly into my mic.

It took a long moment before Stork answered back, her voice staticy and hard to hear. "I'm fine." she said shortly, a clang echoing over the airwaves along with her voice.

Now I realized what she was doing. She was banging her engine compartment with a wrench, the little idiot.

"Stork, get into the hanger, your skimmer's in bad shape." I ordered, ducking under a green ball of energy as it whizzed by my head. Wasp grinned apologetically as she chased after a small cluster of limping skimmers that were trying to re-board the _Drone_.

"I'm- fine!" Stork insisted. "Just- gotta- get the- engine- going!" More clangs punctuated every word as she stubbornly kept beating away at her engine compartment.

"Stork, get in the hanger or I'm going to drag you in there!" I demanded, leaving no room for argument. However I wasn't able to follow through with my threat as I was nearly knocked stone cold by the flat side of someone's wing.

Flattening myself right down in my seat and banging my chin on the handle bars I watched two Nightflyers speed towards Varan, who had his back turned and was in the act of throwing another one of his explosives. They each had their swords out, pointed towards each other, prepared to slice Varan in two. Twice.

Right around then I got mad.

I pressed my heels into a hollow under my seat as I rocketed towards them. One both sides a small handle snapped free of its compartment and I snatched up my Hammer Hands, heavy adamantine weights with curving bracers that slid over my forearms like half-moon gauntlets. My fingers curled around the holds on the inside and I let go of my controls, using my knee to keep my throttle pushed forward as I sped towards them, arms stretched wide like wings.

I nearly clipped my one wings against theirs as I shot between them and I felt two solid thunks of metal meeting bone as I thwacked both riders in the back of the head with my Hammer Hands. As I turned around to snap them back into their compartments that Stork had designed into my skimmer after Angel had made them for me (less knuckle more buster he'd explained to me at the time as I'd looked at him blankly) I watched with mild satisfaction as my two victims dropped like dead-weights in the sky below me.

"Watch yourself, Var!" I shouted in passing and then took shelter beneath the _Merlin_'s hull, seeking out Stork in the confusion. I was alarmed to see she was rapidly dropping out of the sky, her ride smoking worse then ever. She was still bashing the front compartment like mad, completely oblivious to-

"STORK, DUCK!" I bellowed, not even bothering to go for my speaker this time. I never knew if she heard me or not, but it was too late anyways. From out of nowhere the psychotic woman who'd tried to claw my throat open earlier barrelled straight into her, slamming that massive doubled-headed hammer right down on the back of Stork's gutsy but slighter Hornet and decimating the back end. Stork must have been stunned by the sudden attack but managed to turn and around and scream "YOU FUCKING _WHORE_!" and beat her once around the knee cap with her wrench before her Hornet's nose dropped the rest of the way and she began to drop, the whine of her plummeting ride picking up speed, growing louder and louder, the most horrible sound next to a dying scream a Sky Knight can ever hear.

I was rocketing towards her, my neck muscles straining against the force and still not going fast enough. I was too far, way too far.

Behind me I could hear Angel and Varan shouting and yowling out to Stork and to me, but their voices only bounced with the slightest retention against my ears drums. All I could hear was the horrible sound of her ride going down, down, down…

"STORK, BAIL OUT!!" I screamed at her so loudly I tasted blood. I didn't care, nor did I care when I was nearly pummelled from the side by three separate shots. Someone was racing along just behind me, but I didn't have the time to look back and check if they were friend or foe. I had to get there. _I had to get there NOW._

"STORK, BAIL!" I shouted again. She wasn't seriously trying to save her ride, was she? Abort you fucking idiot, abort!

"STORK!!" I shouted one last time, throwing myself over my handles. Maybe it was my desperate imagination, but the distance was closing…

Something pounded into the side of me, sending me spinning and I just barely hung on. I looked up to see that white-blonde fucker grinning down at me like I was a present just waiting to be torn open.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked me, hefting his halberd up over his head, preparing to make a powerful two-handed chop downwards, one that would have cloven me in two.

Except he never got that far.

I could feel the vessels constricting and dilating behind my eyes and in my neck. My heart was pumping blood volcanically through my veins and something must have burst somewhere, because all I could see was red.

Sliver came up faster then he or I could see and then slashed back down, drawing a long gash from his bicep all the way across his abdomen and then plunged and bit deep right above his hip bone. He jerked and his mouth stretched wide in a silent scream that lasted for all of three seconds. Then a gurgling howl erupted from his mouth and I twisted Sliver like a corkscrew inside him, malice and fury driving my muscles.

"GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY WAY OR I'LL TEAR YOUR BLOODY HEAD _OFF_!!" I roared at him and yanked Sliver free, delivering a powerful, final kick into his chest and blasting him back from his ride. I didn't even stop to see if someone caught him or if his chute opened or not. Only one person mattered to me in the whole Atmos right then and at the moment I didn't know if she was going to live or die.

I could no longer see Stork but I could still hear her engine far below, bawling away as it sped ever closer to the Wastelands. I flattened myself over my ride as I dropped into a nose dive myself. I could still catch her, I could still catch her…

I was about to collapse my wings again and let myself free fall until I evened up with Stork, but then someone swung in front of me and I got a good long look at those two horrible eyes, blood red and stark white, as that psycho bitch swung her hammer towards me and I couldn't pull out of the way.

The front of my skimmer seemed to implode before my eyes and my engine sputtered once and died.

"NO!!" I screamed.

"If we can't have her, neither can you!" she screeched at me in her high pitched, tin foil voice, pulling up and away. "You'll pay for your actions today, Sky FOOL!" And then she was rocketing out of sight, Halo balanced on her seat behind her.

No no no no NO NO NO NO _NO NO __**NO**_!!

I yanked upwards on my handle bars, pulling myself into a glide that was only going to last as long as I had forward inertia. I couldn't care how long that time was.

"GET HER!! ANGEL, CATCH HER!!" I shouted into my fizzing speaker.

"Who's gonna catch you?" Wasp asked me, veering in from the side and snapping a cable to the front of my battered ride, pulling me along behind her.

"WASP!! YOU'VE GOT TO GET HER, YOU'VE GOT TO GET STORK!!" I sobbed desperately, preparing to pitch myself from my ride. If I could catch up to her, I could grab her then use my parachute…

"Falshade, I don't even know what's going on."

"Because you're a fucking retard!" I snapped at her. "You can still catch up to her, go, now, save Stork!"

"Save…?" Wasp began and then stiffened. Her ears swivelled like radars until they were directed downwards, below us, to the Wastelands. I leapt from my ride to hers, clearing the eight foot gap in one careless jump and landed on her wing. I scrambled forwards until I was close enough to grab her by the jacket and shook her.

"WHAT!?" I demanded, feeling beyond hysterical, beyond reason.

Wasp stared at me, eyes bulging out of her head. Slowly she stretched her mouth grotesquely wide and two words whooshed out:

"Oh no."

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

Fury was replaced like ink running over a painting by a black water rush of panic. And once it got started, I couldn't force it back.

I only knew two things then: I was going down and I wasn't wearing a parachute.

I could hear Falshade screaming at me, or at least I thought it was him. My ears were being pummelled by the sound of wind roaring past me and the increasing whine of my falling ride.

I couldn't bail. I couldn't get my engine working, and even if I could the entire back end of my ride had been crushed beneath that mighty blow.

I was too terrified to even scream. There was utterly nothing I could do to save myself. I yanked on my handle bars so hard my skin tore on my palms and my muscles separated. My ride wasn't obeying my commands, I couldn't pull up. I couldn't jump off. There was nothing I could do, I was trapped, I was done for.

…Well there was one thing I could do.

I could hang on to my ride and hope it would act like a shield against the impact. I'd have better chances that way then jumping, right?

Who the _fuck _was I kidding?

"Help!" I whispered past my swollen throat. "Someone please help me!"

I was going to die and I couldn't even scream properly!

I was going to die, period. End of my story.

Tears were being sucked from my ducts as the wind ever relentlessly slammed against my body. I broke though another cloud layer, my hands frozen to the handle bars. I couldn't even shut my eyes, shield myself from the last thing I'd see before I splattered in the Wastelands.

One more desperate attempt to pull up, but it was no good. I had too much force dragging me downwards. All I could do was hunch up into a ball on my seat and send out a silent apology to my Dad, hoping he'd forgive me for not coming back after all, and to Falshade, hoping he'd forgive me for breaking my promise, that I'd always, always be there for him.

That last thing I ever saw was the jagged, clawed cliffs of the Wastelands below, racing up to shred me.

**.x. Flashpoint .x.**

**The split second it takes for a match stick to ignite. **

**The second more that stick takes to set off a can of gasoline. **

**The moment before impact, before death, when your whole life flashes before your eyes and you realize you've forgotten everything that ever mattered. **

**.x. Four Years Old .x.**

"_Hey! Hands off the cookies until after dinner!"_

"_Hands off the cookies until after dinner!" she giggled, delighted at discovering this new, wonderfully annoying game which she'd been playing all afternoon. At first it had been cute; now it was starting to grate his nerves._

"_Okay, Flea. It's been a hilarious three hours. Now how about you quit saying whatever Daddy says, okay?"_

"_Okay Flea. It's been a hilarious three hours. Now how about you quit saying whatever Daddy says, okay?" she squealed, crawling under the table and out of his reach._

"_Really, babes, if you don't stop I'll have to, uh… Oh! If you don't stop, you won't get any cookies _at all_!" Was it a sign of bad parentage when you couldn't think up good punishments for your kids? Or did that make you a good parent?_

"_Really babes, if you don't stop I'll have to, uh, oh! If you don't stop you won't get any cookies AT ALL!" she yelled, doing a pretty good mock-up of his uncertainty and inept parenting abilities. And for some reason that hurt him. Not because she was teasing him, no; he could handle that. They practically built their relationship on teasing one another. But he felt like it was true and it made him feel horrible._

"_Feonix!" he said loudly. "Just knock it off!"_

_No baby voice echoed his words. However she wasn't just ready to shut up and do what he told her either. Some would say, even at her young age, that she had an attitude problem. He didn't think so; she just refused to put up with anyone else's crap._

_She stomped out from under the table and marched right up to him, reaching barely past his knee in height and yet looking at him so formidably she could have been ten feet tall._

"_You said you wouldn't call me that!" she wailed, hitting him in the shins with tiny little fists. _

"_Ow, Flea." he whined, grabbing her tiny wrists and picking her straight off the ground. She kicked and struggled and tried to jump out of his arms when he pulled her in close to his chest. "I'm sorry, but you were really getting on my nerves." She stopped struggling a little._

"_Were you mad at me?" she asked, sounding worried. She loved being angry with him, but hated whenever he got even minimally upset with her. _

"_No, of course not." he said quickly. "Why do you have such a problem with your name anyways? I think it's pretty."_

_She pouted. "I don't. I hate it. I'm not a phoenix anyways."_

"_Well then, what are you?" he asked, keeping his tone light and teasing. He asked her this about once a week and she always managed to think up something clever._

_After a moment of pondering she spun around quickly and threw her stubby arms around his neck._

"_I'm yours." she said breezily. His breath seized in his chest and he had to push his face into her hair to keep her from seeing his tears._

**.x. Eight Years Old .x.**

"_Not Flea. Stork."_

**.x. Twelve Years Old .x.**

_Some days he was able to shrug it off, drop it in the bottom of his closet like an uncomfortable, ill-fitting pair of shoes. Other days it perched on his shoulder and whispered nasty things into his ear until he felt like beating himself around the head with a crowbar._

_Today was the kind of day when it struck him like a migraine. It was there, just under his conscious thought like a monster under his bed and he couldn't just forget about it. It had cold hands wrapped around his neck and talons squeezing the vessel just above his heart. It was always on his mind, his little lie, and he couldn't stand it anymore. He hated even the notion that his girl, his Stork, truly believed she really was his girl. He had to tell her. Soon. Or it was going to break him._

_Maybe that's why he snapped so easily and just tried to come out with it, despite the fact that he'd managed to avoid it for twelve years._

"_Hey, Dad, can you help me out with-"_

"_Stork." he interrupted. She looked up from the microwave parts she'd been tinkering with, concern evident in her face. _

"_What's up?"_

_He sighed. He couldn't stand the way she called him Dad, to even think that maybe she thought it was true. He had to stop that now, before anymore time could be absorbed and turned black by his lies._

_Again he sighed, a lonely, hopeless sound and put a hand over his face. "Stork, you know I'm not…you know that I'm not your-"_

_It was his turn to be interrupted as the wind was nearly knocked out of him, such was the force of her abrupt hug. _

"_I know you're not, Daddy." she whispered into his shoulder blade._

**.x. Thirteen Years Old .x.**

"_Dad, you know I hate surprises!"_

"_Oh, please. Don't lie to me, Stork, you're terrible at it." he informed her, steering her into the small, ramshackle garage at the side of their small, slightly-less ramshackle house. He had his hands shielding her eyes because he didn't trust her not to peek. _

"_Watch the step and we're here!"_

"_Dad, we're in the garage. I don't even have to see to know that." she droned, trying to sound as impassive as possible. She was shaking though and he knew she was excited._

"_Congratulations, you're officially smarter then a chicken." he said. "Alright here we go. Tah-da!"_

_He removed her hands and she blinked a couple times before finally taking in the object before her. Then she let out a squeal before she could contain herself._

"_Oh my god!" she screeched, practically flinging herself at the roughed up little skimmer before her. She would have never forgiven him if he would have gotten her a brand-spanking new one; she would have had nothing to fix and fiddle with._

"_Happy birthday." he said with a smile. "I thought it was about time you moved on from the Scooter board. You're a big girl now."_

"_Oh my god, Dad, I love her!" she gushed, throwing herself to the ground so she could examine the underbelly. "Look at all the work she needs, poor thing. I'll be busy for weeks!"_

"_That was the plan." he said and she beamed at him, springing over to give him a massive hug._

"_Thanks, Daddy." she said sweetly. "She's brilliant."_

"_I thought you might like her. She might be a little small, but she'll be a fast little thing once you get her all patched up."_

"_You bet she will! I'll have her going like greased lightning! Is that why you got me all those new tools?"_

"_That was pretty clever, wasn't it?" he said with a grin. She smacked him in the shoulder._

"_Gee, you sure know how to spoil a girl." she said, going back over to her new pride and joy. "Wow, I don't think they even make Hornets anymore!"_

"_She's vintage."_

_Stork laughed. "Hope I'll still be able to get parts for her. Can I start taking her apart, please please please? I wanna see all the little bits and pieces!"_

"_You go right ahead, kiddo. Hey, do you think we should change the colour a bit? Make her look real snazzy?" he suggested, getting in on her hype. "Like… lime green and hot pink or something."_

_She pulled a face. "Uh, nuh-uh, I don't think so. What is it with you and pink?"_

"_Pink?" he asked, crouching next to the patched runner boards to examine their badly peeling paint job. "That's easy; it's not red."_

**.x. Two Weeks Later .x.**

"_Hey, Stork, where are you?" he called. "Your parts are in, come have a look and make sure everything's here."_

_No answer. That was a bad sign. Stork would never have ignored that kind of news. Worried he did a random sweep of the lower floor, looking for any signs of a break in. Jeez, he'd become as paranoid as a Merb raising that girl. _

"_Shoulda named myself Stork." he muttered to himself. "Hey, Stork, are you in here?"_

_Again there was no answer. Panicked he raced up the stairs and turned the corner into the hallway and immediately noticed the door to his room was open. _

"_Stork?" he called, pushing the door the rest of the way open to find her sitting on his bed, a leather bound book in her lap._

_Oh no…_

_She looked up, something glittering and delicate clinging to her lashes and the corners of her eyelids. "Dad?" she croaked. He was frozen in the doorway, trying to calculate quickly how much damage had been done, so that maybe, just maybe, he could formulate a good lie and just maybe get away with it too._

_His brittle hope crumbled a moment later when he realized she'd found the photograph. _

"_I was looking for that book you said you had on skimmer models." she started in a calm yet hoarse voice. "And I opened the box under your bed and found this." she held up the log. Her thumb was wedged between two pages, marking her place. She'd already read halfway through. _

"_This fell out from the back cover." she said, now holding up the photograph. He inhaled sharply; he knew who was on that photo, knew each face so very well and yet it was hard every time to see them, as if they were strangers he was supposed to call family. _

"_Dad… who are these people?" she asked him, her voice seeming to absorb the strength that was leaking from his blood. There was a hard look in her eye, one of determination. She was going to get an answer, it said, and there was now way she was going to let him just brush this off._

_It was time to tell the truth._

"_That's the Storm Hawks." he wheezed. _

"_And that's you in the picture, isn't it?" she said, not in a commanding tone, but one of stiff resolve. "Perygrinn-Falcyn. Finn. That's who you used to be. The sharpshooter."_

_He swallowed, nearly choking on the lump in his throat. "Yeah, that's me. I didn't like my real name much either."_

"_So why use it now? So I wouldn't find out?" she asked, and finally he started to detect anger in her voice. He'd been expecting that all along. It was one thing for her to accept him as a father for all these years, to love him despite the strangeness she must have felt. And never, ever had she even asked about who her blood parents were and where they were now or what had happened to them. And yet after all that forgiveness, that stoic acceptance on her part, all along he'd still been hiding things anyways. _

_Well, he was done hiding things. She was ready now with her questions and that meant he was long over-due with the answers._

"_Yes. I didn't want you to know. Not because I didn't trust you or anything. But there is so much I don't even know, about what happened to us. It's hard for me to talk about." he spilled, feeling like he was coughing something up that had long been lodged in his stomach lining. _

_She gave him a long, considering look. "So Stork was the carrier pilot? He was a Storm Hawk too?"_

"_Yep."_

"_Which one is he?"_

"_The Merb."_

"_I thought so." she said, looking down at the picture again. She stared down at her namesake for awhile before, as he'd predicted would happen, her eyes were drawn to the figure in the middle, the one with a lanky, blue whatever-the-hell-he-was on his right shoulder and with Finn's arm draped gamely across his left. He had his right hand on Piper's shoulder, who was the one who'd dragged Stork into the photo._

_His Stork's eyes seem to be magnetized to his face. Finn noticed her hands were shaking as she held the photograph. Slowly she tore her gaze away from those emerald green orbs, her own reflection, to look up at him._

"_Dad why… why do I look like him?" she whispered. _

_Finn slumped down on the bed next to her and put his arm around her shoulder, drawing her in tightly. "I don't know." he told her, hoarsely and honestly. "None of us knew."_

"_That's Aerrow, isn't it? Your Sky Knight?"_

"_That's him."_

"_What happened to him?" she asked quietly, her gaze drawn back to the photograph._

_Finn didn't feel like he could keep sitting beside her. Something had shifted, not in him but in her and he couldn't stand to be that close to it. Starting now he had to get used to being away from it. _

"_He died." He answered, turning to leave her with her own thoughts. "Keep the book."_

**.x. Two Days Later .x.**

_He heard her slip almost silently into his room. He only noticed, such was her silent entrance, because he'd been awake for hours now, so long that he was sure he hadn't even fallen asleep in the first place. And during those hours he'd heard her shuffling things about in her room, pacing, talking to herself and crying. He'd been waiting for her to come to him, in the dead of the early morning, since he'd gone to bed. He knew exactly how she planned to run away._

_It wasn't running, per say. There were no bad feelings here she was trying to escape, or at least he hoped so. She was running after something, in pursuit of her newly discovered secrets that had shrouded them both since her childhood. She was as deep in the whole Storm Hawks mess as he was now. But she'd always been braver then he was. She was prepared to wade out._

_She could have been a cat, such was her stealth. She even managed to avoid all but one of the creaky floorboards in the darkness. He felt her stop at the side of his bed and place something carefully on the pillow next to him. She started to leave, then hesitated and leant back over his bed and planted a quick kiss on his cheek and then was gone like a thieving fox._

_He forced himself to hold still, to not leap up and chase after her, to catch her and tie her somewhere so she couldn't leave. All his brain cells and muscles and bones wanted to do it. Only his master muscle, his heart, had enough strength to realize he had to let her got. When you loved someone, you could either cripple them so they couldn't get away or set them free. And he was at least brave enough to know the former would never be an option._

_The sound of her Hornet, well on its way to becoming up to par with the newer models, gunning out of the garage and taking to the inky night sky was one of the most horrible sounds ever to be pressed in on his eardrums. Only when the sound had died away in the otherwise still night did he leap out of bed and flip on the light._

_She'd left two things next to him; a letter, which seemed to have been folded and unfolded so many times it looked nearly twice as old as he was, and an old wrench. He pounced on both objects and nearly tore the letter apart trying to unfold it. His hands were shaking so badly that the letters danced and skipped before his eyes and he had to read it over three times before he was able to understand the words:_

Dad,

I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not really. Because I know you understand. I'm a lot more like you then you'd think. Except, frankly, I'm a better mechanic.

Thank you, for taking care of me all these years even though I'm such a brat. I'm really going to miss you, but I hope you won't miss me that much. Don't be sad, Finn. 'Cause one day I'll come back, I promise.

I took the book like you said, and the photo too.

Thanks again, for everything.

Love you,

_The name Stork had been written then scratched out. Flea also had been jotted in and also scribbled over. Her final signature was jotted like this:_

Your girl,

Feonix

**.x. One Week Later .x.**

"_I'm sorry, but with no proper background formalities or recommendation from anyone of station, we cannot allow you into our Academy on a grant."_

"_How much is the enrolment fee?"_

"_More then you have, that I can assure you."_

"_This is pathetic. Shouldn't you _want _people to be enrolled in you Academy? I shouldn't have to pay you anything."_

"_I'm sorry Miss, uh…?"_

"_It's Stork."_

"_Stork. I'm sorry, but these days with the Sky Knight Legion of only twelve squadrons, Sky Knights aren't in as high demand as they once were, and even the training we offer here seems to have become rather er, redundant, as it were."_

"_So basically you're gonna squeeze the money you need to keep yourself nice and comfortable from any kid who doesn't have an Arch-Duke as an uncle or something? Now call me a bit of a nutcase, but something about that seems, oh, what's the word, _wrong_."_

"_You're quite right my dear, and I can understand where you're coming from. Personally I think the Legion should award us grants every year to keep this place afloat, but they train their own these days, and we've become a bit of a farce to them."_

"_Well then, if that's the way Sky Knights are acting these days then maybe I don't wanna be one after all. Thanks for your time, I guess."_

**.x. Three Months Later .x.**

"_I'll take that one." I told the burly guy, who looked down at me like I was trying to pull his leg. I scorched him a look that told him I most assuredly was not. _

_I'd saved up a good chunk of money from my two short months at Finch's. And I was prepared to spend all of it on that perfectly beautiful battle axe up there on the wall, even if it probably weighed twice what I did._

**.x. Five Months Later .x.**

"_Falshade." I repeated, releasing his warm hand and smiling at him. I already liked him. "Nice. Poetic. I like it."_

**.x. Six Months Later .x.**

_I eyed Falshade's scrawny looking roommate in much the same manner as he was examining me. His eyes traced over my converses, my ripped jeans and my colossal battle axe, which I had slung over one shoulder suggestively. He sneered a little bit and turned to Falshade._

"_Bit short, isn't she?"_

_Falshade smacked a hand over his face. "Stork, this is Angel." he introduced to his palm._

"_The displeasure's all mine." I assured him._

**.x. Ten Months Later .x.**

"_My real name's not actually Stork, you know." I spilled to him, having no idea what possessed me to say so. "It's Feonix."_

_He raised his eyebrows and turned to look at me. "I wondered why anyone would name a girl like you Stork."_

"_What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded. "And if you ever repeat the name to another living soul I will personally castrate you."_

_He laughed. "Okay. Your secret's safe with me."_

**.x. Fourteen Years Old .x.**

"_Oh, come on you two, smile, damnit!"_

"_Take your top off and I'll think about it."_

_That earned him both a blazing glare from me and a smack across the back of his head from Falshade. Then he gave me a pained look._

"_Stork, I really don't wanna do this." he whined. So I was an obsessive shutterbug, so what? He could deal with it. I was getting this picture._

"_Suck it up, princesses. Come _on _guys, everyone gets pictures taken on graduation day. Last one, I promise." I said, all the while crossing my fingers behind my back._

_Both of them scowled at me._

"_I _promise_."_

_With irritated groans Falshade looped an arm around Angel's shoulders and pulled him in closer grudgingly. An evident growth spurt was starting in the former's bones and he looked a little lopsided next to Angel and his bird bones. Both of them faked a smile so natural you would have almost thought they actually meant it and I snapped the picture and turned around, satisfied._

_As if on some sort of silent cue between the two of them they attacked me from behind and struggled to get the camera out of my hands while I shrieked with laughter and bit into Angel's wrist before taking off down the street with the two of them in hot pursuit, not caring how retarded we must have looked. We never would either._

**.x. Three Days Later .x.**

"_Wow. Nice. Where on Atmos did your mom manage to get a Bone Wing?" Falshade asked the large Raptor he'd dragged Angel and I all the way to Vatican to retrieve. The gnarled and fierce looking skimmer stood before us, the Raptor's new birthday present._

_Finally I managed to work up the nerve to spit my first words besides an attempted aloof sounding "Hey" out to the apparently skittish but no less imposing beast Falshade had introduced us to as Varan._

"_Dude, can I _touch_ it?" I asked, mesmerized by that beautifully wicked piece of machinery._

**.x. Fifteen Years Old .x.**

_I stared up at the air ship, a gorgeous and speed-designed little bird, and touched the hull sympathetically. _

"_You poor girl."_

"_You dig ships?" Fraggle, our carrier pilot and new comrade as of twenty minutes ago, asked me. _

"_Hell yeah I dig ships."_

"_Cool, eh. You like the _Arcadium_?"_

"_I freaking want to bear her children. But one thing."_

"_What's that there, eh?"_

"_We are _going_ to change her name."_

**.x. Sixteen Years Old .x.**

_The bulky figure turned at last to me and I shrank back against the grimy alley wall, wondering what new terror was before me. I'd just watched him dispatch three guys and hadn't seen any evidence of a weapon either. I couldn't even cough up the nerve to scream for help._

_The figure approached me and I was struck with the sudden realization that it was not a man at all. It was a woman, and a strange looking one at that. One eye glowed yellow in the strained light of the clotted moon and broken streetlight and I could see blood already starting to congeal around her thin, pale and split lips. She had a ring in the bottom one and it flashed like a razor's edge in the dark._

_She leaned in real close and I made a noise that was as close to a whimper as I'd ever gotten. Something strange and deformed hung on either side of her head among her hair and rain was smattered all over her pale skin, making it almost glow eerily._

_She opened her mouth and wicked teeth leapt out from that dark crevasse and I recoiled, thinking she was coming in for the kill. _

"_You okay, babes?"_

_I must have looked scared out of my wits as I took in that face and realized right then that she wasn't human. I also caught something almost like concern in the weakest points of that one yellow orb. This… thing, whatever she was, apparently hadn't chased those guys off so she could claim me for her own. She'd probably just saved my life._

"_Y-yeah. I'm fine." I stuttered. _

**.x. One Week Ago .x.**

_I'd been here before. _

**.x. Six Hours Later .x.**

"_Stork, what happened?"_

_Falshade's alarm seemed to hurt me as he leered in my face with concern, clutching onto my shoulder as tightly as if he were afraid I was going to dissolve before his eyes._

_Utterly naked and with a blazing white light filling up my head, I could only tell him what I knew:_

"_I don't know."_

**.x. Six Days Ago .x.**

_He pressed two fingers to my wrist like he was connecting himself to me. "Just stay on alert, alright? I don't want anything else to happen to you."_

**.x. Impact .x.**

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x **

I staggered and scrambled over another cleft, my muscles watery and disconnected from my brain. My whole body felt disconnected and hollow and as sore inside like I'd never be whole again.

It had taken an hour to round everyone up and get down to the Wastelands. Fifty-nine minutes too long for me. Stork was out there, somewhere, broken, bleeding, dying and every second it had taken for us to get down here and start looking was like having another needle pushed into my heart.

The others were about, shouting her name desperately. We'd been at it half an hour and their voices were growing hoarse and less expectant. Like they were giving up.

I wasn't giving up, not until my throat tore itself open and my legs stopped working.

"STORK!" I bellowed again, blood washing like a timed wave on the shoreline against my tongue. I coughed and spat so my voice would be clearer. "STORK, WHERE ARE YOU?"

Wasp scrabbled down from atop a pillar of solidified lava. She was sniffing and snuffling like a Tracker Beast, her nostrils red from the strain of inhaling so much hot ash and noxious air. She looked at me with slight delirium, probably suffering from hyper ventilation.

"Anything?" I demanded.

She shook her head. "It's the air. It's heavy." she explained apologetically.

I made a frustrated noise and pushed onward. She scrambled along behind, pressing herself to the stone and moving along like some sort of decrepit beast, sniffing the hot stone, revolving her ears in different directions.

"STORK!" I hollered again.

Angel stumbled over, leaping over a small stream of lava. His face was swollen in a few places from stings from the Scorpion Flies. "Any sign?" he asked me wearily.

"Do I look like I've found her?" I snapped.

Angel made a noise and kicked a nearby stone. "We don't even know where she came down from above! She could be anywhere!"

I dug my fingers into my scalp and howled in agony. "This is taking too _long_!" I said, tearing at my hair in utter helplessness. "We have to find her, fast!"

"Well what do you want us to do?" Angel asked snarkily.

"Spread out, search further! Try and contact her skimmer, maybe we'll hear where it's coming from!" I shouted at him, scrambling over more lava formations.

"Falshade?"

The tone in Varan's voice made me spin around in attention.

"What?" I demanded. "Stork is out there _dying_, so whatever this is it better be worth wasting her time!"

In response Varan held out one of Stork's throwing axes.

My insides turned to ice. "W-w-where?" I breathed. I didn't want to know. I had to know.

"You'd better come have a look." he said croakily and led the rest of us over several taller frozen lava platforms until we caught up to Fraggle, who was looking down at something below the edge of the small, black plateau. He turned when he heard us coming and I saw tear tracks matting the fur under his eyes.

It was funny that I raced over next to him so quickly, because there was nothing I wanted to see less then Stork's body sprawled, cracked, split or splattered next to the wreckage of her skimmer. I'd rather face a whole year of my nightmares.

"I'm sorry, eh." Fraggle muttered as I screeched to a halt next to him and was faced by the fiery orange glow of an open lava pool the size of the _Merlin._

No…

"I found her axe here." Varan wheezed, pointing to a location next to my foot.

"No… she must have… dropped it or something." I choked out, feeling like a cord of wire was slowly tightening around my aching heart.

"No, Falshade. Look here." Varan said, his voice low and grave. He pointed now at a place where the solidified lava had been smashed through and then at a series of scratches and black skid marks leading across small ledge below and right over the lip of the lava pool.

"No…" I whispered. No it couldn't… it couldn't have ended like this.

Varan had turned away and was crying softly to himself. Fraggle sobbed openly, snot and tears gluing his fur to his snout. Wasp had disappeared to accept the news in her own way, alone.

Feeling like all my blood had been emptied in one big rush from the bottom of my feet I sank, slowy, to my knees and brought Stork's throwing axe in tight to my chest. This wasn't happening. This hadn't happened. Our Stork, _my _Stork wouldn't have just gone out like this…

I wished Angel hadn't put his hand on my shoulder like he did. Until then all my frayed and swelling feelings had been contained in a capsule safely inside my heart and the truth was just a thing on the surface that could be picked off and flicked away like an old scab. I could stay in my hollow, aching chest and not believe it for the rest of my life.

But then Angel had to go and put his hand on my shoulder and all my awareness flooded to the surface as my brain was alerted to a heaviness on my skin and the truth broke though the walls and pierced a long, thick needle into my heart. And all the bad things got out.

And then Angel dropped beside me and wrapped his thin, wiry arms around my shoulders from behind and held me tight enough so my heart wouldn't break past my ribs and hurl itself into that lava pool after Stork and buried his face in my hair as I turned towards him and bawled my eyes out into his thin chest.

**x.x.x**

**Bleep…bleep… bleep…**

Long ears swivelled in the direction of the noise. Machines going off and assaulting him with various obnoxious sounds was not uncommon, however none had ever echoed from _that_ location before.

He started at the ship for a long time before approaching it. What sort of horrible coincidence was it that he'd just _happened _to be in the Deep Hanger when that alarm had started going off? He stopped in his tracks and his eye twitched as he examined the location of the sound. What kind of clever trap could have been set in there, what kind of ambush awaited him?

Oh shoot, had he remembered to disable the detonation device wired into the ship's pontoons that he'd set in there years ago in case of theft? What was the time limit he'd set on it?

Cursing to himself he grabbed his blast vest and shuffled warily up the ramp, hoping that being blown to little pieces hurt a lot less then it sounded like.

However once on board he realized that the sound was not emanating from the pontoons at all but the bridge. Slowly, ever on alert, he slipped silently onto the bridge and discovered the source of the beeping. A red light was pulsing like a tiny heart beat on a dusty radar screen.

He scowled at it. What on Atmos was _that _going off for? Wait… what was that even for?

He should have made an inventory list of every single alarm he'd rigged into this bloody ship. He'd told himself he would a million times, but had he done it? No. And now here he was, having to examine the thing _by hand_ to figure out what it was when it was probably housing a colony of Marrow Spiders in the dry, cozy place beneath that he'd missed last time cleaning in here. Yup, he'd come in close and they'd strike as a unit, burrowing into his skin a fast as possible before he could squish all of them and then eat away his flesh, digging little tunnels until they reach a joint and were able to slip inside his bones and then, after digesting most of his marrow, begin new colonies inside the hollow places of his bones.

He shuddered. Yeah, probably best to just ignore the stupid thing all together until he could come back with proper Marrow Spider deflection devices. It wasn't even worth the trip across the bridge.

'_Oh, come on. It's not like you had anything better to do.'_ he reminded himself. And the beeping _was_ pretty irritating…

With an annoyed grunt he forced himself to walk the span of the bridge and grabbed the offending device with both hands and snatched it away from the wall.

"Ahhh!" he cried, trying to make himself as small as possible. After a moment when he realized nothing was scuttling over his skin he opened his eyes and let out a sigh of relief before clearing his throat: Nobody saw that.

Examining the radar box curiously he tried to find some sort of wire he could pull out and stop the beeping once and for all. It was only when he flipped it over to face the screen, considering smashing the whole infernal device, and got a good look at the picture that was flashing red with every beep, did he remember what it was for.

"No way…"

**End of part 2**


	13. When September Ends

**13**

**When September Ends**

_**Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep**_

_**- Prelude 12/21, AFI**_

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

Death had never seemed real to me.

It was odd that I'd grown up that way when I think about it. I'd lived on Vatican for fourteen years, and therefore grown among many families that had lost loved ones. Death permeated the atmosphere of Vatican like a second aura, but rather then separate us into morbid, zombie-like beings it united us, linked us together into one big heart pulse. It almost seemed to turn death into something perfectly tolerable and normal.

That coupled with the fact that even though I too had been born into the hanging smoke of tragedy, the loss of my father, I had never really felt… hmm. Afflicted by it? Oh yes. Grief for him? Yes again. But it had never seemed to register with me, as I had, in all honesty, never really known him. I'd learned all I'd needed to know of him from the stories I'd been told of him by fellow Vaticans, the photographs my mother had allowed me to see when I was ten, the Sky Knight Academy and my own reflection. And although his absence had definitely left a hollow spot somewhere in my heart, that was all it was, an empty, hollow place. I'd unintentionally stepped into the second part of death, the part after the initial lose and pain and sorrow, the part where healing began and moments became memories to be tucked somewhere safe and secret inside your head. I'd skipped the hard part and stepped right into the brighter side of Death's shadow.

And until now I had never realized it, but that had ultimately set me up for disaster.

Because I'd cheated all along, coasted past the misery that had clung to people closest to me and never really understood it. I thought I'd fit into my own little niche in the cycle of life and death, thought I'd found a place that assured me I'd be able to handle it if it came crashing in on me again.

However it'd all been an illusion I'd set up all on my own, because I realized now I'd never known death properly. And it is so easy into tricking yourself into thinking you know something about yourself, that you understand something big like that. But it's even easier for that façade to be torn aside like a curtain to let the truth filter in in whatever ugly form it had choose to wear.

That and I'd never thought I'd have to face the death of one of my best friends. In my illusion I'd also managed to trick myself into thinking we were all immortal.

And now everything was catching up to me. When it was time to pay my dues, I'd suddenly found myself with moths in my pockets.

Noises were muted against my ears and I had only a vague idea of where we were. After we'd returned from the Wastelands we'd only just begun to realize the extent of our damage. None of it had seemed urgent or important to any of us, and in the end Angel had to bully Fraggle out of his room and to the helm of the _Merlin_. Using one of our numerous maps he'd taken it upon himself to direct Fraggle to the nearest waypoint before the _Merlin_, as if feeling the weight of pain and loss we'd carried back into her belly, gave out on us. We'd had to tear our only mag-lift apart in order to use the large, powerful magnets to hold sections of the _Merlin_'s hull together, and almost our entire supply of Fuel crystals went into our bird as she haemorrhaged energy from her badly damaged engines. We'd barely managed to limp into the air docks of this tiny pit-stop terra. And the whole time I hadn't uttered a single word.

Angel had gone out to locate the resident mechanic while the rest of us stumbled about the bridge aimlessly, not really doing anything. Ten minutes after Angel had left Fraggle broke down into tears again and Varan had to leave, his ability to comfort people fallen in the face of his own enormous sorrow. Wasp had tried her best, doing something I'd never seen her do before and willing come into contact with another living being. She cradled Fraggle where he'd fallen to his knees on the floor and let him cry and drip snot all over her. She even tried stroking his ears, but that had little effect.

Angel returned to find us in our wrecked state and had made us leave the bridge while the mechanic came to start stitching together the _Merlin_ and he didn't even complain once about, what I might have cared about at another time, was sure to be a heavy price.

While sinking into my bed with the lights off and never turning them on again had seemed like the greatest idea in the world at the time, I knew that was probably the worst course of action. So I didn't offer much resistance as Angel shuttled the rest of us over to the dingy little pub on the edge of the terra, either humorously or sardonically dubbed 'The Ends of the World'.

It sure felt like the end of the world alright. It felt like the end of everything I'd ever known. Nothing seemed real anymore, nothing tangible or mortal. Things seemed to part before me, sound, colour, air, as if I were in a sealed bubble, trapped in my cracked aura with only wraiths of things that had been to bounce back towards me again and again and again…

We sat around our small, wobbly table in a glum circle of mourning while the barkeep stared at us from his single eye socket suspiciously. There weren't many other patrons besides us, those who were settled into tables tucked up in shadowed corners most likely regular clients, back for another dose of undoing. A trio of Blizzarians were probably the most inviting looking of the shadowy tavern's inhabitants, as Blizzarians have the tendency to look friendly anywhere, and they were shooting Fraggle inviting little looks every now and then as if they were trying to summon him over.

Loyalty would have been important in this situation if any of us had been giving any outward signs of emotional danger, like bawling or speaking incoherently. But we were all of us silent as tomb stones and eventually Fraggle did get up to join the other Blizzarians, who were loud and rowdy for a few moments before they honed in on their new comrade's distress and seemed to envelope him, comfort and empathy raining in on him: The Blizzarian coping system.

I didn't envy him nor was I angry at Fraggle for leaving; I knew our morbid attitude would only keep dragging him down when what he needed most was a distraction while the needle of grief sunk deeper into him until he could get used to its injection. That was just his way, and the rest of us were struggling with our own. Death wasn't meant to be a mutual thing, I decided, not in its early stages. In the beginning it was meant to be a solitary experience, isolated and faced alone until you were ready to walk into the hugs of others. The only knowledge I had of the rest of the gaping sores that were my friends was the bumping of our lonely satellites that made contact occasionally as we orbited around the black hole of Stork's absence.

Things seemed to be slipping in and out of my ability to grasp them, tiny, unimportant things like what we were going to do now and if we'd be able to do anything ever again. The bigger picture had for once been blotted out of my inner vision and the only thing I was able to focus on now was the stain blossoming over my heart. None of those other things, the things we would need to keep functioning, neither registered nor seemed to care to me anymore. Even details of our morose surroundings (Angel sure knew how to pick atmospheric settings) didn't seem to stick to my mind anymore, as if someone had torn down all the fly paper in my skull and let the heavy, glutinous flies buzz freely around the inside, landing and feeding on all that was noxious.

Wasp was doodling little pictures on the table top with some sort of sticky, dark substance that had been left there from its previous occupants and I was reminded of this morning, before everything had gone wrong, when I had been drawing designs with the remnants of orange juice that Stork had sprayed all over the kitchen table. It hurt me right to the very core to think of her name and I sucked on my finger tips, hoping some of the juice was still there, caught in the grooves of my fingertips and that little bits of her were still stuck there too, miniscule globs of her spit and genetic makeup.

A moment later I forgot what I was doing and dropped my hand back to the table top with a thunk. Instead I drew a big 'F' on the wood with my saliva, letting it shine dully in the dank light. F for Feonix, F for fault, F for failure.

F for funeral and what the fuck has become of us.

Without a sound I let the rest of me drop to the table top too, my forehead pounding into the wood with a dull throb that reverberated in my scattered mind. Angel's hand came to my shoulder again and squeezed gently but I didn't look up from the swirling patterns in the ancient table surface. I wished he'd stop grabbing me like that. It made things reel backwards in my head like they were caught on a fishing line, past and present all smeared together until I had no idea whose fingers were digging into my collar bone.

My own fingers were still ruffling Stork's feathery hair, the last time I'd ever done something other then scream at her in panic. My hands twitched as I remembered the last thing I'd ever said to her, before she couldn't hear me and wasn't ignoring me: _take them down_.

For everything I'd ever told her, all the times we'd bickered and yelled at each other, for every worthless thing I'd ever said, had I taken one moment, one word, to say something meaningful, something that would leave an impression of me on her wherever she went, wherever she was now?

My head snapped upwards so quickly I almost broke Angel's nose. Looking around to the side I tried to find the source of the noise I'd just heard, something loud and pixie-ish and straight from the gut. Stork's laughter was echoing in my head as I searched for her in the shadows, expecting her to step forwards with the clever little smirk I'd come to know so well on her face. It didn't take me long to realize though that what I'd heard was only a repeat in a loop, that I'd heard that exact laugh before, years ago now, on one of our mutual days off when the two of us had spent the whole day in the square, picking things out of the cracks in the sidewalk and getting our noses thoroughly sun burned.

"Shade?" Angel's voice dragged me back through the space of time and I squinted at him, trying to remember how I knew him. Wasn't he my roommate?

"Are you okay?" his mouth asked me and I could have laughed at him, if I felt anywhere close to the mood for it. _No, Angel, I'm not okay. Everything on the inside of me is leaking out through a big, Stork shaped hole. _

I blinked sluggishly at him and he lifted his hand, holding up one finger and trailed it back and forth in front of my eyes. I tried to follow it as he changed direction rapidly, but his digit seemed to leap in too many directions for me too follow. It was making me dizzy. Then he snapped his fingers next to my temple, making me start.

"What's wrong?" Varan asked in a voice that held little interest. He was slumped over the table, his scaly arms folded and cradling his head as if it were too heavy for his neck.

"He's disorientated." Angel explained. "I think he's going into PTSS."

I blinked at him again as if he'd said something completely stupid. I wasn't going into shock. I was dead. Dead people don't follow fingers that well.

Fraggle came back a while later, carrying a bunch of mugs that didn't look quite up to health code standard. It could have almost been the first time we'd met him all over again. Except this time his mood seemed to suit the place exactly.

"Cheers." he said glumly, setting the mugs down on the table and taking a long swallow from his own before noticing the way I was watching him. "What's up with the kid, eh?"

"He's going into Sky Shock." Angel said, taking his own mug and sipping at it despite the threat its black contents held.

Fraggle sat down and leaned towards Angel. "Is there… anything we can do for him?"

"I doubt it. Unless you're a necromancer or something and haven't told us."

Varan made a distressed noise and got up and left. Wasp lowered a venomous glare on Angel.

"If you've got anything else to say I suggest keeping your mouth shut." she hissed at him.

"Guys, don't do this." Fraggle whimpered, covering his face with his hands.

Angel glared at Wasp for a moment before lowering his look into his drink and saying something that made me feel all the more disorientated: "Sorry."

The next few hours stretched out as if we'd slipped into a worm hole, passed through a rip in the space-time continuum. Or maybe just the continuum. Things blurred past my conscious, Varan returning some time later, eyes blood-shot, Fraggle slowly drinking himself into imperviousness, Wasp hugging Varan around the shoulders when he started to shake uncontrollably and Angel sitting there as if turned to stone except for occasionally drinking some of his own potent liquor.

I had no desire to sample the drink in the mug Fraggle had supplied me with. Instead I stared at it blankly, watching my own reflection drowning in the murky surface. I dipped my finger in over the rim, feeling like if I could touch that mirrored image then everything would be taken back, if only I could make contact with my own soul.

At some point, when night had fallen outside long ago, Angel got up and hauled Fraggle out of his seat, motioning for the rest of us to follow. He enlisted Wasp to lead Fraggle and Varan (mostly Fraggle, as he wasn't walking very straight by that point) back to the _Merlin_ and then waited for me.

None of my body seemed willing to comply with anything else as I scraped my chair back and got up on stiff, trembling legs. I had no idea where Angel expected to take us; I couldn't see any exit to this place. It was just one big loop, circling back on itself for eternity.

"C'mon." Angel muttered, tugging me along by my elbow. The wind was cold and harsh compared to the stuffy, stale air of the tavern as he walked beside me for the whole long stretch back to the docks. It was only when we reached the ramp that I halted and looked back towards the tavern and the tiny mechanical outlet neighbouring it.

"Wait." I said, unsure why I had stopped in the first place.

Angel stopped and waited beside me for a long time as I stared back into the darkness, the dim lights of the Ends of the World the only vocal point I had to keep me grounded. We stood there for an infinite length of time, maybe fifteen minutes, maybe an hour, maybe a whole lifetime, and Angel never left me, the second most loyal friend I'd ever have. Always the second.

As my fingers began to grow numb in the cold wind that was beginning to pick up Angel finally broke our silent vigil. "What are we waiting for, Shade?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know where Stork is." I whispered and Angel passed a hand over his eyes before prodding me gently up the ramp.

The two of us stayed up all night on the couch on the bridge, unmoving, unspeaking. Sleep wasn't an option for me, nor was it a possibility. I had to stay here, awake, and wait for Stork to come back.

And it was only when the sun came up and began to let its ill-fitting rays flow into the _Merlin _and burn into the dark places behind my eyes that I knew in my groggy head that Stork never was coming back. She was gone, lost to us forever, and…

There was no coming back.

My head was starting to spin and reel and I had to get away, from those bright blades of light and the unwanted comprehension they were bringing with them. I'd go to where it was dark and stay there until the sun went away.

Stumbling down the corridor I aimed for the bathroom, letting some unnamed pull drag me that way because I had no real idea where else to go. If I had the option I'd just let my mind go, all the bad, biting things out and wander, empty-headed, for the rest of my days.

The bathroom doors slid open automatically, as the locking mechanism were still broken. A large, cold fist punched into my chest as I thought of how that lock had ended up broken in the first place, thought about the cruel, sick, sick irony that it was that we'd fought so hard to save her life that night just to lose her anyways a few days later.

I slid into the bathtub, curling up in a tight, fetal ball at the bottom and pulling on my hair, trying to divert the blood elsewhere. I don't know how long I stayed there, alone, before I vaguely heard the doors slide open. I thought it might be Varan or Angel come to find me and maybe try to talk to me, which I tried to summon up the energy to at least respond to. But it was Wasp who was suddenly sliding into the tub, folding herself into a sitting position next to me, her long, gawky legs pressing in against her chest.

"Hi." she said, not with her usual enthusiasm but sincere all the same.

"Hi." I muttered.

She set her broad chin on her jutting knee caps penitently, waiting for me to start up the conversation, having apparently done her part thus far. We stayed that way for her a long time, her sitting there like a stone gargoyle, protecting me from evil spirits and intentions and myself on my side in a tight ball on the bottom of the tub.

Eventually Wasp strayed from her usual tendency, the one that ruled her from speaking unless spoken to unless she had something witless to say, and began talking in a slow, soft tone. "Death is heavy." she began and I shut my eyes, wishing she hadn't brought it up.

"That's what people always use to tell me. Death is heavy, hard to pull along. But you can't go backwards with it." she explained to me, her thumb tapping her bare thigh idly. "You just can't. You can't take it back." I winced at this point as if she'd read my mind. She continued uninterrupted. "You can only take it forward, or sit down beside it because it's too heavy to keep pulling. You have to make it lighter if you ever want to keep going forward."

"How?" I asked hoarsely, sitting up so I could face her. "How do you make it lighter?"

Wasp shrugged. "There're loads of ways."

"Like what?" I whispered bitterly.

Wasp seemed to consider this for a long time. "I remember that time Stork was trying to teach me how to play Crazy Eight Countdown. Remember how mad she got at me?" she said at last and I uneasily turned the memory over in my mind. It was hard to look back on, to realize there would never be anymore moments like that, no more moments during which Stork's brittle patience was pushed over the deep end (she'd only hung on as long as she did partially out of fear of Wasp's reaction to her exploding and partially because Angel and I had insisted it was a lost cause), no more moments which she was able to laugh at later as she cleaned up the cards she'd hurled all over the bridge.

"Yeah." I said at length, a new sore spot forming in my throat. "I remember."

"Well, that's what you do. You take little snippets of them with you, in your back pockets, to take out and look at when it's dark and you're alone and sick and afraid. They're easy to carry and you'll never lose them, never forget them anywhere." Wasp explained to me with a tiny smile.

"It hurts to remember things." I murmured, clutching the sides of my head. Wasp reached out and placed a hand on my knee firmly, not in a comforting or reassuring way, but in a mutual sort of shared knowledge.

"I know." she whispered. "But it hurts even more to forget."

I sniffled indecisively, not sure if I was ready to get that far yet. As if picking up on my thoughts, Wasp squeezed a little harder and said "But you don't have to go forward just yet. We can sit here as long as it takes until you're ready to make it lighter."

I gave her a look of mild surprise; I wasn't used to this much lucidity or sympathy from Wasp. In my foggy mind, which was bouncing off things randomly like a pin ball, I wondered if Wasp's insanity was sort of a front line, not a façade or an excuse but not entirely completely her entire persona either. Maybe behind it was something woundable and clever, some higher sort of philosophy and understanding of the world that she kept shielded until she needed it. It almost made me wish I knew her better, that she would allow us to know her better.

But then those thoughts fluttered away and I was left with the reassurance of her words as only words now, not some sort of hidden clue to her mysterious and feral mind. And I knew Wasp didn't just mean we could sit in the bathtub. We could sit here with the weight of Stork's loss until I was ready to pick it apart and move along.

Then Wasp did something strange, which made me wonder if my face had been arranged in an expression of despair or guilt. Because she reached out and pulled me in really close, until I could feel all her sharp bones pressing into mine and I realized a good hug had been something I'd desperately needed to help keep me all compacted in one place. And then she whispered something in my ear that carved a large chunk of the weight off and left it in the open for me to examine and shy from, the part that would be the hardest to discard:

"It wasn't your fault." she told me in a voice like the wind and my breathing hitched in my throat. In my state of shock that had been something waiting just behind the initial, immense heartache and until now I'd been too wrapped in disorientation and confusion and hurt to see it. But now the guilt, those awful, stinging feelings of blame and fault swooped in on me like a swarm of angry insects, lacerating all the exposed, raw parts of my soul and let my selfish fear out along with a new wave of tears.

It didn't matter if Wasp told me again and again that it hadn't been my fault. It would take me a long time to decide otherwise. But right now, it felt good to cry about it, even if I knew a million tears wouldn't wash all those dark, ugly things away. Because at least if I cried about it, it proved to me that whether or not is was my fault, I had never, ever wanted it to happen anyways.

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

If someone ever asked me, for whatever reason that would have made them want to know the answer, what I thought was a physical representation of my friendship with Falshade was, I'd have to say it was the gap on the right side of his mouth, between two of his back molars. At one point in time a tooth had belonged there, but during one of our training sessions at the Academy, which come to think of it we really hadn't needed to do, as classes had been over for the day and Falshade was just obsessing over improving his hand-to-hand combat skills, I'd accidentally delivered a perhaps unnecessarily powerful round house kick that he hadn't been able to block and had knocked the molar loose but not completely out. Falshade insisted we didn't have to go see the medic on campus, as his jaw wasn't dislocated or anything and he had an unexplained fear of doctors. However by the next day the pain from that tooth, which refused to come out no matter how hard he yanked at it and had exposed its root to all the harshness of the inside of his mouth, was driving him as mad as a caged animal. It made him sick and shaky and foul-tempered and I, in my guilt, knew it was going to get infected and kept insisting he go to the terra's resident dentist. However as I've stated, Falshade had a downright phobia of any sort of medical office for some reason unknown to him. He'd dragged me to the medic wing at the Academy once when I'd fractured my wrist during another one of our intense little scrimmages and had loyally stayed with me the entire time, as he blamed himself for it as much then as I did myself about his tooth, but he'd trembled and twitched and sweat in the cool, air-conditioned room until I thought he was going to have a seizure. Another day of tooth induced hell though and he became rather desperate and bullied me into pulling the tooth out myself, as he no longer let even his tongue touch it. I'd thought about giving it a few more days until he broke down and finally went to the dentist, but I really did hate to see him in that much agony over something I'd caused, so in the end I'd agreed. Stealing a pair of pliers from the Academy's garage and sterilizing them three times and loading him up with enough pain-killers to make him dopey and lethargic for a day later I'd then, after twenty minutes of grappling with the stupid, stubborn thing, pulled the tooth from his mouth. Despite my initial concern it had not gotten infected afterwards and healed well, leaving him with the gap as the only reminder that there had ever been a problem.

Now I thought of that gap as a perfect representation of our demented brotherhood for several reasons. For one thing that had been the first time I'd ever seen Falshade cry, and the only time out of pain. He hadn't outright bawled, mind you, just let streams of tears flow from his eyes as he no longer had the energy to hold them back and only whimpered once. That was a sign of his trust in me, I realized afterwards. That and he'd trusted me enough to actually go in there and pull the thing out, which believe you me must have taken a lot of guts on his part. Another thing it symbolized was his ability to forgive me, as his torment had been my fault after all, an ability that was called upon again and again in the years to come.

Now though I thought about that gap and thought of it as Falshade's dependency on me to take over when things got too painful for him to deal with. I was taking up that responsibility now, as my position as the Gargoyles' second Sky Knight and as his friend demanded I do. And I took up that responsibility with the utmost sincerity.

I wasn't trying to make things go back to normal. That wouldn't happen, possibly ever. Our interpretation of the word 'normal' was a six person definition, and right now there was a gap in it just like there was in Falshade's bottom jaw. But I did try to keep us functional, floating, alive. I seemed to be handling Stork's death better then the others were, so even if I hadn't been a Sky Knight undoubtedly that role would have fallen on me anyways. I had moved on to dealing with the fact of her absence now, not just trying to accept her absence like the others were grappling with. By no means had I gotten over it, I'd just moved into the next stage rather quickly.

Varan seemed to have moved slightly from the previous stage too. He knew death rather well too, and that made the transition of living with the gap of someone rather then just trying to comprehend that gap easier. Basically he was just walking around in a stupor and I only had to tell him things to get him to do them, as if he'd lost his ability to think for himself. Fraggle was a bit more of a hassle, as he was rather unstable and needed some coaxing and comfort (both of which come with difficultly to me) to get him to follow orders. It pained me to bully them around, because I knew all they wanted to do was lie down somewhere quiet and dark and stay there until they were good and ready. However that wasn't going to work and so I directed them here and there to try and keep them occupied.

Falshade had become practically incoherent and I left him to himself for the most part. Where as Fraggle and Varan, who'd experienced death first hand and new the stages unfortunately well, needed to have their minds taken off it while their hearts slowly mended, Falshade had become lost completely and I couldn't make him do much of anything. That and he definitely had gone into Post Traumatic Sky Shock and it's hard for anyone to do anything in that sort of state.

Where I kept things in running order Wasp seemed to be taking over the responsibility of handling the emotional stress, which was something Falshade was better at then me and usually looked after. Despite her usual, pre-tragedy actions had displayed, she'd taken to giving the others the physical comfort they needed as well as trying to get them to talk. She too seemed to have bounced to the second stage of dealing with death rather easily, which for some reason didn't surprise me.

After the _Merlin_ had been tended to the pressing of matter of what we were going to do next had come to the table and that was exactly what I was dealing with now. We'd obviously overstayed our welcome at the wayside terra and I knew we had to think of some sort of plan. So I'd enlisted Varan's opinions on the subject while Fraggle, who was still pretty emotionally unhinged about the whole experience and probably wouldn't have had many reasonable suggestions anyways (and he was nursing a hangover) worked on repairing the mag-lift in the hanger and Wasp went about doing whatever it was she did when she wasn't stalking about the bridge.

I was sitting on the back of Falshade's chair, as I'd caught him wandering again and had brought him to the bridge rather then risking leaving him to his own devices, rubbing his shoulders while I bounced ideas off Varan. Falshade had moved right into the second stage of Sky Shock and while he hadn't become completely paralyzed he was moving stiffly and painfully as if he'd developed acute arthritis. I'd taken pity on him, figuring he didn't need any more pain then he was already in, and was trying to loosen up his joints a bit and soothe him at the same time.

"I think it's obvious we can't just keep chasing these guys around." Varan was saying, trying hard not to give me the odd look that had been plastered on his face for the last five minutes now. I knew how weird and even awkward it might have looked for me to be massaging my best friend's shoulders like I was, because despite the closeness we Gargoyles shared I'd never been one for contact. That and it was me, the one they all thought was afflicted with gender confusion. I was reminded of the day Falshade, after making a few awkward attempts, had just come out with it and asked me if I was a faggot. Of course he hadn't asked me like that, Falshade being as righteous as he was, and he hadn't said the word 'homosexual' with any sort of disgust or anger. He'd just plain out and asked me and I could tell even if I had have said yes he would have shrugged, said "okay" and acted like that didn't change anything between us. But I'd laughed and told him no, because I really wasn't. I don't think I was capable of that kind of thing, the obvious love that would come along with any relationship I formed with someone else, male or female. Sure, I could love my friends, but never another person in the singular, raw and undoubting way that love in that other form required. The way I looked at it, I was capable of two things, when it came to that form of love: physical attraction and obsession. And those two things could apply to anybody.

I wrinkled my nose at Varan's statement. "So you're saying we should just give up the hunt and let these guys get away?" that didn't sit well at all with me, and not just because I was more a fighter then anything else. I was itching to get into another round with that red-headed freakazoid and prove to her that _nobody_ killed my friends and got away with it. Over the last twenty-four hours something that had kept me from falling into turmoil as the others had was a repeating image of my fingers sinking into that woman's neck and tearing her head free from her shoulders with my bare hands.

"_No_." Varan stressed. "What I'm saying is we can't just charge in like that again and hope for the best. There's Falshade's dreams to consider for one thing. We need something solid to build from, not just fly it blind and expect something to hit us eventually. We need a real plan, no more of this reckless stuff or we're going to lose someone else."

Falshade made a noise in his throat caught between a whimper and a groan and Varan and I stopped talking to look at him with concern. However he made no further comment, whether because he had none or because his jaw had seized up I couldn't tell and I went back to rubbing his shoulders, my thumbs pressing into his neck to try and soothe his sore muscles and feeling his atlas vertebrae roll under my right thumb.

Varan made sense there, although I had no idea how we were going to get something solid, seeing as how we were no further to cracking the code behind Falshade's dreams now then we had ever been. "So what are you suggesting?" I asked him. "Kinda make a random stab like we did with the Scar and hope something shows up?"

"Not exactly. I think there's a way we could really find out some more things about Shade's dreams." Varan said slowly and I noticed his tail began thumping against the floor nervously. Which probably meant I wasn't going to like his plan very much.

"And what's that?" I asked.

"We should go see the Oracle on Terra Delphi." he said in a bit of a rush as if wanting to get the idea out and the scornful comments over with.

I snorted before I could stop myself. "Delphi?" I repeated. "Are you serious?"

"Yesss." Varan hissed at me defensively. "I mean, where better for this kind of stuff?"

"No offence here, Var, but the Oracle has barely spoken to anyone in nearly a hundred years." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but we aren't just a bunch of air heads pleading her to tell us about our future fortune and glory." Varan argued. "She's a dream interpreter, and if anyone's got something worth interpreting it's us."

He had a good point. If you thought about it, what psychic bull-shiter wouldn't want to get their hands on Falshade and his horrible doom dreams? But I still wasn't exactly pleased about the idea, for one thing because of my selfish need for vengeance and secondly because I was one of those sceptics who thought prophets and Oracles and the likes were just a bunch of kooks. Odd that I hung around Falshade, come to think of it. Then again, he didn't carry around a crystal ball.

I sighed and told myself my personal opinions couldn't be allowed to hinder the rest of the squadron. "How are we going to get there? Delphi got taken off the maps like, a thousand years ago." I asked him, as close to agreeing with someone in this kinda situation as I'd ever gotten.

"That's okay. Local terras will know where it is well enough, and I know the general direction we have to go." Varan assured me, getting up to pull down one of our older maps.

I released my hold on Falshade and leaned over so I could see his face. "Hey, Shade? Anything you'd like to add?" I asked him carefully. He looked at me vacantly and shook his head stiffly. His jaw must have seized up after all. At least I hoped that's all it was.

"Okay." I said, squeezing his shoulder before getting up as well and heading for the hanger. "Right, you find that mystic terra of yours, I'll go round up Fraggle and get us some more Fuel crystals."

"Alright." Varan agreed, but then called me back just as I was about to enter the hanger. "Hey, Ange?"

"Yeah?" I asked, turning back to face him.

Varan shifted awkwardly then just came out with it. "Are you doing okay?"

I did a bit of a double-take before quirking an eyebrow at him, puzzled. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You don't look like it."

I pretended to look offended, trying to make a joke out of it. "Yeah, thanks for that. Here I am, getting all dressed up for you people and-"

"That's not what I meant." Varan told me. "You just… I dunno. You've been running around, trying to look after everyone and I imagine that's gotta be pretty hard on you."

Again I did a bit of a double take. "What makes you say that?" I asked him, trying to beat around the bush about the whole thing. Unfortunately Varan was unnaturally blunt.

"Because Stork was your friend too." he said simply and I ran a hand through my hair distractedly.

"I mean you and Shade knew her the longest." he went on. "You guys were pretty tight. It can't be easy to-"

"Look, I never said I just up and forgot about her." I said sharply. I felt bad for it after and changed my tone. "I've just got a different way of coping, that's all. Plus somebody's gotta look after you guys. Stork was you're friend too." I didn't like the pained expression Varan gave me and for once wished I was better at hugging people. "Don't worry about me, Var. There's enough shit going on in here already." I told him, trying to look as reassuring as I could muster before turning back around and leaving the bridge.

Fraggle was seething to himself over by the disembowelled mag-lift as I approached him. "Hey, how's it going?" I asked him, reminding myself to keep my voice a bit lower then usual. It must suck to have a hangover and sensitive ears all at once, I thought.

Fraggle gave me a look of annoyance. "It's going bloody horrible." he told me shortly, turning back to the lift. "I dunno how to do any of this stuff, I'm a freaking pilot, not a god damn-"

Something, which had been making a strained creaking noise up until now, snapped violently, slicing Fraggle's hand in the process and sparking angrily.

Fraggle snarled several swear words all at once, stood up and hurled the wrench he'd been using across the hanger. "Bloody fucking son of a bitch!" he shouted as I tried to grab him by the shoulder and calm him down.

"Hey, look, let's forget it for now, I'll help you later-"

"No!" Fraggle yowled at me now. "No! I am not a mechanic! I dunno how to fix the god damn thing!" his eyes were stretched grotesquely wide and he seemed a little hysterical.

"Okay, alright, we don't even need to fix it at all, we never used it anyways." I said, trying to sound soothing.

"It's not about the fucking lift!" Fraggle shouted. I noted the lack of 'eh's punctuating his words and took that as a bit of a bad sign. Too much shit was hitting the fan for him to handle all at once.

"Then what-"

"It _is_ about the stupid lift! It's about you asking me to fix it! I don't fix things! I'm not a mechanic! I don't wanna be Stork!" he carried on, kicking over a nearby tool box and letting its contents spill over the floor carelessly. "I'm not Stork!"

"No, you're not." I told him, grabbing hold of him before he could wreak any more havoc and felt him shaking under my arms as I held him in a two-armed sort of headlock. I'd forgotten he was taller then I was.

"I'm not." he said, all volume evaporated from his voice as his bones seemed to collapse inside him and he sagged against me, nearly making me topple backwards. "I don't wanna… I don't wanna have to be the one to take her place, eh."

I understood his rambling now. I let him go, as hugging people never was easy for me, but squeezed his shoulder a bit too roughly to get through to him. Jeez, I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. The Angel version of a hug.

"Okay Fraggle. You aren't going to take Stork's place. No one was expecting you too. Nobody's going to take Stork's place, ever. No one ever should."

Fraggle nodded disjointedly. "Yeah, well… yeah."

"So do you think you could help me with something? We're moving out in about an hour, and we need some crystals." I told him and he shrugged but followed after me anyways.

"Sorry for shouting at you, eh." he told me after we'd paid more for twelve crates of crystals then they were worth and were hauling them back to the _Merlin_.

"No worries man." I panted, having attempted to carry two crates at the same time.

"No, dude, I don't wanna be let off just like that, eh. I feel bad, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, eh."

"Fraggle, I said don't worry about it." I said, dropping my two crates on the floor of the hanger and wiping the sweat from my eyes. "We all have enough things to feel bad about as it is."

"True say." he agreed, a gloomy tone entering his voice. Well I hadn't meant to go do _that_, I'd just wanted him to drop it.

"Okay, so how many Blizzarians does it take to screw in a light bulb?" I asked him as we turned to go back for another load.

Fraggle gawked at me. I'd never missed an opportunity to poke fun at him and Stork when they went into one of their reeling travel games of pure madness (the blonde thought process I called it), but I think right around now he needed it again, and as acting Sky Knight I was trying as best I could to keep everyone in the best spirits as possible, given our current situation.

Fraggle continued to stare at me, but just when I was beginning to feel like this might have been too soon he cracked a slight grin and said "One, if you can get 'em to pay attention long enough!" and clapped me on the shoulder good naturedly.

I felt pretty good about myself right about then.

After we'd carried the rest of the crystals onto the _Merlin_ I went to see if Varan had found the right map and check on Falshade. He'd migrated to the couch and was lying on his side, facing the wall. Varan gave me a helpless expression when I looked at him for answers.

"He's not doing so well. Do you think… god, he'll kill me for this, but do you think he should see a doctor?" Varan asked me in a hushed voice as he set up his map on the easel.

"No." I said. "They won't be able to do much for him anyways, maybe give him a tranquilizer, that's about it. You just gotta let PTSS run its course."

"Yeah, but how long could that take?" Varan asked with concern. "I mean, if we run into those guys again…"

"If we do we'll be fine." I assured him with a growl. "Don't worry about Shade, he'll be fine in a few days… well not fine, but you know what I mean."

"I think it's gonna be a while before any of us are fine, eh." Fraggle said dejectedly as he came over to investigate the map. "Where we headed there, Var?"

"This general area, hell if I know directions." Varan said, making a circle with a scaly finger in the bottom left corner of the map.

Fraggle let out a long whistle. "That's quite a run, eh. What're going down that-a-way for anyways?"

"We're heading for Terra Delphi." I informed him without much conviction. "Is Wasp here or not?"

"Delphi?" Fraggle asked as Varan nodded in answer to my question. "Isn't that the place with the prophet?"

"Oracle." Varan corrected him. "And yes."

"_Why_?"

"That's what I said." I said and Varan scowled at me.

"You know, I think I know what Shade's talking about. You guys just can't go with the flow, can you?" he said with a hint of annoyance slipping into his voice. "We needed a plan, right? And now we've got one. So let's just go already, okay?"

"Hey, listen up, eh, only one who gets to push me around is Chief there, so if you-"

"Cool it, both of you." I snapped. "Fraggle, _please _pull out whenever you're ready, but like, in the next five minutes, okay? Okay? I said please."

"Well, just cause you said please." Fraggle grumbled.

"And don't snark at each other like that. I'm the only one who does that." I told them sternly and Varan mussed up my hair half-heartedly.

"That's true. Sorry Fraggle, I didn't mean to be pushy."

"Nah, it's okay. That was my bad, shouldn't have snapped at ya. Jeez, I seem to be doing that a lot, eh?" he said to me and looked slightly worried about it.

"Let's peg it on PMS for now." I said and he punched me in the arm. "Right, so, if Varan's right then we have to be headed in a general… south-western-ish direction." I explained to Fraggle, who checked the compass briefly as the _Merlin_ rose up from the docks without her usual zest.

"South-west it is then, eh." he said nonchalantly.

I nodded to myself and tried to think of something I could do that'd be useful, or more importantly distract me from the inevitable wave of exhaustion and depression that was going to catch up with me as soon as I was sitting too long.

Varan had obviously been thinking along the same lines. "I'm going to my room." he said to me as if checking for my permission. "I wanted to make some more of those Raptures, you know, in case."

"Yeah, of course, whatever. We'll call you if we need you." I said and he went off down the corridor alone. I started pacing before I could catch myself and decided to check on Shade.

I walked over to the couch and it seemed to me already that Shade had shrunken a bit, seeming to have let all his skeleton collapse into the couch. I reached out and then decided I had to stop the whole shoulder-squeezing thing. Instead I cleared my throat obviously.

"Hey, Shade?" I asked aloud, feeling like I was trying to talk to a mental ward patient. Not because Shade seemed like a head case, it was just the way the words were coming out so unnaturally.

"Mmph." was the only thing he gave me to show he was acknowledging me.

"We're heading out now, you know, to Delphi." I said, perching on the edge of the couch carefully.

"Okay." he said in a small, distant voice. I could practically hear his jaw creaking with the effort.

I sat there in silence for a little while before making a weird, disconcerted noise in the back of my nose (I really wasn't good at this kind of thing) and asked slowly "So, um… how're you doing?"

Falshade stayed still for a long moment and I thought maybe he was just going to ignore me. Then he slowly turned his head so he could look up at me wretchedly, his neck making a few popping sounds that made my hands flinch involuntarily. I could tell right away that I'd just asked a rather stupid question; he wasn't looking very good at all. Dark circles were already blossoming under his violet eyes, which were blood shot and bleary, as if he were having a hard time keeping me in focus. After nearly a year of living with him in our small dorm room I'd come to notice how little things seemed to affect Falshade much quicker then they did me. Where as it took me a few days of lack of sleep for the shaded rings of sleep deprivation to form under my eyes, all Shade really needed was one night of bad sleep, whether from an onslaught of his nightmares or from staying up too late trying to cram in as much of his studies as he could, to make the dark circles prominent. He also seemed to have lost weight in the space of a day of skipping meals. None of us had had the heart to eat anything since yesterday, but it almost seemed to me that Falshade looked like he'd gone a week without sustenance. His metabolism was fast and needed constant nourishment. And he looked pale, and not just the surface pale, but the kind that sets in under the skin, making his bones and features leap out like Wasp's did, giving him a sort of deranged look. I chewed on the inside of my lip with concern. I used to think that maybe I was hardier then Falshade, as it took twice as long for hardship or wear to become evident on my face, but I realized now I wasn't. Where as I had seemed to evolve into a state where harshness was deflected from me, Falshade had stayed exactly as he should have been, achingly human. And that made him stronger then me, with his ability to take things that were inevitable and function again afterwards, shifting the gears (usually) flawlessly. I only had one gear.

I decided to change the question before Falshade was forced to work up an answer. It was pretty evident how he was doing anyways.

"Want something to eat? 'Cause I was thinking of making sandwiches or something, you know, kinda soft, easy to chew…" I went on, figuring minimal jaw work was going to be to his advantage. "Or soup. I know how to do that alright…"

"Where's Varan?" he croaked in response.

"In his room, working on stuff. I'm playing cook today."

"I don't want anything."

Usually here would be where I cracked some sort of joke, pretended to be offended by his lack of faith in my cooking. But jokes seemed to have gone stale right now and so I just nodded.

"Well, how about something to drink at least? Something for the ol' blood sugar level, tea, juice…"

"No."

I sighed and felt a guilty little prickle of frustration dig its claws into me. A moment later though I felt ashamed of myself and threw the miserable little creature off. Falshade was, for once since I'd known him, being difficult and if anyone deserved to do so it was him. He was beyond distraught for one thing. And how many times had I, without reason or even purpose, been difficult to him? I was getting into to triple digits without even having to think hard.

"Okay then. If you change your mind, just say so." I said, getting up. Having turned over the generosity leaf, I decided to run with it and turned back to Fraggle. "Hey, want anything? Tea or something?"

"It's always tea with you, eh." Fraggle said gruffly. "Since you're asking go put on a pot of coffee."

"Coffee, right. Anything in it?" I asked considerately, ignoring the fact that _he_ hadn't said please.

Fraggle rubbed the side of his head. "I'm thinking black, eh."

Well, at least it was simple. I headed for the kitchen and had to hunt around for a few minutes before I found the ground coffee. I was faced by a new problem when I opened the top of the coffee maker and realized I had no idea what to do. Tea really was more my style…

I figured though there had to be something in there to keep the grinds from mixing into the pot and hunted down the filters and stuck two in because I couldn't separate them properly. And somehow, even after I'd poured the exact amount of water in and watched the brown liquid drip painfully slowly into the pot, I still managed to get a coat of grinds like beach sand in the bottom. I poured a mug of it anyways and hoped Fraggle wouldn't notice.

After delivering him his coffee I wandered the corridors for about twenty minutes, knowing I had something I could too, but I was a little hesitant to do so. After a while though I couldn't avoid it any longer and I went back down to the hanger.

There lay the entrails of my Slip Wing, anything I'd managed to salvage off the run way. It was hard to look at, the heap of metal and parts. I stared at it for a long time, the half that remained of my trusted skimmer and felt an overwhelming surge of sorrow, for the loss of my ride and the loss of the mechanic who should have been leaping around like an excitable dog in her eagerness to fix it.

Wiping at my nose irritably I turned my back on the pile of scrap metal and marched over to the supply closet, in which Stork had jammed enough second-hand parts and motors to build probably three skimmers. I sifted through them absently, trying not to think of the person who'd placed them here too much. From my days racing in the desert on Saharr I'd picked up a few useful tools of the mechanical trade, even though most of them were about making your skimmer as fast as possible. At least I didn't really have to repair my engine; the entire kit and caboodle had been torn right off. The hardest part was going to be trying to patch up was the energy conversion system. The schematics behind that had always evaded me.

Selecting an engine that I was sure would fit my ride I hauled the crate back out into the hanger, avoiding Stork's room purposely. Fetching some of the tools I thought I'd need and then a good deal more I sat down beside the skeletal remains of Bucephalas, my faithful skimmer. For a long time I just stared at her, remembering when she used to go by that name and how quickly I'd gotten into the habit of not using it once I left Saharr. Once I'd turned eleven I'd started hanging out by the tracks more often then I had before. I guess that was the age when machines suddenly became interesting to me. Before I'd only gone to bum smokes off the racers and to watch some of the events with mild interest. Nothing was really for big trophies, as the only true competition that ever went on on Saharr was the Great Atmos Race. But certain dealers would enlist rookies to race for them, to win other skimmers or just the pot for that race and those races went on almost every night of the year.

I'd met Jet, one such dealer, the third time I'd gone poking about the lines of tripped-out skimmers, admiring them and looking at them wistfully. One of Jet's racers had caught me clambering onto one of the larger skimmers outside his tent near the tracks and had hauled me before their guild master. I thought I was in for the beating of a life time, but Jet had simply stared down at me with his glittering green eyes and asked: "_You race, kid_?"

"_No_."

"_Well you do now_." And that's how it began. After a crash course in driving the velocity primed machines I got thrust into one of the smaller races, for no bigger a prize then a new, more powerful engine. I'd come in fourth place.

The next day Jet had taken me out on one of his more impressive (and expensive) rides and told me to race him. We screeched about the desert all day long, Jet teaching me every trick in the racing hand book. I learned later he used to race when he was barely older then me but stopped when his older brother died in horrible collision Jet was sure had been his fault. So instead Jet poured all his old enthusiasm and zest for racing into me, his new speed-demon prodigy.

That night he stuck me in a huge, high-stakes race alongside thirty other racers, all of whom were larger, older and more experienced then I was. As we were playing for not only a huge chunk of money but also for pink slips, I was nervous as hell, because I didn't entirely hold faith that Jet wouldn't beat me to a pulp if I lost his ride in the race.

That was the first night I ever rode Bucephalas.

She was more to my scale really, smaller, slighter. Completely black and stream-lined. I was captivated by her beauty. Before the race Jet told me to give her a quick whirl to get the feel for her. I opened the throttles wide and sped right into a rock pillar.

From that moment on, I was hopelessly in love.

Bucephalas, or Bucey as Jet called her affectionately, won that race and dozens of others whenever I got the itching to ride. I refused to race on any other skimmer then her. Once I was forced to ride one by the name of Jaguar (Jet named every one of his rides) because one of Jet's other racers demanded to ride Bucey and I came in second place. After that Jet never let anyone touch Bucey but me.

I never liked calling her by a name. It made her seem too earthly bound, too attached to the surface world. Even when I rode her I refused to think of her as something named and domesticated. When it was just the two of us, the wind hurling dust in my face and the other riders trying to come up from behind, I felt separated from all but my skimmer. It was just me and my black ride merging with the stars, and as she was released from her mortal bonds, her name, I too was released from my own captivity, something I'd never found before anywhere but the desert.

So on the night I left Saharr I knew I had to take her with me. She was basically mine anyways, as I'd won twice the money racing her then her price tag. I stole into Jet's camp, wheeled her far enough away that when I did start the engines I'd have a good head start and then took off into the night, the first time I ever flew her and the last time she was ever called anything other then Angel's Slip Wing.

I let out a long sigh and twiddled a wrench in my fingers, not sure where to start or if I even wanted to. I understood Fraggle's turmoil earlier now. This just seemed so wrong; this was Stork's job.

It seemed that taking in Bucephalas' broken form finally unlocked what I'd been trying to hold in, all my own personal grief for the death of my best friend. It hit me like a blow to the stomach, how much her absence hurt and was going to keep hurting for years to come. I, unlike Falshade, was able to accept that she was gone. But perhaps that was the worse side of it. It'd be nice to just sit in oblivion, float there, numb, like an embryo inside a tube. However I could see the down side to that too, living forever in the blind eye.

Stork was gone, that was fact. She'd left us all behind to try and swallow that, that was also fact. But something else I knew was fact was that Stork wouldn't have just wanted us to lie down and give up. In life she'd gone out of her way to make sure she never held us back, and I knew her stubborn, fiery pride would have felt the same in death. She'd want us to carry on, put an end to this if for nothing else then to make sure no one else would have to taste the bitterness of loss like we were now. Or maybe to avenge her, knowing her more wrathful, arrogant side.

I knew all that because I would have wanted exactly the same if it would have been me that had gone down.

So as I allowed two tears to splash down my chin I set to work on removing all the damaged parts and then replacing them on Bucephalas, letting my sorrow have free reign for awhile so I wouldn't feel like I'd just forgotten her and so it would fuel my limbs whenever they got tired. Keeping Stork's memory, even if it was sharp and painful right now, alive by thinking of her now seemed to shift me into her mind set, as if some of it were still lingering about the hanger. My brain didn't have to put much conscious thought to the methodical actions of my hands. As I retrieved a set of wings, which were slightly shorter then my original ones and I had to weld on some extra metal before proceeding, and sutured them back onto Bucephalas' flank, I thought of the day I'd given Stork her throwing axes and how, after a long, painfully torn moment on her part she'd given me a stiff but none the less appreciative, warm hug. While I attached the new running board and gave it a rushed coat of paint I thought about all the times she and I had driven Falshade to yanking his hair out with our bantering. In repairing my skimmer and mulling over all the things Stork and I had done together, I felt like I was giving her a final testimony, paying my last respects, saying goodbye.

I stood up at last, back sore, legs stiff, and examined my handiwork. Stork of course would have had Bucey in better shape much quicker, but I'd done my best and she didn't look half bad, if a bit like Frankenstein with so many mismatched parts stitched onto her frame. I actually liked her a little better this way.

The only part that I hadn't been able to finish was her front end, which had been crushed flat like a soda can. I'd replaced the engine and rewired everything and all of that, so she would run alright. But I hadn't had the metal to make a proper compartment for her motor. She looked a bit like someone with a brain tumour, who'd had the top of their skull sawed off, their brains exposed unabashedly. Indeed she seemed proud of her new, rougher design and I was pleased with it. I hand no intention of covering the engine anyways. It almost seemed fitting; I'd proven, if more for Stork's spiritual peace then anything else, that Bucephalas would fly again, that we would carry one. We'd just never be exactly the same in doing so.

**x.x.x Elsewhere… x.x.x**

His blow sent her slender frame crashing to the floor.

"HOW COULD YOU LOOSE HER??" he roared, ignoring her snarling visage at his brutal actions. "ALL I GAVE YOU WAS ONE SIMPLE TASK!!"

"ME?" she screeched back at him, getting to her feet. Immediately the back of his knuckles came crashing across her face again, but this time she remained upright.

"WHAT ABOUT YOU?" she demanded in that horribly high, scratching voice. "YOU COULDN'T EVEN TAKE CARE OF ONE YOUNGLING SKY KNIGHT!!"

He seized her by the throat, slamming her back against the stone wall. She spat a glob of green-tinted spit at him and he squeezed down, feeling something pop in her neck with satisfaction.

"It is not your place to be telling _me _what to do, Carrion." he seethed in her skeletal face. "I told you to take care of the girl while I went after the rest of those wretches!"

"Yeah, and I did take care of the girl." Carrion spat. "Sent her spinning into the Wasteland to become sky _jam_."

Halo pulled her away from the wall only to slam her back into it again with all the strength he could summon. Her head lolled slightly but she blinked it off and continued to glare electricity at him.

"THE GIRL WAS SUPPOSED TO BE TAKEN ALIVE!!" he bellowed, shaking her violently. "BRING ME THE GIRL!! THAT'S ALL I ASKED OF YOU, AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN DO THAT!! YOU WENT RIGHT FOR RAVENSCROFT AND HIS SCRAWNY SNIPER!!"

Carrion's neck snapped again beneath the pressure of his vice-like grip. She wheezed for a moment before snarling back at him.

"I DID GO FOR THE GIRL!!"

"THE WRONG ONE!!" he screamed at her. "YOU WENT FOR THE DAMN FAERIE!!"

"I tried to shake her off! That little whore bit me!!" Carrion yowled, clawing at his wrists. "I would have got the girl if it wasn't for her!"

"DON'T YOU LIE TO ME, YOU PATHETIC WASTE OF HIDE!!" he roared, saliva spraying from his mouth with the force of his fury. "YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO TAKE HER ALIVE!! YOU SPENT HER SPINNING INTO THE WASTELANDS TO _DIE_!! I WANTED HER _ALIVE_!!" he threw the Blitzkrieg from his grasp, sending her crashing to the ground where her arm snapped on contact.

She let out a howl like a dying jaguar and clutched at her broken forearm, squeezing tight as blood splashed down from the puncture wound, a splinter of grey bone poking free. He snorted in disgust. Carrion was next to useless; defective, weak…

He stormed off down the corridor, slamming his fist into the stone wall at erratic intervals. His rage was pounding in his veins, mixed with a crippling terror. He marched at a clipped pace down to the hanger, desperate to see if his recon patrol had returned at last. They were his only hope now…

He ploughed right into one of his officers, knocking the man right to the ground.

"On your feet you fool!" Halo snapped and the tiny man scrambled to his feet, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. He straightened as if electrocuted and saluted his general, a muscle twitching nervously under his jaw.

"Report!" Halo demanded. "Did you locate the girl?"

"N-No, sir." the man stammered, his free hand trembling against his side. "The girl was nowhere to be found… nor was her skimmer. The girl is gone sir, plunged into a lava pool."

Gone…

Halo let out an enraged howl and his cohort fell to his knees, sobbing like a pathetic infant.

"Forgive me, sir!" he pleaded, his voice cracking in desperation.

Halo looked down at his wretched follower with a sneer; there was no room in Halo's black chest for forgiveness.

Fuelled by his immense wrath Halo swept his huge broadsword down from its scabbard on his back and in one precise arc lopped off the head of the insignificant soldier, his fiery blade cauterizing the jugular close the second after it was sliced. Without a sound or drop of blood, the soldier keeled to the side, his head rolling across the passage way in the opposite direction.

"CARRION!! CLEAN UP THIS MESS!!" Halo demanded, continuing on his way to the deeper chamber, his footsteps falling like thunder.

His anger began to leak out, leaving the cold pressure of fear to consume him as he pushed ever deeper into the tunnels. He clutched at his head in panic, fearing at any moment he was going to pay for his failure and his very skull would rupture. He cursed Carrion for her stupidity and cursed that damned Sky Knight for getting in his way.

His body temperature plunged as he reached the chamber he'd been looking for. As deeply as his instincts urged him, demanded of him, to turn and flee the other way, he knew his punishment would only be more severe if he did so. As his breath knotted in his throat, he forced himself into the chamber and immediately dropped to his knees, assuming a position of desperate penitence.

"_Master…" _he began. "_I beg for your mercy._"

_**Where is the girl, Halo? I asked you to bring me the girl.**_

"_I tried, Master, I almost had her… it was Carrion, she attacked the girl and-"_

_**Silence! I do not care for your pathetic excuses, Halo. You have failed me. **_

"_No Master, never would I fail you, never intentionally would I ever-_"

_**I said silence! Where is the girl now?**_

"_M-my soldiers have informed me she is…_" Halo shook, his heart thrashing so quickly there were no gaps in its precession. Cold sweat ran in streams down his back and he shook uncontrollably. He didn't want to end his telepathic report.

_**My patience is wearing thin, Halo.**_

"_M-Master, forgive me. The girl is d-dead."_ he whimpered, clutching at his head in pure panic.

A painstaking silence stretched for a long time in the flatness of his mind. His nerves extended beyond the breaking point as he expected his brain to aneurism at any moment, waiting for the blood to stain his pale hands as it dripped from his eyes.

He couldn't tell whether it was a relief or horror to hear his Master's voice finally echo back. Cold, sterile laughter echoed behind his eyes and his optical nerve stretched under the strain of keeping the orbs in their sockets.

_**Perhaps I was wrong to put my fate in your hands, Halo. You seem to be more of a fool then I first suspected.**_

"_Master_?" he asked, confused.

_**Do you really think my voice would still be ringing in your empty head if the girl truly was dead?**_

A daring hope began to form like a tumour in his stomach, at any moment ready to burst and let him bleed out slowly from the inside. "_Master, are you saying the girl may still be alive_?" he asked hesitantly, fearing the reaction of his bold words.

_**Do not question my intelligence, Halo, as I assure you it far surpasses your own. **_His Master's voice snarled _**I am certain the girl is most certainly not dead. **_

That brittle hope swelled alarmingly, making it all the more dangerous if it should rupture. Trying to fight the deadly feeling down, he began to ask but was cut off by his Master.

_**She was intercepted before your soldiers could find her **_the voice explained.

"_Her companions?_" Halo dared to ask.

_**No, another. Where she is now I cannot tell, but that is not important at the moment. We will find her again. **_

"_Shall I send out my hunters after her squadron? Surely she will go back to them, or they will lead us to her."_ Halo asked, trying to bite down his growing confidence. His Master was not finished with him yet, after all, and held even less capacity for mercy then he did.

_**Not yet. Track Ravenscroft, monitor his movements but do not attempt another confrontation until the girl's location is confirmed. Send out more legions of the Fleet to the other terras instead. I think it's time we aimed for a bigger target, force the Sky Knights out to take up action. Terra Nord I believe would be a good place to start. **_

"_Yes, Master. I will have a unit ready in an hour._"

_**Do not think I am letting you get away with your error so easily, Halo. I have an extensive memory. Your blunder will not soon be forgotten. **_

"_I understand, Master. I thank you for your passing judgement_." Halo said humbly, hardly daring to believe his change of fortune.

_**It is only because I have uses for you yet. What of my Blitzkrieg? You say she preformed poorly. **_

"_She has warranted battle capabilities_." Halo relented "_But she is dysfunctional, Master, another failure_." he added, more then happy to shift the weight of scorn onto Carrion.

_**She is the only successful attempt so far. However I sense her imperfections; her mind is fractured, incomplete, and she contains some physical deficiencies as well. However Carrion is not completely useless to us. We can use her as a prototype.**_

"_You wish to try the experiment again so soon Master? I thought the procedure-"_

_**My connection with the girl gives me strength. Go now and show Carrion the punishment for disobedience.**_

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

_**We could live like Jack and Sally**_

_**If you want**_

_**Where you can always find me**_

_**And we'll have Halloween on Christmas**_

_**And in the night we'll wish this never ends**_

_**We'll wish this never ends**_

_**-I Miss You, Blink182**_

I prided myself in being able to stich up the wound Stork's fallen form had torn in my heart. But that had only been half of the process; now that wound needed to heal and although by saying goodbye to her I'd sealed the wound, it was still vulnerable and sore, as if any sudden movement might tear it open again.

And perhaps on my own I might have been able to handle the itching, painful healing process quietly, slowly and with minimal stress to the wound itself. But I still had four other devastated and shell-shocked friends to look after as well, and at last I was beginning to feel like Varan had told me I looked.

Falshade had not improved, even though I had managed to get him to drink some water in which I'd sprinkled some sugar, just to keep his system going. With Varan's help I'd gotten him to his room and he hadn't moved from his bed since. Varan had been walking around like a zombie all day and in the end I had to fight him to get him into his own bed for the night. Fraggle seemed to have shifted from unstable to snarky and then would jump immediately back to tearful any time he snapped at me, which was often, unfortunately. I'd half carried him as he bawled all over me to his room and ended up sitting there with him for awhile, letting him ramble on and on about how he wanted to go home and see Starla, whoever that was. I'd eventually calmed him down, promising that on our way back from Delphi we could stop by Nord for as long as he wanted.

And in trying to do the others some good I'd ended up stranding myself all alone in the night, blocked from sleep and contact as my anguish rolled over me like thunderheads.

Feeling the crushing caress of loneliness drop in on me, colder and more insistence then I'd ever known it, while I'd sat under the table of the bridge had been too much for me. I needed something else, something to chase away its hungry little demons as my head started to spin faster and faster to the tune of Stork's sped up giggling.

I was outside now, sitting on the cold steel of the deck, my back pressed against the outer wall of the _Merlin _so nothing could sneak up and grab me from behind. I tilted my head so I could look up at the stars, imagining Stork had been cast forever into the inky blue sky. Even she, restless as she was, wouldn't mind that kind of eternity, or so I hoped.

I sighed and pulled the rectangular package of Mackenzies out of my pocket, worn from its many years in the bottom of my sock drawer.

Tearing off the top carefully I pulled one of the slender cigarettes free of its boxy prison and lit it with my antique lighter, one I'd stolen off a table in Tent City's only bar. Jeez, it had been a long time since I'd come to this…

The first drag went down rough and I had to resist the urge to cough. Mackenzies never went down smoothly though, and that's what I liked about them. That and the slight mint flavour that was worked into the filter so you could lick it off your lips between drags.

I let my painted breath out slowly, feeling the familiar swirl that came with inhaling smoke come over me, solidifying my center of gravity. By my third drag I was feeling a little dizzy, as it had been nearly four years since I'd last had a smoke. I quit cold turkey the day I got accepted into the Academy. It hadn't been hard or anything mind you; I'd never been one of those twitchy, IneedasmokeIneedasmokeIneedasmoke people. Smoking had never been my vice. I found that kinda addiction in humans, a more dangerous substance all together.

"I didn't know you smoke." someone said from nearby and I jumped, burning a perfect hole in my jeans. Irritably I looked up at Wasp, ever the stealthy one.

"Yeah, well…" I said, flicking my ashes away nonchalantly. "We'll all have our little coping devices."

Wasp nodded in a jerky, slow motion and sat down near but not next to me. "What brand are those?" she asked casually.

"Mackenzies." I said, blowing smoke the other way so it wouldn't get all caught up in her nose and not really knowing why I cared. "Why, you want one?" I asked in a tone that said clearly she wasn't getting one.

"No." she replied, pulling a can of Buzz Juice out of her endless coat pocket and cracking it open, a bit of red mist spraying outwards like geyser steam. As I watched the mist dissipate in the night air I realized two things: the first was a little less important, a more conscious observation on my part and that was while I wasn't thrilled about her company, I wasn't shying from the Faerieshian. The second was just something about the very different set of rules that Wasp and I marched too. While I sat here, settling into my own body among my cigarette's smoke, she raised her own internal volume, going only higher. That was just something that set the two of us apart; I was a downer and Wasp was an upper. If either of us were ever to dabble in the more dangerous chemicals out there, I was sure to be the one injecting cocaine or snorting heroine to calm me down and make me sleep while Wasp would be popping ecstasy like candy. I dug deep for new lows; Wasp screamed and clawed at new heights.

She noticed me watching her drink and must have misread my look or something. "Self meditation, self medication." she said simply, apparently agreeing with me, slurping her drink nosily.

"Hmmph." I muttered, not ready to sacrifice my own position of vigil just because she'd wandered out here. To my good fortune she remained silent except for her occasional sucking at the rim of her can, effectively keeping my loneliness away without actually doing anything.

I watched the stars, solid and unwinking tonight, as I smoked my cigarette to the filter and then snubbed it out against my boot. Comfortably rooted to the spot now I pushed aside my earlier plans to up and leave once I'd finished my first smoke and lit up a second one.

Wasp watched me with unbreaking concentration until I rolled my steely gaze in her direction and she examined the tattered tip of her ear. "I think she took a piece of me with her." she said aloud.

"What, that red-headed werewolf?" I asked without much interest.

"No. Well, yes, her too. But I think Stork got a bigger chunk."

I coughed a bit as I let the smoke filter out my nose, making my eyes water. "Ah." I said after I finished choking.

"How come we're out here?" she asked me, making a row of tiny spots with some of her juice and her knobbly finger along her milky white thigh.

"I have no idea why _you_ came out here, but I-"

"No." she interrupted me, looking up from her efforts. "No. I mean, why are we out here? Out here while the others are in there?"

I quirked an eyebrow. "Because they need to sleep. Don't you ever sleep?"

Wasp shrugged. "Not really. And that's still not what I meant. I meant metaphorically."

I blew out a long stream of smoke irritably. "I hate this kind of game."

"Okay, well I meant, why are they in there, like the walking dead, like Stork ripped their hearts out like they were the ripcords on the parachute she wasn't wearing, while we're out here, just… just."

"You mean why do we seem to be handling this better then they are?"

"No. Not better. Differently." Wasp enunciated. "Why though?"

I'd figured I'd known the answer to that, except I thought I was the only one caught in it. Varan, Falshade and Fraggle all held something in common; they'd lost parents, the people who were always meant to be closest to them, very young. Death, while leaving a lasting mark, hadn't made much of an impact on their forming brains. I hadn't known that shade of grey until I was unfortunately old enough for it to stick.

"Maybe we're just more accustomed to death then they are." I said with a shrug, thinking about how horrible a solution it was as it issued from my mouth.

It seemed to make sense to Wasp though. She nodded with some form of enthusiasm. "Yeah. That's what I was thinking too." Almost as if on an after thought, she added to her words; every answer seemed to awake new questions in Wasp: "Who'd you lose?"

I gagged on my own tongue. Narrowing my eyes at her I asked "What?"

Again Wasp shrugged in that infuriatingly simplistic way of hers. "Well you said it yourself, and the only way I know you get accustomed to death is by someone dying." she explained. "I was just wondering."

I stared at her long and hard. "And why would I want to tell you something like that?"

Another frustrating shrug, a flick of an ear. "I thought we were having a conversation." she said cheerfully, as if the threat of it ending just like that didn't alarm her in the slightest.

I would never understand how Wasp constantly managed to vex me. It seemed anytime she spoke to me, when using more then five words, she seemed to prod at a lot of my sensitive inner places, as if she had some sort of sixth sense. It creeped me out, mostly because I didn't like my shadows being pierced. Had we been having a conversation? Come to think of it this had probably been the longest amount of time I'd gone talking to her without slipping in something nasty.

The only question that remained now was, did I really want that to end?

And maybe it was the hole Stork's erasing had torn into me that I'd carefully stitched close again was allowing something to leak out through a ripped patch in my defences, or maybe it was because things seemed to bounce off Wasp and never really settle in, but I told her: "My mother."

Wasp blinked at me, almost as if she were surprised I'd given her an answer. I took a long, indifferent drag on my cigarette and tried to blow some smoke rings. I'd used to be really good at them; they were all wonky and distorted now.

"Oh."

"Oh." I repeated with a shrug of my own.

Wasp drew a circle around herself with her sticky fingertip, dyed red by her energy drink and said "My mother died too."

I did a bit of a double take, for multiple reasons. One, it only just registered with the side of me that was usually at the wheel, the side that snapped things at my friends and gave strangers looks like icy daggers, that I'd just let slip a part of my so desperately guarded past. I'd never known why I'd guarded that part of it really, as it wasn't really something to be ashamed of, except for the simple fact that once you confided one dirty secret in your friends, the rest generally came tumbling after. Two was I hadn't expected a response so sincere sounding, so clarified (or even a response in general of that magnitude) from Wasp. I mean, it was Wasp… until now I'd never even considered the fact that she may have had parents at one point in time. That's all the Atmos really needed; more freaks like her running about somewhere, left to their own devices…

"Really?" I asked lowly, honestly. What did Wasp feel over the loss of her mother? What did Wasp feel, period? All those tiny moments when I felt bad for being disinterested and just generally turned off by her (not to mention sharp and mean) were weighing in on me now.

"Yep. She died giving birth to me." Wasp explained as if she were commenting on the weather. Which she tended to do quite often when she wasn't acting so… sane.

"Huh." I said. "My mom died the same way. Except I was eight." I said, since Wasp seemed to enjoy the metaphorical type of cryptic nonsense. And when I really thought about it, it was true; my mom had been quite healthy and lovely until I'd come along.

Wasp nodded in understanding. "Do you ever miss her?"

"I only missed her when she was alive."

Again Wasp nodded as if she knew exactly all the words I wasn't saying. Maybe, in this sort of short-hand dialect I was giving her answers with, it made sense in her scrambled head.

Feeling it was my turn to ask her something (when playing personal Twenty-Questions-about-your-life games like these, it was often best to keep the score equal). Plus something was nagging at me. Childbirth, in this day and age, seemed a very strange way to die, given our technology and medical training. "You, um… you weren't born on Macabre, were you?" I asked her cautiously, not knowing what kind of prodding may cause her to snap. She was like me in that sense.

She shook her head with a bit of a smile, although there was no joy in the corners of her thin lips. "No. I was born on Faerûn, in the jungle." she answered, looking almost wistful if I didn't know her better.

Jungle. Having grown up on the sand swept, dry lands of Saharr, it was hard to imagine such a luscious, green place. "Did you like it there?" I asked, feeling a little curious by now. These were the kinds of things we thought we'd never hear from Wasp.

A dream look came onto Wasp's face. "Oh yes. I miss it sometimes, when I'm feeling claustrophobic."

"Sometimes I miss the desert too." I said earnestly.

"Does it ever rain there?"

"Sometimes."

"It was always raining in the jungle." Wasp said, lifting a hand as if to catch some of the liquid now, falling from the stars. "Things grew there."

"Things grew in the desert too." I said, thinking of the nests of sidewinder eggs that usually hatched around this time of the year. I'd taken it upon myself to guard the opening nests from the predators that would welcome an easy, not-yet-potent little morsel until all the wriggling, stubby little creatures had forced their way out of their fat, white egg shells and had taken refuge under rocks or brambles.

Her smile had a little more genuineness to it this time around and she shook her dirty, matting hair back from her face to let me see it as she fixed me with her mixed-match gaze. It was the first time I'd seen a happy expression on her distorted features that wasn't her wonky, crooked werewolf grin and a tiny flutter made itself known at the back of my mouth. She almost looked domesticated that way, and I didn't hate myself for liking it, that tiny smile, the fraction of her proper mind.

"What?"

Wasp flicked her ear. "I dunno, just never thought I'd hear you talk like that. Certainly not to me. You hate me, after all."

A jab of guilt punched me in the gut, one I knew very well from every time I said something sharp to Falshade when he was only trying to talk to me. I'd learned to ignore it over the years, because it only got in the way.

Wasp went on undeterred. "So did you like it there?"

It took me a moment to realize what we'd been talking about. "Huh? Oh, the desert… yeah. Yeah I did."

"Do you think I would?"

"You? I dunno. Kinda dry there. Then again there _are_ the wild goats…" Her eyes lit up at the mention of her new fascination.

"What do you think was big enough to pull you away from it?"

I had to think about that one. The desert had been the only sanctuary I'd ever known. But I'd never been one to play on the safe, quiet side of things; eventually if you stay there long enough, even a sanctuary loses its novelty. After all, I'd only been hiding from myself, and that seemed to follow me no matter where I went, eventually.

"I wanted to see what else was out there." I said. "I wanted to be a Sky Knight, have adventures, all the cheesy, mushy crap." And I wanted to prove I had the guts to march out and take on the black things that were so apart of me. That had been a key role in my final decision.

"Cheesy." Wasp echoed with a nod.

"What was the jungle to you? Did you like it there?" I asked her in return.

"The jungle was the air in my blood." she told me in a whisper, and I took it that meant it had indeed been as important and familiar to her as the desert had been to me. Maybe even more so.

"What made you leave?" I asked, having a hard time that someone in such an unbroken, untamed and untouched by technology, machinery and the beautiful horror of the human race could ever desire to know what else was out there. It was often speculated that the reason Faeries never seemed to leave their homeland was because they didn't even know the rest of the Atmos existed.

A strained expression pulled at the muscles near Wasp's nose and over her jaws. "I was exiled." she said in a clipped tone.

I did a bit of a double take, my back bumping up against the wall behind me. "Ex…exiled?" I repeated. What sort of offence in such, if Wasp was any example of the nature of her kin, a brutal and wild society could label one worthy of banishment?

"Yup." Wasp said, pinching the skin on her knuckle until it turned purple under the pressure.

These were the kind of moments I'd learned so well over the years, the times when no more should be said about the matter. Wasp's voice didn't hold any outward sensitivity or aggravation, but nor did she seem to want to elaborate on the subject. I, of all people, could understand that.

It suddenly struck me how absurd this whole conversation was turning out to be. I couldn't tell which of us was acting stranger, Wasp acting as if she'd suddenly become civilized, her mind cleared of all that that usually cut her words into babble and seemed to close off anything she had wanted to say, catching all intelligent things between her lungs and her mouth, or me, talking to someone I'd proclaimed a thousand times over I hated about some of the more shrouded aspect of myself. Grief and healing seemed to have affected us differently then the others alright; we both seemed to have stepped outside our armour.

Maybe, in each other's presence, we felt okay to do so. Like it was easier to speak to someone you knew wasn't that close to you. Or maybe we'd both just been holding too much inside, and Stork's death was the straw that broke our backs.

"So then you just wound up on Macabre huh?" I asked, to sort of change the subject without making too huge a gap and to ease the tension at the same time. However when I felt for it, I realized the latter hadn't been present between the two of us to begin with.

"Yeah." Wasp said. "And then four years later I met you guys. That's kinda my lifeline in a nut shell." she giggled a bit, the harsh, choking noise she emitted and you could never really tell if she found something humorous or not. "Imagine actually living in a nut shell?" she asked me.

"Would have to be one big shell." I said. And that's when I realized that I _had_ been living in one, my shadowed, armoured and prickly shell. Maybe Wasp did too. Maybe Wasp's insanity was her own shell, encased around her head. Not an act, not a façade, because some of the things she did could only come from a true psycho. But a defensive gateway that she could open if she really wanted to, let a little light shine through the closet door. It was clever when I thought of it; Wasp had proven on more then one occasion (she was proving it again right now) that she contained a deeper intelligence, understanding and spirit as well as some old sores. But if people knew that, it'd only take them a matter of time to crack it open and she would lose all she was one way or another. The madness could be subsided if she wished it, could flared up or just remain at its normal levels if she so chose. But people didn't expect as much from you, didn't demand things, if you were like her or like me. The world let you slip between the cracks without complaint, and in that way, you began to rule your own fate, your own decisions and choices and paths, in your own private niche that you could emerge from only when it fitted you. It was lonely and numbing at times, but from your own carved place you could pick whatever direction you wanted, above ridicule and the expectation of others. It came to those who had embraced the solitude that came from our place in evolution, our grasp of knowledge beyond instinct and animal need, those just the notch above animal called humanoids. After all, humans had always meant to be alone, and only in acknowledging that did we become who we were. It made existence all the more painful and difficult and beautiful and enlightened all at once. Only once our roots had been set were we able to grow. And we had to dig them in ourselves, in our own chosen place.

Or maybe it was just how I justified it, my little shell.

It almost made me sad to realize that it had taken me this long to find out that Wasp and I were one in the same. We had our many differences, numerous ones, but in the deeper parts of our souls we shared the same wavelength, the same pulse. Maybe that's why the words I told her tonight had come so easily, without struggle or scorching. She was right; we were different from the others, with our oily, toxic secrets buried like nuclear waste only to come back and haunt us in later years, when the damage was irreversible and our secured if not entirely accepted by others or ourselves positions in the world, ever changing, ever roiling.

Wasp walked a road all her own, as did I, even if hers was a little less frightening and murky then mine. We were two planets in a very wide universe, but we both looked upon the same stars, and tonight our satellites had crossed paths.

"You remind me of someone I used to know." Wasp told me then as I felt my fingers start to burn. I flicked the butt of my cigarette away and lit up a third. "Oh, really? How's that?"

"I don't know, really. He had dark skin too, much darker then yours though. And he had white hair… I think it's your eyes that remind me most. His eyes were blue, but they were insanely bright like yours. Bright eyes seem to leap out from dark faces." Wasp explained. I ran a finger over my cheek bone subconsciously.

"And you both… I dunno. He was kinda mysterious like you, but not nearly as biting. You must be a biter."

I grinned despite myself, showing off my teeth. "Maybe."

"I think what really reminds me is… just the way you are. I'm not sure how to explain it. You're not exactly like him. But you remind me anyways."

"I see…" I said. "Um… this guy. You knew him from Macabre?" Wasp nodded. "Ah. So… was he a decent fellow?"

Wasp cocked her head curiously.

"Was he a good guy I mean. He wasn't… bad, was he?"

Wasp eyes grew wide as if she couldn't believe I'd ask such a thing. "He had the brightest heart I ever met. He was the greatest person I ever knew."

"Ah." I said, feeling a trickle of unnerve. "And I remind you of him?"

"Sometimes."

"What was his name?"

"Rainer." Wasp breathed, digging her fingers into the hollow beneath her collar bone and looking very far away.

"Rainer." I repeated. Just the sound of this unknown stranger's name seemed to flicker bright like a distant star, a beacon of something I didn't understand. "What… I mean, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to him?"

"He died."

"Oh." So that's how she knew death…

We remained silent for a long time, Wasp looking up at the stars, their reflection glittering in the eye I could see from her profile, her brown one, bouncing back from something buried and longing in her. "I think I was in love with him." she whispered after a long time.

I felt bad for having a hard time believing her words. But it just didn't… seem possible to me. I spent a great deal of my life with the same people, day in, day out, and… love had never been mentioned among any of us. It was between us all obviously, the kind you didn't have to mention or ask for, it was just there and the only thing asked for in return for it was the same of you. But love like how Wasp's voice spoke of… we were all complete strangers to that kind of thing. Maybe I'd just grown up believing love was just a falsely sweet white lie to help children sleep, like Santa Claus or happy endings, the truth to be discovered when they were old enough to swallow it. But there was something certain in her tone, a conviction I'd never heard there before. It was sad to think I'd only thought of Wasp's life since it had entered mine, never wondered who she'd known or what she'd done before hand. Evidently there was a deep well of those kinds of things in the girl before me, my own age but years older then me in experience. I for once felt ashamed of my inflated ego; I'd always thought I was then one with the bitterest, darkest history.

On an instinct I'd never known I reached out and touched her hand, with just one finger, but a connection none the less. She turned back to me and smiled in a bittersweet way.

"Weird, huh?" she asked.

"No. Not really." I said hoarsely, my throat feeling a little sore from all the smoke I'd sucked down it. "Can I ask you something, Wasp?"

"Sure. Depends what it is though. I don't know the square root of sixty-four."

"It's eight." I said, feeling a strange urge crawling up my throat. There was something I'd never asked anyone, but always had desperately desired some other opinion on the thought then mine. Wasp seemed a worthy candidate at the moment. Maybe it was her telling me she'd met someone she insisted was righteous and lovable on a place like Macabre that inspired it.

"Do you believe that there are things in people, in their blood, that is born into them, that makes them good or bad?" I asked slowly.

Wasp tugged at her lip ring. "Define good or bad." she said after awhile.

"What?"

"Well, how can I give an answer if I don't know what you look at as bad or good? Everyone has different definitions of them."

I blinked at her, surprised by her musings. "Well, okay… I look at good as someone who doesn't harm other people."

"Why?" Wasp interrupted.

"Because harming other people is wrong." I said. The moment I said it I realized the fault to my words.

"Sometimes harming someone can save someone else. A stich in time saves nine." Wasp said, making crossing movements across her forearm as if stitching herself back together.

"I guess that makes sense. The same could go for killing someone, couldn't it? Depending on the reason…" I said, dragging at my smoke.

Wasp nodded. "Yes." she said, something guttural piercing her tone. "Some people deserve to die."

I couldn't argue with that. "But who are we to judge?" I countered and Wasp cackled with delight.

"Exactly!" she said enthusiastically. "Really makes you wonder." she added, sobering up in the blink of an eye.

"Wonder what?"

"Well, what good and evil is in the end, really. If none of us can really judge it, because in the end, we only have our own perspective, right?"

"Damn, Wasp, you really got some philosophical shit stirring in that head of yours, huh?" I asked with a bit of a grin. Wasp shrugged with a sheepish grin of her own.

"I've got lots of time on my hands." she replied honestly. Then she looked at me in all seriousness. "Seriously though. What do _you_ think defines good and evil?" she asked with genuine interest, giving me all of her attention, which was a rare occurrence with her.

I mulled over her question for a long time. When you cut up good and evil, what were they, really? When you dissected them and picked all the fiddly twists and looping parts out, what lay beneath, under the thick skin that often hid the word's true intentions, altered by religion, propaganda, stereotypes and personal morals?

"Well…" I began at long last. "When I think of a 'good' person…" on 'good' I made little quotations with my fingers, which Wasp mimicked at her sides. "…I think of someone who doesn't intentionally hurt anyone, tries to keep themselves happy and comfortable but doesn't step over other people to get it, kinda. And… if they were exceptionally 'good'…" again my hands came up with the quotation marks and Wasp nibbled her lip to keep from laughing as she did the same, almost like it was a game. "…They'd even go out of their way to help other people. Maybe in a small way, like… I dunno, holding the door open once in awhile, smiling at strangers…" Well, so far I wasn't doing so well for the good side of things. "…And then some people take it to the extreme, fight for people who can't fight for themselves, making sure no one has to suffer or die. Like Falshade."

"Or like you. You're a Sky Knight too." Wasp reminded me, but I waved her words away with my hand, intercepting them before they could sting me, slicing through my blue smoke.

"Not for the best of reasons, I assure you."

"How can there be a bad reason for becoming a Sky Knight?"

"Can I finish?"

"Certainly."

I rolled my eyes but continued. "So, in short form, good is like… well, you don't even have to go and do big things. But it just means not adding more shit for the rest of the world to clean up. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. A lot. To me."

"Okay. And I guess bad then would… be doing exactly the opposite. Making life harder for people around you for no reason at all. And the really bad kind, the evil… the one that starts wars… would be bad people, trying to make the rest of the world miserable. Killing innocent people without reason or mercy."

"That's what I kinda figured it to be too. I mean, people do wrong things sometimes. Some a lot more then others. Sometimes they have good reasons, sometimes they don't. It all depends if they try to make up for it, if they feel bad for it. Some things can be forgiven." Wasp added on. "But then…"

"There are some things that can never be forgiven." I conceded in a whisper and Wasp nodded with a growl.

"Never." she agreed. I was itching to ask her exactly what she had been exiled for, with all this talk of wrong deeds and good intentions, but I decided not to. I still wanted my answer, after all.

"So, with that in mind, do you think… do you think those evil intentions, that kind of desire to ruin other people's lives, can be… in someone's blood? And they become that way, without even wanting to?" I asked, a note of fret punctuating my words and spiking my accent irritatingly.

Wasp seemed to think for a long time, sipping at her drink pensively. I hauled on my cigarette, worried about her answer and trying not to look worried at the same time.

"How does evil get into someone's blood?" she asked thoughtfully, cocking her head again and considering me with interest.

I heaved a long sigh, a jet of smoke clinging to my breath. "Okay. I'll paint you a picture. Let's say, hypothetically speaking here…" I drew in a long, nervous breath, feeling my heart pounding unsteadily, making my head feel heavy on my neck but too light around my jaws at the same time, the same feeling that usually comes with a surge of adrenaline. "Let's say hypothetically I was the son of the Dark Ace." I said in one long rush, my words coming out and ringing in my hollow chest, piercing the meat between my ribs in fury; _how could you have said that_? they demanded _how could you just throw that all away, everything that you are, that has protected you for so long!_

Protected and haunted me…

I wiped the sweat off my palms and watched for Wasp's reaction, feeling the master vein above my heart constrict and expand at a painful rate.

Wasp blinked at me, trying not to look too confused. "I don't know who the Dark Ace is."

I could have walked away from it right then and there, pretend it never happened, pretend I had not just let out my most dangerous, closely guarded secret, the secret that I had built my life upon, that had driven me from Saharr and then away from my friends, the secret that mocked me every time I opened my mouth, every time I lied, the secret that had driven my mother to her own annihilation, the secret that was responsible for every single one of my fucking defects, no matter how hard I tried to grow around them. I could have gone back to holding it down under my tongue and in my guts. It would have all been so simple.

But I didn't. Even now I don't know why, really.

"The Dark Ace was in the old war, Master Cyclonis's general." I explained, my throat tightening as I tried not to elaborate too much on my dark legacy. "He was responsible for taking down the original Storm Hawks. He slaughtered countless others, all under Cyclonis's bidding. He was her right hand man."

"Oh. I don't know too much about the old war." Wasp said, slightly apologetic.

"It doesn't matter. Basically, he was the worst kind of evil." I muttered, loathing creeping into my voice.

"And you're trying to tell me you're his son?"

"Hypothetically." I reminded her, my entire chest feeling like it was being squeezed in a vice.

"Hypo-theticall-ee." Wasp echoed, nodding childishly. "So… in this situation, you're saying that if you _were_ this guy's son… that his evilness could somehow have been passed on to you?"

"Yeah." I breathed.

"Hmm… I dunno. That doesn't seem like something that is naturally in the gene pool." Wasp mused, scratching her neck, her jagged fingernails leaving fine red lines wherever they trailed across her skin. "Evil I mean." she confirmed unnecessarily.

That hadn't really been the answer I'd been hoping for and it must have showed on my face. Wasp seemed to ponder something for a moment before snapping the tab off her can and looking up at the stars again.

"Alright. So let's just pretend, putting on our imaginations for a moment here, that I was supposed to be a reincarnation of Eris." she said and it was my turn to cock my head.

"Um… who?"

"Oh, you don't know? Back on Faerûn she was the evil goddess of the Dark Side of the Moon, Artemis's shadowy twin sister." Wasp explained without giving much attention to her own explanation. "Out here she doesn't even exist."

"And you're her reincarnation."

"If you mean _hypothetically_, then yes." Wasp said. "Now, do I seem like an evil shadow goddess to you?"

"…You lost me with goddess. I'll give you psycho if you want, though." I offered and she pulled the bottoms of her boots up against her thighs with a laugh.

"But not evil?"

"No. Not evil."

"Well, there you have it, then."

I stared at her. "Have what?"

"Well, your answer, silly. See, I'm supposed to be an evil goddess in Faerie form, in our hypothetical little stew here, right? But I'm not evil. And… and I've heard what you and the others have to say about Macabre too, but I swear to you I found good people there. And look at Varan. His dad was this Repton guy you people all seem to get a toothache about, and Varan's practically as harmless as a shower curtain." Wasp explained, smiling at me.

"So… so you don't think people are born evil?" I asked in a low voice, finding myself hung up on her words hopelessly.

"I don't think people are born either way." Wasp said. "I definitely believe they can swing in either direction, when their older. Maybe be influenced a little." when she said that my mouth ran dry and my hands went cold and tingly. "But evil… evil isn't in someone's blood."

"You don't think so?" I asked her, feeling kinda sniffly, my sinuses going into overdrive due to all the smoke that was irritating the mucus membrane. At least, that's what I insisted to myself the reason was.

Wasp, using that innate, animal-like quality of hers to pick up on people's vibes, must have sensed whatever forms of distress and weariness I was giving off. She shuffled closer to me and put one, pale finger against my opposite cheek, turning my head so I had no choice but to face her. And in those exotic, off-set eyes I found something, something like I had in Caspia's eyes, that struck a distant cord somewhere deep were everything remained raw and sore, always. But this something didn't try to soothe, sympathize or threaten me all at once. A tiny piece of something familiar was there, in the darker amber flecks in her right eye and in the reflected starlight in her left brown one.

In her eyes I saw myself.

"No, I don't." she whispered. "In the end, it doesn't matter where you came from, who your parents were, what sort of mess you'd dug yourself out of or in to, what species you are or what kind of secret you wear on your sleeve or on the inside of your sternum." she went on insistently as if prepared to beat the message into my head, never once blinking. "What matters, in the end, is what's in here." she said and her other hand came up from her side so she was leaning on me for support and she placed her long, ghostly hand flat up against my narrow chest, right over my galloping heart.

"What matters is what's in your heart." she told me. "And that is yours and yours alone."

A tiny smile curved in the corner of her mouth and I felt my own mouth twitch the same way. She slid back from me but stayed at my side peacefully, her work apparently done, and went back to slugging down her drink and starring at the glittering sparks of lights in the sky as if she'd never said a word. I settled back against the wall, for once not feeling disgusted by her presence. Actually, it made me feel kinda good to have her so close and for the first time in my entire life I felt like something had been lifted off of me, some hook unattached. A deep, resonating sense of peace drifted over me and I snubbed out my cigarette against my boot, replacing the rest of the pack in my pocket, feeling heavy and tethered securely into my place in the mortal world.

After a while though, something began nagging at me. I glanced over at Wasp, who was tying and untying her boot laces hypnotically.

"Hey, Wasp?" I called, even though she was sitting right beside me. Her ear swivelled in my direction lazily.

"Hey, Angel?" she called back with a bit of a giggle. That grating, hacking giggle.

"I asked first."

"Okay."

"So it just came to me… well, actually, first off, I'm sorry." that last word came out all jumbled and messy, but I meant it none the less.

Wasp's ears pricked up in what was probably surprise. "What are you in sorrow for?"

"Well, I just realized now, as you were talking, that you, despite all the shit I dealt your way, you still accepted me, tried to help me out. And then you gave this big righteous speech about how it's not where someone comes from or what species they are and what not that decides what they are, and I realized, even though I… I'd never want to be judged that way, I judged you based on those things. I mean, how unfair is that?" I rambled along, wanting to get it all out before she realized what I was saying was right, that I'd been completely unfair and an asshole to her and she really didn't have to keep sitting beside me. She was the one who should have been disgusted all along.

Wasp shrugged. "I suppose that _is_ pretty unfair. But you know what? You realized that too, which is something most people never do. And you felt bad about it. You changed your mind. That's the important part, is being able to change you mind, realize you made a mistake and actually learn from it. People usually only get through that first stage and think they're done."

"Hmmm." I said, not feeling any better about it. I promised myself right then and there that I'd make it up to her. I'd make it up to Falshade too, for all the times I'd rejected his advances of friendship just as I'd done to Wasp.

"Apology accepted. That sounds a little better." Wasp decided. I still didn't feel like I deserved it.

"Okay, well, let's ignore that part for now." I went on. "But only because something a bit more insistent is bugging me."

"Is it another one of these really deep philosophical questions?" Wasp asked with excitement. I chuckled.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but no."

Wasp seemed to sag in disappointment. "Shoot." she said dully.

"What are we now, Wasp? What's changed between us?" I had to know this, because I'd have to be an idiot to think nothing had shifted between us. Something had definitely fallen into place, something important… special. The kind of thing you shouldn't just ignore or push to the back of your mind, thinking all was well, because generally the other person, the second half of that something, had different thoughts on the subject. And that's when things get sticky.

Finally it seemed the part of Wasp that usually sat at the surface was rising back to claim her skin. She seemed to be struggling to keep things separated, taking her time to unstick my question from the walls of her mind and put it in order.

"I dunno… I'd like to tell myself we're at least friends now."

That stung me and I berated myself for my self-absorbed, sharp ways. Wasp was right; I was a biter.

"Of course we are. I'm sorry it took me so long to finally realize it." I said with self-contempt.

Wasp shrugged and tried to tie her ears under her chin. "Well I didn't exactly make an attempt either. Let's just say it was like… a delayed reaction."

I gave her that one but still felt sick, sick of myself. Wasp seemed to have forgotten that she _had _made an attempt, on several occasions, in her Wasp-ish way.

"But I mean, we're friends, but… I dunno. Something… I'll be honest with you okay? I've never talked to anyone like this. Ever. Not even Falshade. Not about this kinda stuff. Not about anything."

"Can I feel special then?" Wasp asked, successfully knotting her ears for a split second before the broke away and slid back to their places at the sides of her head with a noise like a bat's wings.

"Sure. But listen to me, or this is gonna keep me up all night. What… what do you want to do with this, the two of us?" I asked her, figuring I owed her the decision for once.

Wasp blinked owlishly at me. "You're asking me?"

"Yes, I am. Because I'm turning over a new leaf here, and your opinion matters to me all of a sudden, okay?"

"Okay. But so does yours. I can't make a decision if… if I don't know what you want."

I thought about this. What did I want? Did I want things to just sink into the background between us again? No, things couldn't go back to the way they'd been, not after this.

"Well, look, the way I see it… I dunno. See, you and I… we kinda clash. On some levels." I explained "But things aren't just going to go back to how they were. They can't. Not now. You dig?"

"I dig." Wasp nodded, making scooping motions at the deck for emphasis. "I like dirt. It gets under your fingers nails and stains your hands and when you breathe it in you remember that you are just clay to be moulded."

"Dirt has its charms. But give me rain any day."

"Oh yes." Wasp said, her eyes engorging. "I love the rain. Because when it falls on you…"

"It lets you know you always have the chance…"

"To be cleansed again." Wasp finished, her ears twitching in agreement. "And it tastes sweet."

"How could I have forgotten that?" I asked with a grin. "Seriously though, hear me out. I think things… I dunno. Things have changed so greatly in the last few hours, every way I look at you, but between the two of us it's like a minimal shift, you know? Like we could take it either way."

"Which are the either ways?" Wasp asked.

"Well, one would just be kinda going back to 'normal'," again came out the quotation marks and Wasp mimicked my digits ecstatically. "But not exactly back. Sort of one step ahead of back. You know?"

"Sure."

"And the other would be…well… taking it up a notch I guess." Never in my life had I ever had an awkward time getting my tongue around things I'd wanted to say. But Wasp's inelegance seemed infectious and in the face of this warped, shining creature with all her primal mannerisms and bright heart morals, I felt inept at everything, as if I'd just realized how unworthy and wretched I was. I'd realized that before of course, but it took Wasp to force feed it down my throat.

Wasp cocked her head and I forced myself to try and scrape together some dignity so I could string some sentences together. "Like I mean… in human terms it'd mean a relationship. I mean obviously we both said some things that are pretty… personal. But I don't know."

"Human terms…" Wasp reiterated, thinking. "Hmm… humans never made much sense to me. Friends say personal things."

"I know. Let me rephrase that. Say things didn't go that just-this-side-of-back between us, that we got to be friends kinda like how the others are my friends."

"So you can hit me and give me a nick name and all that fun stuff?" Wasp asked with imploring eyes and her sickening, childish look really jabbed at my heart. I'd only just begun to unravel the unfairness we'd put Wasp through. Me the worst of course, but the others too. All along Wasp had stuck with us, being shuttled along and only occasionally spoken to or invited into something important. She'd never been invited into our stupid little games, rarely smiled at, on the outs, always. And yet… it was disgusting of me to only realize this now, but Wasp had feelings and some sort of creditable thoughts bouncing off the backs of her eyes. She, despite many of her actions and tendencies, was just as human inside as the rest of us, just as hoping, just as dreaming, just as bleeding. And I'd always kinda just thought she liked her place as… the outsider, the dog, the psycho. Our psycho. And we had just so easily turned a blind eye to it, never pausing to see, to ask. Had Wasp's strange little rituals all along been attempts at connecting, crossing the wires, like the day she'd pushed me? How could I be so ignorant? How could I be so heartless as not to even see…

I thought of Falshade then. Falshade who refused to let me become Wasp, all those years ago now, even though I'd fought for it, against my better interests. But he hadn't let me, had continued to prod me out of my shell, always made the effort to smile at me even if I simply ignored him. I'd done the same thing I'd done to him to Wasp all this time, and worse, where she may have been what I was then, the lonely, guilt-ridden and unpleasant presence (okay, maybe I still was all those things) I, unlike Falshade, had simply given up before I'd even started on her. Not worth my time, not then anyways.

Why was it I, the most undeserving of it all, was the quickest to push away the heat of others, their smiles and their acceptance, where they, certainly my betters, just stood there smiling while I pushed them away?

I wondered how Wasp felt about Stork's death then. Stork had seemed to be Wasp's only link to the rest of us, the only reason she was granted among us, the only one that considered her a friend. Sure, she was a part of the squadron, but I meant more personally then that. Stork was her connection and she was gone now. Stork had been the only one who genuinely smiled at her, who wasn't afraid to touch her, who spoke more then a 'stand there, sit, stay, come, fight, don't bite, don't climb the furniture, don't eat that, don't talk to me' or something along those lines phrase to her. How did Wasp feel now? Did she fear she was going to be swept away from the rest of us, under the couch like a pile of dust? Did she fear she was just going to fade from our knowledge, our caring?

I knew then that that was how I would make it up to her. I would become that link. I wouldn't let her vanish. I would be her Falshade, her Stork. I'd make it up to her and Falshade, in a spiritual sense, to show him that his kindness to me had not gone unappreciated or unnoticed.

That was my rain.

"Yes." I answered her, swallowing. "Yes, like that. But say that escalates. Evolves. I… as much as I'm sure I could grow to like you, Wasp, that kind of relationship-"

"You mean love?"

"Yes. That kind. Not the kind like the kind I have with the others. I'm sure we could get to that point. But _that _kind of love. I'm not sure I could ever get to that. That's just what I am."

"What are you?"

"Oh, a sinner, a liar, a bad friend, a worse friend, a sniper, a kid who's genius part of his brain grew too fast while the more important part got left behind, an insomniac, nobody's son, a Sky Knight." I wrinkled my nose. "And a chocoholic."

"That's a lot. Are those all things you want to be?"

"Not entirely."

Wasp looked up for a long time then seemed to be fascinated with the glinting starlight on the rim of her can. She tilted it back and forth, counting some unknown measure under her breath. I waited patiently.

At long last she must have touched down on some sort of answer for me. "I understand that you don't want to love me, Angel. I don't have an issue with that." she told me honestly. "And… I can't love you. I don't think so, anyways, not ever. Because there is a place here." she jabbed a finger into her chest. "Right here, a place the shape of that first splotch of rain on the sidewalk, you know, when the air starts to smell chalky? And that place will always be his. I never want it to go away. And I see you, Angel, I see you and I know it's you. But some days I look at you and have to remind myself you're not him. And some days I just can't look at you. You understand?"

A small, red droplet was drawing a slow, sluggish trail over her lip, the side without the ring, the side I realized looked as if it had section actually torn away, not your average split lip. It occurred to me then that maybe that was why she had the lip ring in the first place, to distract attention from that old scar. I watched as the droplet rolled over that scar, scorching a trail, emblazing it like a new wound, and then began its descent down to her chin.

And I don't know how or why I did it.

But I leaned forwards as our solitary satellites spun back towards their respective orbital cycles, and touched my thin lips to her cracked, pale one, just the bottom one and the corner of her mouth, a half kiss, more like a thimble, catching that rivulet of red and feeling it tingle over my front most taste buds like a tiny fork of electricity. And that thimble, that not-quite-a-kiss, marked the beginning and ending of any relationship Wasp and I would ever have.

"Yeah." I said, breaking away only an inch. "I understand."

**Wasp & Angel: Evil in a Closet by In Flames**


	14. Kryptonite

**14**

**Kryptonite**

**Wasp & Rainer: Blind as a Bat by Meatloaf**

**Falshade, Angel, Varan & Fraggle: Sons of Plunder by Disturbed**

_**I don't really mind what happens now and then**_

_**As long as you'll be my friend at the end…**_

_**If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?**_

_**If I'm alive and well will you be there, holding my hand?**_

_**- Kryptonite, Three Doors Down**_

**x.x.x Varan x.x.x**

I woke up surprised I'd actually been able to fall asleep.

But there it was, the morning sun, filtering in through my window like it always had, warming my scales and blazing into my eye lids, which was what had roused me in the first place.

Rolling over to perch on the edge of my bed I wrapped my fingers around my head and tried to move into a meditative state, to allow myself to think, to analyze how I felt today.

Sometime during the night I'd lost the Game.

Losing the Game itself wasn't much of a negative thing. The Game basically was just another blondie thing Fraggle and Stork used to do. The aim of it was not to remember the Game at all. The moment you remembered it, you lost and had to declare so out loud. Fraggle and Stork, ever the sneak, sore losers of the group, had never completely trusted the other to be honest, but of course probably weren't entirely honest the whole time either, and it became one, big, violent paradox between them. When it had come down to blows one day because Stork insisted that Fraggle had a nervous twitch whenever he remembered and that he was cheating, and I'd had to separate them both because Falshade was laughing too hard to act as peace keeper for once, they'd eventually come to some sort of pact, probably just to annoy us, and began to declare they'd lost in overly loud voices, even at four in the morning (which had happened more times then you'd believe, unfortunately).

Subliminally, somehow, they'd caught me up in the whole thing, and last night, while I'd been rocking back and forth on my floor, crying (not point in lying), I lost. I remembered it. And I went through one of those moments, you know, the big ones, that change things, alter things so swiftly you barely catch it. And I realized with a twinge of something sharp but not necessarily painful, that we'd all gone and turned Stork into the Game; we worked hard to not think about her, only to remember her at the most unsuspecting of moments and then we lost. And it suddenly made me very sick to think of it that way. Remembering Stork shouldn't have been a bad thing. Painful? Oh yeah. That was only natural. But it shouldn't have been bad. Because as soon as remembering someone you loved became a bad thing, you started to rot inside, until eventually whenever that person was remembered, whenever you lost the game, you started to puke black.

It was an example of one of those instances when it's better to feel pain then nothing at all.

I sobered up right away, telling myself that I couldn't keep playing the Stork game. I made an effort to go through every moment, every smile or swear word she'd shot my way (I take pride that I earned more of the former then the latter), every time she confided something in me, every time I put up with her complaining of whatever it was I'd put in her pancakes. Of course that only brought on more tears, and I revelled in them. Crying of course rarely ever solved anything, I'd learned that very early on. But it sure made you feel better afterwards, in any case. And as my tears fell and splashed like raindrops on the floor of my room, so did the Game's rules. Every time I thought of Stork from now on, no matter how painful it was, I won.

The healing started today.

I stretched my stiff muscles and checked on the equipment on my desk, making sure nothing had disturbed my non-too-stable Eruption crystals during the night. All it took, depending on the rawness of the crystals, could be a slight shift in temperature and those things could literally become ticking time-bombs. Everything seemed to be in order I was relieved to note. I wondered if working with such dangerous materials was really a good idea for a guy with my kind of nerves; one day I was going to have a nervous breakdown in the middle of breakfast.

I checked quickly on my Blazers and my Enhancer stones too, as well as my small crate of raw crystals and cleared up some of my tools because being organized made me feel more anchored for some reason and I could really have used that kind of feeling right around now. It was only then that I realized how hungry I was, as if crying had relieved all the pressure built up inside me and now without it I was able to feel the complaining of the empty places. I felt bad then, realizing the others were probably just as hungry as I was and that I hadn't even attempted the effort to make them anything. I stopped half way through organizing my tweaking tools and went down the hall to the kitchen.

Angel was sitting at the kitchen table, his hands wrapped around a mug of tea and shivering, looking positively wretched. His lank hair was hanging all around his face in greasy strands and his eyes leapt out alarmingly from the dark circles that stained his tanned skin. He smiled at me tightly.

"It's bloody cold in here." he said in greeting.

I stood still and felt the air for a moment. "I'll get Wasp to change the Furnace crystals later." I said, feeling a little concerned as I realized that it wasn't really that chilly in here. That was all we needed now, was for Angel to come down with some sort of stress related illness.

"Mmph." Angel said, pressing his thumb to his mouth as he burnt his lips on his tea while I started sorting through things in the fridge. "Are you making breakfast?"

"Yup. We're all in some serious need of vitamin everything." I said, grabbing some oranges and cutting them into wedges. Good ol' vitamin C, give all our immune systems a bit of a boost.

"Want any help?" he asked me and I nearly sliced my finger off. I turned to face him incredulously and his nose crinkled.

"What?"

"What?"

"Don't give me the old 'what what'." I told him. "You _never_ want to help cook."

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I'm offering now. I can… fold napkins."

"Fold them into dragons and I'll be impressed." I said, turning back to my oranges and flicking the knob on the stove. "I'll be alright, you just stay there and have your tea."

Angel snorted and got up. "I can make toast." he said, more like a confirmation then an offering and got out the loaf of bread.

"Fine, make toast. Keep an eye on them, they've been sticking in there lately." I said, not entirely lying, because I had already fished more then one burnt piece of bread out of there and leapt at giving him a job that'd keep him busy while not actually making him exert too much effort. The poor kid seriously needed some sleep, as he was swaying slightly where he stood, watching the coils turn red.

"So I think I worked it out. If we don't have to make any pit stops and don't run into any pirates and we just stop at night, we should be at Delphi in about two days from today." I told him, meticulously lining up strips of bacon in the pan even though I knew I was just going to mess them up again with the spatula anyways.

Angel waved an imaginary flag. "Huzah." he said in a dead-pan tone.

"Try and tone down the enthusiasm just a little there, it's just a bit overbearing." I said sarcastically.

Angel inhaled sharply as if he were biting back a smart remark and said. "Sorry. It's honestly a good idea, Varan, but it's just not my thing."

"Who are you and what did you do with the real Angel?" I demanded and Angel's mouth quirked into either a grin or a grimace, I couldn't tell from the angle. I didn't really know if I meant it as a joke or not, so I guess it didn't matter.

We kept to our appointed jobs in silence after that, Angel meticulously setting slice after slice of bread into the toaster and watching it with the utmost of concentration until it popped up and then repeating the mundane process all over again while I flipped eggs over, kept an eye on the bacon and set the wedges of orange into a little circle on their plate.

Fraggle saved us from the awkward situation in his usual way:

"Oh, thank _god_, eh." he said, bounding over to the stack of toast and ignoring Angel's disdainful scowl. "I'm so hungry I could eat Merb Cabbage, eh."

I welcomed listening to Fraggle go on and on about all the things he could of eaten which abruptly changed to all the disgusting things he had eaten during his little fishing excursions while he smeared jelly over a slice of toast. Mostly because it made me laugh or pull faces, something Fraggle had always been very good at making the rest of us do. But more importantly because it made me feel relieved; it comforted me to know he too seemed to be taking a step in the healing direction. I doubted things would ever be the same with any of us again. But things could only go up from here now.

Or so I thought until Falshade stumbled into the kitchen.

At first I took it as a good sign to see him walking about. Yesterday he'd barely been able to move, and, in all honesty, I didn't know very much at all about Post Traumatic Sky Shock. This was the first time in days that he seemed to possess any form of clarity and in my ever-hopeful head I thought that meant his episode of shock was coming to a close. He still looked like he'd been hit by an air truck mind you, but in my state of believing we all were starting down the path of recovery, he looked like he was snapping out of it.

Then he smiled at something about a foot from my elbow and I knew something was definitely not right at all.

"Falshade?" I asked hesitantly and he looked up at me, his face split in an eerie, maladjusted grin.

"Good morning."

"Uh, morning." I said, totally disarmed. "Do you, ah… want anything with your…eggs?"

Wow, I really was bad at dealing with brittle people. Maybe it was because I was one of them.

"Nah." Falshade said, waving his hand in an exaggerated motion. "Stork and I are going to go fly some recon, we'll eat later."

I was too stunned to even do a double take. Fraggle stopped in mid chew nearly spewed peanut butter and jelly mush onto the table. Angel didn't seem as shocked as I would have liked him to and ran his fingers through his hair distractedly.

Falshade looked over all of us and his neurotic smile slipped. He tilted his head to the side and almost seemed to be listening to something making a sound that the rest of us couldn't hear by his side. He nodded and muttered 'yeah' and then looked up at the rest of us again, and I noticed something like suspicion glinting in his violet eyes.

"Okay, well… if anything happens just radio us." he said and turned on his heel and left with an odd, uneven gait.

I shook my head several times while Fraggle continued to gape after him. Angel was muttering several things under his breath, rubbing his temples. I finally got sick of the nice view I had of Fraggle's mulched up toast and leaned over to push his chin upwards. Evidently that snapped him out of it.

"Uhhh… did he just say 'Stork and I', eh?" he asked and then proceeded to choke on his toast. I thumped him the back twice and then handed him a glass of milk, all the while looking at Angel for an answer.

Angel sighed, digging his knuckles into his eyes. "Stage three is Delusions of Grandeur." he said. "He bloody thinks he can see Stork."

I groaned and clutched at my head. Well so much for only going up from here. Because Falshade wasn't here yet. And until he was, the rest of us were just as stuck as he was. I felt slightly overwhelmed by that, because I just wanted to let it all go already, all these bad things that were haunting us all. Not Stork, no, but the bad feelings she had left us with. It would have hurt her to know she'd made us feel this miserable. I'd felt that way about my mother too and in the end that was what pulled me through, helped me heal and smile again. Because I told myself being sad all the time, in my little four year old mind, only hurt her because it hurt me. I didn't want that. No matter how cut up and sore someone left me I could never bring myself to hurt them, even if it was only through the natural process of grief and regret.

"So what do we do?" Fraggle asked, sounding as worn out and hopeless as I felt while still coughing slightly.

"I'll go try and talk to him." Angel volunteered and I looked at him with concern. He narrowed his eyes at me and left, following after Falshade.

"I'm worried about him." I said heavily, sitting down next to Fraggle and hugging my arms around myself wishing. Wishing that maybe today. Maybe today could have been better. Wishing I would have just stayed in bed. Fraggle wiped at his mouth.

"Which one there, eh?" he asked grimly.

"Both of them." I said honestly. "I think Falshade needs help. But we have no idea how to take care of him, and that's what he really needs right now. And Angel won't let us help him."

Fraggle nodded in agreement. "Yeah, eh. He shouldn't just bottle it all up like that. He looks like hell."

"I dunno man, I just feel so… helpless. Useless." I said, pinching at my arms unconsciously. Fraggle drummed his fingers along the table top for a moment before looping and arm around my shoulders.

"Don't feel like that, eh. You're trying to help. You thought of a plan. You made breakfast." I laughed at the last part and Fraggle smiled.

"I always make breakfast."

"Yeah, well, you know… anyways. You can't really help people who don't want it, eh."

"Hmm."

"Things are gonna be okay, brother." Fraggle told me, using the title I'd told him never to use on me, even though, when I really though about it, we pretty much were. Fraggle and I had gotten along right from the get go, being (until three months ago) the only two non-humans of the group and bonding over our twin-like childhoods. After all we'd both grown up on terras that weren't our native ones, both of us born a year before the old war had actually ended, formed family bonds with others from a different species and shared a mutual love of Sour Cream and Onion potatoe chips. As strange and pointless as it may have seemed from an outsider's point of view, I looked to Fraggle like I looked to Falshade, for a laugh, for support, for acceptance and for understanding. And for something that was close to home.

"Things will be okay." I agreed with a nod. "Not today, not for awhile. But eventually."

"Yeah." Fraggle released me and rubbed a blot of jelly from his sleeve. "I miss Starla." he admitted at length.

I ruffled his hair sympathetically. I remembered him telling my all about his half sister one day when it had been the two of us alone up at the bridge, telling me the only thing that stopped him from going back to see her was his fear that she would promptly decapitate him.

"Yeah, I know. I miss Stork." I said. At least it didn't hurt as much to say her name anymore.

Fraggle nodded and wiped at his nose. "Yeah, eh. That's what's got me missing Starla. Cause at least she's not…"

Wasp came striding into the room as I moved my hands over me ears, doing a high-kick march, her arms held stiffly at her sides. "Look, I'm professional!" she exclaimed, pausing to sniff at the bacon.

Thank god for Wasp and her aura of disturbance. That, at least, was one thing that hadn't seemed to change.

"What say you, eh?" Fraggle asked as Wasp continued to prod at the bacon I'd left in the frying pan.

"Well, if you're a fan of fried pig's tongues then I guess you'll be okay…"

"Good enough for me." Fraggle concluded and helped himself while Wasp pulled a face. My role as male Mother among these wayward kids was called upon when I remembered that Wasp, too, hadn't eaten anything in awhile.

"Wasp, you don't have to have the bacon, but at least have some toast. There's jam there, remember, you like jam." it came out more like a question as I wasn't entirely sure what Wasp did or didn't like.

Wasp eyed the jar of sticky, red substance with a crinkled nose. "That's not jam."

"Yes, it is."

Wasp shook her head. "No. Jam is the sweet stuff with all the smushed fruit inside it. _That_ looks like-"

"I don't want to know what it looks like!" I declared, my hands coming to my ear slits again while Fraggle giggled. "I can assure you it's jam."

Wasp seemed to take my word for it and sat down on the floor with the jar in her hands, sticking her fingers inside to pull globs of the gooey substance out and then lick it off her grotesquely long and knobbly fingers. I sighed, decided not to bully her into putting it on bread because at least she was eating something with a bit of nutritional value, as opposed to the ever present juice she toted around.

I had to stop settling into what I thought were comfortable moments, no matter how bizarre they might appear. Because obviously no truly comfortable moments were going to float our way anytime soon. And I kept getting rudely shaken out of mine and back into the cold, hard reality of what we were now.

This time that shaking came in the form of a loud bang, followed by shouting, coming from the hanger.

Fraggle and I exchanged alarmed looks before we snapped out of the initial shock and bolted towards the hanger, Wasp prowling along after us, having nothing better to do. I was reaching for my broadsword subconsciously, thinking we'd been attacked, that somehow someone had snuck up past out proximity alerts and had intercepted Shade and Angel in the hanger.

What we found when we got there, though, was much worse.

Falshade had Angel pinned to the floor and was hammering his fists into every inch of exposed flesh he could reach. Angel was struggling against him, trying to hold him back while scoring a couple hits himself to try and knock some sense into Falshade. And although even from here I could tell Angel wasn't really trying to hurt Falshade and was only fighting back in self-defence, there was no questioning the pure rage and intent that had contorted Shade's usually peaceful features.

I'd seen the two of them fight before, whether they were just training or whenever Angel managed to annoy Falshade enough to earn a couple of playful punches. But never had they out and out went for the other like this. And it scared me. Because Falshade was bigger then Angel, there was no point in denying it. Sure, I knew Angel could handle himself against larger opponents; he'd probably give me a hard time in a swordfight. But Falshade wasn't just messing around; the desire to injure Angel was all too evident on his face. And in a fist fight like this he really did have the advantage; Angel was struggling to hold him off and with Falshade's thicker, heavier skeleton bent on hurting him, I was worried about Angel and his bird bones.

I snapped out of my shocked stupor then and rushed forwards, grabbing Shade under the arms and hauling him backwards roughly. Wasp darted in as well, looping a gangly arm around Angel's chest and dragging him back a few steps as he and Falshade kicked out at each other. Okay, so maybe I hadn't been entirely right about Angel's intent to just ward Falshade off; fury was glinting dangerously in his pale eyes.

Falshade struggled against me, trying to claw his way back to Angel. I squeezed his shoulders tightly until I felt something pop, trying to snap him out of it. Wasp still had a hold on Angel and was muttering something lowly into his ear. Angel pushed her back gently with a trembling hand, his gaze never leaving Falshade.

Hard breathing was all that could be heard for about a minute before I finally mustered up the nerve to say: "What… what happened?"

"It's nothing, Var." Angel muttered, drawing his thumb under his bloody lip. His right eye was already bruising as well, and Falshade's nose was dripping scarlet onto his jeans. That was most certainly not _nothing_.

"Don't listen to him." Falshade whispered and I looked down at him, an uneasy curiosity bubbling in my stomach.

"Falshade, what are-"

"Don't listen to him!" Falshade shouted at me desperately, his eyes widening alarmingly. "He's lying, anything he says is a lie!"

"Falshade, that's… that's Angel." I stammered stupidly, feeling like I was drowning in confusion.

"It's okay, Varan, he's just confused at the moment." Angel told me and Falshade abruptly tried to throw himself at him, nearly escaping from my grasp.

"Shut up!" Falshade snarled at him. My skin prickled under my scales at the sincere loathing in Falshade's voice and Wasp made a defensive growling noise in her throat.

"Falshade!" I said shakily, rattling him a bit.

"What happened, eh?" Fraggle called from where he'd been stunned over at by the wall.

"I tried to tell him-"

"He tried to tell me Stork was dead!" Falshade howled and I started.

"She is dead, Falshade!" Angel yelled back at him, his patience wearing thin. I winced and shut my eyes, not wanting to see it, to hear it…

"No she's not! She's right fucking there!" Falshade shouted, jabbing a finger at a point just beside Wasp. Wasp looked over and pushed a hand experimentally through the space.

"Falshade…" I started but he wasn't listening to me anymore.

"You're trying to turn us all against her!" he continued to shout at Angel. "You wish she were dead because you _hate her_! You hate her! You want her dead! You want her gone so that you can take her place!"

"FALSHADE!" I roared so loudly his hair was ruffled by the force. I couldn't look at Angel's face anymore as it crumpled, couldn't watch Falshade attack his best friend like that. As Wasp's arm tightened around Angel's chest I felt something tighten in my own, an anger I never knew.

"Just ssstop it!" I seethed at him as he fixed me with a glare. "Ssstop! Leave him alone!"

Falshade continued to glare daggers at me for a moment before shaking me off, the hot fury that had been emanating from his skin replaced by cold annoyance. He straightened up, refused to look at any of us, and marched off to the bridge, his boots banging heavily against the metal floor. The doors clanged shut behind him with a final tone.

Fraggle leaned against the wall wearily. "What the hell was that all about, eh?" he asked, trying and failing epically to make the whole matter seem light and not that big a deal.

Angel pushed Wasp's arm from him as if it were a vine holding him back and sat down on one of the nearby crates of spare odds and ends, holding his head between his fingers. Wasp's ears were back against her head as she looked at me dolefully. I grimaced at her sadly and she shrugged in return, silent and as shut-off as always. I wished she'd go back to hugging me, like she'd been doing over the last few days, because as awkward, bony and stiff-limbed as those hugs had been, they were something. I wished she'd go back even further and spew random blender-brain thoughts to me and make me want to twitch. I wanted so badly for her to take us all back to normal, when she stomped about purposely for no other reason then to hear the sound of her clunky boots striking the floor, when I'd just sit back and listen to the others bicker and hold on to the table ledge when Fraggle pulled a Sharpie and when Falshade never, ever yelled at Angel.

It scared me to think it may never be that way again.

It scared me to think things were different now. I never was good with change.

Angel coughed and spat a wad of blood on the floor. "Jesus that guy's got a good uppercut." he muttered, prodding carefully at his ribs.

I snapped out of my mournful reverie and pulled another crate up in front of him, sitting on it and starring at the fringe of his bangs until he squirmed irritably and looked up at me, blearily through his right eye as it continued to swell and turn colour.

"Angel, I need you to tell me what happened." I said slowly, feeling like a doctor trying to figure out what had happened to a traumatized child. And an annoyed one at that.

Angel sighed and wiped at his lip again. Wasp watched as if hypnotized as a drop of blood rolled down the side of his wrist and then stuck out her hand to catch it, sticking her index finger in her mouth and sucking on it quietly.

"It was my fault." Angel said at length, sounding tired. "I… well, he's moved into stage three. That's the worst stage, actually."

"Delusions of Grandeur?" I asked in conformation.

"Right. And I mean the first two stages are alright. You can still talk to them, even if they're not very coherent. But stage three is different. It's like… they shift, right into a mental disorder. They go schizo on you."

I winced, not liking where this was going.

"With most cases they think they're someone they're not, they can get really bold or aggressive, get right into character. Some cases have even been known to think they can fly and have pitched themselves off terras." Angel went on and I winced again.

"That's why I didn't want him to go out on his sky ride, you know, in case." Angel agreed with my queasy look. "Anyways though, it's been said with some acute cases that they can… they go right into a schizophrenic sort of state. They can have audio or visual hallucinations, they can get paranoid, think people are out to get them, they can even get violent. Best thing to do is just leave them to their own devices but monitor them so they don't do anything like throw themselves off terras, obviously."

I nodded, swallowing hard. "So Falshade thinks…"

"Falshade thinks Stork is still here, he can see her and hear her, apparently. I tried to explain to him that she isn't, which in hindsight really wasn't a good idea, because they don't believe you. It's not something you can snap them out of. I just couldn't stand…" Angel petered off and made a frustrated sniffing sound, trying to hide his obvious hurt and distress about the whole thing. I knew what he was getting at though; it would have broken my heart to hear Falshade going on, talking to someone he thought was there, someone he had loved so much. But it also would have broken me to try and tell him otherwise.

"Anyways, I tried to talk to him. I really shouldn't have, we learned all about PTSS in the Academy, and I knew he probably wouldn't have taken it that well… anyways, he started to get angry with me so I turned to leave and he… jumped me. I tried to push him away and that made him angrier and he hit me, so I hit him back…" Angel trailed off again and I saw guilt brimming in his eyes. "Shit, I hit him…"

"Angel, you hit him all the time, this-"

"That's different, we're just training then!" Angel exclaimed. He was too small to be trying to keep all this inside and I could see him struggling with himself, trying to push it all down when there was no more room. He turned away from me in frustration, wiping at his face with the back of his hand.

"That's different." he said again hoarsely. "I… I actually wanted to hurt him this time."

"He attacked you, you had to do something." I reasoned softly.

"Yeah, but what would you have done, huh, Varan? You would have just stood there and took it. But I had to go and-"

"In your defence I'm bigger then you, and I'm bigger then Shade too. That would have been like me just standing there and taking it from a Wallop." I argued. Angel growled at me and started pacing.

"So that's what happened, he hit me back, I hit him back before I could get a hold of myself, then he tackled me and that's around when you guys showed up. The end." he went on, too worked up to try and control his bleeding lip anymore; it dripped in crimson streams over his bronze chin.

I felt like I was drowning in everything that was going on, gulping for air. My inner balance was too disturbed, things were reeling about me like we'd all been thrown into a bleach filled, blood-stained spin cycle. Stork had died, my mother had died. Bogaton had been rebuilt; would we, the Gargoyles, ever be resurrected? Would Falshade ever be our Sky Knight, the one we loved and trusted, the one who saw dead things walking like puppets in his dreams, the one who always, always gave me fresh hope? Would Angel implode inside like a dieing star? Would we all, in turn, eventually, go out?

No.

If Bogaton could rise again, then so could we. I'd survived one tragedy, and I was going to make sure we all survived a second.

"There's only one more stage of Sky Shock left, right?" I asked Angel, trying to dry the wings of this new hope, to let it soar inside me and give us all strength.

"Yeah, memory loss. How much he might lose I have no idea. Hell for all we know if he… forgets what happened he might go right back into stage one again when we tell him." Angel said bitterly, pulling at his limp hair. "Of course sometimes the really bad cases go into stage five, which is like being permanently shell shocked, you know, jumping at loud noises, shit like that. But I think Falshade's stronger then that."

I nodded, feeling better at the notion that Shade would be returning to us soon and not this hollow stranger with gnashing teeth. I wondered absently if I'd ever gone through Sky Shock; it'd certainly explain a lot of my mannerisms now. I was a walking, talking stage five.

"So once he gets better we can all start moving forward." I said as Fraggle sat on the floor next to me.

"Yeah, I sure hope so, eh." he said with a nod. Wasp mimicked his movement childishly and it made me smile for some reason.

Angel was twisting his torso absently, wincing slightly.

"Do you think he broke any ribs?" I asked, the medic side of me surfacing. Or the mother side, whatever.

"Oh probably not, just bruised." he said stiffly. I frowned at him.

"So what are we going to do about Falshade?" I asked.

"Leave him alone for now. Probably best to put him in his room for awhile. Great thing about stage three, it's the quickest one to go through." he said distractedly. This was some good news at least. Once Falshade was back in his right frame of mind we could all start to heal, the only way we knew how: together.

"Right." I said with a nod. Again Wasp mimicked the motion. "So what are we gonna do about you?"

"Me?" Angel asked warily.

"Yeah, eh. You look like shit, man, no offence." Fraggle said, taking my side and I was grateful to him. It was easier to break Angel if you tag-teamed him.

Angel rolled his eyes. "God damnit, how many times do I have to say I'm fine for you guys to believe me?"

"Well start looking the part and that might help." I told him and he narrowed his icy eyes at me. "Come on, Angel, just because you're supposed to be a freaking genius doesn't mean the rest of us are stupid. Falshade is your best friend and you just go into a brawl with him, you look like a zombie and you've been running around like crazy trying to look after the rest of us."

"Yeah, eh. Time for us to look after you." Fraggle added and I tugged the rim of his toque down affectionately. Angel however apparently found no humour in any of this.

"Varan, I'd really hate to get into a fist fight with you too, so why don't you just drop it?" he threatened. "I've said this before, you've got enough things to worry about so-"

"Yeah, so make it easier on me." I interrupted him, ignoring his narrowed eyes. "Come back upstairs and have something to eat at least, you look like you've spent the last year in a POW camp."

Angel continued to glare out me before making a frustrated noise and turning his back on all of us and throwing his hands sky ward.

"You guys are going to make me throw _myself_ off a terra! I'll have a toasted bacon and egg sandwich, and you know you're making it for me!"

I grinned. "Of course."

Some things would never change. And for that I was grateful.

**x.x.x Wasp x.x.x **

_Something was…_

_Something was…_

_Something was leaking._

_Something was spilling from her body, spreading slowly over her thigh, hot and thick. _

_Wickett tucked herself into a tight ball defensively, a snarl already playing on her lips as she reached for one of her machetes. Her eyes slipped through the colour spectrum to accustom to the gloom and she opened her mouth, tasting for the scent of another in her hut and exposing her heat sensing pits. _

_Blood._

_The heavy, metallic scent shot straight to her receptors and nearly blinded her. That salty flavour coated her throat and she choked, overwhelmed by the smell, feeling her muscles begin to wind tight as her hunting instincts pressed against her. Snorting to clear her nose Wickett leapt from her bed of furs only to fall back to her knees on the compacted earth with surprise. _

_Clutching at her lower belly she peered down at herself from her hands and knees, giving herself a good upside-down inspection of her torso, searching desperately for the place of injury. She wiggled her pale fingers against her belly and frowned at them, having found no tear in her gut or loose intestines. _

_Wondering if perhaps she'd been bitten by one of the jungle bats who fed on blood by night, she stood up carefully and then crouched back down as her lower muscles complained at the movement, tugging tightly at cords and sending a wave of pain stretching over her taught abdomen. _

_She breathed in deeply, trying to fight down the urge to lick at the wound she couldn't locate as her blood-scent pounded against her sinuses. Peering down again she watched as a slow trail of blood rolled over her pale thigh like a red snake, slithering all the way down to her kneecap where it bunched, swelled and eventually tumbled free to burst over the earthen floor. _

_She watched, hypnotized, as more of her oxygen-rich blood seeped and spread over her legs, collecting in glutinous drops and plunging away from her. Alarmed she shot out a hand, catching several of the droplets and then sucked on her fingers greedily. It was her blood, it belonged inside. _

_It was old blood, full of nutrients that had clumped and stored inside of her and now her body was rejecting it, forcing it out. Slowly she straightened and watched something twitch above her patch of pubic hair, a muscle contracting, being forced back as something expanded inside of her. She closed her fingers around the convulsing muscle, digging in with her fingertips until she felt the skin give under the pressure and separate. _

"_Stop." she commanded, pushing all her energy through the channel of her fingertips and into the muscle, into the walls of her womb to make it stop vomiting its own membrane away. _

"_Wickett?" Luka's voice called and the flap of fur that hung across the entrance to Wickett's hut was pushed aside. Luka ducked through the gap and examined Wickett, who was standing there, naked, with blood coating her pale legs and her fingers digging into her own tissue. _

_Luka brought the back of her slender hand up to her nose to block Wickett's intruding blood-scent. Wickett's opened her own mouth to draw in the breeze and the scent it brought with it from the outside, feeling the slippery ropes of thickened saliva spilling down from her upper fangs, oozing over her swollen tongue. Luka's blood-scent, as familiar as her own and yet so very different, penetrated her clouding mind and she started panting, trying to suck clean air in past the spreading of red moss that was clinging to her lungs, blocking oxygen. _

_Luka's face split into a wide, canine smile. "My sister!" she exclaimed. "You've finally received your first Blood from Artemis!"_

_Wickett looked down at herself, heaving. Blood was sliding down her thigh like a snail's trail of ooze and that muscle continued to twitch as if it weren't a part of her, as if it had its own heartbeat._

"_Come! You must join the rest of us at the Red Moon Ceremony! Aracana will be so pleased!" Luka was going on excitedly, grabbing Wickett's wrist and tugging her along, out of Wickett's stifling hut and into the cool jungle air. _

_Blood was hanging around their village like a murky, stained cloud, roiling in on itself, seeping into everything, spreading, like a red haze. Wickett paused to snort again as her nose began to become glued by the sticky, rich smell. She could taste it like copper, under her tongue and down the back of her throat and right into the pit of her stomach where something fierce and hungry shifted uneasily. _

_Wickett chewed at her shoulder as Luka led her through the footpath in the forest, pulling her insistently towards the Pinnacle. After generations of close physical and spiritual quarters the female tribes of Faerûn worked in biological synchrony, each beginning their Blood around the same time in the moon's cycle as if their bodies sent out organic signals to one another, linking them through nuclei and the unexplored regions of their brains. Wickett shivered as Luka squeezed her hand with an excited smile. Never before had she felt this foreign connection to her tribe-mates, this pulsing, intrusive red thing that made all their heartbeats seem wrapped around the inside of her fingers, so near, so squeezable, so stoppable…_

_Luka pushed back the fern boughs and hanging moss and prodded Wickett in the arm to get her going, forcing her out into the blaring aura that was the blood and heat of her whole tribe. _

_She staggered back, clamping her mouth shut, her second eyelid gliding across her eyes to try and hold back the light, the pressure. But Luka gave her a bit of a shove from behind and forced her into the singular, throbbing organism. _

_The war drums were pounding somewhere nearby, not to the beat the signalled a hunt or impending attack but something more erratic and hollow that bounced against Wickett's ribs. Screeches and howls tore through the filthy air, air so thick it seemed to be congealing with the amount of blood that was flowing across its thin surface, snagging in large clumps in Wickett's throat. _

_Luka's nails dug channels out of her back and she felt her rub a thumb under her eye as she looked down at the slighter Faerieshian, who's face was split in the most grotesque, horrible smile Wickett had ever seen. The eye, her amber one, which Luka had smeared a plasmatic liquid under, slammed shut as the fumes from the bitter, salty substance assaulted her ducts, making them sting as if pierced by debris. Luka had drawn a trail of blood under her eye socket and its vibrant aura was singing away, seeping into her inner vision, bright red as if lit up by her heat sensors. _

_Arcana's voice rose above the noise and throes of the blood soaked orgy, a chant emitting from her pale lips like dragon fire, burning and shining. A prayer to Artemis, thanks for fertility and the circle of eternity. Other voices rose to join the haunting mantra, gravely and as wild as if the jungle itself were speaking, mouths becoming fissures in the earth to expel the hot, primal song that only the wind and stars understood. Luka's mouth was forming the words next to her, each syllable striking the same time of the wrenching, clawing cramps that were assaulting Wickett's insides._

_As the prayer rose in intensity and the throbbing inside and outside Wickett's skin seemed to close tighter like a python's scales, beating as one series of strokes for blood and the alternative of childbirth, Wickett began to feel her muscle curdle, turn to lumps among her limbs, quivering. Her inner energy, the one that sat behind her heart patiently, like a stalking jaguar, started to burn, black and orange like coals. Fire poured into her veins and an urge started to dig into her gut, the urge to see flesh split and spill what it protected beneath its surface, to feel for screams, to hunger for madness. _

_And as the chant reached its peak almost like an orgasm, Arcana's eyes fell on Wickett, white as the inside of her bones, they pierced like daggers into Wickett's inner mind, her spiritual energy touching and clawing at Wickett's, testing its strength. _

_And like a stone being dropped inside her head to rattle and echo a very final note, one word burst like a super nova or an artery behind her eyes, shattering the bridge of her nose:_

**_Eris._**

x.x.x Two Years Later x.x.x

_The moment I stepped under those harsh, artificial lights I felt my skin start to itch and burn. Their ultra-violet rays were concentrated beyond the normal amount and I felt all my individual cells start trembling under the force of that radioactive light, trying to sprout their own cilia and slither away from the harmful effects of those fluorescent fingernails, digging into my fibre. _

_Rainer's hand tightened around my sweaty palm as he led me down the empty, frigid hallway, his boots sounding dully against the polished, linoleum floor. With these ugly lights glaring down on us even his ebony skin seemed paler, sicker and I drew into the corners of the corridor like a fish in an empty tank, seeking the shadows, something to protect me, hide me. _

_But there were no shadows in this barren, sterile place and I shivered, my skin prickling._

_And then I could smell it._

_Coated thinly over the layers of spilt blood, urine, vomit, bone marrow and illness that had penetrated the place over the years I could feel it piercing like silver knives into the bottom of my brain like a drink that was too cold, the horrible, synthetic scent composed of acidic, fake citrus and toxins. It burned my mucus membranes, melting right down to the veins so they were in danger of splitting and bleeding into the dry, putrid air. My second eyelids slammed over my sensitive corneas, shielding my gelatinous eye fluids from the assault of the poison, that thin, sublime poison that couldn't be blocked like the heavier scents of earth or death, couldn't be filtered because it stuck itself to the air in here, air that spun back in again and again through the over worked ventilation system. It attached itself right to the oxygen molecules like a virus, sweeping into my lungs and hacking away at all that was good in there. _

_I retched and Rainer paused, holding my shoulder comfortingly while I gagged on the scent, pushing it back up and out, trying to peel it back before it settled into my tissue and began to grow into tumours. _

"_It's the disinfectant." he explained to me as I began to shake, clawing at my skin, feeling the cells dry and fall away under the blaze, my armour wearing away. "I don't like the smell much either."_

"_It's eating us alive." I whispered and he wrapped his sinewy arm over my shoulder, pulling me along. I only used my right leg to propel myself, pushing my face into his white mane of hair and coiling the strands around my tongue until they split the muscle like wire, letting my blood free of its vesicles and allowing it to paint itself over my tongue, a protective, organic shield that was already going sour. _

"_Hello." Rainer was saying and I peered past his shock of white hair to see a tinted force field made of Plexiglas shielding a fleshy woman dressed in white. I swallowed roughly and felt knots of my toxic saliva stick in the grooves of my swollen throat. It was in me, infecting me, this synthetic virus, trying to bond with my body so it could get to my brain and stick itself to the undersides of my lobes. _

"_Rainer, I want…" I muttered into his ear. "I want out." _

_The woman looked up at us and flicked a small window in her plastic prison open. "Can I help you with something?" she droned. She _was_ a drone, a robot, all her muscles gone cold and metallic from inhaling this toxin for so long. I dug the nail of my ring finger into my temple and pulled down until I felt my nerve bite me._

"_Yes, I want to have my friend here looked at by a doctor as soon as possible." Rainer spoke in his clear, fallen angel voice and I pressed my cheek into the hollow between his shoulder blades, a place where surely wings used to sit and I could feel his voice vibrating in his chest._

"_Do you have an appointment?"_

"_No."_

_The lady sighed and scribbled something on a slip of paper. "I'll see what I can do."_

"_Thank you." Rainer said and linked his arms backwards through mine so he could carry me, collapsed the way I was against his back, towards a rectangular ring of hard, plastic chairs. _

_We huddled together in the maelstrom of those halogenic lights, the miasma of that flesh-stripping scent making my teeth ache as if they'd been coated by bile. I pushed my face into the collar of Rainer's jacket, the soft wool of some long dead sheep carcass's pelt gone stiff and coarse in the carcinogenic presence of that sterilizing substance. This whole, horrible place was carcinogenic. _

_Static was building in my ear canals, the sounds of deceased voices and whirring machinery all slurring together and meshing with one another into one, unbroken, mechanical buzz. I felt like some sort of electricity was snapping across my taught skin and I shivered again, pulling myself tight in against the curve of Rainer's torso. He stroked my hair comfortingly. _

_The squeaking of rubber shoes against the gleaming floor, scrubbed free of stains although their silhouettes were still probably detectable under a black light like semen blots, bounced off the blank walls and Rainer and I looked up into the curt, inhuman face of a dark haired man. I clamped my oesophagus down on the uneasy growl that had been bubbling in my gut. _

"_Hello." Rainer said again and I tried to feed on his tranquil demeanour. I couldn't absorb its vibes though, perhaps because I knew he was faking serenity. "We just spoke to the receptionist, I'd like to see if I could get my friend examined."_

_I remembered why I disliked males as the man with his bleached shirt leaned towards me, a greedy sort of scrutiny dancing on his brow. My hackles twitched and I had to fight against my instincts, something I'd learned shortly after finding myself on Macabre should have been trusted beyond all else. But Rainer had told me these people here were good, and I had to believe him. Rainer would always trump my instincts._

"_You're friend is a Faerieshian." he said, his monotone voice piquing ever so slightly with curiosity._

"_Yes, she is."_

"_Did you know never has one of these creatures been studied by scientists or naturalists?" the man asked, his hand moving slowly towards my ear. A low rumbling sound rattled in my chest and he retracted his hand wisely._

_The man cleared his throat and back tracked after catching the steely glint in Rainer's stain glass eyes. "Meaning if I do give your friend here an examination it is possible I may not be able to deduce much, as her anatomy and immune system's functions may differ from that of a regular human's. What exactly did you want to have her checked for?" he asked and Rainer closed his hand around my hip bone reassuringly. _

"_Well… she's been… she's been hearing things lately, things none of the rest of us do." he started slowly. "I think she's been having auditory allusions."_

"_Auditory allusions, hmm?" the man murmured, leaning in towards me again. My chin tucked down over my throat defensively. _

"_Yes." Rainer said warily._

"_Well I can run a few analyses but I don't specialize in diagnosing or treating mental disorders." the man informed Rainer and I grated my teeth over my lip ring, the tinny tinkling on my enamel echoing the word 'disorder' in a high, metallic ring._

_**It means something is wrong with you. Disorder, disarray, dysfunction, discord... Eris**_

'_There's nothing wrong with me.'_

_**Tell them that when they strap you down on an autopsy table and slice you open. Tell them that when they pull out all your guts and poke needles into your arm**_

"…_something else I wanted to have looked at as well." Rainer was saying and I forced myself to pay attention in case he told me what 'autopsy' meant. I only knew that if I was vivisected I still had to be alive._

"_What's that?"_

"_Well, for the entire time I've known her, she's never had her menstrual cycle. I don't know if it's different with Faerieshians and she won't talk about it, so-"_

"_And how long have you known her?"_

"_A year and a half now."_

_A muscle next to the man's long, pointed nose twitched and I wanted to carve it out with my machete. "And how old is she?"_

"_Fourteen I think."_

"_And you are?" _

"_Eighteen."_

_The man gave Rainer a scornful look and this time I didn't bother to squelch the growl that vibrated in my vocal cords. He glanced over at me, scrawled something onto his clip board and then motioned for me to follow him down another corridor._

"_Go on, Stinger." Rainer told me and when I didn't move he stood, grabbing me under my arm pits and setting me on my feet. "This man is a doctor and he's going to try and see what's going on with you."_

_I gave him a pleading look. "I don't want to go down there." I whispered. "I want to go home."_

"_I know, sweetie, but we're never going to figure out what's going on if you don't go."_

_I clutched at his wrists. "Come with me."_

"_I can't, I have to stay here. It's going to be alright, Stinger, they're just going to ask you some questions and give you a quick check up. You'll be fine, I promise." He smeared some invisible war paint over the bridge of my nose and smiled. "I'm going to be right here, though, okay?"_

_I sucked on my tongue, trying to be brave. "Okay."_

_I followed after the man Rainer told me was a doctor, glancing back over my shoulder at the dark form that was Rainer, my shadow, my evil in a closet. _

_The doctor pushed open a nearby door and ushered me into a white washed room, ablaze with more of those awful, stabbing lights. _

"_Sit there, please." he said, motioning to a padded table. I hovered next to it, noting the layer of stiff paper spread over the top. It crinkled and snapped at me when I pressed my pinkie finger down on it hesitantly and I perched on it uneasily, right at the edge so I couldn't disrupt too much of it, because it didn't feel like the type of paper that would lick you with a friendly paper cut if threatened. If broken it was most likely to stab upwards, wrenching two thin slits like the shining, slippery edge of a razor would on either side of my fifth rib and reach in for some sort of colour to paint it bright. _

_A woman, similarly robed in white, stepped into the room, a white, bristly mask sitting over her mouth and nose so all I could see where her wide, brown eyes, threatening to pull me into their vapid depths and smother me. She watched me cautiously, avoiding my eye contact as if I were a wild animal and putting a wide, purposeful distance between us._

"_So, it was Stinger, was it?" the doctor asked, holding up his clip board again and leaning against a stainless steel desk, trying to act casual._

"_Wasp." I corrected. "Only my friends call me Stinger." My gaze flickered nervously from the cabinet filled with all sorts of sharp and cruel looking instruments to the closed door to the light that was hanging over me, singeing my skin, and back to the door with its square, glass window, set with intersecting wires. No way out…_

"_Wasp, of course. And you're friend-"_

"_Rainer."_

"_Rainer, he told me you've been hearing things lately, things no one else seems to be hearing, is that right?"_

_I saw the pink flesh flickering with my pulse under my nail and nibbled at the side of my finger, taking comfort in the familiar flavour of my dry flesh. "Yes." I said to my finger._

"_I see. And, these things you hear, are they just noises that maybe your ears pick up on that no one else's does or-"_

_I didn't like to hear him talking about my ears. I pulled them back slightly against the sides of my head, away from his words so they couldn't dance with acid feet against the insides. "I hear a voice. It's inside me, under my skull, right behind the dark spots in my eyes so no one can see it." I said, tearing away the raw skin from my fingertip and grinding it between my back teeth. _

"_A voice…" the doctor said with a nod as if he understood. "And have you ever heard the voice coming from the radio?"_

"_No. It only comes from the inside of my ears." I explained. _

"_I see. And, Wasp…" the doctor said, leaning into my face again and staring so long and intensely into my eyes that I had the urge to punch my thumbs into his and curl them inwards to hook them around the underside of his face. "…Wasp, does the voice tell you to do things to people? Has the voice ever told you to hurt people, Wasp?"_

_His breath rolled onto my face, hot and rank as if he'd recently eaten something. My ears squeezed in tight against my head until they were laid straight back. _

"_No. I'm the only one who tells myself to do that." I told him pointedly and he backed away a bit, scribbling something onto his clip board._

"_Alright. Now, Wasp, Rainer seems to be worried that your reproductive organs aren't functioning properly." he said, turning back to me with a shining disk in his hand, attached to tubes that ran up to his ears, tubes that only delivered bad news. He came towards me and reached to pull up the hem of my shirt. _

_My lips leapt back from my fangs and I snarled at him, leaping back so my boots crunched the scaly paper beneath me, crouched in my hunter's stance. The woman made an alarmed noise and the doctor made a sign at her to remain silent. _

"_It's alright, this instrument helps me hear your heart beat, that's all." he tried to explain to me in a scratchy, soothing voice like a record skipping, as false as heat lightning. "I just want to check and make sure it's beating at a healthy rate."_

_His gnarled hand came towards me again and I could smell his male scent, his testosterone and sweat, and I was reminded of another, heaving in the jungle air. I spat at him, hackles raised, snapping my jaws in the direction of his arm and lunging forwards slightly on my haunches. My heart was hammering against the back of my sternum and I felt something blow in my nose, hot blood trickling down and coating the sensitive wall of my nostril._

_The doctor shot the woman another look, some sort of silent message and then picked a slender, black stick up off his desk. _

"_This is a special light that will let me see if your pupils dilate and contract properly." he explained to me in his poison-honey voice. I growled at him from deep in my throat, grinding my teeth and wanting nothing more then to leave this wretched, toxic place behind. _

_The light came up and flashed in my left eye, making me wince and turn away with a snarl. A strong pair of hands wrapped around my left wrist while slighter, colder fingers buckled something excruciatingly tight around my right forearm. I twisted, jaws gnashing so violently I felt them unhinge, but those hands, blunt with power, shoved me back and snapped something around my left forearm as well._

"_Rainer!" I cried out in fear and kicked as something fleshy and solid moved past my feet. The woman yelped and practically leapt away in fear and I snarled viciously at the dark haired man with that damning name, doctor, as he leaned into my vision. _

"_I'm sorry we had to do that." he apologized like the drone he was and I thrashed, feeling the bindings around my arms pinch my pale skin, my muscles expanding as a rush of oxygen rich blood flooded over them to fuel them._

"_Wasp, if you don't calm down and let me do my job I'm going to have to give you a tranquilizer. We're only trying to help." the doctor stated and I laughed hysterically at him. _

"_I don't need any help! There's nothing wrong with me!" I screeched, thrashing again and feeling the table shudder under me. "You're the one who's going to need help if you don't let me go _right now_! I want Rainer!"_

_**Didn't I tell you, Eris? Here we are at the autopsy table and in a moment he's going to take his bluntest scalpel and-**_

"_SHUT UP!" I screamed. The woman looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was standing there._

"_Prepare an injection." the doctor droned and the woman gave a shaky, jerking nod, darting over towards one of those cabinets, reaching for something._

"_I bet you have an ugly face." I hissed at her and she flinched from me. I cackled with mad laughter. _

_His hands came for my shirt again and I landed the heel of my beautiful, loud boots, the ones Fli had bought me, in his ribs. I felt something crack and he doubled over, backing away from me and spitting cruses at the floor. He moved around me in a wide arc, avoiding my free, dangerous legs and caught a fist-full of my filthy hair. He tilted my head back on its axis and I looked into his swampy, angry green eyes. _

"_Hold her for a moment." he instructed his little servant woman. "She can't touch you if you stand here." he assured her and she took a hold of my matted hair, her eyes shining with fear. Something sharp like a wasp's stinger was dangling from her other hand and I suddenly became fixated on it, fear making my hot jungle blood run cold. Things plunged past my inner eye, memories, feelings, rain, tearing flesh and bloody screams. _

_I was so distracted by that gruesome looking instrument that I didn't register as the doctor pulled my shirt off my belly and drew in a sharp, hissing breath. After a long moment of staring he moved away slowly, stunned. _

"_Finish up with that tranquilizer." he breathed. "I'm going to prepare the X-Ray machine."_

"_Yes, doctor." the woman murmured and released my greasy hair, rubbing her hand on her white pants, leaving colourless smudges, my protective oil._

"_Where I came from we would have torn him to pieces for that." I whispered to her, meaning his ordering her around but when I thought about it, if I had my hands free I would have torn him to shreds for examining me like that as well. _

_The woman ignored me as best she could and stuck that long, thin piece of polished metal into a bottle of pale green liquid like a humming bird would have plunged its long, slender beak into a flower. However I got the feeling that wasn't nectar she was sucking into the glass vile or at least it wouldn't be one I'd like._

"_Rainer…" I murmured, blood stirring in my ears. Another vein popped on the inside of my lip and I felt the membrane swell under the pressure. _

_Something boxy and dark swung over me on a long, metal, robot arm. The doctor flicked something on its side and it buzzed to life, humming away while black light filtered from its mouth._

_He noticed my curious fixation with the thing and tapped it with a finger. "This machine is going to take a picture of your insides. We'll be able to see your bones and organs." he explained curtly, his polite façade gone with the blow I'd sent to his torso. _

_I didn't want him to see my bones. I wanted Rainer. _

_Something cold swiped over my upper arm and that horrible, curdling stench of disinfectant hit my sinuses like a heavy toned guitar note. My fingers clawed desperately at the masked woman as she swiped the white patch over my arm again but she was out of my reach. And that damp spot burned like she'd held a flame to it and I struggled desperately, feeling the table wobble under me and my restraints shift slightly. _

_But then that gleaming object came into my field of view and all my muscles froze. I watched hypnotically as the vile sloshed its liquid contents up against the notches on the side, numbers I couldn't understand. And that hollow pin came towards my arm, the end of it sliced unevenly like a bamboo shoot, a drip of the liquid trembling at the tip._

"_Good, keep her distracted." the doctor's voice came to me as if from underwater and I felt the tip of that evil little thing come in contact with my skin. _

_Rainer…_

_And then that machine that had been hovering over me, the one that was going to look into my bones and the spaces between them, clicked and flashed and all my hunting, survival instincts screeched to the surface._

_With a guttural snarl I tore myself free of the restraint on my right, knocking that stinging instrument away and felt it bite into my skin as the woman jolted back in shock. I saw a bubble of blood well to the surface and let out the most tearing howl I'd ever emitted. I lunged at her and felt my shoulder snap out of socket on my left side as my restraint strained and then snapped and I leapt free of the over turned table, catching the woman under me and dragging her to the floor. The pin came up in self-defence towards my face and I plunged my jaws around it, catching the vile between my teeth and crushing it with a squeal of shattering glass. A piece of it dug into my gums like shrapnel and I felt the bitter, freezing liquid splash over my tongue. Spitting and hacking I backed away, wiping at my tongue with alarm. A strong arm wrapped around me from behind and I rammed my elbow back to meet soft guts. The doctor doubled again and I shook myself free, scrabbling back onto the overturned table to get a better vantage point. _

_The door. There was my escape. But as I made to lunge towards it that doctor-man came at me like he was going to throttle me and I swung his stupid bone-viewing machine at him. It crashed right into him, throwing him back with an explosion of shattering crystals. _

_And then I felt something wrap around the back of my head like a bolt of lightning and stars and dead birds burst before my eyes. _

* * *

"_I do apologize about this whole incident."_

_Rainer's glare was like shards of ice._

"_I'll admit my nurse went to drastic measures to subdue her, but-"_

"_She hit her upside the back of the head with a metal table leg." Rainer said in a tone that matched his icy, piercing stare. He squeezed Wasp's limp body against his chest tightly, the hand that was cradling the back of her neck shifting so he could stroke the unconscious Faerieshian's bat-like ear._

"_Yes, she did." the doctor said, not sounding at all as apologetic as he was trying to appear to be. Rainer felt no remorse for his bloody nose. "I think this must have gone bad from the beginning."_

"_Evidently." Rainer agreed sardonically. "And then you made it worse."_

"_I understand that you're upset, er, Rainer was it? But I also want you to understand how very lucky you are that we aren't going to hold you liable for the damage your Faerie friend inflicted upon some very expensive medical equipment." the doctor told him, an undertone of threat penetrating his voice. _

"_Right. I'll keep that in mind." Rainer said curtly and turned to leave, Wasp slung between his arms like a rag doll. _

"_Wait!" the doctor called after him and Rainer grudgingly halted. The doctor seemed to fight with himself for a moment before yanking something from his pocket and holding it against the wall to scribble over it before handing it to Rainer._

"_What's this?" Rainer asked, thinking that perhaps he was going to get taken up on the damage anyways._

"_A prescription. Any pharmacy will fill it for you."_

"_A prescription for what?" Rainer asked guardedly. _

"_An anti-psychotic. I believe your friend may be suffering from some form of Schizophrenia. If this is indeed the case I suggest you get it treated immediately. Now I'm no psychosis analyst mind you, but…" the doctor trailed off and Rainer nodded, trying to look as thankful as he could muster._

"_Thank you." Rainer turned to leave again, tucking Wasp's prescription securely into one of his jacket pockets._

"_One more thing!" the doctor called again and Rainer had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. _

"_Yes?"_

"_You mentioned you were worried about your friend because she hadn't had a menstrual cycle in the time frame you'd known her, correct?"_

_Rainer nodded, his pulsing twitching slightly with unease._

"_Before she went…well, before things got out of hand I discovered something rather… disturbing." The doctor said, motioning Rainer back down the hallway to a small, white box mounted on the wall. _

_Rainer cocked his head to show he was listening, his fingers twining in Wasp's tangled hair unconsciously. _

"_Has the girl ever mentioned anything about what happened to her before you met her?" the doctor asked, mounting a filmy, black sheet on the screen of the white box._

"_I only know she lived in the jungle before I found her." Rainer answered honestly. _

"_The Faerie has a large scar on her abdomen." the doctor said and Rainer nodded, his fingers curling tighter into Wasp's greasy mane. He knew that; he'd seen the ugly, brutal scar on her pale belly the first night he'd met her. _

_The doctor's impassive face shuffled into a grim expression and he flicked a button on the side of the box, illuminating the screen and letting white light filter through the jagged, circular gaps in the X-Ray sheet. _

"_X-Ray's are meant to illuminate bones and foreign objects in the body." the doctor prattled on as if Rainer were brain dead. "If we wanted to get a closer look at someone's organs and circulatory system we'd do a CAT scan, but I think that is obviously out of the question. However X-Rays can pick up on tissue in the body, showing it as these cloudy sections you see here." Using the tip of a pen the doctor pointed to the muscles in Wasp's thigh, which showed up like the stands of a spider web. Rainer nodded, having already learned all these details from the numerous science fiction novels he read._

_The doctor nodded as well as if agreeing that he wasn't dealing with a novice to the theory behind looking into someone's body. "As you can see, there is a large empty space here, behind the scar tissue, where there shouldn't be." he made a circle in the gap with his pen between Wasp's hip bones. Rainer drew in a sharp breath as the image of Wasp's vertebrae was burned into his retinas. _

"_No obviously I don't know the differentials between human and Faerie anatomy, but you'll find in many aspects humanoids and humans share the same insides, as it were." the doctor explained and Rainer swallowed hard._

"_So what does that gap mean?" he asked, motioning towards the black place underneath the shining silhouette of Wasp's gruesome scar. _

"_To be very blunt, it means that your friend doesn't have a…"_

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I was pondering the expression 'dead weight' as I carried the little bundle of death back to my room.

I knew birds had to be light. I remembered the day I'd found the skeleton of a fledgling eagle, apparently having been refused by a snake after all the meat and feathers had been digested. The tiny cluster of bones were brittle from a combination of the sun bleaching them, having been squeezed tight in the snake's narrow belly and stomach acid wearing at them, and the miniature wing bone crumbled in my hand when I plucked it up from the pile that I'd discovered on one of the higher branches in the canopy. Obviously the snake must have been bathing in the light that was so absent in the lower levels of the rain forest before it had forced the skeleton backwards through its guts and ejected it from its mouth. I'd been reassembling the carcass so that hopefully the baby bird would learn to fly in the afterlife.

That was the day I discovered that bird bones were hollow, porous and made of tiny chambers as if the roots of fungi had tangled inside the marrow. It amazed me that even the eagles, such large and striking birds when they were fully grown, could be constructed inside by an empty skeleton. I wondered if they ever felt lonely with all the gaps inside them.

But as I held the tiny bird, a brown, finchy looking thing with a speckled yellow breast and reminded myself that birds were built light and delicate I still had to question death and all the lies that were attached to it. Things weren't heavy in death; this little bird barely registered in the palm of my hand and I wondered if I was merely holding a bunch of feathers comically arranged to look like a birdie.

My nose always told me what the rest of my senses ignored. The thing was leaking the essence of death and I knew it was indeed just a body now. Its small, black eyes looked up at me as hollow as its bones.

I sighed unhappily and set the tiny, vacant creature on my mattress and dug around under my bed until I found a tiny bit of twine. Rolling back to my feet I knotted the twine carefully around the bird's bent neck, feeling reproachful towards the _Merlin_; as a hunk of metal and gears almost as lovable as my Gremlin as it was, its deceiving windshield had been unkind to its fellow winged brethren. This poor bird's airy bones hadn't stood a chance.

"There." I said, finishing the last knot and balancing the steadily stiffening animal on my palm carefully. "Now your head won't roll off, see?"

I squeezed a hand around my own throat, the same way I'd held Stork up by her neck the night before we'd reached Vatican when I'd caught her coming out of Fraggle's room. My head wasn't rolling off either; I couldn't count how many windows I'd unsuspectingly flown into after entering this stainless steel world.

I opened one of the drawers on the desk the others had supplied me with so I could do all the crystal work I never did and pulled out a smallish wooden box. Sitting back I slid the top open with my thumb to reveal the layer of sand I'd stored inside. It was fine, pale and pretty sand and I'd had to take some of it with me. It was sand from the first terra I'd ever been to with the Gargoyles, the first one I'd ever seen on the outside other then Macabre.

Scooping some up with my fingers I tilted my head back slightly and trickled it into my mouth. As I set the little dead-weight bird into the box I swished the grains around with my tongue, feeling them working in between my teeth, scrapping away hard plaque on the backs of my fangs and scrubbing at my pink gums like affectionate sand paper.

As I shut the lid on my impromptu coffin I considered the wearing feeling and nodded, agreeing with myself. I felt that scrubbed feeling inside too, as if my heart had been rubbed raw by my pretty sand or by one of the tangles of metal fibre that Stork used to use to polish grime from our skimmers. It didn't matter how tenderly she used those curly clumps of metal; they'd leave the paint unharmed but always chewed up her hands with whisker thin abrasions.

That's how I felt; like Stork's palms my heart had been removed of its outer, tougher layer of skin and I felt sore. Like this little bird Stork had crashed into something more unyielding then her bones. And like this bird Stork was dead, but not a dead weight. Stork had never seemed like one of those people who had wanted to be a burden.

I nodded again and Shadowfax nodded too, as silent as ever, my kindred spirit from another dimension of time.

"Yes." I said. "Yes."

I got up from the floor and marched back out to the deck, where I'd found the poor little thing in the first place. The wind blasted my face and whistled in my ears until I thought it started playing a song I vaguely knew. I didn't just want to let the box go, not in this wind to be ripped away and then hurled callously into the Wastelands. I hugged the little box of death close to my chest comfortingly, stroking the panelled side.

"Don't worry." I murmured. "I'll let you go soon."

Around then I noticed the black shape huddled up in the lee of the _Merlin_'s runway. Fraggle wasn't going very fast, as if that kind of speed were saved for someone who'd yell at him to slow it down, and I could see curls of blue smoke wafting up slightly before getting sucked up by the ever hungry wind.

I sucked on my lip ring and jumped onto the railing of the deck. I teetered for a second before hopping down the fifteen feet to the run way, my legs bending in protest so that I rolled onto my side with a laugh.

"Hey!" I said cheerfully, rolling onto my back and looking at Angel from upside-down. From this angle he could have been smiling.

But I knew how flip-side stuff tended to work and rolled back over to my feet, sensing his distress.

"Hey." I said again, more serious this time. "What's up?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing." I repeated with a nod.

He blew his smoke in the opposite direction from where I was sitting, just like Rainer used to do, and my insides convulsed. He turned to look back at me and his bruised eye seemed to leap out like the blank eye socket of a skeleton.

I pouted sympathetically and he blew a strand of raven feather hair off his brow nonchalantly.

"Does it make me look tough?" he asked.

"You look like you just came out of the Brawl Cage." I said. I gave him the thumbs up with both hands in confirmation and he grinned a bit.

And then as he went to face forwards again I shot out my hand, tilted his chin back towards me, darted forwards and drew my tongue over the purple blotch in one quick swipe.

"Apparently it's lucky." I explained as he squeezed his sore eye shut and gave me an odd look from the other. "Faerie spit I mean."

"Ah." He said and his hand, which had been coming up to wipe at the smudge of drool I'd deposited on his face went back to his side. "What's in the box?" he asked, changing the subject.

I hugged the little box of sand and oily feathers and hollow bones. "A bird." I said, balancing it atop my linked knuckles and then setting my chin on it in a pose of deep thought.

"Oh, for the love of god, go get Varan to make you something." he groaned, pushing his fingers into his hair like slender brown worms.

I scowled at him. "I don't eat birds." I said shortly.

He scrutinized me for a moment, my growling visage and my fingernails leaving little gouges in my tiny sarcophagus as I pressed it into my collar bone defensively.

"Right. Sorry."

I shrugged, never one to hold a grudge. Hell, he'd be fucked if I did. "It's okay."

Dragging on his smoke Angel set his chin on his knees and I had the urge to walk my fingers along the back of his neck, dance across the oily strands of his hair with the tips of my bones.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" I asked, poking my fingers into the hollows under my check bones instead.

Angel blew out a long stream of smoke like a dragon that could no longer summon flames. Like Shadowfax who could no longer summon words. "I've done a lot of shitty things, you know that?" he asked me at length and I nodded to humour him.

"There are tons of things I shouldn't have said… tons more I should have." he went on. "But I…" he moved his hand over his face and convulsed, making a strange noise that could have been a bark of laughter. It also could have been a sob. "I never wanted her dead." he rasped.

A splinter of my box broke off and stuck straight out of my finger pad unabashedly. I plucked it away and pushed it into the thin roll of flesh that bubbled up from my thigh when my knee was bent until crimson splashed free. I bled when I wanted to cry; when we'd discovered the fate of poor Stork, our baby girl, I staggered away to throw up by myself, veins bursting next to my ducts and in my nose and in my throat so that when there was nothing left in my gut to give it rained red from every orifice in my face. Like Shadowfax's voice Rainer had taken my ability to cry with him and I bawled scarlet these days. And that little drop, like the first one to roll down from the huge, waxy leaves of the jungle to signal a coming storm, was for Angel as it made it's slow crawl down to my boot.

He sniffed and pulled at his smoke again, his hand moving from his face to cup his lowest rib as he hugged his arm against himself like a child who'd cut himself by accident. I reached out to tap the inside of his elbow once.

"We know." I told him, tapping his arm again because his skin would give inwards a bit until it reached bone, and the give reminded me that there were all sorts of things with give inside of them, everywhere, plastered by skin.

"I guess you wouldn't know…" he said softly after a long time of the two of us sitting there, like two orb-like cells bonded through mitosis, building something. "You wouldn't really know what I mean, because you never had parents."

My head rolled like a bobble-head's as I nodded. "Right."

"Well, people say… people tend to say things to their kids, whether it's parents or someone who knew their parents, things like 'oh, you look just like your father' or 'you have your mother's nose', shit like that." he went along, his hand revolving in the empty air as if to tumble the words about until they made more sense. He was a hand-talker, a halker.

"And I mean given the person you're talking to, those things can mean different things. Like Falshade for example. People tell him he looks like his dad all the time, and he soaks it up like a sponge. He never knew his dad, but he loves him anyways, and whenever someone tells him he's so much like Falco it… I dunno. I'm not inside his head. But I can see it. His eyes light up. He smiles." Angel explained and I smiled at the way Angel's voice seemed to curl upwards at the thought of Falshade smiling. I liked Falshade's smile too. When I saw it it gave me the desire to push my fingers into his mouth so I could touch the sweetness inside.

"But if someone were to tell Varan he looked like _his_ dad… he'd probably throw up right there." Angel went on.

I think I threw up too much for my own good. Sometimes I could feel it hammering like little fists at the weakened back of my throat, were the bile had singed it. But I'd throw up for Varan, if it saved his teeth and some tears. I'd throw up for any of them, even if it broiled my brain membrane.

"Yeah. Poor guy." I said because I reminded myself that humans liked to have mutual conversations, voices from both directions. They didn't feel the buffets of an aura being stroked, didn't read the flick of an ear or curling of a finger under the jaw bone. Rainer had. But I wasn't talking to him. I had to remind myself that too.

Angel nodded in agreement. I couldn't help it; I made two tiny steps with my fingers along the back of his neck, over the hill of his atlas vertebrae and I wondered if any of the other boxy little chunks of bone, that had always reminded me of dice, had names too.

Angel shivered and I took my digits back, understanding that some people didn't like to be touched. It was strange in a way; for a large part of my life I'd relied on touch, on non-verbal communication. Faerieshians communicated mostly through body language after all; the angle of the chin, the tilt of the jaws. Fli used to flick my nose affectionately or rub the little spaces between my unnamed vertebrae to soothe me, like a mother jaguar would lick her young to ease them into sleep. Sketcher liked to tug at the braid of hair that had used to belong at the nape of my neck in greeting or to get me riled up for a round in the Brawl Cage. And Rainer used to curve his thumb around my jutting hip bone comfortingly or pinch at my knee cap to tell me to get up. God, we used to talk without ever opening our mouths: black fingers stroking my jaws, tapping my collar bone, walking along the ridges between my ribs, making semi-circles under my protruding belly button, drawing warm circles with the ball of his thumb against the membrane of my ears and the banging of his round ankle bone against mine through his converses, a resounding message that travelled along the highway of my skeleton to my skull, where the words broke off and tumbled like kittens in my inner ears, a reassuring, reverberating _I'm here, I'm here, I'm here…_

I bent my heel to the side, striking Angel's ankle bone through both our boots just once. _Angel's here, Angel's here, Angel's here now…_

"So it's a blessing and a curse." I said as he looked at me from the corners of his eye. "Depending."

"It's my worst fear." he whispered and I cocked my head.

He made a noise like a low whimper and clutched the sides of his head. "All my life I've been afraid of someone telling me I look like my parents. But I know… I know I've got my mother's eyes. And I know the rest of me looks like… him."

I scrutinized him, trying to figure out who exactly he looked like. I'd never seen someone with a nose like his before. I liked his nose. Straight like mine but slighter, more subtle. Sharp, lacking the curved tip that Stork had owned, ever the pixie-girl. Rainer's nose may have looked like it one point in time, but like mine it had been broken. Unlike mine it had been broken twice, so it had jerked in one direction slightly and then back the other way. All heroes need imperfections, after all. Without them they just looked too pure, complete and beautiful, like a demon posing as an angel, untrustworthy.

"I don't wanna be either." Angel moaned softly. "I never want to be like either of them."

I got the feeling this had something to do with his conversation the night before, about evil permeating someone's blood. But I hated when people reminded me of things I already knew, so I kept my mouth shut, in case it wasn't.

Angel took a long drag on his smoke and I watched, fascinated, as tails of smoke licked at his fingers from the filter as if they liked him, wanted to touch him too. My tongue rubbed against the backs of my teeth as I fought down the urge to take his hand and suck on his fingers, like I so often had done to Rainer. I tapped my ankle bone against his again; _Angel's here now…_

I watched as curls of blue smoke spilled out of his mouth as he started speaking again. "But sometimes I think I'm becoming them anyways. And that scares me even more." he muttered, and I'd never heard him sound so exposed. I'd seen men at their weakest. I'd seen men cry before, so I didn't get that downward sucking feeling that also comes with breathing out too long when I saw them so vulnerable like some people did. I'd seen men scream and sob like infants before me as I tore the life from them before their eyes. I'd seen Rainer cry out of pure, unvented anguish and had watched Sketcher slice off the tattoo from his own fore arm as if he were peeling a slice of bread away from the rest of the loaf, his face contorted by rage and drained of any sort of coherence towards his actions, as it so often was during his down states. So I felt none of the shock and awkwardness some might when they're male counter parts finally succumbed to the pressure that weighed on their own. Angel wasn't crying of course, but I could smell the tears on his skin anyways, brittle in his pores.

"And I don't know what to do." he continued, bitterness and fear washing together like potent bile in his voice. I bumped him with my head sympathetically. "I'm so… scared of becoming like them. Like my dad more."

"Why?" I asked, plucking at my jacket, pulling off invisible spiders.

"My dad was the Dark Ace." his voice came out like a rattle, his breathing unstable. He drew his knees up to his chest and pushed his face into his narrow knee caps.

I'd already guessed this, but I didn't say so, because I didn't want to steal whatever horrible, sour thunder he had. I knew that secrets were best controlled by their owner and no one else. "I thought you said that was a hypothetical thing." I said, my tone casual, supportive. He had nothing to fear here.

"It isn't. It's so not hypothetical that it's real." Angel explained to his knees.

"Oh."

"And… Wasp, sometimes I think I'm going to become like him. And I'm so shit-scared about it it's not even funny. Because I don't want to be like him. I never want to be like that. But I don't know how _not_ to become that way. It's like walking a line. If I go too far either way, it's like falling off the edge of a knife, and like it or not… I'll become him."

I repeated his voice saying my name a few times in my head. I liked the way it tasted, how it'd been painted by his voice, his rough, accented voice. "Maybe you should talk to someone who knew him or knew more about him at least. I'm sure they could tell you that you aren't like him." I suggested.

Angel took his face away from his knees and looked at me with red eyes. And then he laughed, one short bark and I wrinkled my nose. He shook his head a few times and I caught a lock of his hair, felt the strands weave marks like paper cuts in my fingers.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you." he muttered, setting his chin on his knees. "It's just the idea… that's the thing. I can't ask anybody, Wasp. Do you know what they'd do to me? Look at poor Varan, just because he's a Raptor he's practically spat on wherever he goes. If they knew he was Repton's son they'd have him behind bars so fast you wouldn't even catch it. And Repton was nothing compared to the Dark Ace. I'd be lucky if putting me behind bars was all they did to me." he said miserably.

"Well maybe not the Guardians." I said and my tongue went bitter on the name. "But like, what about Falshade or his mom? I mean, they wouldn't do anything to you. They'd want to help you. They'd probably even understand. They know you can't help it if you're born."

_**Well not all of us anyways…**_

Subtly, so Angel couldn't see, I brought my hand up under my ear and pushed my fingers into my head like scalpels, dragging downwards. _Get OUT!_

"Caspia…" Angel murmured. "No. Not even her. I couldn't ask either of them. Falshade lost his dad in the war, remember? I just can't, Wasp. It'd be too hard for them. There are some things that can't be forgiven, remember?"

Oh yes, I remembered. I took pride in the fact that at any given time I could come up with a list of at least a dozen things that could never be forgiven. But being born wasn't one of them.

"Varan'd understand." I tried again, because his hopeless, lonely situation was stinging me like nettles and bees.

"Maybe. Maybe not. I've never told anyone but you. I don't intend to tell anyone else."

That made sense. I knew the laws of self preservation pretty well. The less people who knew about you, the greater chance you had at surviving until tomorrow.

It made me feel good inside when he said I was the only one he'd ever told. Like learning how to read it was like I'd been let into a very private universe. And I felt like I had a responsibility to try and help him, especially if he didn't intended to tell anyone else ever again. I'd heard his darkest, dirtiest secret the one and only time it'd ever be spoken, and it made me feel special, alight somewhere deep inside.

"Okay." I said. "Okay. So I'm the only one you can talk to about it."

"You're the only one I _want_ to talk to about it."

I smiled, my cheeks feeling strained by its sincerity, as I rarely cracked a smile like that. He returned the expression with a tiny, small grin of his own. "Permission to feel special?" I asked and he laughed a bit.

"If it makes you happy." he said and I nodded, pleased.

"Well, I know I'm not the most informed about the old war, but you told me about the Dark Ace last night. You said he was a really bad guy, butchered people, Cyclonis' general and everything." I said and he winced.

"I'm not too great at putting things gently." I apologized and he gave me a weak smile.

"Neither am I."

"But, Angel, you're not a bad person. You'd never hurt anyone if they didn't deserve it. You're a Sky Knight. You went through the training and everything. And you joined Falshade. He's out here trying to stop this big evil that's coming. Wouldn't the Dark Ace want to be doing exactly the opposite of what you're doing?" I pointed out.

"You don't know what he used to be, before he was the Dark Ace." Angel whispered. "You know about the Storm Hawks, right?"

"Umm…"

"It doesn't matter. There were two Storm Hawks squadrons, the original ones and the ones that took over after the original ones went down. You probably don't know why the first ones went down, do you?"

"No." I said honestly.

"The Dark Ace was one of them, Wasp. And he betrayed them. Atmos' greatest squadron, the light that was meant to lead everyone else through the war and he killed them, every single one of them. His own squadron." Angel reeled out in a tone like he was puking, ridding himself of the poison in his belly.

"Oh." I said. He wiped at his nose irritably and looked away.

"Yeah, oh. And what if I… what if I do the same thing? If I become him, what's to stop me? History repeats itself, all that shit." he croaked.

I couldn't take any more of the misery that was clogging the spaces between his syllables. Looping an arm under his neck in a similar fashion of the way I'd hauled him away from Falshade earlier and burrowed my face in the space between his shoulder blades. "People don't just become that way." I told him softly. "Remember what I said about people and what's in their hearts."

"I don't know what's in my heart." he said ruefully. "All I've got is this stupid line, afraid to stray to far from it. And even that… I hate it. It cuts me off. From everything. Everyone. And I don't even know if it's the right line. Sometimes when I'm alone at night I wonder if this line is drawing me towards him anyways, but how can I know? I'm trapped, Wasp, trapped in my own double helix and for lack of a better term, it sucks. It fucking sucks."

I nodded against his back. I could feel his uneven breath, hear his heart beating erratically. I tried to think of something to tell him before his veins got sick of the jerky motions in which blood was being sloshed through their cores and promptly abandoned their biological duties.

"…when Rainer died he took whatever was in my heart with him." I said slowly, feeling something like needles pierce my throat as I swallowed. Angel tilted his face towards me slightly, listening. "So I can kinda relate. I know how if feels not to know what's in your heart, except a cold place. And it's times like that that you have to find something to hold on to until you know again."

"Hold on to?"

"Yes. Something to cradle close at night when you're alone and all the monsters come out, sniffing for you." I said, trying not to lose myself in my own story. "Something, anything, to keep you from falling into blackness. Because it may be painful up here, my friend, but it's a far cry better from what you'll find down there. And it's a hell of a lot harder to crawl outta blackness, without a light to guide you and all the weight of your own hatred pushing you back." _Trust me, Angel. I know._

_**Sometimes the blackness comes with you, doesn't it?**_

_Sometimes._

"What do you hold on to, Wasp?" Angel asked softly.

"Rainer." I murmured without missing a beat. "And everything that he was."

"What was he like, this guy? You keep mentioning him and by now I'm kinda intrigued." Angel continued on in a quiet voice, as if a louder volume might burn away whatever was threading between us. I loved when the volume was high enough that you couldn't hear yourself think, couldn't feel yourself breathe. But sometimes I loved the lower sounds of the world too, soft voices at night and the echo of a hand at your back.

"If you don't mind telling me, of course." Angel added considerately and my lip ring tugged against his shirt as I smiled.

"Rainer was my everything." I started, thinking over each word carefully. Rainer's memory was painful but fresh in my mouth, like a bittersweet chocolate or cold rain and when words graced it with a depiction they demanded a certain attention and tenderness that other words didn't. "He… he saved me, really. He was the first person I ever met once I escaped Faerûn. He taught me everything I know. He taught me how to read. He taught me the ways of a metalhead. He taught me how to live in the outside world. He was special. He was so fucking special. He lived on Macabre all his life, but you'd never think it, the way he acted. I always told myself he was like me, a fighter, a survivor. But he wasn't. He was a protector, a guardian. A light that shone when all other lights went out. He never wanted to become what everyone else did on Macabre, all these burn outs and thugs who scrabbled over each other, raped each other, killed each other just to try and claw their way to the top of the pile of shit that was existence on that god forsaken terra. They thought life would be better up there. But once they reached the top, if they weren't killed first or didn't get swallowed up by everyone else who wanted up and got left, stuck half-way, to rot, they realized that all that was up there was the top of the shit and everyone else below you who wanted to take it from you. Rainer knew that and he didn't want it. So he stayed away from it all together, even if that made him lonely as hell and sad inside every day. And he tried to help others too, to make sure they didn't get caught in the web that is Macabre. He looked after them. He loved them when no one else did. And I admired him for it. Because I knew there were times he just couldn't stand the shit he was surrounded by, but he kept holding on anyways, to his ideals, to what he was to those who needed him. To what he was to me. He was the bravest person I've ever known."

I stopped and sucked in deeply, oxygen stinging my desperate lungs. Angel was watching me carefully, having turned back to me without my registering the shifting of his muscles so I was kinda slumped against his chest. I pulled back quickly; my nose had started bleeding.

Angel dug in his pockets and pulled out a musty old tissue and I wadded it up under my nose, tucking the shells of my ears against the sides of my head and then moving them away again so that air whooshed against my ear drums, making a strange hissing noise like sandpaper and humming, as if someone were breathing next to me. Or maybe it was the dead, talking to me in their static Morse code.

"So what did you do when he died?" Angel asked me so quietly his lips barely moved.

I moved the tissue away from my nose and started nibbling at the corner. This was the hard part of the story. "I fell into the blackness." I whispered and saw flecks of those impenetrable shadows come out with the air molecules.

"How'd you get out?"

I tried not to think of myself, starving in a gutter, curled in a tight ball in the space under a dumpster, plunging myself into night's shadows to hide the tears from my own reflection, chewing my arm to shreds from desperate dehydration. The space in time after killing Buzzard, burning Rainer's apartment to the ground and hiding that key in the sewers and before joining the Brawl Cage again, before knifing people in the dark, the curse that followed those with sin penned on their foreheads, the bane of terra Macabre.

"I nearly died." I muttered. "Close enough to smell it anyways. And Rainer's voice sent me back. I guess I became a bit of a vigilante after that. And that way… I was able to hold on to Rainer, his morals. I became him, a guardian. And that's how I learned Rainer's final lesson."

"What was that?" Angel asked, totally wrapped in the dark, twisted tale of my life, before Stork, before the Gargoyles.

"That to be a guardian is to be alone." I answered. "We are all alone, Angel. And in that, we are all together."

Angel blinked at me. "You think so?"

I shrugged. "Sure. I mean, unless you share a brain or live with someone else, you're alone. But that doesn't mean we can't love others, doesn't mean we can't have families or squadrons. It doesn't mean you can't hold on to things."

Angel seemed to ponder this. "So what do I have to hold on to?"

"That line of yours. And I know it sucks, but it's better then the alternative, you know?" I smiled at him grimly. "You're not in the blackness yet, Angel, not by a long shot."

"Hmm…" he said and I got the feeling he wasn't really digging my answer.

"But, you know." I started up again. "You really should have more things to hold on to. It makes it easier, the more things you have."

"Does it?"

"Yeah." I nodded so roughly my neck cracked. "It does. So, if you wanted… I could be that something. Something to hold on to."

Angel gawked at me and I shrugged, clacking my teeth together as if to create sparks. "It doesn't have to be me. It could be Falshade and the others, or this mission dealy or… anything, really. Anything better then the line."

Angel was shaking his head. "I wasn't… I wasn't like, horrified by the idea, in case that's what you thought." he muttered and I grinned.

"Oh, okay, cool. But you know, it really is up to you. I just thought I'd throw it out there. Everybody should have a Wendy."

"A Wendy?"

"Yeah, like, you know, Peter Pan and Wendy. Peter's the boy who never wanted to grow up, lived in Neverland, looked after the Lost Boys, was the bane of Captain Hook's existence. But sometimes he got lonely. He needed his Wendy. So one night he brought her to Neverland. And they loved each other. But Wendy wasn't like Peter, she wanted to grow up, so eventually she went back home. But Peter still remembered her, and it made him less lonely."

"Ah." Angel said hoarsely. "You know, maybe you're right…" he trailed off and looked out at the clouds for awhile, thinking I assumed. I dipped my hand into the slip-stream, steering it up and down in different angles so the wind brushed against every inch of my skin affectionately.

"Why do I feel safe to tell you things, Wasp?" Angel asked at some point.

"Maybe it's because I never repeat anything except lyrics?" I suggested, wrinkling my nose so that bloody crust crumbled free and sprinkled onto my thigh.

"Maybe… maybe it's because you're the first person who's walked into my life who I had to question if they cared."

"I care about you." I said.

"I know you do now. But I had to question it. Dig?"

"Dig." I said, even though I'd understood his statement right from the get go. But I'd felt like telling him I cared anyways, because I knew how good it felt to know someone cared about you. It was like a tiny bubble welled up next to your heart so it wasn't as lonely between your lungs. Besides the brain and the stomach, the heart had to be the only organ in the body that was alone. The kidneys were twins, the large intestines had a little brother and your mouth had the touch of your fingers when words failed.

Angel did something weird then; he walked his fingers along the top of my head in a similar way to how I'd trailed mine across his neck until they reached my forehead, where he pushed back my ever-matting bangs and he looked into my eyes seriously. I wondered briefly if he was going to kiss me again. Of all the things I'd done in my life that many said should have waited for later years, like falling in love and killing someone, Angel had been the first person to ever kiss me.

He didn't this time, but his words struck the neighbouring cord.

"I know you've got Rainer." he said. "And I know you're meant to be alone. But if you ever want it, I can be your something too."

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

Something was wrong and I knew it. But with that infuriating, stomach clenching sense of déjà vu, I couldn't remember what that was.

I rolled off my bed, wondering if I'd just had one of my nightmares and that was what had me all jumpy. But I knew I always woke up with those pictures splashed over my retinas. So that couldn't have been it.

I looked around, disorientated, and was blinded by the sunlight pouring into my window. It was already late in the day. Had I slept in?

I realized then that my nose hurt. I reached up and touched it tenderly and winced. Ow. What was going on?

I stared to feel really sick when I stepped into the corridor. The uneasy kind of sick. Something had happened, I knew it, but I couldn't freaking remember. The air in the _Merlin _only proved that something had indeed gone wrong and added to my disquiet; there was a lack of the usual noise that went on during the day, for one thing. And there was a crackling tension floating around, and a stale, dry feeling of mourning. What were we mourning?

Worried, I picked up my pace, striding with purpose for the bridge. "Guys?" I called out. Where was everybody?

Varan was apparently in the kitchen, I learned a split second later, as he stepped out and I ran right into him. I jumped back to catch my balance and was relieved to see him.

"Hey, Varan, sorry, I think I missed breakfa- what's up?"

He had me by the shoulders so fast I yelped in alarm.

"Varan, what-?"

"Falshade?" he asked, shaking me slightly.

"Who else would it be, nimrod?" I asked, shaking him off. "What's going on? Where is everybody?"

"How're you feeling?"

"What? I… I feel like I'm walking around in a cloud of déjà vu. My nose hurts."

"You don't remember anything, do you?" he asked me slowly. I took one look in his yellow eyes, noted the tip of his tail twitching, and knew something was going on.

"Something's happened, hasn't it?" I asked him, fear bubbling and popping like blisters of tar in my guts.

"Yeah. A lot of stuff has happened." he said sullenly. "You should sit down."

I followed him back into the kitchen stiffly, feeling my limbs grow cold. I snatched the spatula off the counter and examined my nose in its shiny surface. It looked a bit swollen and the undersides of my eyes had been tinted blue and green.

Varan was watching my carefully as if he expected me to burst into dust at any second. He looked every definition of the word 'uncomfortable' and his tail was twitching like mad.

"Var, you're gonna have to start talking to me, here, 'cause I'm getting really freaked out." I told him and he screwed up his face, shutting his eyes.

"I don't know how to even… ugh. How much do you remember?" he asked me, opening his eyes again and looking like he'd rather have suddenly found himself in a phoenix's nest.

"About what?"

"Before you woke up."

I thought about this for a long time, bullying my brain into over drive, trying to come up with some recent image. "Someone with… white hair. A guy. I…" I broke off and fiddled with Sliver's hilt absently. "I stabbed him, I think."

"Yeah, you did. His name was Halo. We got into a fight with him and an army of guys on Nightflyers. Any of that ring a bell?"

Slowly, like a picture reel picking up speed, flashes started to come back. There was a battle… Angel crashed into the runway… I nearly got crushed… Varan's latest explosive device blew the entire back end of that monster cruiser to shit. And there was that sociopath with the red hair.

"Yeah…" I said, a feeling of dread crawling like cold fingers up my throat. Something else had happened, the part my brain wasn't letting me remember. I assumed it had good reason to do so. But I really needed to know. "But something else happened, didn't it?"

"Yeah." Varan said, sounding raspy and deeply opposed to telling me. I waited, trying to summon up enough nerve to handle whatever it was that was going to come out of his mouth. Bad news, like migraines, often comes with an aura, a symbol that something horrid and agonizing was coming your way and there is no stopping it. You just better hunker down and try to make it less painful.

"Stork's dead, Falshade." Varan finally spat out and then stomped down hard on his own tail, sorrow and discomfort turning to anger in his chest.

The blow hit me so hard it left me reeling, but it was a somewhat cushioned blow, if such a thing were possible for such bad news, the worst kind of news, and I knew deep in my bruised heart that I'd already known it. The thing that my brain had pegged down, out of sight, was torn free and painted black behind my eyes.

"You went into Sky Shock." Varan was rambling, eager to get the filth up and out now. "You've been in shock for the last two days. We… we didn't know what to do. I'm sorry, Shade, I'm so so sorry."

"Don't be sorry." I said hollowly, as an achy feeling started to seep from my chest. "There's nothing you have to be sorry for."

Varan sniffled. "Yeah, well… I'm sorry anyways."

"I should be the one who's sorry. I… god, I went into shock? Fuck me sideways." I seethed, getting up, pacing, cursing myself for being so weak when my squadron had needed me most.

"Don't be sorry either. We understood. None of us were doing well." Varan tried to soothe me. He cleared his throat and tried to look strong as if to spare me from my guilt. "We're better now though. And so are you, so let's… I dunno." he trailed off with a sigh. "You hungry?" he asked instead. "You haven't eaten anything in awhile."

I waved his question away, still pacing, trying to work everything out of where they were jammed in the wrong sized holes in my head. "Where are we?" I asked him.

"Um… southern quadrant, heading east. I… I thought we should go to Delphi. We need answers. We can't just keep flying around playing Marco Polo." he said, sounding uncertain as if he expected me to hack him out for his rash decision.

On the contrary, I thought it was a good idea. "You're right, you know. Delphi… can't believe I didn't think of that before. When should we be there by?"

"The day after tomorrow."

"Great." I said, nodding and my nose complained a little at the motion. Something else was struggling in my mind and I turned in mid-pace to face Varan again, who jumped.

"Why does my nose hurt?" I asked and he seemed to shrink.

"I don't wanna tell you. I already had to… I had to say it and I don't wanna say anything else." he said I frowned, feeling bad for pressing him. But I needed to know.

"Look, Var, I'm not going to get mad at you. But I'm going to go crazy if you don't tell me."

Varan groaned. "I'm not afraid of you getting mad at me." he said.

"Well then tell me. I've already heard the worst part, right?" I said and he flinched.

"You got into a fist fight with Angel." he muttered.

I gawked at him. 'I… I what?"

"It wasn't your fault!" Varan said hurriedly. "It wasn't his fault either. You… you went into stage three, Delusions of Grandeur or whatever and Angel tried to talk to you and you sorta freaked out."

I continued to gape at him before aiming a kick at the cupboards. "Shit." I said. "Shit!"

"Shade, you weren't yourself, he knew that, he's not-"

"Tell me everything." I interrupted him. "I know you don't want to, but I need to know. Right from the beginning."

So, grudgingly, Varan told me the whole, progressively messier story, starting with landing at the wayside terra two days ago and ending this with this morning. By the end of it I was feeling pretty disgusted with myself and only had one question:

"Where's Angel?"

* * *

You'd think I'd be pretty practiced with making up with my best friends. We fought with each other like there was no tomorrow. However usually it was over something stupid and could be forgotten or laughed off later. And the other half of the time they were the ones who had to apologize to me, not the other way around.

And never before had I actually physically attacked one of them either.

I was way outside my element here. I had no idea where to even begin talking to him. It didn't matter how many times Varan had told me he wasn't mad at me; I probably would have felt no worse if he was. I'd jumped my best friend with the honest intent to hurt him, and I'd accused him of wanting Stork dead as well. There was no worse feeling in the world then knowing you'd hurt someone you loved. Unless you'd done it twice in the same ten minutes.

Angel was huddled up against the wind by the bay doors when I strode out, trying to build up ten different opening sentences and apologies at the same time. It startled me to see him with a cigarette in his hand, but I knew this was definitely not the time to start picking at him about his health. However the shock at least made some words tumble from my mouth.

"What the hell do you have _that_ for?" I asked, feeling that trembling sensation in my limbs that generally comes before throwing up.

Slowly he turned his head to look at me and I got a good look at his black eye. I winced and had the urge to pitch my wretched self off the side of the run way.

"We've all got our little coping devices." he muttered and I came a bit closer hesitantly.

"Varan says you've been out here all day." I said, taking in his ragged appearance. Varan had been right, he really didn't look well at all. He shrugged at me and took a drag from his smoke.

"I just went through stage four." I explained and he quirked an eyebrow. "Varan told me everything."

"Ah." he said. "So how'd you feel?"

"Like shit." I said earnestly, sliding down to sit beside him. "But I didn't come out here to talk about that." I watched him blow smoke out his nose and knew he wasn't going to say anything so I continued. "I'm sorry, Angel."

"For what?"

"Well for that, first of all." I said, motioning to his shiner, feeling miserable.

"Don't be. Doesn't hurt. Your right hook sucks."

"That would have been my left." I pointed out.

"Oh, yeah. Then I bruise like a peach. Don't worry about it, Shade. I shouldn't have tried to talk to you. Nobody's fault."

"I don't wanna be let off like that!" I said. I needed to feel Angel's anger, his reproach. I didn't want his forgiveness just like that. Where was the Angel I knew, who could hold grudges longer then the stars burned, who was quick to lose his temper and slower to rein it back in?

"Well what do you want me to say?" he asked. "That I hate you forever because you lost it on me for a second? God, Falshade, do you know how many times you've threatened to give me a shiner? 'Bout time you actually took me up on it."

"That's different." I muttered. "All of this is different."

"No, really?"

"I'm just… I'm in a state of self-loathing right now. I can't believe I just… Sky Knights are supposed to look after their squadrons. It's just how it works. It's my job to make sure you all are safe and healthy. That you're all okay. And when something like… losing someone happens, I should have been all over that, making sure we had a plan, making sure we didn't just give up, looking after you guys." I was venting my frustration and revulsion with myself, feeling it important that Angel hear all this, so he'd know how much I hated myself right now. "But did I do any of that? No. I went into fucking Sky Shock!" I seethed.

"Maybe _you're_ the one who needs a smoke. Calm down, Falshade, nobody-"

"I couldn't even look after myself." I interrupted him. "The time you guys needed me most and I wasn't even there for you. I just fucking left all of you to deal with it and broke down. How unfair of me was that? And all this time, who's the one whose been looking after us? Not me. You, Angel, you made sure the others didn't just break down like I did, you looked after all of us."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes you did! And come on, Angel, Delphi? You hate that kinda psychic crap, but you agreed we should go there anyways."

"So I get a gold star for being selfless." Angel was flicking all this away as if it were nothing important and it was just making me feel worse.

"Angel, listen to me. You're a better Sky Knight then I am. And you should…" the next sentence was forced from my guilt-racked insides and I didn't even think about it as it tumbled from my mouth. "You should be our Sky Knight, Angel. You should be our leader."

Right after the words left my mouth he finally got mad.

"No, Falshade." he snapped at me. "You'd better shut up right now or I'm going to give _you _a shiner. Now you listen to me good and hard, because if I hear you say anything like that again I'm going to tear your balls off. I am _not_ the leader around here, never was, never will be. _You_ are our god damn Sky Knight and we're out here because of _your_ dreams! I'm just along for the ride. Sure, I might have kept them organized, but you're the one who keeps us together, Falshade. You brought us all together, you're the one who saw this evil coming and it's out there, Shade, it's out there. And you're the one who's meant to stop it, not me."

I stared at him. "Ange, I-"

He had a fist full of my shirt so fast I had barely seen him move. "If I hear you say I'm sorry one more time I'm going to knock your teeth out. Look, Shade, none of them blame you for what happened. _I_ don't blame you. The only one blaming anybody is you, and you shouldn't even be doing that. The only ones who we should blame are _them_." he threw his free hand out in the general direction of the sky, meaning whoever was out there, who'd attacked us, who'd robbed Stork from us forever. "So you went into Sky Shock. You know what that means? That you're _human_, Shade. You watched your best friend plummet into the Wastelands for god's sake. You're allowed to be a little messed up after that. And I looked after them when you couldn't because that's what you've got a second Sky Knight for, remember?"

I was really beginning to wonder if I was still going through stage three. This didn't sound like the Angel I knew. Or had I really known him?

I continued to stare at him, at a loss for words, until he flicked his cigarette butt away. Then I wrapped both arms around him so tightly I felt something pop in his back.

"I'm sorry, Angel." I muttered and he grunted.

"I'll let that one go, but only because you've kinda got my arms." he said against my chest and I grinned for what felt the first time in years.

"Yeah, well, I'm done revelling in self pity now." I said. "Bit more worried about you, Angel Cakes."

Good thing I had his arms.

"Seriously though, man, she was your best friend too." I muttered and he let out a long sigh, seeming to collapse inwards against the security of the hug I still had him wrapped in.

"Yeah, well…" he trailed off, twisting slightly so his back was pressed up against my stomach and he was draped over my legs tiredly.

"It's gonna be weird without her." he said after awhile, when I'd started to think he'd fallen asleep.

"Yeah…"

"And not just 'cause we don't have a mechanic or a navigator. Hell, we can do all that stuff. It's just… her. Not having her around. That's what we won't be able to make up for."

I nodded, feeling something starting to give in my chest. Angel was shaking against me. I pulled him in closer and heard him sniffle and then I realized he was crying.

"I'm going to miss her." he whispered, his voice sounding nothing like how it usually did, every note of harshness evaporated. He sounded quite small and vulnerable right about then.

I buried my face in his raven coloured hair, the exact shade of mine if a bit finer. "Yeah, I'm going to miss her too." I murmured and felt tears start leaking from my own ducts. I couldn't help it, and if ever there was a day for tears, it was today.

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

I felt my hair start to get damp and sticky as Falshade snorted messily and I could just imagine the amount of nasal guck that was getting tangled into my hair. But I'm not known for my weak stomach, so I really didn't care. I was crying too anyways, so it would have been a little hypocritical of me to tell him to knock it off.

And then it hit me. I was _crying_.

In front of Falshade.

Oh, fuck me sideways…

Well there went about nine years of survival law.

But then something strange happened: I didn't care.

Because at that moment I realized Wasp had been right. I didn't have a lot of things to hold on to. And why? All the things I did hold on to only made me more miserable.

So I did something that about two days ago I never would haven even dreamed I would be doing and took Wasp's advice. She had a good head on her shoulders, that girl, even if it was up there a little crookedly. But that day I started holding on to things. I held onto the gap in Falshade's teeth, which now held another aspect of our friendship, the place where nothing was. I settled into that gap, feeling as safe between his molars as I did wedged between his arms, a new space under the bed, a new place to cry and feel. And the gap spread, large enough to make a window in the glass wall I'd put up between us, his world. And I wasn't ready to crawl through it just yet, just like I wasn't quiet ready to make Wasp my Wendy. But just knowing it was there was all I needed right now. So I just tightened my fingers around his sleeves and watched my tears soak into his shirt and touch his skin, so he'd know too.

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

Angel stopped shaking eventually and I reined in my tears, letting him go slowly and wiping at my sticky face. Angel shoved me away as he stood up, just playfully though. I grinned at him weakly and he mussed up my hair, returning to his cool demeanour. Nobody had witness our mutual moment of surrender and he was going to keep it that way.

"Glad you're back, man." he said, nudging at my boot with his.

"Yeah. I'm glad too." I said, running my thumb over the wet spot he'd left on my sleeve and trying not to laugh at the way his feathery hair as sticking up where I'd messed it up with my crying.

He strode past me, heading for the hanger, but then paused and I thought for a second maybe he was going to punch me in the jar, just to even up the score a bit. I wouldn't have minded that much if he did. But he didn't. He leant down briefly did something to my cheek quickly, so quickly I wouldn't have even known he did it if my face didn't start burning.

And he left me there to touch the spot on my cheek bone where he'd kissed me.

**.x.**

It was really bright and something was throbbing inside of me.

Those were the first two things my surfacing conscious alerted me too. There was a blazing white light glowing through my eyelids and something was pounding away in my chest. My heart. My heart was throwing out a slow, steady pulse.

Where was I?

As the rest of my senses rose to the surface I could feel a soft mattress under me, moulded around the contours of my body. My right arm was draped over my chest so my fingers were resting over the place where my heart was beating. Beating…

My heart was beating. I was alive. And if I recalled, I shouldn't have been.

It all came back to me then, so abruptly it startled me. My skimmer belching out smoke and sparks, ignoring my commands, Falshade's voice screaming at me to bail, the wind roaring past me… the clawed riffs of the Wastelands rushing up, not to catch me but to crush me.

I tore my eyes open and the brilliant light nearly blinded me so I shut them again. I had crashed. That red headed bitch had obliterated my poor Hornet and I had crashed because I had forgotten my damn parachute. I was dead. I'd died. I was dead.

But my body was protesting this fact. My heart was sending out a pulse, after all. I hadn't died. I was lying on a bed. On the _Merlin_? Why was it so bright in here? Why was it so quiet? The _Merlin _was always humming with noise and activity, the riggings constantly shifting, the engines rumbling, people laughing, shouting, swearing…

It occurred to me then that I wasn't on the _Merlin_ and my disorientation was replaced with fear. I cracked my eye open a slit, determined to find out where I was. The light filtered in again and as my pupils adjusted to it I was able to pick out things; white walls, my arm lying over my chest and the edge of the bed I was lying on, white, bleached sheets reflecting the fluorescent glow of the lights.

Oh yeah, this was most definitely _not_ the _Merlin_. Nothing white ever stayed that clean.

Opening my eyes the rest of the way I glanced around and my nose alerted me to the scrubbed, acrid smell of antiseptic. Was I in a hospital? That'd certainly explain the white walls… but no, it couldn't be that either. There was no beeping of machinery, I didn't have an IV drip threaded into my arm, there was no call button nearby for the nurse and I couldn't hear any children crying or people screaming or moaning. Not a hospital.

I really was starting to get worried. I glanced the other way and noticed a stainless steel table standing next to my bed, set with a metal tray on which sat a bandage roll, a slender pair of scissors, some tough looking wire cord, a pair of tweezers, a bottle of antiseptic and a juice box with the straw sticking out of it. I swivelled my tongue behind my teeth and found that taste in the back of my mouth, that sour taste that stays there if you have something sweet and then don't brush your teeth. Someone had given me juice, maybe to keep my blood sugars up. That concerned me; how long had I been out for if someone had to squeeze juice down my throat?

Judging by the way my bladder was complaining to me I guessed it'd been a while. But I was glad that at least that part of my internal organs seemed to be functioning as well as my heart was. I held still for a moment, trying to calm myself down so I could feel through all my other innards, searching for pain or a leaking sensation. After a few moments I was pretty sure I wasn't bleeding inside and nothing vital had seemed to be damaged I let out a relieved breath and then focused on my arm. It was cradled in a sling and bound in a cast and all my alarm came screeching back. I tried wiggling my fingers and immediately stopped as pain sang though my arm.

Okay. It was broken. And my head felt fuzzy. Okay. I still had my legs. If I had to fight my way out of here, at least I still had my legs.

Or did I?

Nearly gagging in panic I raised my head so I could see my stocking feet poking out under the sheet that was draped over me and wriggled my toes, promising to any witnessing entity that if I wasn't paralyzed I swear I'd stop swearing so much and I'd visit my dad and I'd stop calling Angel by nick name. After a gut-wrenching, newly pulsing heart-stopping moment my toes obeyed my command and wiggled in greeting and I could have cried in relief. And I made sure to keep my promise, you know, for karma's sake. Except if Angel kept calling my Baby Girl. Then I'd make an exception.

Angel. Falshade. Where were the others? Were they okay?

I was sick of lying here, riding a roller coaster of self inflicted panic and then temporary relief. So I did was I did best and opened my mouth:

"Falshade? Angel? Wasp, Varan, Fraggle? Guys? Guys, where are you? Hey, I'm alive in here, damnit!" I shouted. Whoops, there went the promise already. "Ow!"

Note to self, stop shouting.

Okay, so apparently my arm wasn't the only thing broken. Ribs felt pretty bad.

"Ow, ow, ow." I seethed, bringing the arm that wasn't bound to me to my aching rib cage. And _that_ hurt too. I brought my wrist up for examination and realized it, too, must have been broken.

Okay, now I was mad. I hated being ignored. I hated being so battered up and helpless. I pushed myself into a sitting position, biting my lip as my ribs fought the movement every inch of the way and then swung my legs over the side of the bed. I paused to catch my breath and noticed my converses and my battle and throwing axe propped against the wall next to the only door. Taking immense relief and comfort at the sight of my weapons I summoned up my strength and tried to push my feet onto the floor.

I dunno if you've ever tried to slide off things or even move with broken ribs and no arms for support. But I'll tell you right now, it doesn't go over well.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow OW!" I yelped, stopping halfway and leaving myself hanging with one foot on the floor and the other still caught up on the bed, imbalanced and too scared to move less I compromise that delicate balance and crash to the floor where I was sure to meet more pain.

And then I heard footsteps outside the door.

Hissing in alarm I got caught like a skimmer in the headlights, torn between whether I should fight down the pain and bolt for my axe or tumble back onto the bed. Neither seemed very possible in my current condition and so when the door creaked inwards I forced the most dangerous expression I could onto my face while I was stuck half-on, half-off the bed. Which probably took away some of the effect of my fierce face, but a girl had to try.

And then the person who'd been on the other side of the door stepped into the room and I lost the rest of the effect in the face of the strangest looking creature I had ever seen.

He (I assumed it was a he because he didn't seem to have any obvious female anatomy. Then again humanoids can be odd that way) was lanky and thin as a bean pole aside from his oddly broad shoulders, which made him appear a little vertically lopsided. His face was long, almost like a muzzle and his yellow eyes were so wide I was surprised they fit in his narrow face. His angular ears stuck out backwards, two silver hoops in the left one and a long lock of black hair hung over his face and it reminded me of some of the metalhead styles I had seen back on Macabre. But the thing that jumped out at me the most was his skin, green as Wasp's Strikers and…

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

_Oh my god._

I nearly fell over from shock. But I didn't, thankfully. I just started at him, my namesake in flesh and blood

He was staring back at me with a similar dumbfounded expression. I don't know how long we both just stayed there, frozen, but eventually my leg had enough of the inconvenient balance I was perching on it and wobbled under me.

I hopped on one leg until the other one slid off the bed and then kept hopping, desperate not to fall, moving with my momentum until I bumped into the wall. "Ow ow ow…" I hissed under my breath, squeezing my eyes shut. So I've never been known for my style and grace. I defy anyone to play ballerina with broken ribs.

I opened my eyes again after a moment and started to find yellow orbs filling up my vision.

"Hey!" I yelped in alarm. "Mind the freaking bubble!"

I'm not one known for my tact either.

He backed away from me, his eyes narrowing. "Well you couldn't have suffered that much damage." he said in a nasally voice like gravel. I already loved it.

"Oh, yeah, really, hence the broken arm." I said, prodding it with my hand that still had mobility and regretting it.

He rolled his eyes. "Hence why you should have stayed lying down."

"Well you got some great bedside manner on you, don't you?" I asked, finding I had this weird urge to laugh. "Am I in a hospital?"

"Do I look like a doctor to you?" he asked me snidely.

"No. But, and correct me if I'm wrong here, you do look a lot like a Merb." I stated. "Are we on Terra Merb?"

"No."

It _was_ him. It couldn't be him. It had to be him. How many other Merbs didn't reside on their native terra?

"So you're telling me you scraped me off the floor of the Wastelands and didn't even bring me to a doctor?" I asked him, trying to sound peevish. But it was kinda hard when all I wanted to do was throw my functioning arm around the guy. Hell, maybe I trusted people too easily. I'd trusted Falshade right off the bat, despite my ill attitude towards Sky Knights. But around this Merb I felt as safe as I had around my dad. If he would have told me to jump of a cliff I wouldn't have hesitated for a second to believe he would catch me.

"Oh, yes, forgive me, I only brought you back here, barely _alive_, and patched you up despite the obvious threat of pathogens and bacteria you might have been carrying." he droned. "If I were you I wouldn't be so snappy to someone who could easily put you under, take the pin out of your arm and leave you to your own devices. See how far you get like that."

My excitement was temporarily ploughed over by shock. "There's a pin in my arm?" I wheezed.

"Yes. When I found you your right arm was broken in two places. You had an internal break in your forearm, and that was easy enough to set. But your upper bone and collar bone was shattered. I had to cut you open and set a pin in there to set your bones back in place. Your left wrist was also broken and about four of your ribs. Other then that… no internal bleeding, organs haven't ruptured, minimal cranium trauma and no nerves were severed, so all in all you weren't in _critical _condition."

"Yeah, right. How long… how long have I been out for?"

"Three days, give or take."

Jesus. Three days. The others could be anywhere by now. "Well, that'd explain my extreme need to pee. You got a bathroom in this joint?" See, that's my tact showing through.

His left eye twitched. Oh yeah, it was him alright. "Um, down the hall… I'll show you." He turned for the door and then paused. "Can you, um, walk alright?"

"I've got two legs and a heart beat." I said, striding forward a few steps. Then my head swam a bit and I staggered and he caught hold of me and then almost immediately let go.

"You sure about that?" he asked and I scowled at him.

"How about I kick you in the ribs and see how well you're hobbling about, huh? And trust me, I've got one mean roundhouse, so don't think you can try anything funny." I threatened him. I don't know why I was acting so hostile towards my namesake. Maybe it was just all the warrior instinct Falshade and Angel had drilled into me, about not giving anyone an inch over you when you're in an unknown situation in an unfamiliar territory with strangers.

Except Stork was no stranger to me.

He gave me an 'I'd like to see that' look and as I turned on my heel defiantly I swear I heard him chuckle.

No need to go into any details of how hard it is to take a piss with four busted ribs. I stumbled back out of the bathroom, my bladder considerably less uncomfortable and took the first good look at my surroundings. The corridor Stork and I were standing in was domed ceiling and completely made of metal, dim lights interspersed along the long tunnel. I felt a strange heaviness in the air, the closeness all around that was so different from being in the open sky and asked "Are we underground?"

"Yup. This is my base. Don't touch anything." Stork explained and just to spite him I scuffed my foot against the wall.

"Where abouts?" I asked, ignoring his sour expression.

"Terra Saharr."

"Really? It's so cool in here." I said, surprised, trying to figure out how far way I was from the location of our battle. My navigation skills weren't top notch or anything, but I pretty sure Saharr hadn't exactly been nearby.

"Yeah, that'd be the underground thing." Stork said and I stuck my tongue out at him. And then my stomach growled embarrassingly.

"Hungry?" he asked me and I nodded, trying to scrape together some dignity.

"Right, follow me." he said and turned to lead me off down the corridor.

"Hang on. Why should I trust you?" I asked, just so he wouldn't think I was completely stupid.

"Oh, well, let's see, because I saved you from certain doom." he said sardonically, turning back to me with a steely expression. I tilted my chin stubbornly. A hint of a smile flickered over his face and then it was gone.

"You got a name, girl?"

I squinted at him. "Why would I tell you?"

"Look, do you really think I would have patched you up just to kill you later?"

He had a point there. And I really was just playing hard to get, out of habit. Also out of habit I didn't even think before I said my next words. "It's Stork."

I'd never been in a situation where telling someone my name had been awkward. Until now.

His eyes bulged for a second before he cleared his throat. "Stork. Okay. I'm Feonix." he stuck out his three fingered hand and it was my turn for my eyes to bug momentarily. He knew. _He knew._ How…?

"Feonix. I like it." I said, feeling a jolt when my real name tumbled past my tongue. This was just too weird. "I'd shake, but, you know."

He nodded and turned back around, leading me along the hallway at an odd gait. I followed after him, making a mental map of doors around me just in case I had to make a break for it later. Jeez, I was being paranoid. Maybe it was the whole being underground thing. Then again I imagine I was allowed to be a little on edge, having just woken up after I thought I'd died and all. And I hadn't exactly woken up in the land of sunshine and lollipops either (although that would have been freaky as all get out). This was taking the top of the chart on my list of 'Weirdest Days of my Life'. And believe me, it was a dang long list, pretty exclusive.

I wondered absently how big this place really was as Stork turned a corner and lead me down another tunnel. He motioned me into a room near the end of the passage and then paced past me shiftily.

"Sit." he said, motioning to the only chair at a wonky looking table. I glanced around the place that was obviously his kitchen.

"Hmm. You know, I bet it wouldn't cost you that much to get an interior designer down here." I said and he frowned at me.

"Sit." he said a little more sternly and I did as I was told for once 'cause my ribs really did hurt.

"Seriously though. A coat of paint would make this place waaaay less gloomy." I continued, taking in the dark, metallic walls and the unhappy looking appliances on his scrubbed counter top.

"I like it. I think it's homey. Now I don't think it's a good idea to let you have anything solid right off the bat, but here." he said flatly, setting a bowl of some steaming soup in front of me and placing a spoon in my hand non-too-gently. "Think you can handle that or do you need a straw?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'll be fine." I peered down at the soup he'd given me. "Uh… this doesn't have, er… Merb Cabbage in it, does it?"

An evil little grin wormed its way over his thin lips and I finally understood why his people used these Merbian Crazy Faces Angel always told me I was great at doing whenever I was pouting. Man, with the right lighting he'd look downright creepy.

"You said you were hungry, right?" he reminded me and I had the urge to flip him off.

"Are all you Merbs so obnoxious?"

"Funny, I was gonna ask the same thing about little girls."

Ugh, damn broken arms, make it all the harder to make rude gestures with your hands. I dunked my spoon into my soup and slid it into my mouth, hoping that Merb Cabbage didn't taste as bad as everyone insisted it did. I was surprised to find I wasn't gagging all over the floor a moment later. I remembered once I'd come down with a nasty head cold after I'd stubbornly insisted we should practice training in the worst of weather conditions and had dragged the others out into the pouring rain. Of course Angel and Fraggle had thought it was hilarious when I was the only one who got sick, but Varan took pity on me and made me chicken noodle soup to clear my sinuses. Nothing would ever hold a candle to Varan's cooking of course but this soup was a close runner up.

He was hovering by the counter, watching me warily. I hated when people watched me eat so after a few more spoonfuls I wiped my mouth and asked "What?" in that classy way of mine.

"Well I was just wondering when, exactly, you were going to tell me what happened to you." he stated simply.

I knew that was coming up eventually. "I crashed in the Wastelands." I said. He rolled his eyes.

"Seriously? Wow, don't know how I missed that one…"

"It's a bit of a long story."

"Well, I was _going_ to go spray for Flesh Ants, but other then that I've got all day." he said simply, leaning against the counter and folding his arms.

"Hey, man, I ain't the only one who was out there! I may have hit my head pretty damn hard but I know for a fact that I wasn't anywhere _near _Saharr when I went down." I reminded him. The muscle under his eye jumped again.

"Don't just think you can get away with telling me you just _happened _to find me in the Wastelands, that you just _happened_ to be cruising nearby." I continued. "How did you find me, Feonix?"

I dunno how long I intended to play that game for. Maybe I was waiting for him to come out and say it, because I had no idea how to begin telling him I knew who he was, had taken his name and had idolized him since I was eight years old, that I'd read all about him in his squadron's old log.

He must have felt just as awkward about it as I did, because he cleared his throat a few times, twitched some more and then seemed to drag it out of himself: "Okay, Feonix, I'm done playing this little charade. I know who you are and apparently you know who I am too. So how about you give me my name back?"


	15. The Tale of Two Storks

**15**

**The Tale of Two Storks**

**This is where it **_**officially**_** becomes a fanfic. I do not own the Hawks. **

_**When you were here before/ couldn't look you in the eye**_

_**You're just like an angel/ your skin makes me cry**_

_**You float like a feather/ in a beautiful world**_

_**And I wish I was special**_

_**You're so fuckin' special…**_

**- **_**Creep, Radiohead**_

**x.x.x Stork (Feonix) x.x.x**

Can I get everyone to raise their hands who's suddenly woken up to find they been saved from certain death by their legendary namesake, only to find out that somehow he knew your name despite that fact that you'd never met him before?

It's a pretty weird feeling, ain't it?

My spoon slipped from my fingers, which weren't obeying my commands very well to begin with, and hit the table with a thunk. I knew he knew. I knew _I_ knew. But I didn't expect him to know I knew he knew. You know?

"How… how long have you known?" I asked him. Funny how that was the first question to come tumbling out. I had so many better ones.

"Right away." he answered, scuffing his feet under my gaze.

"You knew it was me all this time? But you didn't say anything?" I demanded, feeling a little childish in this situation that was bringing up so much of my childhood with which to remind me how it felt to be a child. To remind me that I still _was_ one.

"I didn't know how much you knew about me, if at all. I didn't want to say anything, you know, to keep on the safe side." on 'safe' his eye twitched again. I could just imagine Wasp mimicking the movement.

"Hmm." I said, not really wanting to admit that his reasoning made sense. "Well, I know quite a lot about you, Stork, more then your name. Speaking of which, it's kinda my name now too. No givesies-backsies."

Twitch. "It was my name _first_."

"So?"

"So? _So_? You can't just _steal_ my identity. It's… well it's mine!"

I was used to arguing with well practiced, sharp tongued jerks. I think I was a little out of Stork's league, so I toned it down a bit. "Hey, Smarty, I'll have you know I didn't _steal_ your name at all! Someone called me it once and it kinda stuck. I'm not very fond of my other one." I explained, sticking out my chin stubbornly.

"Someone called you it? My name? _Why_?" he asked incredulously and his hand came up subconsciously to scratch at the back of his neck.

I shrugged and made a mental note not to do so in the future. "Because I happen to be a damn swanky mechanic. Said person said I was almost as good as you. You should feel honoured that I took up your name, 'cause you're kinda like, my idol. Unless I'm a better mechanic then you. Then you can feel honoured that I kept the name." I said all this in my trademark, rushed and high-and-mighty way, feeling my gut squeezing and unsqueezing nervously. I could have kicked myself for babbling like the idiot I was; Falshade was right, I needed a mental filter. But some sort of weird high was zooming around my blood and I felt so many neurotically intoxicating things all at once it was making me ramble arrogantly more then I usually did.

Stork blinked at me a few times then turned, moving a hand over his face to hide the tiny smile that once again flickered like a flame and went out on his green face. "Oh yeah, you're definitely Finn's girl." he muttered.

Finn. I had to slam my teeth down on a gag as the name rippled in my throat. For the first time I saw Stork how the rest of the Atmos had once seen him, not as my namesake but as a Storm Hawk, the most legendary pilot ever to take on the skies. Hell, he'd flown through the Wastelands, out-manoeuvred the energy cannons on Bogaton, and piloted the very ship that had broken the air speed record _and_ been the first air ship (on our side anyways) that'd been in the stratosphere. This guy was legend, walking, breathing, twitching legend. And he'd known my dad. My dad the sharpshooter, my dad the Storm Hawk, my dad the broken boy who turned fifty before he turned twenty.

It's not often I'm stricken speechless. But when I am I assure you it never lasts for very long, even if what comes out isn't the most intelligent string of syllables.

"Guh…uh, what? Did you just say Finn? How do you know he… what makes you think I'm his girl, huh?" I asked, leaping to my feet and then clutching my side, cursing. "How do you know me, Stork?"

He examined me carefully, in the way one might examine a bottle with a 'Drink Me' sign attached to it. It struck me then just how… tired he looked. Like Angel did sometimes when he thought none of us were watching. In the dim kitchen lights I noticed a few strands of grey in his greasy black hair, like he'd walked through a spider's web or something. How old was he? Did Merbs age faster then humans?

"How much do you know about us, Feonix?" he asked quietly after a long time, sounding deflated and uncertain all of a sudden. Well, he'd been kinda wary sounding the whole time, granted, but suddenly the life that had been in his nasally voice while he'd been arguing with me seemed to crumble like a sand castle, giving way to a melancholy drone.

I made a face as my name pushed against my ears like cat that knew you were allergic but wanted your attention anyways.

"About the Storm Hawks?" I asked and he flinched at the name.

"Yes… about us." he rattled.

"I know a lot. Well I didn't, not right away… I didn't know who my dad was until I was thirteen. I read the log. I saw the picture." I explained. He was scratching at his neck again, seeming agitated about something.

"You didn't know who he was?" he asked at last, sounding raspy.

I shook my head. "He was using his old name. I never would have, you know, put him together with Finn until I saw the photo."

Stork nodded absently and I got the feeling that my answer hadn't exactly been what he'd been asking. I ran his question over in my mind twice and then it hit me like a Wallop's kidney shot.

"I know he's not my real father." I said as casually as I could. I'd never had a problem telling myself that, what was it about Stork that made me feel so damn awkward?

Maybe his breed of awkward was infectious, like Wasp's weird.

Stork seemed to let out a relieved breath. "You do, huh? Thank antiseptic and ear drops, I did _not _want to be the one to explain that one…"

"Yeah, so, I know pretty much everything." I reiterated, just to shift weight off the awkward turn the conversation had made. However that was an epic failure, as Stork seemed to have lost any train of thought he'd had and I was in pretty uncharted skies here. I mean usually I'm great with uncomfortable conversations and breaking silences is kinda my thing. But… I was completely at a loss here.

So I did the other thing I was best at, plan T. T for Throwing Caution to the Wind.

I strode forward so that he backed right up against the counter, flinching, and I stood on tip toe, throwing my good arm around his broad shoulders clumsily and squeezing him tight.

For a split second I'd like to think he wanted to hug me back. Then he had his finger on my forehead and pushed me back three steps, brushing at himself frantically.

"…Gah! Wh-what… w-why… what is wrong with you?" he demanded, examining his hands with bulging eyes as if he could see my body's bacteria squiggling over his digits.

I let out a loud, excited squeal (I mean whoop. I don't squeal. I _don't_.) and spun around twice, which really wasn't a good idea. But I was just too damn happy not to. "I'm sorry!" I laughed past my pain. "But this is just so… freaking cool! Oh yeah, strange as hell, but… wow, you know, I tried to picture your voice a thousands times, but I never thought it'd sound like that… I guess I was expecting something more like… like, you know the band Spontaneous Combustion Mentality? I was kinda expecting something like their lead singer. But yours is still pretty kick-awesome. Man, Stork, you're like, my hero, you know that? And… how did you know about me? You didn't answer my question!"

Stork was watching my exuberant display as if he wasn't sure whether to laugh, twitch or hunker down in the fetal position. I couldn't count how many times I must have looked like that to Wasp.

"He never mentioned you." I tried to sober up a bit, for the sake of my ribs. "Finn I mean. He never mentioned you, and I never met you, so until I found the book, ya know… Hell, maybe I'm as dumb as Angel says I am but I never put two and two together, about my dad or your name until I saw the photo. So how do you know me? Did you two stay in contact or something?" Suddenly something occurred to me and I looked around the room and into the tunnel again. "Are they here?"

"Who?"

"The other Storm Hawks."

Stork was scratching at his neck again, like Wasp did when she was uncertain about something. "No." he said finally. "You're the only other one here besides me. And I haven't stayed in contact with the others, to answer your other question. I haven't spoken to Finn or any of them in nearly seventeen years."

I pulled one of my standard, not-so-glorifying dumbfounded expressions and spluttered. Seventeen years… he'd been here all on his own for nearly seventeen _years_?

"And as much as you think you know about us, you're wrong about one thing. You _have_ met me before, but you were too small to remember. How else do you think I would have recognized you? You didn't have a lot of hair back then, but it hasn't changed a bit." Stork spewed this out as if he were afraid it would infect him if it stayed in his mouth too long. He twiddled his lock of hair a bit, displaying the black. "Not too many kids are born with _natural _two-toned hair like that."

And the confusion parade rolls on. And so did my leading role starring as Stork, the girl who couldn't make a facial expression without looking like she was suffering from sever brain damage.

"Wh-what? _I've_ met you before?" I was choking on my words, which had been betraying me lately. I'm usually such an expert big-mouth.

"Well _technically _I've met you. You were just a baby then. You wouldn't remember." Stork explained, looking as if with every word he was saying he was pulling his own appendix out.

I flushed for some reason. It hit me again, how much older he was then me. I was so used to being around people around my age. Jeez, a baby… how embarrassing. I mean, babies are pink and cry and often smell. To think that not only had he had to peel my carcass off the Wastelands, but he'd seen me as a little wriggling pupa-like thing too… ugh.

"Guess this'd be an appropriate time to use the phrase 'long time, no see'." Stork said, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. I snorted.

"Yeah really. How old was I?"

"Barely a month."

I groaned. "That's so mortifying."

Stork rolled his eyes. "What's wrong with being a baby? Everybody was at one time."

"Yeah, well, how about you whip out the baby album there, mister, and we'll all have a good laugh." I said sharply and he twitched.

"Is that a no? Aw, come on, I bet those ears looked pretty cute." I grabbed a lock of my hair and twisted it back into a tiny, baby ear and wiggled it. He scowled at me. I went on with our previous conversation so he couldn't think of a come back in that annoying way of mine.

"So you knew it was me, that's fair. But you still haven't told me how you found me." I reminded him and he sighed.

"There was a tracking device in your skimmer."

Jesus, bomb shells dropping all over the place today. But I'm a mechanic at heart and that detail eluded my immediate attention when a more pressing matter suddenly threatened to throttle me.

"Fuck!" I shouted, making him jump about a foot in the air. "My Hornet! My poor, poor Hornet, oh my _baby_… where is she? You didn't just leave her there, did you?" I demanded and he shrank away from me. I get kinda scary when it comes to my skimmer, I won't lie.

"Well would you rather I left _you _down there and saved your ride?" he asked disdainfully.

Get this, I almost burst into tears.

"You… you left her there? _My Hornet_?" I asked, feeling very small and upset all of a sudden. I guess that was the delayed reaction of my near death experience kicking in. I was reminded of the time Falshade told me he sent back my Turbine (that jerk); that same, horrible feeling of loss was clawing at me. Except instead of fury I felt cold and hollowed. It was so much easier to be mad at Falshade.

Stork could have pulled a Falshade here and led me on. But I must really have looked in bad shape and he took pity on me. "I grabbed your damn Hornet too, or what was left of it. It's down in my hanger."

I let out a sob of relief and had the urge to hug him. And hit him. Freaking men. They just don't learn it is _so _not funny to give people heart attacks like that.

Anyways, so, now that the crisis was averted I had time to pay attention to the thing he'd said before I'd kinda (ahem) 'freaked out'.

"Wait… there was a tracking device in my skimmer? That's impossible, I've torn that thing apart like, a million times, I would have noticed." I said and earned myself another eye roll.

"Stubborn little thing aren't you?"

"_Little_?" I repeated, narrowing my eyes. I let the stubborn thing go because I take pride in my pig-headness.

"Can I explain how the tracking device got there?" Stork asked and I scowled at him but remained silent. If the others had been here they wouldn't have believed this was their Stork they were hearing. Hey, I couldn't show him _too_ much of my attitude right off the bat, I was trying to make a good impression here (the only one he had so far was of half-pint me swaddled in diapers, excuse me if I have something to make up for).

"It was in your seat, actually, so that's how you missed it." he explained and I felt some of my wounded pride start to heal a little. I wasn't like I ever dissected my seat, after all. "And it was programmed to go off in a high-impact sort of situation, kinda like an airbag. I know that because I designed it." he said that last bit with a touch of pride.

"Wait, wait, hang on a sec." I interrupted. "How did a tracking device _you_ made end up in _my_ skimmer if you haven't seen me since I was a baby? I wasn't exactly flyin' around then. And how come you had the receiver for it?"

"Well, Sherlock, if you'd let me _finish_ maybe you'd just find that out." he said curtly and once again I shut my mouth. Jeez, that was really starting to hurt.

Stork suddenly started to look like he'd come down with the flu. He got jittery and pale and started pacing in weird, clipped steps. I waited patiently, sensing that he was distressed about something. It occurred to me he'd lived on his own sixteen years; it must have been weird to have to talk to someone again. Especially considering that someone was as annoying and prodding as myself, not to mention I was bringing up his past which he'd obviously been trying to avoid. I didn't have to know what happened to the Storm Hawks (which was the only part about them I didn't know) to know that if he hadn't spoken to the others in sixteen years it hadn't ended on a good note. See, I'm not _that_ clueless.

"Piper crashed one day during a storm." he explained at last, sounding hoarse. I suddenly wished I hadn't made him bring it up. "She was okay, you know, she was fine, but her heliscooter was totalled, and I mean if she would have gone down with it she would have… well she could have been really hurt. It took Ae- it took the others hours to find her ride. I mean, if she would have crashed with it she could have bled out or allowed some horrible infection into her blood stream which would naturally lead to a slow and painful demise." he stopped and rubbed at his face with the back of his hand irritably. I stayed perfectly still, afraid to do anything, feeling like anything I could have even tried to say would have been the wrong thing and was reminded of the night after the bath tub incident, after leaving Pippa with Fraggle and getting jumped by Wasp in the corridor. It hadn't been the first time I was honest to god afraid of her as she held me by my throat against the wall and made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone about what I'd found in her coat pocket.

Stork seemed to snap out of his past after a moment and gave me an uncomfortable look. If he'd have been Varan his tail would have been thrashing like mad. "Anyways, I decided to make the tracking devices for all their skimmers in case one of them ever crashed again, you know, so we'd be able to find them faster. Now, I'm guessing that whenever you left Lyn, for whatever reason, Finn must have put his tracker in your skimmer, to help him sleep at night or something. It was really a long shot on his part; I mean I didn't even know the receiver was still working, and even though it was it was also like, one in a million shot that you'd crash somewhere within its radar range."

I swallowed past the lump that kept appearing in my throat like a reverse Adam's apple whenever he mentioned my dad. That was exactly the kinda thing he'd do, even if it was a long shot, just so he'd believe there was a small chance that if something happened to me someone, somewhere, might find me.

"Why don't you sit back down?" Stork suggested quietly, motioning to the chair I'd abandoned. I wondered if I'd turned green or something from the assault moving around had done to my battered body. I obeyed only because I was feeling kinda dizzy; too many strange things were being said at one time for my woozy head to comprehend all at once.

"Oh, that reminds me." Stork said abruptly and I looked at him quizzically. Suppose I should have been expecting what was coming next. After all, I'd done my share of demanding answers.

"What were you doing out there anyways?" he asked me slowly.

"In the Wastelands? Crashing." I said shortly and a familiar expression of 'god, I'd love to strangle you' came over Stork's elongated face. Man, if I had a Fleck for every time I saw that expression…

"_Before_ that. What're you doing so far from home? Don't tell me you were out there all alone." he said with the air of one whose patience was truly being tested. Hey, it's what I'm good at, what can I say?

"Man, I haven't been home in god knows how long." I muttered. "But I wasn't alone. I'm actually part of a squadron, believe it or not and we… shit. SHIT!" I got up again, my body always making those snap decisions I'm so famous for before my brain has the time to think better of it. Stork jumped again.

"What?" he asked, sounding so unnerved it was almost laughable. Except I felt like doing anything but laughing.

"My squadron! They're still out there! Listen, you didn't happen to see anybody out there, did you?" I demanded, feeling panicky all of a sudden.

"I had the proximity alarms off, in case some of the monsters in the Wastelands thought they sounded too much like the lunch bell, but some skimmers did show up on the radar at one point. But I didn't see anyone."

"Stork, this is bad!" I said, pacing. "I thought I was dead. The last the others saw of me I had a one way ticket to Splatterville. They must think… oh god they must think I really am dead!" I was rambling incoherently, pulling at my hair with my working hand, ignoring my wrist. "Look, you got a radio? I really, really need it, like, right _now_!"

Something occurred to me so horribly, gut-wrenchingly suddenly that I stopped in my manic pacing and Stork bumped into me, having moved forward to either lead me to his radio or an asylum, I didn't know. I heard him say 'what's wrong?' and 'Feonix?' and 'I _knew _it wasn't a good idea to give you something to eat so soon' but I barely heard him. I felt like I'd been hit by lightning by the unimaginable terror that I'd only just realized: I'd gone down, but the battle must have still been going on up above. What if… what if something had happened to the others? What if they'd been mortally wounded? Or worse…

Falshade…

"I need to talk to Falshade." I croaked and Stork, after hesitating for a long moment, put his hand on my shoulder as if to steady me.

"I think you need to go lay down." he told me in a shaky voice.

"No, no I can't! Stork, my squadron and me, we got into a battle with these really FUBAR sociopaths, that's how I ended up in the Wastelands. And my squadron… my _friends_, they're still out there, and for all they know I'm dead! For all I know _they're_ dead, and I _need _to speak with them like, ASAP!"

Stork stared at me for an achingly long time before nodding. "Okay. Okay, follow me."

I trotted after him as fast as I could (damn he had long, lanky legs) as he led me back into the corridor and along the dank passageways, which seemed uneven slightly and I had the distinct feeling that we were slowly heading upwards. At long last he stopped in front of a heavy metal door and he set to work on unlocking its many bolts. Despite my current state of worry and panic I managed to uncover my sense of humour, ever my salvation as well as my damnation. Hell, I could be a freaking poet…

"So what's behind door number one, King Kong or Area 51?" I asked and he laughed slightly before he could stop himself. His laugh was strange, kinda like a rockslide; low and rough, in contrast to the way his voice would spike nasally whenever I said something that made him nervous.

"I'm cautious, that's all."

"No, really?"

"Look, do you want to use the radio or not?"

"Yes, _please_." I said urgently and he undid the last lock, pushing the door inwards.

I stepped inside and was nearly blown backwards as my sinuses were assaulted by dust.

"Well now I know why the door was locked." I coughed as Stork threw his hands over his mouth like a filtration mask. "Are they feed lot or free range?"

"Are what?"

"The dust bunnies you got roaming in here." I said, waving a hand in front of my face before pouncing on the wave radio in the corner of the room. Actually, it was more like a broom closet turned power box. There was a cluster of old crystal generators in another corner and a row of thick power cables running up into the ceiling. But the room could have been filled with turbines and engines and I would have ignored them (no, I'm serious); all of my attention was focused on that radio.

Fraggle was pretty lenient with me when it came to me messing with things and taking them apart on his ship, 'cause I guess being the mechanic and all he trusted me more then someone like, oh, say, Wasp. But even so I rarely got to fiddle with the ancient wave radio because Falshade was practically paranoid about having the thing out of order for any length of time in case that just _happened_ to be the time when we were actually gonna need it (that kid needs to mellow out, seriously). That and whenever we actually _had _to use the damn thing (which was like, all of never) the boys always hogged it and were the only ones who were allowed to say anything. Angel explained to me that this was because we had to sound tough and mean when using the radio and my high pitched girly voice just wouldn't have cut it (in a demonstration of the refined way I control my temper I kneed him in the balls and told him _I_ didn't have to _sound _mean). Long story short, I didn't exactly know how you use Stork's radio, although I did a pretty good job at assaulting the various knobs.

"Argh!" I howled after a moment, hitting the black box frustratedly with the flat of my hand and then swearing to high heaven at the pain that shot through my wrist. I really had to curb that strike impulse of mine…

Stork moved me aside gently and fiddled with the array of switches. "Do you know the frequency?" he asked me, his ears pricking as whiny static hissed at him via the speaker.

"Huh?"

"The _frequency_, the channel these friends of yours are on." He repeated slowly as if he was talking to someone who was brain dead. Then again, I wasn't exactly acting the part of genius. Hey, I'm not so great in tense situations, okay?

"Oh god, I don't even think the _Merly_'s radio _has_ its own frequency." I rambled, sounding kinda hysterical. I cursed Fraggle a million times over for not heeding my advice and getting a better radio. Then it occurred to me that there might not even _be_ a _Merlin _for which there to be a frequency and that there might not even be a Fraggle anymore and I prayed a billion times over that they both were okay (but more for Fraggle. Hey, just 'cause I'm a maniacally obsessive mechanic doesn't mean I don't have my priorities in order).

"Okay, that's fine." Stork said, nodding as if that may calm me down and twiddled one of the dials. "There. That's a broad ranged frequency. Means anyone can pick up on it if they're in range, no matter what channel they're using."

I was too strung-out to explain to him that I _knew_ what a broad range frequency was and that I actually knew a lot about how radios worked and I wasn't stupid for that matter. I snatched the transmitter from his hand and crushed the button under my urgent thumb, barking into the mic.

"This is Stork seeking the _Merlin_. Repeat, this is Stork seeking the _Merlin_. Hey, anybody out there?" I demanded and then decided to screw being all professional about my message. "Falshade! Can you guys hear me? Are you out there? This is Stork, damnit! You can't just ignore me, because it's not fucking funny! Answer me, you sons of bitches or I swear to god when I get my hands on you'll all make a fortune off the ol' Tooth Fairy! You guys better not be dead, damnit, or I'll kill you, you hear me? Gargoyles, are you out there? Are you guys fucking out there or what?!?"

Stork was watching me like he expected me to twist my head around three hundred and sixty degrees and then projectile vomit all over the place. I let out an enraged, helpless sob and tried again. "Falshade, Angel, ANYBODY!!! Where are you guys? Where are you???"

Nothing.

Maybe because there was nobody out there to answer me…

With a shriek I hurled the receiver away from me and dropped to the floor so abruptly my ribs felt like they were being wrenched apart. Plonking my forehead onto my knee caps while hugging my legs in close I actually did burst into tears this time, feeling so bitterly helpless and at a loss that it made my stomach churn. I felt so horribly alone and scared all of a sudden that I completely forgot about Stork. All I could see were pictures of my friends; Fraggle bawling or bleeding, thinking I was dead or dying himself. Varan staring vacantly like the day we'd searched that butchered terra, eyes hollowed whether from grief or death I couldn't tell. Wasp hugging her jacket in close to her so her chest would feel tighter, wouldn't split open, the warm quality her jacket possessed that she'd explained to me the night I'd almost drowned in the bathtub. Or another image of Wasp, a sword in her gut, snarling and clawing forward ferociously, only impaling herself more. Angel, his fist balled up over his heart, trying to keep it from breaking or trying to keep himself from bleeding to death. And Falshade… no gruesome death for him. Because Falshade would die when his squadron did, and when that happened he'd walk in his own nightmares for eternity, his eyes empty of all their beautiful emotion and zeal.

I bawled into my knees with abandon, not caring if I ever got up again. I couldn't tell which was making me ache more, the thought of my poor friends grieving over my death while I was perfectly fine, just out of reach, or the thought of them, dead themselves, and my inability to grieve for them because I didn't even know.

I jumped when someone's hand rubbed my back briefly before grasping my shoulder comfortingly. I looked up blearily at Stork, who'd sat down beside me and was trying to smile in a soothing way. "Look, uh, Feonix, please don't-"

"Don't call me Feonix." I sniffled. "I hate it. It only makes me feel worse."

Stork sighed and seemed to struggle with something before finally relinquishing his guarded name. "Okay." he relented. "Stork. God, that sounds so weird… anyways, Stork, please don't cry. Maybe your friends are just out of range. I mean, Atmos is pretty huge and we have no idea where they are. It's possible they just aren't receiving the message."

I snuffled slightly. "You think so?"

"Sure." He said with a bit of a nod.

I wiped at my face, feeling embarrassed. Well, there goes my shot at a better first impression. "Yeah, well, come to think of it, the _Merlin_'s radio does pretty much suck." I said, trying to encourage myself.

Stork nodded again, even though he couldn't have had the slightest idea about the _Merlin_'s radio. "See, there you go. I bet you my ratchet set and my entire supply of bat repellent that your friends are just fine, maybe a bit worried about you, that's all."

Worried. I had to snort here. _Worried_ was the understatement of the century. Considering he was still around himself, when Falshade found out I wasn't dead he was going to kill me. That's how _worried_ he was.

Stork was about as great at being comforting as Angel was, and it seemed his ability had run out. He cleared his throat and stood up, offering me a hand to help me up which I waved away because I really didn't have a good arm to offer back anyways.

"I need to get back to my friends." I said after a while, having been silent the whole time I followed him back to his kitchen. He wheeled around and ogled me with his huge, yellow orbs.

"What? Feo- Stork, that's crazy! Like, mind worms crazy! You're not in great shape and your Hornet's not any better. Even if you _had_ a capable ride it'd be suicide to fly off on your own. Your stitches could get infected, you could get attacked by pirates or sky sharks or cloud cats or vampires, you could get lost, you could crash… _again_, or you could-"

I held my good hand up for mercy. "Okay, okay, I get the point. If I get jumped I'm not exactly gonna be able to fight anybody off with one hand tied behind my back… no pun intended. So how long… how long 'til you can take the pin outta my arm?" for some reason that thought creeped me out. You'd thinkbeing a mechanic I'd be thrilled at the notion that there was a stick of metal sutured to my bones, but no. "How long 'til I can get outta here?"

Stork's face twisted in some unnameable but familiar expression (I'd made Angel pull it once or twice whenever I said something that implied he didn't care about the rest us) before he could catch himself. Then he shrugged indifferently. "It's that bad around here huh? Well, I've got some different meds that I've been giving you, calcium boosters, cell repair enhancers-"

"Steroids? You've been giving me _steroids_?" I demanded and he smacked a hand over his face.

"_No_." he insisted. "They're cell repair enhancers. They encourage your cells to repair faster."

"… That sounds an awful lot like steroids to me."

"Fine! Fine! Stop taking them then! All they do is help your bones knit faster, reducing recovery time, and since you're so _eager _to get out of here I just thought _maybe_ you'd be a little enthusiastic about recovering faster. I'm just saying…"

I scuffed my feet irritably. Jeez, if he teamed up with Angel they'd have a sarcasm field day. "…So how long would that time be if I, ya know, keep, uh, taking them?" I asked, subdued and snubbed.

"Three weeks, give or take."

Air hissed past my teeth as I inhaled sharply. Three weeks… the others could be anywhere by then, and what if they got attacked while I was gone? If they were still alive…

'_Stop thinking like that!' _I snapped at myself.

"So until then I guess you're kinda stuck with me. I apologize." Stork muttered, rubbing at a spot on the table gruffly and avoiding my gaze. I felt bad then, realizing I'd been so worked up about the others I hadn't even thought about how I'd kinda forgotten about the fact that, oh yeah, the guy had only _saved my life_. It's like, oh, yeah, thanks for like, pulling me back from the brink of death, don't mind if I just whine about my friends and then leave without saying goodbye or anything.

I'm not really a clingy person. But I pride myself in being good at hugging people, when I so grace them with one. So I wrapped my non-gimped arm around him again and squeezed him tight, despite the way he stiffened against me.

"Well it's not like it's a chore to be here or anything." I mumbled, trying to sound apologetic.

Stork made a snorting noise and rested his chin on my hair for a second. "Well so long as you're not in any physical pain about it or anything…" he grumbled and I laughed.

"Nah."

"Okay… great, I guess. But since we're kinda gone be roomies for the next twenty one days, do you think you can do me a favour?"

"Uh… sure?"

Stork abruptly wrenched himself out of my grasp and put his finger against my forehead again, pushing me back. Then he leaned into my face to make sure I got the message:

"The hugging has to stop."

* * *

The first few days were kinda awkward, that necessary transition period in which you get to know someone and get used to being around them. And I'm kinda one of those people that you have to learn to get used to, and as it were, so was Stork.

I think the biggest thing he had to get over about me was my overbearing energy and personality. You know what I mean. I mean he was by no means lethargic or apathetic, but his energy was different then mine. Wasp had told me once everyone and everything had an 'energy' whose vibes would tell you things if you listened closely. I'm pretty sure she would have described Stork's energy as 'tweaky'. The guy really kinda was like a meth addict, jittery and constantly scratching at some non-existent rash. The term 'neurotic' did him no justice by any measure. But in contrast to my life-without-warning attitude and crude mannerisms, he was kinda overshadowed, vigour wise. He seemed constantly amazed (or shocked, whatever) by my bottomless well of snarky comebacks and rude sense of humour and he'd practically flinch whenever I swore. You'd think he must have thought girls were like, saints or something about that kinda stuff. And I think I wore him out a bit, to be honest, even though I was supposed to be the one recuperating.

For my part I had to get used to the way he defended his personal space. And I mean I'm pretty fond of my bubble and I don't like when it's infiltrated, but his was like, VIP access only. He'd skitter away from my touch and leap back if I got too close. I guess I was pretty used to with sharing my radius of territory, being squashed up inside a tiny air ship with five other hyperactive, noisy and smelly teenagers. But Stork had been on his own for a long time. Too long if you ask me. And it seemed to take him a long time to get adjusted to sharing his space. He constantly accused me of sneaking up on him and would bark at me if I'd left something where it didn't belong. It took me awhile to get used to his jumpy, hermit traits and in turn it took him longer to get over my blinding, irritating ones. But, and I don't know when or how, but eventually we somehow clicked, found our little connecting places of reception in each other. He stayed paranoid and I stayed obnoxious, but you know that thing people say about opposites attract? Well, whoever said it first had something going on.

On the third day he took me down to the hanger, which was so full of old parts and scrap metal it put Finch's garage to shame. But it was considerably more organized in any case.

Glancing around the massive hanger bay I suddenly spotted a gleam of yellow and black among all the other shining metal and nearly creamed myself.

"Squee!!!" I squealed so loudly that he flattened his ears against his head and I practically mauled my Hornet, squeezing the handle bars and kissing the controls. Oh god, did she ever look gorgeous…

Wait a second. This couldn't have been right. Last time I'd seen her, her back end had been flat as a pancake. And that was _before _the crash.

I looked up from my dazzling baby to stare at Stork incredulously. "You… you fixed her?"

"Well you were out for three days, I had to do something." he said, grinning sheepishly.

"Oh my god, Stork, she's… she's in better shape then I've ever seen her! Did you give her a new paint job?"

"Yup."

"Oh man…" I breathed, running my hand all over my plucky little skimmer. "Jeez, baby, you're gonna be beating boys off with both wings!"

Stork laughed. "She's a little doll alright. Is that a, um… _new_ Crystal Induction Turbine?"

I grinned proudly. "You bet your green ass it is. Version 4.0, top of the line, straight from the dealer, state of the art…"

Stork let out an appreciative whistle. "Nice. Throttle's huh?"

"Nothing but the finest for my baby. Throttle's a genius as far as I'm concerned. Doesn't hold a candle to Green Spark of course, but they don't have a head for the market. They only supply to the rich racers and if you ask me they're jerks for doing so. Rich buggers, but jerks. I mean, there's more to mechanics then the racing community." I said and Stork's face crinkled into such an eerie grin that I moved away from him slightly.

"You think so?" he asked me and I stuck out my chin.

"I know so."

Stork chuckled under his breath and jerked his head at the opposite wall. I followed the direction and then nearly fell over my Hornet when I took in the emblem splashed on the wall in green paint, the blazing shooting star of Green Spark.

I turned back to him, scissoring my mouth stupidly a few times before managing to push the words off my tongue. "You're… you're Green Spark?"

"Wow, even your freckles turn dark when you blush, did you know that?" he asked me and I flushed more, if possible.

"Oh, shut up. Seriously though, you're Green Spark?" I demanded and he shrugged as it if weren't a big deal, as if he didn't practically own the world of mechanical engineering.

"Sure. And for your information, I know there's more then the world of racing out there. But it's not like I've got an assembly line of little elves to help with production, and believe it or not I _do_ have a life. So the few parts I do turn out every year go to the highest bidder. It's called economics, you should look into it."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Yeah, but what is that life, spraying for spiders?"

"Funny."

"So seeing as how I'm a friend of the family… or rather, family to the friend, do I get a special discount or what?" I asked, trying to give him my best cutesy smile. Which I only use when I want something. I don't do cute.

"Now that is just creepy." he informed me and I scowled at him. "And about the discount, we'll see. Watch what you say about spider spraying and I'll think about it."

* * *

I waited until that night, the third night (well, by my count, 'cause I wasn't conscious for the other three) before I did it. He'd moved me out of my freaky little medic wing room because I told him it made me feel like I was in an asylum (he'd responded with 'I _wonder_ why that is…') and had put me up in a cozy if sparse little guest room (ie. spare room with cot) that was just as sterile and blank as the rest of his base, but I mean that was fine with me. I missed my little closet back on the _Merlin_, but that's not why I did what I did.

Padding down the corridor towards his room I thought about how, while discussing oddities of our childhoods one night, Varan had mentioned how he sometimes felt embarrassed for often sleeping in his adoptive mother's bed until he was about nine years old. I'd almost laughed at him, not for what he'd told me but how absurd it sounded to me that he should be embarrassed of it. I hadn't told him, but I'd slept with my dad in his bed every night until I was about six, and even after that I rarely stayed in my own bed the whole night through. Sometimes he even fell asleep in my bed while reading stories to me. And even when I reached the early teen years, when I was old enough to realize how strange, wrong and even sick some people may have thought it was, I still slept in my dad's bed more often then not. Some people might say that warps a kid, doesn't allow them to develop the independence they need. But A) I think I'm pretty independent, if I do say so myself. And B), parents always seem to be the ones to suffer most when their child grows up and grows away. Shouldn't things like that be treasured rather then frowned upon?

Anyways, so it had never seemed like an awkward thing to me to share my sleeping space with someone. Heck, before we'd met Fraggle and moved onto the _Merlin_ Varan, Angel, Falshade and I slept beside one another all the time, more often outdoors, huddled together for warmth, then in the occasional inn. And I might act like a pretty crabby person. And I am. But I mean under that I'm a pretty warm and squishy individual. As much as I enjoy my space and don't like being touched too much, I enjoy being close to the people I loved.

And Stork had been alone for sixteen years. He deserved to have someone close to him too.

I crept silently into his room, hoping he didn't have some sort of intruder alert rigged up or something. If he did then he must have switched it off, as if he knew I'd pull a stunt like this. His room had that pungent garlic scent lingering in the air and I'd bet my own underwear that he probably had a clove of it tucked under his bed or something.

I didn't call out to him, but I saw the silhouette of his ear flicker in my direction anyways and paused, worried he might suddenly wake up and spray holy water on me or something. But he didn't move or make a sound so I tip-toed over to the side of his bed and crawled in beside him unabashedly.

"Mmph." he muttered suddenly and I froze, worried all of a sudden that he was going to get mad at me. He wasn't like my dad after all. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea.

"What?" I whispered, trying to act like I didn't think anything was wrong about my infiltrating his room and then rolling into bed next to him. He remained quiet for a minute before moving over slightly.

"Your feet are cold." he said quietly, his voice clogged by sleep as he pulled some of his blankets over me.

I smiled and snuggled in against his chest, feeling the little girl part of me that had been missing her father for the last three and a half years ache a little less. Stork let out a half hearted sigh and stroked my hair sleepily, the way Finn used to.

* * *

It was driving me a little nuts, to be surrounded by so much mechanical awesomery and not able to go hog wild over it. I'd been taking my meds, like Stork instructed me, but it had only been five days, and although my wrist was feeling more and more useful every day, my arm was still a bum freaking arm, and unfortunately it was my right one. I thought about how Angel would have teased me, with his damn ambidextrous limbs and all, and couldn't help but glower.

Stork quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't even _do_ anything."

I laughed and passed him a ratchet. It would have been embarrassing if it was anyone else I had to be the wrench monkey for. But I didn't mind so much that it was Stork. I liked watching him work. And he was working on my Hornet anyways, so I figured I shouldn't complain.

"Sorry, I was thinking of somebody else. But hey, you lied to me! You told me my Hornet wasn't in any better condition then I was and it nearly gave me a heart attack!" I reminded him and he rolled his eyes.

"Well excuse me for constantly pointing out the numerous ways you continue to be wrong..." he said and I swatted his ear. He twitched and continued uninterrupted "… But I didn't _lie_. I may have over-exaggerated, but while your Hornet may look good on the outside she's still got quite a few issues under the hood that I'm being gracious enough to fix. _And_ I'm using my home made parts that I was supposed to sell so I can feed myself. So stop whining and pass me that piston rod."

"Aw, and you know I love you for it." I drawled out in a sugary voice and he wrinkled his nose as he accepted the piston rod from my hand.

"Quit doing things like that, would you? It creeps me out." he said and I laughed.

"But that's what makes it so much fun." I said. Stork shook his head and went back to working in silence for awhile. I got hypnotized watching his hands work methodically over the contraptions of my Hornet's engine and thought about how nice it was to finally meet someone who not only knew as much (and probably more) about mechanics, but possessed the same degree of appreciation for the fine art of machinery. Which, in non-grease monkey terms, basically means you love a hunk of metal and wheels so much you'd love nothing more then to mate with it. And trust me, I love ranting and raving about to people who had no idea what I was talking about my expertise in the field of engines, wings and making things go vroom, but it's a whole new level of awesome to talk to someone who had more to say then 'uh-huh, right…' about it.

"Tell me about your friends." he said suddenly and I blinked at him.

"What?"

"You're friends. You keep talking about them and by now I'm a little intrigued." Stork said, nothing changing in his face as he continued to attach brand new pistons to the cam shaft in my Hornet. But something shifted in his voice and I cocked my head considerably. Longing? Was there a strangled form of longing in his tone?

"Hmm. Where to start?" I said, watching him carefully while trying to act like I wasn't. I'd have to be an idiot to ignore the level of strangeness that he possessed that was beyond the normality, even for a Merb like him. I was honestly worried about him, out here all by himself. But I wasn't ready to start talking to him about that. That'd take some time. So I decided to tell him about the others instead, in hopes it might cheer him up a bit. After all my friends had always been good at making me feel better.

"Well, it's kind of a long story. We're a squadron, actually, called the Gargoyles." I started. "It was Falshade's idea really. He's our Sky Knight. I met him while he was in the Sky Knight Academy about three years ago. He… ugh, he's probably the most nauseatingly heroic punk you'll ever meet. He's my best friend." I said and saw a bit of a smile twitch in the corner of Stork's mouth. "He's a great guy, I'll grudgingly admit. And he's going to save the Atmos."

Stork looked up with a sceptical expression. "Is he nearing a break through in the anti-virus for Galeian Red Spores?"

"Spores?"

"Horrible bacteria, slowly shuts down all your internal organs one by one. Unfortunately the heart is the last one to go, so…" Stork trailed off and shuddered. "So I take it he's not, then?"

I laughed and shook my head. "Sorry, but no. Hell, Falshade can barely read, forget about doing microscopic research on, uh, spores. He's got way too much energy."

"Then how, exactly, does he um, plan on saving the Atmos?" Stork asked me and motioned towards the set of wrenches next to me. I passed him the size he needed and explained:

"Ever since he's been a little kid Falshade's had these… dreams. Nightmares, actually. And he thinks they're meant to be taken as a warning. He believes there's this evil out there, gathering strength in some dark hole or other, something we missed after the old war, and when it hits us, well… he doesn't think we'll recover from it."

Stork put down the wrench I'd just handed him and looked up at me critically. "Does he now? And what do you think?"

I shrugged, trying to avoid the serious way he was looking at me. I shouldn't have brought up the old war. I need to learn to think before I speak. "I believe him. Like, I'll be honest, I believed that sure, there might have been something out there, but nothing as big as what he was talking about. But then last week we ran into these freaking goons on Nightflyers and… well let's just say I've had a change in perspective."

"Hmm." Stork muttered, tweaking a bolt on my runner board that didn't need to be tweaked.

"What?"

"Nothing, never mind. So besides being some kinda of weather predictor of doom, what else is this guy like?" Stork asked trying to sound casual. I let it go for now, but there was no way he was getting away with it later.

"He's your typical Sky Knight boy hero." I said with a bit of a smile. "He cares to the point that it's annoying. He looks out for us, he'd fly into a freaking active volcano after us. And, you know, if he asked me too, I'd fly into one after him too, no questions asked. He's a good guy." Stork was watching me with a bit of a teasing smile.

"What?" I snapped.

"So, are you two um… _just _best friends?" he asked and I practically jumped on him, swinging at his head with the oil rag I'd been weaving between my fingers up until now.

"Oh, you are such a _male_!" I seethed at him while he laughed and gagged at the contact at the same time.

"Judging by your reaction I'll take that as a no?" he sniggered and I chomped on his ear. That shut him up.

"Ack! Saliva… germs… contamination! Off, off!" he wheezed and I backed off a bit, grinning maniacally.

"And to answer your question _yes_, we're just best friends. The guy's practically my brother. He taught me almost everything I know, about fighting anyways."

"Alright, alright, I was just teasing you." Stork grumbled, rubbing his ear neurotically.

"His dad was Vatican's old Sky Knight. Ever heard of him? Falco Ravenscroft?" I asked and Stork's unchewed ear pricked at the name.

"Falco had a son?"

"Yeah, but I guess he was born after Falco died." I said sadly. Sometimes I realized just how lucky I was to have grown up with a father. It seemed none of my other friends had one. "Wait, you knew Falco?"

"We did a thing with the Beast Keepers once, a few months before the final battle." Stork explained tightly. "Didn't know the guy too well, you know, he was a Sky Knight, I was a carrier pilot, but he seemed nice enough. It was sad to hear he, you know… died."

I nodded. "Yeah…"

An uncomfortable silence stretched between us as we both thought of another Sky Knight who'd died before his time.

After a length Stork cleared his throat awkwardly. "So, there's Falshade, who's going to save the Atmos. And he's got you wrapped around his little finger, since he's such a _nice guy_ and all…"

"Watch it." I threatened, hefting my fist to show I meant business. Stork chuckled.

"So who else has he managed to drag into this anti-doom parade?" he asked, wisely changing the subject.

"Well, like I said, I met him while he was in the Sky Knight Academy. This is embarrassing, but I actually wanted to try and get into the Academy too, but they wouldn't let me. I couldn't pay the enrolment fee and since I decided not to bring up my connection to Finn I just didn't cut it. So I guess that's why I asked Falshade to teach me to fight and whatever. I ended up staying on the terra, working at this shit hole of a garage called Finch's. _Anyways _Falshade was a good teacher, but don't tell him I said that. But he got the oh-so-brilliant idea to introduce me to his roommate, who he insisted knew everything under the damn sun about fighting techniques and whatever. And that's how I met Angel."

"Why did you want to become a Sky Knight?"

"Don't interrupt!"

"You're such a hypocrite… okay, continue."

"So then there was the three of us, Falshade, me and Angel. And at first I didn't like Angel so much. The kid's an arrogant little dick head. But, unfortunately, he's my best friend too. He made me my throwing axes."

Stork looked mildly interested. "He designed that little axe?"

"Axes. I had two. Dropped one before I crashed… but yeah, he didn't only design them, he made them. The boy's a freaking genius, but I try not to tell him that ever, because he's got an ego the size of the Black Gorge. But, you know, as much as I tell him I'd like to castrate him and that I hate his guts and tell him to go fuck himself at least five times before breakfast, he's an okay kid. He's kinda cold and sarcastic, but he cares about us, I guess. Actually, he's kinda like you that way."

"So, what, you think I should go fuck myself too?" Stork asked and I gaped at him.

"What?" he asked edgily.

"You just dropped the F-bomb!" I crowed, punching him in the shoulder playfully. "Alright, so Storky's got a potty-mouth on him after all!"

Stork rubbed his temples with a groan. "For the love of god, _please _don't call me that name ever again."

My face cracked into an evil grin. "I think you just scored yourself a nick name." I teased.

"Well, you know, two can play at that game, _Feo-nix_."

I bit my tongue and sulked. Oh yeah, he was like Angel alright. "Point taken."

"Good." he said with a nod. "So, wait a second, let me get this straight. This other kid, Angel, he was training to be a Sky Knight too?"

"Yeah. And they both passed the Trails. So Angel's kinda our back-up Sky Knight." I explained. Stork quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we don't really play by the rules." I said and he snorted. "Oh, hey, I just thought of something. Angel used to live on Saharr. Maybe you met him?"

Stork shook his head. "I only talk to the racers out in Tent City once in a blue moon. Some of them come to me, ask me to make their rides faster. They call me the Speed Guru, actually."

I laughed. "That's fucking awesome!"

Stork shrugged, trying to hide his smile. "Anyways, I don't get out much, so I doubt I… hang on. Angel, that's his name? A dark haired little guy named Angel?"

"That be him."

"Does he fly a black Slip Wing, by any chance?"

My eyes widened. "Dude, you do know him!"

Stork was laughing all of a sudden and I quirked my head. "What's so funny?"

"Aha… there's this racer I know named Jet. Actually, he doesn't race, but he's got his little guild of racers that he gets to ride his skimmers and just gets them to give him a cut of the winnings… I'm certain the guy has like, permanent heat stroke… anyways, about three years back he comes down here for some parts he'd ordered off me and seethes about this kid he had racing for him, real promising racer, who took off with his prize Slip Wing. Jet never found out where he went, but I don't think he really cared that much anyways. That sound like you're back up Sky Knight?"

I was laughing now too. "Oh yeah, that sounds like Angel all right."

"Bit ironic that he went in to be a Sky Knight after that… so there was the three of you. What'd you do after they passed the Trials? Or do you have three Sky Knights or something?"

"No, just those two bastards. Well, Falshade had this friend back on Vatican who he'd grown up with. By the time they passed the Trials the three of us agreed we were going to be a squadron, together, and Falshade wanted this friend of his with us too. So we get to Vatican and… turns out his friend's a Raptor."

Stork banged his head on my open engine compartment as he started. "A Raptor?" he repeated, squeaky disbelief entering his tone. And, and I guess I wouldn't know for sure because I'd never heard the sound of it in his voice before, but I thought I heard a touch of anger too, lacing under his words.

"Yeah. Well, a Terradon anyways. That's Varan. He's a dying breed, literally I guess, but figuratively too. He's like, one of the last true nice guys out there, real sweetheart. What?"

Stork's face was crumpled in a peculiar expression. "No offence to your friend, but I… I'm not too fond of Raptors. I've had a run in with them a few times and it never was supposed to end well for me."

"Varan's different. He's special." I insisted "He was the only one to survive the Bogaton Tragedy."

"Hmm…"

"Stork, don't you dare tell my your one of those people who hear the word 'Raptor' and immediately think of the word 'monster'." I said sharply and he flinched at my tone. I get a little defensive when it comes to Varan, sue me.

"I'm not. I believe you, and I know not all of the Terradons were like Repton." he said and I nodded.

"Alright. Just so long as you aren't bashing my lizard-man. He's mine, mine!" I said, laughing and Stork shook his head as if he'd forgotten all about teenage insanity.

"So let's see, you've got the doomsday visionary, the grand theft auto reserve Sky Knight and now a Raptor who's really just a big teddy bear."

"And the Lord of the Land of Kitchen." I added and Stork barked with laughter before he could catch himself.

"Yeah, we pretty much put the 'fun' back in 'dysfunctional'." I said. "We've also got a carrier pilot, a hairball of a Blizzarian from Nord called Fraggle."

"A Blizzarian?" Stork repeated incredulously. "As your carrier pilot???"

"Well, it was his ship."

"Wow, do you have a death wish or what?"

"Oh, hey now, just 'cause you're a freaking pilot _god _doesn't mean everyone else is shit. Fraggle's… well, he's not awful, anyways. A little throttle-happy, that's all." I said, sticking up for Fraggle in his absence. I of course didn't mention to Stork how often I threatened to clobber the guy if he didn't use his blinkers.

"I'll take your word for it. Blizzarians, ugh… there's a head ache you didn't deserve." Stork muttered and I swatted at him again.

"You're just a right little ray of sunshine aren't you?" I asked him and he scratched at his rash.

"Oh yeah, that's me alright."

"Fraggle's a cool guy, in any case. Bit of a dunce, but he gets away with it. We met him about a year and a half ago, he used to by a sky fisher. And he's got a sister. Well a half-sister. Who's half Blizzarian." I added and Stork's eyes widened in surprise.

"Seriously?"

"I know, right? I didn't even think that was _possible_. Hey, can Merbs and humans have kids together?"

Stork's whole face turned dark green and I giggled into my palm.

"Y-you're asking m-me? Why on Atmos do you t-think I'd know?" he stammered and I was nearly breaking my healing ribs trying to subdue my laughter to spare his feelings.

"Wow, that's a neat shade of green alright." I commented and he went even darker. "Oh come on, Stork, it's not like I was asking about you sex life or anything."

His ears shot up with indignation and embarrassment. "Are you always so, so… brash?"

"Are you always so defensive?"

Stork sighed in defeat, rubbing his temples again. "You know, you really are Finn's girl. I don't know how he managed to keep friends long either."

I narrowed my eyes. "Now that was just _rude_. And you're one to talk. Don't try to tell me you spent two years in a bloody airship with the kid and never warmed up to him even a little bit."

Stork's reaction kinda alarmed me. He twisted his face away from me so fast I heard something pop in his neck. And, get this, I think he actually _growled_ at me.

"So that's it, just the five of you, huh?" he said, a cold inflection in his voice that I didn't like at all.

But, you know, I've pretty much gotten used to ignoring the snide comments over the years, so I went on without skipping a beat. "No, not quite. There's one more of us. We, uh… funny story. Fraggle was saving this whopper of an Enhancer stone, in case we ran low on fuel one day when out in the middle of nowhere. I wasn't on the bridge at the time or I would have tackled him, but Falshade didn't believe that it'd work, so he says, and I quote 'Oh yeah, well watch this, eh' and throws the damn crystal into the fuel capacitator."

Despite his sudden moody behaviour Stork couldn't ignore a comment on the abuse of an airship. "He _didn't_."

"Yeah, he did. Tried to choke himself later, the _Merlin_'s his freaking love child, but at the time he thought it was a brilliant idea. And it was, for all of the five seconds that the fuel meter shot through the roof. Then the engine sputters and dies, 'cause all the fuel's been used up and we had to make an emergency landing on Macabre. And that's where we met Wasp."

Stork had turned back to me now, eyes wide as tire rims. "_Macabre_? Pardon me if at this point I begin to question your sanity."

"Hey, we needed fuel. Trust me, I wasn't too thrilled about the place, but desperate times call for desperate measures, right?"

"Well that or just plain suicidal. So you met this Wasp person on Macabre and just decided to ask him to join your squadron?"

"Her. And yeah, kinda. Actually… she sorta saved my life. I went to go find the crystal depot while the others guarded the ship and got jumped by this pack of genuine crack junkies. Had no idea what they were planning on doing with me, but I don't think I would have wanted to find out."

Stork was muttering incredulously into his hand. "Oh god, if your father only knew what you've been up to…"

"_Anyways _so Wasp ends up saving me and mentioned she happened to be good with crystals and we kinda needed a crystal specialist, so I asked if she wanted to come with us. She's our resident psycho and a pure blood Faerieshian." I explained and Stork gave me a look like he didn't believe me. Or that he couldn't believe my degree of reckless idiocy, I wasn't too sure. Could've swung either way with him.

"So in short you've got one messed up squadron." he said at last and I nodded proudly.

"We prefer the term FUBAR."

"And do I want to know what that means?"

"It's a palindrome. It means Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. FUBAR." I explained and Stork snorted.

"That would be an _acronym_, dummy. Palindromes are the ones that spell the same thing backwards that they do forwards." he explained tauntingly and I pulled a face at him.

"Call me dummy again and you'll be able to spell my foot backwards and forwards up your ass."

Stork snapped my engine compartment shut with a chuckle. "You know, that mouth of yours is going to get you into a lot of trouble one of these days."

I shrugged. "Yeah, well, what are ya gonna do, right?"

"… Is wiring your jaw shut out of the question?"

"_Yes_." I told him, leaving no room for argument and throwing the oil rag at him playfully. "Okay, green boy. I've told you all about my friends. Now it's your turn. Cough up, I want to know everything about the Storm Hawks, all the juicy details."

Again his reaction to my statement was disarming. Any of the positive energy he was capable of containing dissipated and he face fell so abruptly it tugged at my heart strings. His entire body seemed to collapse inwards and he suddenly looked a hundred years old.

I slid off the tool box I'd been perched on and crouched beside him. "Hey, what's wrong? I… I said the wrong thing, didn't I?"

"No, it's not… not your fault, Feonix." he murmured, rubbing a spot of oil off my skimmer with his thumb. Despite the fact that I hadn't been with the guy very long I'd already come to know that he only called me Feonix when he was frustrated with me or if something was distressing him. I tilted my head, trying to convey my will to understand to him through my eyes.

"It's… it's not easy for me to talk about them. I don't want to." he muttered and I sat down and put my arm around his shoulders. He flinched and went as stiff and unbending as a board but I pulled him in against me anyways, trying to be comforting and mentally kicking myself for bringing it up.

"Yeah, I kinda got that impression."

He made a sniffling noise and refused to meet my gaze. "It's just too… hard. Hurts, right in here." he rubbed a hand over the place next to his heart. "Like Lung Leeches, except you can't get rid of them. And… hell, I don't even really know what happened to us. So I just… can't talk about it."

I nodded and squeezed his shoulders and for a split second his muscles seemed to relax as he caved against the support my body offered for just a moment. "I understand. Well, I don't. I can't. But Stork… you know, eventually I'm going to ask. Eventually I need to know what happened. Because I'm a part of it now, I'm in it just as deep as the rest of you. And we've got three weeks, man. So, you know…" I trailed off and he nodded stiffly, slowly.

"Yeah, I know." he croaked. "And I'll probably tell you. But just… not today, okay? Not today. Tell me more about your friends. Please?"

I smiled at him, a bittersweet expression I don't think I'd ever pulled before. For a moment I suddenly felt like our positions had been changed, that I was the one who was grown up and strong and he was young and alone. It made me feel important, needed, in a really sad sort of way. And then it hit me all of a sudden; Stork may have saved me. But he, in turn, needed me to save him.

"Okay." I said. "Okay."

* * *

My dad may have never taught me anything about mechanics or fighting or long division. But he did teach me a lot of other things, even if they weren't the most useful of life lessons; he taught me my hunger for speed, how to talk your way out of any situation (usually one you'd ended up talking yourself into in the first place), the finesse of telling bad jokes, bantering with someone and feigning innocence and of course, possibly the most important of all, he taught me the sacred art of air guitar.

He also taught each and every cooking skill that I have. Or lack there of, anyways.

And let me tell you, you wouldn't believe how many of those non-existent cooking skills it takes to make pancakes.

"Aw, come _on_." I growled, abandoning the smoking frying pan to pull a chair under the wailing smoke alarm.

I mashed the button and hopped off the chair. Before I even had the spatula back in my hand the stupid thing went off again. Grumbling and cursing I climbed back onto the chair and tore the crystal out of it. By the time I got back to the pan my flapjack had effectively browned and then not so effectively continued to burn.

Hey, it's not that easy to make pan-anything when you got a bum arm, okay?

"What are you _doing_?" Stork's voice demanded and I wheeled around and forced a 'who, me?' smile onto my face.

"Er… you want Sky berries or chocolate chips in yours?" I asked and he glared at me before his eyes roamed over the mess I'd made of his kitchen.

"I swear, if you burn down my lair you're puberty is going to be _very_ disappointing." he informed me.

"Hey, for your information, I've already gone through the whole puberty thing, so… wait. Did you just call this place your _lair_?" I asked, laughing uncontrollably.

Stork stuck out his chin, something he'd started doing just to mock me. "Yeah, so? It's my lair, my subterranean haven, my underground base of operations and if it burns down I'm coming after you."

I fell to my knees, howling. "Y-you sound like a se-seven year o-old with a blanket fort!" I spluttered and Stork nudged my crumpled form aside with his foot.

"What on Atmos was this supposed to be?" he asked, prodding at my burnt pancake with the spatula in disgust.

"Uh, _duh_, it's a pancake, genius." I said, heaving myself back to my feet. "And for your information, it would have been the best damn pancake you've ever seen, if your pan wasn't so stupid."

"Uh-huh, yeah, my pan is the problem here. Not the fact that you didn't put any butter in the bottom of the pan, not the fact that you've got the burner up way too high. It's the _pan_." he asked me in a haughty voice.

"Yeah, that's what I said." I said and he rolled his eyes heavenward.

"So next to your self-proclaimed excellence and oh-so-intelligent vocabulary I'll take it you inherited your cooking abilities from Finn?"

"Oh heck yes." I said unabashedly, sitting on the counter top. "My dad always said that next to the guy who invented the internal crystal combustion engine and spandex the smartest man in the Atmos was the guy who created Mac and Cheese."

Stork shook his head in bemusement. "Tell you what, from now on you stick to mechanical stuff and for the love of all things sane do _not_ touch the oven. Deal?"

I folded my arms gruffly. "Fine. But you better be able to make one hell of a meatloaf or I am _so_ ordering take-out. You're no Iron Chef either, ya know."

* * *

"Ah!"

"Wow, you're officially more of a girl then I am. I think that time there actually _was_ a tumble weed."

"That was definitely a scorpion. I'm going back in."

I grabbed his skeletal arm. "Oh no you don't. Come _on_, Stork, nothing out here is going hurt you except me if you don't come do this with me."

"Why are we even doing this? I've seen stars before. And do you even know how many venomous snakes call this terra home?"

"Yeah, hence why we came out here at night when it's cool. Snakes are cold blooded. We'll be fine." I insisted, tugging him down next to me as I found a flat space on the sandy earth and promptly plopped down upon it. So long as the tarantulas stayed in their little hidey holes I couldn't care less if a hundred snakes decided to come out and look at the stars too.

"Wow." I said, looking up at the galaxy spread wide before me like a blanket sprinkled with pixie dust. "I don't think I've ever seen this many stars! Must be less light pollution out here…"

Stork grumbled next to me. "Yeah, wow, incredible. Stars are stars, Stork, they're the same everywhere. C'mon, for all we know the jackals are out hunting nearby…"

"You're such a sissy. Come on, stop being so paranoid for one second and just look at them all, would ya?" I said, feeling like there was no way I could take in the vastness of the universe that was stretched before my eyes. I could have stared at it for ages and never see it all.

Stork sighed and grudgingly craned his neck upwards. "Hmm…"

"What do you see in them?" I asked, trying to pick out some familiar constellations.

"I see… a bunch of little dots. They're just stars, Stork."

"They are not just stars! You're such a party pooper. Look, you know how people say there are constellations up there, like pictures in the stars? Well it's kinda retarded, because Leo just looks like a freaking line with a tail… but if you really look at them it's like watching clouds. You can see things in them. My dad and I used to do this all the time when I was little."

"Somehow I have trouble imagining that you or him had the attention span to just stare at the stars all night."

"Yeah, well, I'm a woman of many gifts. And he's changed a lot, I think, since you've known him. Seriously though, just look, would ya?"

"I'm looking, I'm looking." he assured me resignedly.

"Good. See that cluster over there?" I said, making a circle with my finger around a group of stars over on my left.

"Yeah."

"Falshade and I found that one. He thinks it looks like a gryphon. I insist that it's a skimmer. A really sexed up skimmer, like an old school Slip Wing or something… maybe a Switchblade."

"You really need a new hobby, seriously."

"Oh hush. I found that one there too. It's a falcon, see it?" I said, motioning to a large blotch of stars right in front of us.

"I dunno if… actually, hey, yeah, kinda does look like a falcon… yeah, I can see the talons outstretched waiting to shred some poor jackrabbit and everything."

"Hey, bird's gotta eat too. So, come on Stork, what do you see?"

"Hmm… okay. There." he jerked a finger at a group of stars above us slightly. "That looks like… a bacteria cell."

"Of course… Red Spore, right?"

"On second thought… maybe a paramecium."

I grinned. It was something after all. In truth all I'd wanted to do was get him out of his lonely little lair. "Okay, cool." I twisted slightly. "See that really wonky bunch over that way?" I said, pointing off behind us to the right a bit.

"Yeah, I think so."

"That one's my dad's favourite. He says it's a guitar with wings. And flames." I added and Stork let out a low chuckle.

"Yeah, that sounds like something he'd say alright…"

"Oh, oh! See those three next to it, kinda on their own, in a line?"

"Yep."

"Falshade and I named them. That's Turbo, Betsy and Tinker Bell." I explained, laughing at the memory and falling back so I was stretched over the ground while Stork laughed at my peculiarity.

"You have way too much time on your hands." he informed me and I shrugged, pushing the flats of my palms into the grit and feeling it rub softly against my calluses, soothing the rough skin.

"Yeah, but what are you gonna- shooting star, shooting star!" I exclaimed, pointing upwards with my good arm ecstatically. "Ha! I saw it, it's mine!"

"Trust me, I'm envious."

"Would you say you're _green_ with envy?" I asked, laughing and in the dim light the crescent moon provided I saw Stork's luminous yellow eyes roll. "Well you should be because _I_ get to make a wish."

"No you don't. You can only wish on them when you can still see them, so you can wish they don't hit the earth and cause another Ice Age."

I shook my head. "Nuh-uh, nope, I can still wish even after it goes out, it's in the rules." I explained it my know-it-all manner and closed my eyes, wishing hard.

"Whatever." Stork muttered.

"Hush, I gotta concentrate!"

"Thought I smelled smoke..."

"Oh, ha ha, smarty guy. You're just jealous 'cause you don't get a wish." I said, opening my eyes again.

"Yes, of course that's it. So what you wish for?" Stork asked, staring up at the inky sky with a little more enthusiasm then he had been before. Maybe he'd relaxed a bit, as much as he could anyways.

"I can't tell you or it won't come true. Jeez, you're really not good at this."

"Well excuse me for staying in doors at night to avoid all the viruses that circulate while the sun's UV rays can't burn them up. Not to mention monstrous vampire bats, regular bats, Orb Owls who feast on humanoid's sweet eye meat and, probably the worst of all…" here he paused for dramatic affect and shuddered "… Venomous Nocturnal Spyglass Moths."

"Moths? _Moths_? You wasted perfectly good evenings of star gazing because of _moths_???"

"If by wasted you mean avoided being stung by venomous moths and the months of agony and flesh rot sure to follow then yes, I did."

It was my turn to roll my eyes. I tapped my fingers along against the sand for a moment, struggling, before I finally said "Okay, I'll tell you, but if it doesn't come true I'm blaming you."

"Well if it's going to make you _that_ unhappy if it doesn't come true then don't bother."

"Nah, I wanna tell you. What say if it doesn't come true I can have your birthday wish, deal?"

"Deal."

"Okay. So, being the unselfish person I am and not wishing for the new, ultra streamline wings that just came out on the market and not wishing that the Atmos will be saved or anything…"

"Cut to the point, Stork. And just so you know, even if the Atmos _is_ saved it's not going to matter. See those precious stars of yours?" he waved a hand at the sky. "Well in about twenty three years they're going to align and so are the planets and then poof! Universe is going to implode. One can only hope it's not as painful as it sounds like it will be…"

"Implode huh? Didn't some nut run around screaming that in the last century? Anyways, in twenty three years I'll be almost forty, so that's not so bad. I'll have had a good run." I said with a shrug.

"Forty isn't that old!" Stork exclaimed, sounding genuinely affronted.

"Not to you, anyways."

"I _am_ almost forty!" he pointed out irritably and I did a double take, having never realized how old he really was, and then laughed.

"Aw, you don't look a day over thirty six."

"You gonna tell me your wish or what?" he grumbled, insulted.

"Yeah, sure. So anyways, I wished for you guys, that you'd all get back together."

"Who would?" he asked stiffly.

"The Storm Hawks."

He inhaled sharply and I propped myself up on my elbows. I knew I was probing at an old wound here, but having grown up with the formally energetic and hot-headed now turned despondent and miserable sharp shooter and now spending about a week with the carrier pilot who seemed to have taken on the same forlorn demeanour, I couldn't help it. Squadrons needed each other, and when they were torn apart so brutally like the Hawks had been, well… it did things to you. Was it so wrong to want better for them, my old heroes?

"You know, Feonix, I don't think it would have mattered if you told me your wish or not." he said quietly after awhile. "I doubt it'll ever come true."

"Well why not?" I demanded, feeling frustrated. It hurt to see him the way he was, empty, dull-eyed, aged beyond his years. Like he had died with Aerrow. It hurt even more to know he didn't even want to try and help himself.

"Because I just… we just can't." he muttered.

"Hmph." I said, flopping back down so I banged the back of my head and my sore arm.

Then he did something that surprised me. With a sigh he clumsily settled down on his back next to me and blew stray strand of oily black hair out of his face.

"See that one?" he asked, pointing upwards at a blot of stars directly above us.

"Yeah?"

"That one look likes a phoenix." he whispered and I think I saw a slight smile grace his thin lips. A hollow, bittersweet, but nonetheless, smile.

* * *

"I love this song!" I crowed, turning up the ancient radio he had in his hanger. He perked an ear towards the speakers, pausing in his riveting to listen briefly before pulling a face.

"More punky trash. They shouldn't even put that on the air waves." he said and I flicked a stray nut at him.

"This, my tone-deaf friend, is _not_ punky trash. This is the Oxy Morons, and they are rock gods." I corrected. "If Fraggle heard you say that he'd strangle you with your own ears."

"And there goes another protector of the fine arts." Stork muttered and I stuck my tongue out at him. Then I hopped into a clear space on the floor and started doing some of the wickedest air guitar I've ever done. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but neither can anyone else I know, so I warbled along to the lyrics without shame or constraint.

Stork watched me with a quirked eyebrow and I laughed.

"Come on, man, I know you know the words!" I howled at him and he shook his head with a grin.

"_So here we go bowling again, the hangover I didn't deserve but MAN was that a good idea! Pass me the salt and crank up the tunes 'cause I know I can hear ya! Shout it, scream it, rub it in the wound and bleed it because we're all freaks and creatures and I know you can feel it!" _I bayed, totally butchering the lyrics like and good fan would. Stork pretended to cover his ears and pulled a pained expression.

"I'm bleeding it alright." he muttered and I swooped up behind him and smacked the back of his head mischievously. Not _hard_ of course.

"Please don't tell me you rescued me in this thing." I said, tapping my fingers along the side of the skimmer he was working on, which looked like a glorified, packed to the ass with safety features dune buggy.

Stork glared at me, offended. "This _thing_ is the Storkmobile. And I built it myself, so watch what you say. Judging by your taste in music I doubt you can appreciate the finer arts, but try to at least."

"I appreciate the finer arts just fine, thank you." I sniffed.

"And since you seem so objected to the notion, no, I did not come and get you in this. How on Atmos do you think I would have gotten you and your Hornet back in one trip with this?" he asked, patting the side of the Storkmobile affectionately.

"No offence, but I doubt this baby can even get off the ground." I stated bluntly and Stork scowled at me. "So what did you come grab me in then?"

"The _Condor_."

I was nearly knocked out of my mix-matched socks. Gawking I stumbled over my own tongue for half a minute before spluttering. "Did you just say the_ Condor_?"

"Yep." A smug little smile had wormed its way over Stork's features.

I looked around wildly, pivoting too roughly on my knitting ribs. "Ow… but then where is she?"

"In the Deep Hanger. She's a legendary old girl, she deserves her own private hanger." Stork said, straightening up and dusting off his pants. "You, uh, you wanna go see her?"

My eyes stretched so wide it hurt. After another not-so-glorifying moment of drooling I said "Do Venomous Spyglass Moths give you flesh rot? Hell yes I wanna see her!"

Stork chuckled and set down his pneumatic socket drill. "Alrighty then. Follow me. And for you information, yeah they do. And there's no cure, either."

* * *

I don't know if you've ever laid eyes on raw beauty before.

Well I have. Her name's the _Condor_. And on our honeymoon I'm going to take her to the most expensive five star hotel you ever felt your wallet cower at and make sweet, hot, beautiful love to her.

Laugh all you want. I'm dead fucking serious.

"Where have you _been_ all my life?" I whispered seductively, mashing myself up against the nearest pontoon and running my good hand all over her, feeling ever dent in the metal and rivet in the seams. She was drop dead and fuck me _gorgeous_. And she'd rescued me! My mind almost blew out my nose in sheer, undying love.

"Could you please stop masturbating yourself against my ship?" Stork asked drearily from off to my right. Just to spite him I clawed at the pontoon and ground my hips against her.

"My _god_, Stork, she is… she is the sexiest damn ship I've ever seen! I'm hopelessly in love, definitely going to have an affair. But don't tell my Hornet. She won't understand." I gushed and he smiled despite himself.

"Oh yeah, she has that affect on you. But she's mine. So stop molesting her or I won't show you the inside."

I stepped away from the pontoon reluctantly and followed Stork up the ramp.

Did I mention how legendary the _Condor_ is? She's only the most epic cruiser ever to grace the skies. And she looked just like I always dreamed she would on the inside. Better. I had to keep pinching my arm to make sure I hadn't died and been sent to grease monkey heaven.

I practically pounced on the controls, running my hand all over them, grinning so widely it hurt. "Wow… wow. Wow. How does she handle?"

"Like a dream, usually. She can get kinda temperamental." Stork said, touching the controls with one hand fondly. I nodded. That only made sense. It's not a good air ship if they don't have a bit of an attitude, aren't a little picky, a little stubborn. You gotta tell them how amazing they are sometimes or they feel neglected.

"Can I see the engine room? _Please_?" I begged and Stork nodded, evidently relishing in the fact that he'd finally found someone who saw the _Condor_ as he did; a freaking goddess. Nike, that's the one with wings, right?

I couldn't take my hand away from the wall as we walked along the corridor. I needed to feel every inch of her. Once we reached the engine room I moved on to brushing all the pipes and compartments, only imagining the symphony she'd emit when her motor was running. God, she was just too much. My heart was pounding so wildly it hurt. Is it a bad thing that I've never felt that way towards a human?

"So where was your room?" I asked as we trundled along the corridor again, as I'd insisted I'd wanted to see everything.

"That one." Stork said, pointing. "But we're not going in. Frankly, it's a mess. And I like it that way."

"You, messy? Ha, right. And I have extreme self control." I said, but let it go 'cause I wanted to see the rest of the ship. "You haven't been in Fraggle's room. He makes a garbage barge seem like the Council Hall. Blah, whose room was this?" I asked, stepping into a nearby room and was almost blinded by the nauseating choice of colour. It suddenly struck me how organized and pristine the _Condo_r was, as if only yesterday she'd been shuttling five teenagers and a sky monkey across the Atmos. Last I'd heard she'd been demolished after crashing during the final battle. Had Stork seriously put everything back together, like some sort of tribute to his broken squadron?

That was exactly why I just couldn't believe that he and the other Hawks didn't want to get back together.

"This was supposed to be Starling's room." Stork answered, brushing the lavender wall distractedly.

"Supposed to?" I asked. I knew Starling had done some work with the Storm Hawks, but I hadn't known she'd actually stayed on the _Condor _with them.

"Yeah. She never um, stuck around, even though we asked her several times. That was just her way."

"Hmm." I said, stepping back out of the cold, empty room that had never protected anyone. Most rooms had that air that they'd been lived in, had once been a sanctuary. Starling's room reminded me of a morgue, of a sad token of what could have been. It reminded me of Caspia's lonely house back on Vatican.

"You, er… did you wanna see your dad's room?" Stork asked me, shifting uncomfortably and I felt my entire face light up.

"Oh yeah I do! Let's see how clean it is, he always nagged at me about keeping my room clean and I just knew he was being a hypocrite about it. I can sense that kinda thing, you know." I said, bounding down the hallway and ignoring the swift stab of pain that had nothing to do with my ribs.

"You can sense your own, huh?" Stork asked me and I swatted at him. He'd gotten pretty good at dodging them by now and opened to door to another room slightly down the hall.

I'd pictured his room to look something like this. Posters of rock stars and tripped out skimmers coating the walls, an old electric guitar in the corner, standing unplayed for years and a stack of punk band records under the bed. The blanket was ruffled as if he'd just rolled out of bed and suddenly my throat seized up and my eyes started to sting like I'd walked into a frond of nettles. I backed up, fear rising up in my belly, reacting to the overwhelming sadness that seemed to strike me right in the chest like shrapnel.

I backed up right into Stork, who stepped back uncertainly. "Sorry." I mumbled. "Okay, I've seen it, let's keep going." His room even _smelled_ like him…

"Are you okay?" Stork asked, concern in his voice.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Perfect. Brilliant." I said, brushing past him. "Come on, show me the rest of the place."

"Well, there's uh, not a lot else, besides the bathroom. Doubt you wanna go in there-what?"

I'd stopped so suddenly he'd run into me and then leapt back as if I were made of rubber. He bushed at his chest erratically. You'd think I'd take offence to constantly being treated like I had some sort of rare germs stuck to my skin, but it's not exactly easy to take a shower with a bum arm, so I guess I couldn't blame him.

The door I'd screeched to a halt in front of seemed to be calling out to me, in that really annoying way you can't ignore, like when you forget something important (or not so important) and steam and hanker over it all day and then finally remember at the most inappropriate of moments, like when your mouth is full of mulched spaghetti at dinner or in the shower halfway through singing your favourite bathroom-acoustics song or at three o'clock in the AM (guilty to all of the above charges). And my legs, remembering the moment before when I'd nearly had a memory-induced asthma attack, told me to run. Run, Stork, run, before the bad things catch you.

But, you know me. I'm kinda defiant (just a wee bit). Even if that defiance takes me against my better instincts.

So I strode into the room on the new love of my life that had once belonged to the Storm Hawk's Sky Knight.

During the years after I'd discovered the log book and the photograph and gleaned all I could about the Storm Hawks version 2.0 as I could get my greedy little eyes on, I'd started having little fantasies once in awhile, while I was working on my skimmer or trying to fall asleep. What they had sounded like, what they're rooms looked like, how they acted with each other… I'd even held imaginary conversations between them all. But never had I been able to do Aerrow. It was like a blot in my inner vision that just wouldn't allow him access. Of course I hadn't been all that eager to force it, because his image scared me as much as it excited me.

But as if there were some sort of blot-removing scanner set up in his door frame the moment I stepped into his room that blot vanished and all sorts of things, the things I'd been afraid of, came tumbling loose.

His room was sparse. I doubted he'd had many belongings. But there was a cork board above his bed and pegged to it were all sorts of photos, some crumpled and even singed at the edges. And although all the others, of friends he'd made during his adventures and people he'd used to know, were arranged haphazardly but not entirely with uncaring, around the board, there was a square about as wide as my hand in the middle where one photograph perched, shining importantly among the back drop of all the others.

And that damn photo was so familiar by now it was like looking into a mirror to see my own raw, unguarded expression.

My legs were shaking as I dropped to my knees on the bed. My fingers were shaking too as I lifted them to unpin the photo delicately. Hell, my whole damn body was trembling as if I'd just surfaced from one of my brain attacks. Except this attack was happening a little south of my head.

Something like blood was whooshing in my ears as my eyes trailed slowly over the photo. I'd looked at the exact same picture a thousand… no, a million times before, but never had it made me feel just so… exposed. Like my heart, which was hammering away in the back of my mouth, could just tumble past my teeth and soak into Aerrow's sheets.

Usually, when I gazed down on the photo, I'd seek out Finn or Stork, or Piper at times when I needed her logic and calm ability to just think uninterrupted. Sometimes they went to Junko too, because I needed his strength. But rarely, if ever, did they go to him, right in the middle, right to his eyes.

My eyes.

I felt myself sinking onto his bed until my nose was pressed against the mattress and I inhaled slowly, painfully. Maybe some of his cells were still here, caught and preserved from time by the weave of the fibres. Maybe some of them would come loose and stick in my lungs, become a part of me so I could actually say that he was indeed a part of my eyes, my blood, my soul. That somewhere in me there'd be evidence that he was in there, somewhere, in the little corners that you only see when you slice someone open on an autopsy table. That somewhere, in some way, I was his.

I felt the mattress sink slight under Stork's barely registerable weight at the same time I felt something warm running down the sides of my nose. Sniffing sharply and feeling my ribs take the strain of my expanding lungs I pushed myself back up before Stork's hand came to my back to soothe me and wiped at my face roughly.

"Feonix? Are you okay?" he asked my quietly and I blew all my air out slowly, kinda like the way Falshade had taught me to do if I ever received a blow to the ribs so I would be able to catch my breath faster. Because I needed my breath. I needed to be able to form it into words. And I needed Stork to be able to do it too.

"I dunno… Stork, listen to me. I know you don't wanna talk about it, and I know I said I'd give you time, but I also said eventually I'm to ask you about it. And right now I really need you to tell me about it. About you and the others, about what happened to you. And I need you… Stork, I need you to tell me why… why I look like _him_." I started to choke on my words near the end. Oh words, why have you forsaken me? You used to be so good to me…

Stork didn't even twitch, which I took as a bad sign rather then a good one. What could be so horrible that it was beyond twitching? He seemed to fight with himself for a very long time before saying "I don't know if it's my place to tell you, Feonix. Finn didn't after all, and if you ask me he had a good reason not to. Why do you think I should be the one to tell you?"

"Finn never told me because that isn't his kinda story to tell."

"So why should it be mine?" Stork asked, a tone of petulance punctuating his voice. And another tone of fear.

"Because it's _your_ kinda story, Stork. Bad news suits you." I whispered and this time he did twitch. He glanced from me, in all my jumbled emotions, tear stained glory, and then to the photograph and after drawing in a huge, rattling breath he jerked he head in a nod, just once.

"Yeah, you bet it does." he murmured, scratching at his forearm so insistently that I saw his skin split back under his ragged nails. "Alright. Okay. I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything I know."

**Happy Halloween everyone! Norwood Lady Knights Rugby team is going to fucking COSSA, baby!!! Whooooooooooooooo! Rock on, eh! Bangerang!!!**


	16. Method to the Madness

**16**

**Method to the Madness**

_**There is a house in New Orleans**_

_**They call the Rising Sun**_

_**And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy**_

_**And God, I know I'm one**_

_**- House of the Rising Sun, the Animals (remake by Walls of Jericho)**_

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

My eyes drifted open slowly and I was immediately aware of something thick and viscous oozing into my eye socket, rolling over my corneas sluggishly. I flinched, expecting a stinging sensation, but none came.

Then my eyes fell shut like a door closing and I reeled back from the images that were splashed over the backs of my eyelids. They flashed by like a glitchy, jerky movie reel, screams and explosions all out of sink and they blurred and crashed into each other so a horrible, keening static filled my ears. I watched, helplessly, as the pictures tumbled by like they were in a torrent; terras crumbling and collapsing into the Wastelands, a child, screeching and bawling as it was torn into three separate pieces by a trio of deformed humans with werewolf jaws, fire raining down from the stars…

Lethargically my eyes were pulled open again by some outside force and the images abruptly vanished. The gelatinous liquid filmed over my orbs again, filling in all the tiny, empty spaces like a vacuum. I was suspended in the heavy substance, fluidous and green in colour. I panicked, trying not to breathe, thinking I'd drown in the stuff. But then pure oxygen hit my lungs as my chest expanded, inhaling, again controlled by some force other then my own. I realized then that I had tubes reaching down my throat and nose. More tubes and wires were drifting lazily in my peripherals and I could feel several things thrumming and tugging at my temples, forearms and chest as well.

Then I heard them. Low and rumbling at first, barely enough to ripple through the translucent green syrup I was hanging in and bounce off my eardrums. But the more I concentrated on them, the clearer they became to be. Voices…

Then my eyes blinked shut again and the images started striking off my optical nerve as if they'd been waiting for me.

There was the bloody wall again, all the squadron crests of the Atmos pegged against the stone like hanged men at the gallows. Some were burning, others were so splashed in blood their origin was indecipherable. And there in the middle was our gargoyle, glinting eerily in the reddish glow. And slowly, like a sponge being rung out, red started to bubble up from the metal as if it had been quenched in blood.

The liquid again as my eyes snapped open, the voices muttering nearby. I couldn't decipher their words or even if their owners were familiar or strange, male or female. But as I peered through the green ooze I made out two blurred figures, their fuzzy shapes distorted by a circular arch, as if some sort of curved barrier was holding in all the thick green liquid, like a tank of some kind.

One of the forms shifted and through all the green I saw a flicker of red and tried to focus on it. Then a jolt of electricity in my temple shattered my concentration and I flinched, muscles tightening…

My eyes swung closed again. For a moment there was nothing but the stone ledge I suddenly found myself perched upon. Then the monster reared up suddenly in my vision, the grotesque denizen of the underworld I'd seen before. It was tearing at the ground of the cliff slightly above my ledge where I was cemented in fright, its malformed jaws snapping, ugly, wicked eyes bulging. Its screech nearly shattered my nose, so piercing and high in pitch that it was. It sounded like an alarming clash between a woman screaming, a whinny of a mechanical horse and the shriek of a bird of prey. Falling to my knees I covered my ears and then watched, fixated, as a figure emblazed in green flame charged from the shadows and towards the monster, forks of green energy burrowing into the creature's oily flesh. The creature shrieked and roared and tried to rear back but the pixyish, flaming figure kept coming, nimbler and swifter then the hulking, bloated monster.

But just as the burning figure ducked under the creature's twisting head, preparing to deliver the killing blow, the scene changed.

The cliffs were replaced with a considerably more placid but not less uneasy atmosphere. I was leaning forwards on my knees on a dusty slab of stone as a pale light blazed down on me, staring at a pile of grey ashes.

Cocking my head I continued to peer at the morbid little mound insistently. And then I jumped in alarm as it started to tremble. As if a slight wind were stirring it, the pile began to shake and shift. Then I watched in horror as something began to claw its way free from the mound, from the inside.

Oh god, I did not want to see what new horror was going to spill free from that pile of burnt death. I tried squeezing my eyes shut, but it was like my eyelids had been replaced with cling film; nothing I tried could get that dissolving pile of ashes out of my mind.

But just as a frighteningly grey and gangly limb, but yet horrifically small and pudgy like a child's, forced itself free of the ashes like it was breaking through the amniotic membrane during birth, the scene was snatched from my vision and the green fluid flowed into my eye sockets again and I was almost grateful.

It occurred to me then that it wasn't me floating in the fluid. Rather I was watching this entire spectacular from the back of someone's mind, seeing through their eyes, feeling what they felt but had no control over my movements or situation.

And whoever this someone was, they were moving.

The left wrist twitched as a few more zaps of electricity stimulated organs into function, nerves into feeling, brain into awakening. Muscles tingled up and down our mutual arm as my host slowly become away of all the individual cells in their body, every nerve ending, every reflex, every heart beat. We felt every strain and ebbing of numbness as muscles tugged against bone and pulled the left forearm up against our side, jerky and spasmodic but a movement none the less. The first movement.

Then there was a sucking noise and all the green ooze started to drain away, gurgling as it was sucked somewhere out of sight. The wires and tubes suddenly felt heavy as the liquid they'd been suspended in pulled away from them, leaving them to find new means of support. One such cluster of wires was hurting us, twisting against our nerves from its place where it was dragging against the inside of our right elbow.

Twitching, trembling, the left hand moved up, closed around the wires, digits feeling as if they were wrapped in thick gloves. Then, with a sharp tug, the wires came free.

Not only could we move. But we had strength.

Suddenly, as the last of the fluid was sucked away, our jelly legs could no longer support us and we tumbled forwards, knees bending like chicken bones in vinegar. We gagged as the oxygen tube was yanked free from our mouth and nose, throat closing inwards in their absence. We banged against the glass that had encircled us, new found sense reeling with the amount of new sensations that were assaulting our surfacing brain.

Then the glass was removed and slowly, steadily, our head was raised, looking up at the faces of those who'd dragged us from our dormancy, into reality, into life.

Brown eyes and a flash of a smile down at his new creation was the last I saw before the eyes rolled close again.

Then, as if some distant cord had been unplugged, I was removed from this other body completely. I was alone, slumped against a cold stone wall in a dark place somewhere. I had to question if there really was a wall behind me, because wherever I was, it was like there wasn't anything. No physical barriers, no tangible anything. Just darkness.

Until…

Until like splashes of noise, notes of colour, things started to appear in front of me.

And I didn't like them one bit.

Varan was there. And then, as if the shadows around me had minds of their own, could some to life, they attacked him. I couldn't see anything actually touch him, but I felt them. And they moved towards Varan and with blades I couldn't see, ripped open his torso, so all his intestines came spilling out, shredded pieces of organs and blood tumbling loose with them. But he was still attached to them as his intestinal tract was torn to shred, sliced and yanked in every direction until he was practically choking on his own guts, pieces of flesh spewing from his mouth.

"Varan!" I shouted, feeling the fear, the fear I'd felt the day I watched Stork plummet helplessly into the Wastelands. I lunged forwards to help him and found chains sawing at my wrists and legs, latching me to the wall that wasn't there. Varan didn't even seem like he could hear or see me, like I was as invisible as the shadows that were dicing him to pieces. He sunk down into the pile of his own organs as I continued to shout and fight against my bonds desperately, wildly.

Then Fraggle was there. As if he couldn't see Varan anymore then he could see me, he was there beside him, oblivious too everything except the blood on his hands. He twisted and I took in the sides of his head, jagged gashes. His ears had been severed from his body and as I looked on in helpless horror the shadows took his nose as well, slicing it right from his face. He howled and clawed at his head as something else I couldn't see but could feel, inside somehow, anyways, were pushed into the gaping holes left by his ears and forced his brain, a trickling, oozing mess as if it had been squished under the pressure, from his nose in thick globs.

As Fraggle collapsed Wasp abruptly stepped from the nothingness around her and suddenly I felt hopeful; if I could feel these invisible forces then surely Wasp would too, with that sixth sense and incredible nose of hers.

"Wasp, help them!" I screamed at her, desperate that for once she understand my voice, my language.

It took me until then to realize she was utterly naked.

That didn't seem important at the moment, as she seemed to lash out at the things I couldn't see, snarling. Then she doubled over and fell to her knees in pain, clawing at herself as if the shadows were inside her. Then he breasts seemed to swell before her entire chest exploded and all her insides were expelled, her lungs, stomach, liver… her heart slithered out last and she clawed at it, trying to shove it back into the cavity in her chest before keeling silently and moving no more.

There was the click of boots striking off something cold and solid, even though there was nothing around me. Feeling sick I looked up from the lumps that were my bludgeoned friends to see Angel striding from the blackness with some sort of mechanical purpose. His bright, steely eyes were dull and hollowed as if he had nothing left inside. He strode by the mound of carnage indifferently and went right by me as well, staring at some fixed point that I couldn't see.

"Angel…" I croaked, my throat feeling like I'd tried to swallow razor blades. "Angel, you've got to run before they get you too!"

I hadn't expected him to respond. So when he slowly turned and stared directly at me with those empty eyes I couldn't tell if I felt more frightened or hopeful.

"Angel!" I tried to bark at him but it barely came out as a whisper. It seemed whatever organs had spilled out of Varan, Fraggle and Wasp had taken up residence inside my throat and it was almost impossible to speak or breathe. But I kept trying anyways: "Get out of here! What are you waiting for?"

He didn't even blink. Instead his hands slowly moved towards their respective hilts, his sabres on either side of his shoulder blades. He drew them slowly so they scraped against their scabbards and I flinched at the sound.

"Angel, what are you…" I trailed off as he pulled his sabres free and crossed them in front of his chest. For a moment I thought he was going to slash out at me, whether to try and break the chains that were holding me as tight as they were or to just rip me apart, I couldn't tell. But then he brought them up to either side of his neck and I realized what he was doing, why there was darkness in his eyes. The shadows, like with Wasp, were inside him too.

"Angel, no!" I screamed at him but he either couldn't or wouldn't listen to me. Dragging his arms across him in opposite directions his blades bit deep into the sides of his neck, slicing through muscles and arteries alike with a horrible sound like a knife piercing an apple.

With a splintering noise his vertebrae was severed and I watched, unable to look away, as Angel's head rolled free from his shoulders and his body fell back into the pile of my dead friends.

Then the chains let go as if mimicking the motion of my unravelling heart and I fell through open air until the blackness was pulled back like a blanket being whipped from my head and I crashed into pale, hard stone.

I curled up after impact, feeling sore and scared out of my mind. After a moment though I started to feel panicky, as standing still seemed to make me exposed and vulnerable and with a groan I pushed myself to my feet and looked around.

I was on another flat, open plain, made entirely out light coloured, sand swept stone that reminded me a little of the plateau back on Vatican. I couldn't see any landmarks or signs of civilization anywhere along the horizon, which seemed to stretch out further then any terra I'd ever known. Anxious I looked up at the grey sky and then turned slowly as the familiar crackle of lightning met my ears.

Behind me, maybe two leagues in the distance, was the most massive thunderhead I'd ever seen. It seemed to eat up the entire eastern half of the sky and absorbed all of the sun's rays into its roiling grey depths. And at its center seemed to be revolving the eye of the storm itself, in physical form; a huge funnel reaching down from the clouds like a portal to the underworld, made of green forks of lightning.

And it was moving towards me.

Finally I could feel the pressure of the wind as that cyclone sucked all nearby air into its colossal lungs, inhaling greedily. My hair whipped into my face and I could feel myself sliding along the smooth, unbroken earth, being drawn steadily towards that crackling, flashing vortex.

And I had no idea what was going on, where I was, why I was here. But I knew one thing and that was I did not want to get pulled anywhere near that thing, that spinning twister of electricity and death.

So I turned around and I ran.

But it was like trying to run through the jell-o I'd been suspended in earlier. My legs, for whatever reason, were absorbing oxygen from my blood like gluttonous leaches, making my heart pump at a volcanic rate. But they just weren't _moving_, not like I needed them too. The wind was hurling itself in my face and sucking at my back, pulling me back two inches for every one inch I made forward. Panic made my heart beat faster, leant my muscles energy they usually would have put to such good use. But they weren't working and it didn't seem how desperately I pumped my legs, how fast I tried to get them to work, I couldn't move them fast enough.

Then the bodies came.

They seemed to materialize from thin air, animated corpses in different states of decay, thousands of them, all being pulled without resistance or complaint towards that vortex. The careened towards me, then past me. And then into me.

The first one that made contact with my skin seemed to vaporize, their cells turning to pulp and the body let out a shriek of pain as it tumbled past me while flecks of gore splattered on my cheeks. But then, the moment it was no longer in contact with my flesh, the body seemed to regenerate and it was like nothing had ever happened.

More and more bodies fell into me and similarly were destroyed by my skin as if I was made of fire and broken shards of glass. Their howls and screeches pierced my ears as rib cages ruptured and limbs crumbled against my touch and then magically healed again the instant they moved away. And the more bodies that were flung into me the more I was thrust back towards the ever growing, ever advancing vortex.

Then I tripped and hit the stone. A foot dissolved as it brushed my pinkie finger as the body swung by but I barely paid it any attention. All I knew was I was being steadily sucked into the vortex, which was exactly the place I didn't want to be.

My fingers split and my nails were torn free as I dug my fingertips into the stone, searching for some sort of hold. The skin was burned back from my knees and palms and still I found nothing to grip, nothing to resist the pull.

I felt the immense heat, the static in the air, all over me as the lightning roared up behind me like a dragon, ready to swallow me whole. Scrabbling I fought it, even though by now the wind was so intense it was practically lifting me from the stone. And at the last minute I was flipped onto my back in time to see the wall of blinding green light crashing down on me like a tidal wave, sucking the air from my lungs so I couldn't even scream.

I couldn't tell if I woke up because of my yelp or if I yelped because I woke up. But either way my ears were ringing from my shout of alarm and I jolted upright, cold sweat dripping down my back while the skin on my forehead seemed to burn in retaliation.

Feeling sick to my stomach I leveraged myself over the side of my bed, kicking my twisted blanket away from me and gagged and then spit on my floor, dry heaving. My throat was ragged and dry and I was desperately craving a glass of water. Figuring I wouldn't be falling back asleep now anyways I rolled out of bed and stepped unsteadily out into the corridor, feeling like I'd been shocked; I couldn't stop shivering and every now and then weird little bursts of static seemed to buzz just behind my eyes, startling me.

I crept as silently as my jelly legs would allow down the hallway to the kitchen, leaving the lights off so as not to wake up the others. I opened up the same cupboard three times before beating into my brain that it was the wrong one and pulling a glass down from the correct cupboard. Feeling for the tap I turned on the cold water and let it run over my hand for awhile as if to convince myself I really was awake before filling up my glass.

"You know, it's a hell of a lot easier to do that with the lights on." someone informed me and I jumped out of my skin, nearly dropping my glass on the floor and managing to spill most of it down the drain. I breathed in to steady myself and then glared at the dark from in the doorway.

Angel flicked on the light, grinning mischievously. "Boo."

"God damnit, I nearly pissed myself, you know that?" I demanded, trying to calm my frazzled nerves and refilled my glass.

"Yeah, was kinda the effect I was going for." Angel told me, quirking an eyebrow and eyeing me up critically. "Are you okay? You look like hell."

I gulped down my water unsteadily and put my empty glass on the counter, striding past him and flicking the light off again, heading for the bridge. Angel prowled after me like a second shadow.

The bridge was washed with pale light from the half-moon outside the windshield and I made it to the couch without crashing into anything (which, sadly, is sort of an achievement for me. I'm a bit of a klutz). I dropped heavily onto the cushions and Angel perched uneasily on the armrest beside me, banging his knuckles on his knee caps at erratic little intervals, waiting patiently.

"Had another dream." I muttered, although by this point that probably would have become obvious to him.

"Jesus, you're just not having a good week, are you?" he asked me and I laughed humourlessly.

"No, I'm really not." I agreed, sounding a little more wretched then I intended, even though that was exactly how I felt.

"So on a scale to one to ten, what are we dealing with here?" he asked me, trying not to yawn. Poor guy must have been ready to club himself around the head with something if it meant getting a few hours sleep.

"Nineteen." I said, rubbing at my eyes, trying to mash the images from where they were stuck to the backs of my eyelids. Between the two of us, Angel and I lost enough sleep to make up for an entire colony of hibernating bats. Ugh, the math that would have come with figuring out that one…

Angel made a noise between resigned irritation and honest sympathy and pushed me sideways, twisting a bit so he could rub my shoulders for me. It struck me odd, but not 'cause it creeped me out or anything. We Gargoyles were always all over each other like littermate pups, jumping, pulling hair, punching ribs, butting heads and of course the occasional hug thrown in there. But Angel made it a point to never willingly give or receive contact without complaining about it. This was unusual for him. Then again he'd been acting kinda… hmm. Weird. Only way to describe it. In a good, un-assholish way, but still weird. But I appreciated it so I didn't say anything. I just thumped back against his boney knee caps, feeling secure for the moment at least. So long as someone was there, to remind me I was awake, the dreams didn't seem so dangerous, so ready to spring from the dark corners of my mind and drag me under again. My bright, warm friends scared them, kept them at bay. I'd always slept better wedged between Varan and Stork in the old days, before the _Merlin_, before the dark things took on bodies of their own to try and drag me somewhere else.

"I think I saw Carrion." I muttered after a long time.

"What?"

"In my dream. I saw her. And Halo. But it wasn't me. It was someone else. I was just seeing what they saw. It was weird."

"But it was them?"

"Yeah… I think so. I saw Carrion's hair. Halo's eyes. They were talking, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I was in this thing, like a gold fish bowl. Or this person was, anyways. And there was this green stuff, like water but thicker. It was all around. Like, we were floating in it. And there were all these wires attached to this person, tubes so they could breathe-"

"Like an incubation tube?" Angel interrupted.

"Um… what's that?"

"It's like an isolation tank."

"…. Details here, Ange."

I could practically feel his eyes rolling. "Okay, well, an isolation tank basically isolates a person from all outside influence. It desensitizes you, basically, lets the body repair without interruption. I think it almost puts you in a coma, kinda, physically anyways. An incubation tube is the same thing, except usually they're meant to house a fetus while it develops, or even clones, if you're into that kinda sci-fi shit. I dunno, just what you described sounded like one, that's all."

Desensitizes…. coma-like… "You know, that sounds kinda right. Like, this person, whoever it was, was like… waking up. And it was like they were moving for the first time. You know that feeling when your arm falls asleep and you have to wait for the feeling to come back?"

Angel was quiet for awhile then said "Oh, sorry, I shrugged."

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Well anyways, it was like that. And it was like Halo was there, watching…" the more I spoke, the more it made sense. I'd always been more of an audio/kinetic learner.

"That's pretty FUBAR if you asked me. So is that all that happened?" he asked and I sighed, scratching my scalp uneasily.

"You know, I know it must suck, not sleeping, but when considering some of the alternatives…"

"Yeah, I know, I'm lucky. Was it really that bad?"

"It wouldn't have been… some of it was the normal glitchy stuff. The wall was back, and there was this pile of ashes that I've seen a few times before… but usually it's got this glittering thing it in, like glass or something. This time it was like there was something alive…"

"Yum, extra crispy."

"I think it was a baby." I said and he sobered up.

"Seriously? That's kinda… odd."

"Yeah, really."

"So then what happened?"

Here I bit my lip. I didn't want to tell him. And yet I needed too, even though I didn't want to even think of those images. I felt like I needed him to hear it, so I could feel like he at least would try and stay safe, stay alive, as if knowing would protect him, like some kind of charm from a curse.

"I saw you guys… all of you. And you all were… dying." I whispered, my hand jumping to my arm as if to wipe away the stains of blood and brain fluids that had sprayed there. "It was just… horrible. I watched it all and I couldn't do anything." My voice trailed away into a whimper and I hunched up into a bit of a ball, my skin prickling with sweat and my stomach cramping at the memories… at that moment I wanted to wake the others up and send them all home, away, anywhere they could be safe.

Angel stopped rubbing the base of my neck and crossed his wrists over the front of my throat so I could feel the pulse in the underside of his arm thrumming away against my own in my neck, reminding me that he was alive.

"Don't worry about that part, Shade. It was just a dream. We're all still here and we're not going anywhere, not if we can help it. We're okay, right? We're all okay."

I sighed and thunked my head back against his narrow chest so that his breathing got jerked out of rhythm and he settled his chin on my head comfortingly.

"I know." I muttered. "It was just so awful… I never see you guys in my dreams, ever. Now I realize why that is. I hope I don't ever again."

"How did I die?" he asked suddenly, trying to sound aloof. But something desperate was trembling under his words and it struck me odd.

"I don't want to tell you." I mumbled and he let it go at that.

"So, after we all…. after that, what happened to you?"

"I ended up on this weird plain. And there was this huge storm behind me, and at the center was this big vortex made of green lightning. And it freaked me out, I dunno why-"

"Well, green lightning breeding with a tornado… yeah, I can see how that'd be a little freaky. Just a bit. Slightly. Maybe."

"You done?"

"I suppose."

"Anyways, so I tried to run. But have you ever had one of those dreams where you're trying to run like made and your legs just won't work?"

"…Okay, Shade, step back a second and think about what you just asked me. _Me_. You know, guy who doesn't sleep?"

I swatted at him, grinning despite myself. "Alright, alright, I get it, don't have to make me look stupid. Well, just so you know, it sucks. 'Cause you want to run and you can't, you know? And when something's coming up behind you it's like… engine failure. In battle."

"Hmm… sounds like a suck fest alright."

"Yeah, pretty much. So I'm running, or trying to, and then there are all these bodies. But they're not… people. Just moving bodies, half rotten, really gross."

"Like zombies?"

"Yeah, kinda. And these bodies are getting sucked into the vortex and keep slamming into me, and anywhere they touch me it's like… I'm made of fire. They exploded, they dissolved. But the moment the moved away from me they healed again. It was really weird."

"We should check you juice from now on. Sounds like on big Acid Trip if you ask me. So then what?"

"Well, then I tripped. Yeah, go ahead, laugh. And then I got sucked into the vortex. And that around when I woke up." I had that sort of feeling that you get after throwing up. I felt empty and shaky inside, my mouth had a sour taste sitting in the back and now I was left to wonder what happened next. "And you know what the really frustrating thing about the whole thing is?"

"Um… you've got the Pasties?"

"_None_ of it makes any sense. Therefore…"

"None of it is any help." Angel finished for me, blowing out a long sigh.

"Exactly." I said, resting my forehead on my palms and snaking my fingers into my hair distractedly. This was how it always worked; I had to suffer through the nightmares, wake up, recuperate, and just as I started to feel better I realized I was still at square one, with no lead in any direction, and that vortex was still looming behind me, closing the distance. "God, you know, maybe if I would have stayed asleep just a little longer, seen what was inside the vortex at least I could have-"

"Falshade." Angel interrupted me. "Now you're being just plain stupid. Hell, you know, with what you've just told me I'm surprised you stayed asleep as long as you did. These dreams are meant to be nonsense, I doubt another second would have changed anything. So don't beat yourself up about it." he leaned forward and pushed his face into the back of my neck tiredly. "Don't torture yourself." he said, his voice muffled against my hair.

"…Are you okay, Ange?" I asked. He really was being rather clingy, unusual for him. Then again, he'd been playing tough guy for the last three days while I'd been emotionally MIA. I think he was permitted a bit of meltdown time, even though by now he was sort of creeping me out. I hadn't totally forgotten that he'd kissed me earlier.

"Tired. Sore. Think my damn wisdom teeth are coming in."

"Oh, good, guess that means we can be expecting the old, grouchy Angel back sometime soon, right?" I teased and he pulled away from me.

"What's that supposed to mean? And the word is _snarky_. Grouchy makes me sound like an old guy in a nursing home."

"Well I just mean you've been acting pretty… well, we haven't heard so much as a nasty little peep outta you in like… days." I said, trying to keep the laughter out of my voice. Angel got huffy when you implied he was acting nice. He got huffier if you implied that his being nice was funny.

"What, is it freaking you out or something?" he asked, sounding snubbed.

"Uh… well it's… actually, yeah." I said and snorted with laughter by accident.

Angel snorted too, but not with mirth, and slid off the armrest, plonking down heavily on the floor. "Fine."

"Well I didn't stay _stop_." I whined, missing his warm hands.

"Too bad, lost your chance." he said, folding his arms. I stretched out the couch and then rolled onto my side so I could stare at the back of his head.

"Oh, come on, I thought you liked being gr- snarky. I said _snarky_."

"You told me once I should be a nicer guy more often. I'd be less miserable. Remember?" he said coldly and his remark stung because as a matter of fact I _had _said it, about two years ago now, when I spiked a sudden fever. Not only had he kept me caught up in all my classes and tried to look after me as best I could since I refused to go see the nurse, he even went down to train Stork that evening, even though the two of them hadn't exactly been on the greatest terms back then (believe me, there'd been a time when they were worse. I'm dead serious).

I sighed. "Yeah, I remember." I reached out slightly and ran my fingers through the back of his hair softly, the way he used to like it. Back in the days before Fraggle had come careening into our lives with his plucky little air ship, it'd been the four of us on our own, crashing for the night under the stars more often then not and just sort of wandering the Atmos as we pleased. Stork, despite her tough girl attitude, always had a soft spot for we boys, even if we did drive her as crazy as she did us. She used to get positively distraught watching Angel and I stumble about, sleep deprived and grouchy, and was determined to think of some way to get us both to sleep. Her trick with me was the Picture game; she'd sit beside me while I was stretched on my stomach and draw pictures on my back and made me guess them:

'_Is it a puppy?'_

'_It's a dragon, stupid.'_

That was one of those memories I was going to stick in my back pocket, like Wasp had suggested. Once or twice I managed to wrangle her into playing too, but Stork was always a touchy person, pardon the pun. But it used to work anyways and I'd get so drowsy I'd forget about nightmares all together and usually sleep the whole night through, no problem. Stork never voiced it, but it pleased her to know she'd been able to soothe me. She'd always been weird that way… crabby, quick as a fox to snap, often at the hand that fed her. But I mean under that… she was kind. Gentle. I didn't know which side of her I was going to miss more.

Angel's weak spot was his scalp. But he was way more likely to slug you if you dared try touch him. Stork, out of stubborn resentment to his harsh words, didn't make any extra effort to pacify him, but I mean a good eight days without sleeping has a way of wearing down a guy's resistance and in the end she'd won out and he grudgingly let her do her thing. It'd never got him totally to sleep, but it relaxed his tense muscles nonetheless and I felt sort of bad for teasing him earlier so I tried my hand at it. He tensed right up for a second before settling back with a barely audible moan.

I've got the guy wrapped around my finger, what can I say?

No, I kid.

"Ange, we've got to look through Stork's room sometime soon. Tomorrow, if we can."

Angel was silent for a long time. "…Why?" he finally asked, sounding weary.

"Because we need to know if she's got-if she _had_ family out there, somewhere. She never mentioned anything to me about it. Did she ever tell you anything?"

Angel laughed hollowly. "The only thing that girl ever told me was to go stick my hand in the waffle iron."

I snorted. "Still. I dunno, Stork seemed like the kind of person who had someone. Anyone. Maybe a parent or aunt or brother. Something."

"What makes you think that? She was at _Finch's_ for awhile before you met her, and she left with us without batting an eye. She might not have had a family at all."

"Everyone's got a family." I muttered as if he'd said something completely stupid.

"I don't."

"Well, you do _now_." I pointed out, meaning us, digging my knuckles into his head playfully. "But that's the thing, isn't it? She might have, she might not have, we don't know. Which is why we have to look in her room. She might have letters or pictures or something."

"That's like grave robbing if you ask me. Why do we have to find out, anyways?" he asked, even though I had a feeling he already knew well enough why.

"Because we've got to tell them she's… that she's dead." God those words still hurt. Like nails and acid coming up the wrong way. I was reminded of a line from a book I'd read once, one of the only novels I'd ever read just for leisure, because lord knows reading was never a relaxing pastime for me: _It's not where you go when you die. It's who you leave behind._

Amen…

Angel sighed. "Okay, not to be the insensitive guy in all this, but if Stork did have family out there, they could be half-way across the Atmos for all we know. I don't think Stork would have wanted us to forget about the mission just for her account."

"I know that. But it's just… a moral thing of mine."

"You and your damn morals. They'll be the ruin of you yet."

"And that mouth will be yours, I'm sure. But seriously, Angel, if you… if something happened to you, who would you rather have tell your family, someone who'd been there, who knew what happened, or some guy in a black suit with a face like ice?"

"I don't have a family." Angel reminded me and I rolled my eyes.

"_Fine_. Heard you loud and clear. But if it were _me_, if something happened to me, I'd want it to be you guys who told my mom. Because at least she knows you, at least she knew _I_ knew you, that you guys had been there with me, you know? At least she'd feel like she could cry in front of you. At least she'd feel like she could hug you."

"Hmm…"

"I guess we can worry about it after Delphi." I said, not too enthusiastic about infiltrating Stork's room anyways, even though I felt it needed to be done. Hell, she'd never been very permissive with us when it came to her precious stuff. I could just imagine a very pissed off Stork haunting me for the rest of my days for rifling through her possessions… that was all I needed.

I sighed, not wanting to think of her at all really because it still hurt more then I wanted it to. I didn't want to just forget her, I just… I wished it wouldn't be so hard to. Every time I saw her pixyish little face squinched up in a sneer or laughter in my mind it made me feel like I wanted to cry until I puked and then cry some more. I needed these hard parts to be over, and that included delivering the bad news to whatever family she had out there besides us.

"You know, Shade, you should go back to sleep." Angel suggested, sounding drained. "I'm gonna be up all night anyways, I'll chill out here and keep an eye on you, okay?"

I smiled a bit and continued to push my fingers backwards through his slightly oily hair. I was tired too but I wasn't sure I was going to be able to fall asleep again tonight. I was fine just lying out here with him, watching the moon roll by.

"You know something, Ange?" I said after a long time, might have been an hour, might have been longer, I wasn't sure. Might have been shorter then that too.

Angel didn't respond and I leaned over the edge of the couch to see if maybe he'd fallen asleep after all. He hadn't, but his eyes were half-closed and he looked drowsy.

"Angel?"

"Huh? What?" he said then blinked a few times and shook his head. "Yeah?"

"Sorry, should have left you alone."

"Well I'm listening _now_."

"Well, I was thinking… I know a lot of bad things went down. But if one good thing came from losing Stork…" I paused to clear my throat. "Well, if one good thing came from that, I think it brought the rest of us closer together."

* * *

"Hey, Sleepin' Beauty! Wakie, wakie, eh!"

"Fraggle, don't jump on him."

I was startled from sleep to find a certain blonde haired Blizzarian grinning down on me. Said Blizzarian had also sprung onto my chest and blasted the air from me.

"Ew, you're drooling all over my upholstery, eh." he commented and I wiped at my mouth briefly.

"Fraggle, would you mind getting off? Kinda asphyxiating here."

"No, you know what, I think I'm just gonna sit right here and kick back for a bit." he said, sitting on my torso defiantly.

I swung a slow, only half-awake punch at him which he easily deflected. He tussled with me for a second before springing out of my grasp, laughing.

"Wow, eh, you sure are pokey in the morning, got the reflexes of a dead-Hey! HEY!"

"What?"

"Those are _mine_, eh!" Fraggle howled, outraged by something.

"What are you talking-"

"My shorts! You're wearing my _shorts_!" Fraggle hollered, jabbing a blue finger at where the waistband of my boxers had been exposed while I'd been wrestling with him. I peered down at them curiously.

"Fraggle, what are you talking about, these are mine."

"Like hell they are, eh! Those got Dash Lightning on 'em, eh, they're mine!"

"What, you got your name stitched on the inside or something?" I asked, hiking my jeans back up.

"As a matter of fact they do… well, not those ones, but… look, it doesn't matter, they got Dash on 'em, they're mine." Without warning he reached out, grabbed me by the waist band and dragged me onto the floor of the bridge.

"What the-OW! Fraggle! Let me go!" I yelped, but he wasn't listening.

"Look, Varan, see, Dash Lightning. They're mine." he said, holding up the edge of his shorts (and pulling me with them) for Varan's examination.

"Why would you even _imply_ that I'd recognize your underwear?" Varan demanded.

"Fraggle, for the love of god, let go! I'm in serious pain here!" I shouted at him. Angel was laughing so hard he'd fallen to his knees by the table and was pounding one of the chairs with a fist.

Fraggle released me grudgingly and I kicked at his shins from my position on the floor, desperately trying to rearrange my shorts.

"Once you've yanked them out of your ass would you mind giving me them back, eh?" he said sourly and I glared at him.

"What, you want me to strip down right here and give them to you?"

"No!" Varan shouted. "I, for one, still want to eat breakfast. And Fraggle, if I were you I wouldn't just take those back, let them get washed at least first."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

Angel was wheezing over on the floor. "I dunno, Var, I think Falshade should be the one a little more concerned. Way too easy to pick up crabs when you're covered in pubic hair."

"ANGEL!" the three of us barked at him while he rolled onto his side, laughing harder then I'd seen him in awhile.

Fraggle looked rather snubbed. Folding his arms he said "First of all, eh, my _fur_ is a lot cleaner then your greasy little human scalp. And second of all, my junk has a better immune system then you do, so watch what you imply about cooties, 'cause at least I've been-"

"SHUT UP!" Varan roared. "For the love of god, I don't want to hear anything about anybody's junk, _ever again_!"

"JUNK!" Wasp screeched and we all jumped. Apparently she'd slid onto the couch without our noticing. "Do you know there's like, thirty different definitions for the word junk? Like, this crystal is _junk_, no _junk_, no soul, this _junk_ is _junk_, just _junk_ it, don't touch my _junk_, the other don't touch my _junk_…junkity junk junk junk."

"And once more, for good measure, junk." Angel added and Wasp positively beamed at him. Varan and I exchanged a look. _What_?

Wasp stood up on the couch and then jumped onto the floor beside me. "Hi."

"Morning."

"Guess what?"

"…What?"

Wasp did a drum roll on the floor with her gangly fingers. "I saw a cat. And he smiled at me." Wasp reported this as if it were the greatest thing ever to have happened to her.

"Wait… cat? Where was there a cat? Don't tell me you brought one along from somewhere."

Wasp shook her head sadly.

"We, um, we thought about waking you up, but you looked pretty wiped. We stopped at a terra about twenty minutes ago." Varan explained. "Delphi's not on the maps, so we had to stop and ask for directions. This old fellow told us to keep on two notches above east on the compass and we should be there in three hours."

"Second star from the right and straight on 'til morning!" Wasp added, hopping to her feet excitedly. "Neverland, yo ho!"

I sprang to my feet too, feeling very awake all of a sudden. "Three hours 'til Delphi? Great! Sorry I was out, you should have woke me up…" I started pacing, anxious and excited at the same time. Angel stuck his foot out lazily to try and trip me up.

"Nah. You looked too darn cute, eh." Fraggle crooned and I swung a more accurate punch at him. Still missed, but I was only kidding around anyways. Instead I pulled the rim of his toque down over his eyes and shoved him back towards the wheel.

"Well then, two stars it is and keep at it!" I said and he saluted me before taking the _Merlin_ out of autopilot and leaned on the throttle. I stuck out my arms for balance momentarily and nearly clipped Varan in the jaw.

"Oh, that's the thanks I get is it?" he asked, grabbing me in a headlock and giving me a ferocious nougie.

"Thanks for what?"

"There's a doughnut for you in the kitchen."

I struggled loose and bolted down the corridor, hollering "Sweet!" in a most unleader-like fashion. Well, usually pastries and chocolate and the likes didn't survive long on the _Merlin_, pardon me for being a little overeager.

"Oh yeah, I've got sprinkles!" I crowed, returning to the bridge with my prize in hand.

"So? Mine was triple chocolate. Suck on that." Angel said, setting his boots up on the table. Wasp snuffled at them with interest.

"Sprinkles could kick chocolate's ass, any day, hands down." I explained to him matter-of-factly, sitting in the chair across from him and for old time's sake pushing his feet off the table.

"_Mine_ had jelly. Jelly beats chocolate _and_ sprinkles, eh." Fraggle informed us both from the helm.

"Depends. What kind of jelly are we talking about here?" Varan asked.

"Wildberry. That's three kinda of awesome fruit flavour in one, eh. You can't beat that." Fraggle insisted.

"Wildberry is for finicky little kids. Marmalade, now that is jam. All others are obsolete." Angel said, scratching at his chin and setting his feet back on the table.

"_Marmalade_?" I asked in disgust.

"Marmalade, my taste bud-handicap friend, is for little old grannies who don't know the difference between food and a shoe, eh."

"Two words: Pomey-grante." Wasp said from under the table.

"It's one word, dummy. And it's pom-eh, not pom-e." Angel corrected her.

"Beats marmalade. Now _that's_ junk."

Angel scowled and the other three of us laughed. I ruffled Wasp's hair affectionately, before she had time to snap at me if she wanted to. She didn't; rather, she looked up and grinned at me.

I shoved the rest of my doughnut into my mouth and felt good. Sometimes you feel best when you get those tiny little uprising moments after a long, dark and unfortunate series of events. Even if it's just for a moment, it's probably one of the best highs in the world.

But, you know, what goes up must come down.

The radio snapped and crackled, alive all of a sudden like an animal waking from hibernation. I got up while the others watched on, silent and curious, and approached the _Merlin_'s antique radio.

Picking up the receiver I said "Hello?"

Nothing. A few spats of static. Then- "Ftzz…alling for any ftzz ftzt... squadrons within twenty fzzzzz ftzz… this is ftz…prey, requesting reinforcem-ftzzt…"

That voice… I knew that voice. "Ozprey?" I asked with incredulity.

For a moment there was nothing. Then it seemed that we must have hit a decent area for radio waves, because the voice on the other end was suddenly very clear. "Falshade?"

"Ozprey! What… where are you?"

"At a radio post in the southern quadrant. Where are you?"

"Southern quadrant too, more east… what are you doing so far from Vatican?" I asked, feeling unease prickle in my gut and suddenly regretted scarfing down my doughnut.

"…Shade, haven't you heard what's been going on?" she asked hesitantly. I looked back at the others. Angel had moved his feet from the table and gotten up. Wasp had crawled out from under the table and Varan's tail was flicking back and forth slightly. I swallowed and turned back to the receiver.

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

"You haven't heard anything about the attacks?"

That was the trigger word. As if on cue all my senses started to reel and my inner alarms went off.

Varan was at my side. "What is she talking about?" he muttered and I pushed him back a bit so he wasn't breathing down my neck. "Oz, what is going on?"

"That terra you found, Shade? Wasn't the only one. And since you reported it there's been six more reported attacks all over the Atmos. The entire Legion's been called out, we're scattered like pollen on the wind. Last I heard of the Guardians they got called out to the West. And the Neck Deeps went down to help the Amazonians and haven't been heard from since, that was two days ago now. No idea where the Eagles got shipped off too… we're all over the map. I've been trying to get a hold of someone all night."

Dread was making my muscles turn to water. Thoughts were spinning in my head like they'd been left behind in my dream, in the vortex, and I was having trouble staying focused. "What… what about the Keepers? Why have you left Vatican? Why are you way out here on some radio post if all this is going on?"

The wavelengths crackled menacingly at me over the distance for a long time. My nerves were stretched so tightly it hurt and I felt a trickle of sweat running down the length of my spine.

When Oz's voice finally answered back, there was none of the zeal in it I'd grown to love. That could only mean she was delivering nothing but bad news:

"Terra Nord is under siege."

That statement fell like a stone over all our heads. Barely breathing, I twisted at the same time Varan did to look at Fraggle.

He'd completely frozen, his eyes lunging out of their sockets alarmingly. He just stood there, gaping at us, completely forgetting about the _Merlin_'s controls.

"Fraggle…" Varan called to him cautiously. "Fraggle, don't you even think it. They're fine, Fraggle, they're fine!"

"Fine…" Fraggle echoed, sounding very small and far away. Then he dropped to his knees with a clang. Varan hurried over next to him in an instant, muttering into his ear comfortingly.

"Oz, what is going on?" I demanded, my bout of speechlessness broken at the same time that Fraggle's knee gave out as if both had been triggered by a singular, subtle signal.

"The terra was attacked sometime yesterday evening. We were here and we managed to pull in the Zeroes too, they were nearby. I had to-" suddenly there was a loud crashing noise in the background and I could hear Oz yelling at someone behind her "GET THOSE BLASTERS UP! C'MON, MOVE, NOW!" the radio crackled for a second before her voice came back to me. "I got pulled out of the fight, my damn trick knee, wasn't working for me in the cold and then I wrenched it again… so I've been stationed here since then, trying to get a hold of the other squadrons, figure out what in hell is going on out there."

"What about the others?" I asked desperately.

"Haven't heard from Ray or Drake in hours, they went off with Suzi. Got a hold of Nimbus about an hour ago, he was with the Nordian Hybrids. Monsters they are, we woulda been sunk if they hadn't come in from the tundra… haven't heard from Aries since last night, he couldn't see, snow glare, so he went with the civilians up to the mountains. That's where they pulled everybody up to keep safe, but of course the bloody things are a blessing and a curse because they block my damn radio waves- WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? GET THOSE BLASTERS WORKING AND I MEAN NOW!!!" Oz's bellows, amplified by the fact that she was half-deaf and could barely hear herself, rung out like war drums, strong but not the most reassuring sound in the Atmos. Not by a long shot.

"Varan, Angel, _someone_ get me a map of the quadrant." I demanded. Angel sprang to the shelves and I turned back to the radio. "Oz, listen, we're about five hours out from Nord, we can be there in four-"

"No, Shade, you stay out of this one. You won't get here in time, we're on their heels now, these are the last of them clearing out and doing as much damage as the can while they're at it." as if to accentuate her point another resounding blast went off in the background. "…I swear to fucking god, if they don't get those blasters… no, Shade, hold your position, unless these guys have reinforcements we're going to be fine, and I don't know how much help you'll be afterwards."

I felt so frustrated and panicked I nearly hurled the receiver at the window. "Oz, we might be able to catch them as they retreat, we can-"

Fraggle was beside me so suddenly I actually did drop the receiver. He fumbled for it desperately, tears glinting in his eyes. "Ozprey, what about the Howlers eh, have you heard from them?" he demanded, his voice cracking under the strain.

"I'm not sure, I'm getting reports flung at me left right and center… is this Fraggle?"

"Their wingman is a man named Hail!" Fraggle rambled on, uninterrupted. "He's my dad, I need to know if he's okay!"

"Fraggle, I'm sorry, I-"

"Well what about the Zeroes then?" Fraggle shouted so loudly I took a small step away from him. "You said Suzi was with your boys, was there another female with her, purple haired Blizzy, Maxi-Ruth?" He was so desperate and scared it really went to my heart. I felt so bad for him and worse, I didn't know what I could do about it.

"Maxi-Ruth? I don't know, she might have gone with them, she might have gone into the mountains with the evacuees. I'm sorry, Fraggle, I just don't know! It's pure pandemonium out here, I have no idea where anyone is, who's hurt, who's missing, and who the hell these guys are! I-" another loud boom and this time Oz lost her patience. "I HAVE _HAD_ IT!!! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY POST!!!" This statement was followed by the loudest explosion yet. I had a feeling Ozprey had just hurled one of her signature explosives at whoever'd been firing at the radio post for the past five minutes.

"THAT'LL TEACH YA!!! Listen, Shade, I really have to go, these guys just won't take no for an answer, and I don't have any A-Squad soldiers on my hands either… stay safe, okay?"

"Oz, wait, I-" abruptly my transmission was cut off and then this time I couldn't help it; I threw the receiver at the window. Of course it was still attached to the radio by the cord and it came back and thwacked me in the knee cap, but I paid no attention to it. I reached out to grab Fraggle's shoulder to find he was no long at my side. Varan pointed downwards with a grim expression on his face before sitting down next to where Fraggle had fallen down again. He was hunched up on the floor, knees drawn in tight to his chest and his face buried in his knee caps, hands twisting his ears so tightly between his fingers I thought he was going to tear them off.

Slowly, carefully, as if I was afraid of scaring him off, I crouched down in front of him. "Fraggle?" I tried, trying to make my voice sound as soft and reassuring as possible. Varan reached out and grabbed his shoulder gently. "Listen, Fraggle, they're going to be okay. You heard what Oz said, whoever attacked them are pulling outta there like, right now, and if you ask me I don't know how they held out as long as they did. The Howlers aren't alone, The Keepers and the Zeroes are there, and if they've got the Hybrids on their side like Oz said they do, well… whoever attacked them are probably kicking themselves for it now. The Hybrids are supposed to be like barbarians, aren't they?"

"That's right." I added, nodding even though Fraggle wasn't looking at us. I'd learned a little bit about the lupine hybrid natives of the Nordian tundra at the Academy, and from what I'd heard the hardy people of the ice and snow weren't someone you wanted to run into in battle. They were like the Amazons of the sub-zeroes, apparently. "And everyone was evacuated, right? So I'm sure everybody's safe and sound, maybe a little shaken up, that's all."

Fraggle made a strangled noise and didn't look up. "Not if they didn't get them out until after the terra was attacked. You heard what Oz said, eh. They have no idea who's hurt or missing or…"

"Don't say it!" Varan snapped. "Don't even think like that! Listen, you step-dad's in the Howlers, right? So he's trained for exactly this kind of situation! He's going to be okay, and so is you mom. She was in the Zeroes before, right? So she knows how to look after herself."

"Then why doesn't anybody know where she is?" Fraggle howled at him, pulling his face from his knees so he could seethe at Varan properly so abruptly I started. "Where's my mum? I want to talk to her _right now_!"

"Right, on it." Angel said, grabbing the controls of the _Merlin_. "If we all crash and burn, feel free to blame me."

"GET YOUR LITTLE FUCKING HANDS OFF OF MY SHIP!" Fraggle roared at him so fiercely that for once in his life Angel listened and actually did let go. Fraggle abruptly burst into tears and buried his face in his knees again, twisting his ears around a full three hundred and sixty degrees. Between his sobs he started muttering something and Varan boldly leaned forward to catch it.

"Varan, Varan, Varan, where's my mum? And what about… what about Starla, eh? She can't fight, she can't fight…" came Fraggle's choked words and I looked at Varan, baffled. I started to wonder fearfully if Fraggle was plunging into PTSS.

Varan, however, seemed to know exactly what Fraggle was rambling about. "She won't have to. They evacuated everybody, just like Falshade said. She's going to be fine."

"She's alone… and what if… what if she didn't get out in time? What if she went after my mum? Ooooh, Starla, I have to go see Starla…"

"Who's Starla?" I whispered.

"His sister."

I did a double take. A whole new wave of dread hit me. "He's got a bloody _sister_?"

"Listen, Fraggle, buddy, it's okay. She's not alone. Oz said Aries went with them, probably to look after anyone who got hurt, and I promise you if Starla's with him then she's going to be just fine."

"What if she's not, eh? What if she's not? It'd be just the sort of thing she'd do, chasing after my mum, trying to help… and I… I… IneedtoseeSTARLA!"

I was trying to do some sort of calculation in my head. Fraggle's biological father was dead, so his sister would have to be his age, if not older. "Fraggle, even if she did chase after them, I'm sure she'll be alright, right? How old is she?"

"She's only eleven!" Fraggle yowled.

Well, _shit_…

Varan scowled at me. "Nice one."

I made an exasperated, apologetic and helpless noise all at the same time. "Well I didn't bloody know!"

Angel cleared his throat obviously. "Can you two maybe bitch fight later? Pilot's kinda having a meltdown here."

"Lot of help you're being." I snapped at him and he shrugged.

"Not my forte, to be honest."

Oh I could have killed him.

Fraggle suddenly yelped and practically tore to pocket off his jacket. "Oh no. SHIT, OH NO!"

"What?" Varan asked, looking apprehensive at the new distress that had entered Fraggle's swimming eyes.

"Where's my charm? I had it, where is it? It's Starla's, I've got to… I have to…"

"You gave that to Pippa, remember?" Varan reminded him gently and Fraggle slapped a hand to his forehead.

"Shit, eh… and now I need it. I need it, Varan."

"We'll get you a new one, okay? Listen, Fraggle, I know it's hard, but you've got to get your head on straight so you can fly, okay? 'Cause none of us know how."

"Fly where?"

"To Nord, where else?" Varan asked, looking at me for agreement. He needn't of bothered; I'd been nodding before he'd even got all the words out of his mouth.

"Yeah, that's right. We can be there in four hours, c'mon, Wasp can help me set up a Velocity array and-"

"Nord?" Fraggle repeated, letting go of one of his ears as if he hadn't been able to hear properly. Now I really thought he'd gone in Sky Shock.

"Yeah, Fraggle, Nord. I don't care what Oz said, we're going and we'll do what we can. And I promise first thing when we get there we can go and find Starla, okay?" I vowed determinedly. I'd never been one to follow orders anyways.

Fraggle was looking at me like I'd grown an extra head. With a huge sucking of mucus that made me wrinkle my nose in disgust he stood up, looking shaky but determined. "No, eh. Oz said they were packing off, these bastards. They're going to need medics and frankly, Varan's the only one among us who knows anything about that shit, eh. We'll be in the way."

Angel did a double-take. "Whoa, bi-polar much?"

"Angel, do me a huge favour and go fuck the toaster, alright?" Fraggle muttered, shoving him roughly away from the controls. Angel rolled his eyes, muttering 'of course' under his breath.

I got up, exchanging a concerned look with Varan. "But, Fraggle… where are we-"

"Chief, just let me talk here for a second, okay? We're about two hours from Delphi. If we blow that off to go to Nord we're probably going to get caught up in all this crazy shit Oz was mentioning there, eh, and we might not get another chance to come out this way. We've got to go, eh. Varan's right, my family's going to… they're gonna be fine, eh." he said the last part extra loud as if he had to convince himself more then us. "There's nothing we can do to help them anyways. Delphi's more important right now, eh."

I nearly fell over. I mean, if it were me I probably would have said something along those lines, but I mean… to hear one of my friends just give up going to see their family when that was what they obviously needed to do just for the sake of my stupid mission? You better believe that not only pulled some heartstrings but ripped them right out and hooked them up to a power outlet.

"Fraggle, are you… are you sure? Because Delphi… hell, we don't have to keep going to Delphi."

"Yeah, we do, eh."

"I dunno, Fraggle, I really think-"

"Stop saying that or I'm changing my mind, eh!" he snapped, leaning on the throttles.

I sighed and changed my tactics. "Okay. Okay, this is totally your call. It's really… well, pretty noble of you really, to keep going."

"Well I was due, right?" he asked, giving a sniffly little laugh and Varan ruffled his toque fondly.

"But listen, Fraggle, after Delphi we can drop by Nord and we can stay as long as you want, okay? We'll make ourselves useful, medic or not. Nothing's more important then family, so don't let me hear you say something like that again or I'll kick your tail from here to next Thursday, alright?"

"Duly noted, eh. Angel!" he barked at Angel's back. "What're you doing, eh?"

Angel scowled and leaned against the wall. "According to you there's a toaster in some serious need of some love, but I mean if you want I could go shove something up my ass if you've changed your mind."

"…I had a perfectly good comment for that one, eh. Sorry dude, you were being an asshole again, kinda lost my cool, eh."

"I'd dearly _love _to hear said comment by the way. Seriously. I dare you."

"Apology accepted."

"Amen!" Wasp said, nodding as Angel meticulously unlaced his boot and threw it at Fraggle playfully. And just like that, turbulence between us was gone. Fraggle still looked like hell and he kept screwing up his face to fight back tears and I felt horrible all the same, though. It didn't matter what we said, he was going to keep worrying until it was confirmed that his family was indeed safe.

"Jesus…" I muttered, sitting on the couch, feeling drained. Varan sat next to me and Wasp clambered on next to him, sitting with her hands in her lap, trying to look proper. "I had no idea... a sister. Jeez."

"It's okay, Shade. Sorry I snapped at you." Varan said apologetically, because he's like that. Even if he had a perfectly good reason to yell at me he'd probably fall down and beg for forgiveness two minutes later, even if I was the one who should have been asking for forgiveness.

"Don't worry about it. I really hope this whole Delphi thing doesn't go south now, all things considered." I muttered and Varan laughed uncertainly. I wasn't even sure if I'd been kidding or not.

"South like birds. We are south though. I think you mean north." Wasp corrected me.

"It's just an expression. Like down the tubes, you know?"

"I know that. So, what did that Oz-prey woman mean? Other terras are being attacked? How come we didn't know?" Wasp asked and I felt my stomach jolt, having forgotten about that part of Oz's report.

"Probably because our radio's a piece of shit." Angel explained, pulling up a nearby chair. "But how many days has it been since we were at Vatican, six, seven? And Oz said that there's been six other attacks, and that's not including Nord. _Reported_ attacks, mind you. There could be more terras out there like that one we found."

"I know, and I don't like that thought at all." I said, running my hand though my hair distractedly. "Especially considering the whole Legion is scattered and disorganized like they are. Our whole defence has been blown wide open."

"What defence?" Angel and Varan asked dryly at the same time.

"And the thing is… I don't think this is it. There's something else just waiting in the shadows somewhere." I muttered, holding my forehead, my heart skipping a few beats. Blown wide open… we'd always been wide open. It was only a matter of time before something came in with huge claws and dug deep into our flank. Atmos, from my point of view at the moment, looked screwed with a capital S.

Varan seemed to have sensed what I was thinking. "Well, that's why we're going to Delphi, right? We're going to figure out your dreams once and for all, and put an end to this bull shit."

"War's not bull shit." Wasp said and we turned to look at her.

"_What_?" Varan and I asked at the same time that Angel said "Are you effing kidding me?"

"Well, it isn't." Wasp said, flicking her ears defensively. "It's not a good thing, of course. But if we didn't fight it, bad things would happen, right? So war… it's not good, not bad. It's that shade of grey in the middle. It's an ugly."

I blinked at her. "An ugly?"

"Yeah. You know, like death and going to the dentist. Things that happen, whether we like it or not, and we just have to learn to accept. They're called Uglies. You humans, you're good at just swallowing the uglies by now. You do it all the time. You're good at it. And you're good at it because you're used to it. And you're used to it because you do it all the time."

Angel laughed, not his usual mocking one and looked at Wasp critically. "So what about you then, Miss Ugly? What do you do all the time? What are you good at?"

"Oh, me?" Wasp rubbed at her nose thoughtfully, then brightened with inspiration. "I'm pretty good at breaking people's arms."

* * *

It surprised me that Delphi had been taken off the maps. You wouldn't know it by looking at it.

We stepped onto the terra from the dry docks and I was stunned for a moment by just the amount of life that was crammed onto the tiny terra.

A huge bazaar sprawled before us, more crowded then the streets of Atmosia and jammed with probably tons more worldly treasures and goods too. Hundreds of multi-coloured tents sprung up from the ground like brightly decorated toadstools and each one seemed to be displaying something more fascinating then the next. Gemstones and rare crystals were glittering like dragon scales in the sun, exotic birds were chirping and crying from their gold cages, herbs and spices that stung my nose with their smell were piled high on some counters while others showed off various elixirs and pickled creatures in rainbow hued jars. One stall had an array of odd shaped glass ornaments and another was manned by a woman wearing only some sort of weird, chain mail (and pretty daring, I have to say) undergarment who was selling swords and daggers, some small enough to fit in my boot, others nearly as long as Varan was tall.

"Uh… wow." I said, my eyes smarting as I tried to take in all the details of the place at once.

Varan groaned. "Is it too late to ask if I can stay on the _Merlin_?"

I stood on his tail. "Yup."

He sighed and looked around with semi-interest. I half expected Fraggle to nudge me in the ribs and make a comment on the girl in the armoured underwear, but he didn't. He just stared off at one of the multitude of flags that were fluttering in the wind distractedly.

I grabbed his sleeve and tugged him forwards. "C'mon, the Oracle's temple is up at the far end of the terra."

"Oh, great." Varan muttered.

"Hey, this was your idea, remember?" Angel pointed out, pausing to wait for Wasp to catch up. She was wiping dirt of her hands; last I'd seen her she'd been scooping a hole in the earth next to the docks with her bare hands.

"Stick with us, alright? I'll be seriously pissed off if I have to hunt for you in this crowd." Angel warned her and she sneezed agreeably.

Pushing our way through the streets we soon found out that the oddest of wares were sold in the interior of the teeming market place. On weedy looking fellow was selling fabric that had been weaved with Cloaking crystals so they turned whatever was behind them invisible. Another man had an assortment of good luck charms, everything from the usual four leafed clovers to the more unusual, like a wooden box of full children's teeth. One crooked old woman shoved a brass bowl under my nose and told me she'd sell me three grams of pixie dust for a Fleck. Wasp and I made the others pause as we looked up like two little children at the fire eater on stilts, towering above the stalls and spitting fire into the pale sky.

"How hard do you think it is to learn that?" Wasp asked as Varan tugged me along.

"No." we all told her in unison.

"Wow, that guy's got _eyeballs_ in jars!" Wasp exclaimed, tugging my sleeve. "I wonder where he got 'em."

"How about you come over here and I'll show you!" the man crowed to her. "Trade you some nice sparkling blue ones for that amber pearl of yours, sweetheart!"

"Got any in lime green?" Wasp called back. Angel gave her a shove forwards before shouting at the guy exactly where he could shove his jar of blue eyes.

I bumped into Varan, who'd stopped to peer curiously at a large hourglass in which the sand was trickling upwards as opposed to down.

"Ground up Floater crystals." I explained to his quizzical expression.

"You know what's sad, I didn't think of that until you said it…"

Suddenly we passed a stand with cluster of cages sitting on the counter and hanging from the rafters of the tent. Brightly coloured skinks were either resting in sun beams in the bottoms of clinging with their sticky little feet to the bars; lemon yellow, bubblegum pink, electric blue, bamboo green, lavender, candy apple red, tangerine, snow white… some had rings on their tails and a few had speckles and it seemed like a four year old had dumped out a whole box of sixty four coloured crayons and decorated each lizard personally.

Wasp slowed to a halt then turned wide, imploring eyes on the four of us.

"Can we-"

"No." came the immediate, droned response from the four of us boys because we're just mean that way.

"But they-"

"No."

"But it'll stay in a _tank_." Wasp wheedled. "It's not like a goat! It'll be quiet and eat all the buggies on the _Merlin_! C'mon, they're so cute…"

"So if you stuck me in a tank and fed me crickets would I be cute?" Varan asked pointedly and Wasp tugged at her lip ring with her teeth.

"Well, can you do any tricks?"

"I can kick your scrawny white ass to the other side of the terra if you want."

"Well, I guess you could _try_, anyways." Wasp said and looked at Angel pleadingly. I had no idea _why_, but then again I had no idea why Wasp did anything.

"Don't look at _me_ like that. No pets. You can barely look after yourself." Angel informed her and she scowled at him, looking insulted.

"Falshade, why not? Lizards aren't like goats, they stay in tanks and sometimes you let them roam around and they basically take care of themselves!"

"Yeah, but lizards don't really appeal to me. I guess I'm more of a dog person."

"Dogs?" Wasp rolled this over in her mind. "Dogs are okay. Puppies have funny faces. They're all squished up like this." she pursed her thin lips and wrinkled her nose. "And they aren't born with teeth."

"No mammal is born with teeth." Angel pointed out then lunged at someone like a doberman on a leash as they bumped into him. I grabbed him by the back of his shirt and hauled him along beside me. True to his words, his wisdom teeth were coming in, and true to _my_ words, it'd turned him back into his old snarky (grouchy) self.

Well, _some_ of us are born with teeth.

"Hey, easy, we don't need to start anything." I said, letting go of his shirt but holding him by the shoulder for a second to make sure he wasn't going to snap at anyone else.

"You know, the fact that this whole place has become one big tourist trap doesn't really give me much confidence about this whole thing." he grumbled. "I mean for all we know the Oracle is dead and they've just got some guy up there who gets a tingle in his big toe every time it's about to rain and says he can predict the weather."

And there's the Angel we know and love. And here I was worrying I had a missing person on my hands.

I started to say something then slammed my teeth on my own tongue. A pretty girl with blue hair across the street from us had just turned around and smiled at me warmly. I forced a thin smile back onto my face and then averted my eyes, trying not to think about how much I preferred blondes. With black streaks.

Angel followed my line of sight, glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and (with a huge effort on his part) kept his mouth shut the rest of the way across the terra.

The Oracle's temple loomed up in front of us long before we reached the gates. It wasn't anything like the Council Hall or the Honeycomb; stone twisted up in tall, erratic pillars as if they'd been dribbled that way by wet beach sand. Indeed it actually did seem to be made of sand rather then carefully blocked and carved stone. It kinda reminded me of a huge termite mound.

The gates weren't even really gates. The perimeter of the temple wasn't fenced off or anything, making the point of a gateway seem sort of redundant. Then again the temple offered no other entranceway then the huge bronze doors directly in front of us, and the only way to get close to them was to pass under the stone archway of wings. On one side a winged stallion was frozen in a rear, carved from black stone, feathered wings stretching back to come into contact with the massive, bat like wings of the woman on the other side, hair locked in time in the act of blowing in her face.

"Ooh, I want something like that for my room!" Wasp whispered excitedly. "Really kind of welcomes you in, doesn't it?"

"Uh, yeah, something along those lines." Varan said to humour her.

What wasn't so welcoming were the two women standing on either side of the doors, hair braided backwards along the sides of their heads identically and decked out in matching armour. And they had twin spears, even more slender then Sliver and wickedly sharp, at their sides imposingly.

We came to a stop in front of them hesitantly, as if we were expecting them to lower those spears in our direction if we got too close. Wasp seemed impressed by their craftsmanship, but we boys had learned to live in fear of females and their unpredictable personalities and viewed those two guards with a healthy respect. I glanced over my shoulders to note the others were standing behind me, watching expectantly. Yeah, thanks guys…

"Er…" I looked up at the two women, who seemed unnaturally… tall. Willowy, spear-wielding women who were almost as tall as Varan. Don't try to tell me you wouldn't be a little intimidated too. "Hello. We, um, we'd like to speak with the Oracle, if that's alright."

Their eyes didn't even flicker in my direction. I rubbed my sweaty palms on my jeans and looked at the others. They looked just as baffled as I felt.

"Uh… I'm Falshade. This is my squadron. We'd like to see the Oracle. We've got money, if that's what you're wondering…" I tried again and then just trailed off. Seriously, I was getting zero acknowledgement from both of them. It was almost eerie, the way they just kept staring off into the crowded streets, taking in none of the market's activity.

Angel snorted and couldn't keep his mouth closed any longer. "Huh. Maybe they want us to give them a password or something? You know, Abra Kadabra, Open Sesame…"

With an echoing groaning noise both doors simultaneously rolled inwards, revealing blackness behind them.

All of us stood stunned for a moment before Angel suddenly whooped and grabbed my arm, exclaiming "Didj'ya see that? _I've_ got ESP!"

"You've got something, alright." I muttered, stepping forward and then eyeing up the guards one more time to see if they were going to make any sudden stabbing motions in my direction. The hadn't, hadn't even blinked. Motioning to the others I took a deep breath and stepped through the yawning portal before us.

It was hot inside. Stuffy, like the windows weren't opened enough. Actually, looking around, I realized there weren't any windows to be opened in the first place.

All our nasal passages took the hit as the scent of burned incense assaulted us, a hundred different variations of exotic aromas at once. I wrinkled my nose and Wasp's arm shot up to block her nostrils.

"Whoa, head rush." she exclaimed. "Hang on, I gotta do that again…" she took a might huff and swayed on the spot. Fraggle grabbed her arm uncertainly.

Angel coughed. "So, I've changed my theory. The Oracle's just some stoner and everyone who comes in here gets a wicked high and think they hear things that make sense."

"Astute remark." Varan grumbled. "Did you ever consider this is meant to be atmospheric?"

"Oh yeah, sure. For getting blitzed out of your fucking mind."

I was squinting in the darkness, ignoring him. The heavy doors swung shut behind us with a clang that made Varan jump and as if on cue, an array of candles sprang to life, little glittering flames that sparked along the contours of a winding staircase in front of us, made of the same strange, sandy stone. Wax cascaded down over the steps like a petrified waterfall.

"Guess we're going up." I said, motioning to the others to follow as I took a hesitant step up the stairs. The others trailed after me uncertainly, looking around edgily.

The stairs seemed to stretch upwards endlessly, the candles urging us up and up. I wondered if we were moving steadily up the interior of one of the towers. Twice I slipped on some semi-solid wax and Wasp made a slight sucking noise on her finger after burning herself when she curiously go too close to one of the inviting flames. I guess when you grow up with crystals as your main source of energy, fire can be a little too enticing. I don't think I've ever seen real flames before, except in my nightmares.

Just as Fraggle was starting to complain about a cramp in his leg the staircase finally levelled off and we were standing on a wide landing. Wax formed stalagmites all along the floor where it had dripped down from brackets in the walls. The scent of incense was almost too overbearing and I wondered how there could possibly be any unburnt oxygen in here. I glanced about. The only thing up here besides us was a yawning archway, leading into some shadowy room, dancing with the eerie glow of more candles.

"Well…" I looked at the others. "This is our stop. Anybody want to go first?" I couldn't believe how nervous I was. Nobody knew anything about the Oracle, but the rumours weren't always encouraging. Now that we were here, I really had no idea what I was going to say.

"Not it." Varan and Fraggle said at the same time.

"You're the Sky Knight with the nightmares." Angel added, seeming to enjoy my apprehension.

I muttered an oath under my breath and stepped into the archway, fighting back the reflex to scratch at my scalp uneasily. But with my nightmare still fresh in my mind, I pushed down my hesitation, stiffened my resolve, and stepped into the room.

And man was it ever the weirdest room I've ever been in.

There didn't appear to be any walls. Curtains of purple and red fabric, dream catches, empty cages, jars swinging on twine and odd talismans composed of feathers, crystals and bones all but covered them up, everything placed with purpose. A tree, taller then me, grew in a large pot, stretching up to the ceiling for sunlight that wasn't there, its branches spreading like a canopy over head. Stars made of twisted metal hung down among the branches, sparkling with a light all their own. I thought I recognized a few constellations up there. More candles stood on tiny wooded stands and tall metal pillars all over the place. A strange, glassy orb was rotating weightlessly four inches above its pedestal beside a mound of woven feathers. Smoked wafted from various, hidden little incense burners, tucked up in various crevasses. It was a wonder the place didn't catch fire. A bronze dish of water was standing on the other side of the feathers, next to a low, gnarled wooden table. Water was trickling from the wall into the dish, but it never seemed to over flow, despite the fact that it was already full to the brim.

Wasp was beside me. "Can you feel it?" she whispered.

"Feel what?"

"The aura. It's massive. I can taste it." she explained, admiration and amazement in her scratchy voice.

"What's it taste like?'

"…Roots. And lightning."

"Uh… right." I said to humour her. Not wanting to hear anymore psychic babble, I called "Hello?"

Something whooshed over our heads and I ducked, my hand jumping to Sliver's hilt. A large bat sung over head and landed upside down on one of the tree boughs, staring at us with large, black eyes intelligently.

"Don't mind Pythia. She likes to surprise our guests." A willowy, melodic and raspy voice echoed from nowhere and I jumped as the mound of feathers seemed to unfold. Or what I _thought_ had been feathers, anyways. As they flowed back they revealed the occupant of their nest; a small, spindly woman, shocking white dreadlocks hanging down to the floor with skin like leather. She looked directly at me with white, sightless orbs and smiled widely so that dimples formed in her weathered cheeks. Her face was so small it seemed to have been absorbed by her mane of hair, tiny features sharp and exposed in her tiny face.

"Hello my dears." she said in that mystical voice. "Come in, come in. I've been waiting a long time for you to come to my Temple."

"_That's_ the Oracle?" Angel whispered in my ear, stunned. "Jesus, I didn't know she was… a _she_."

The Oracle chuckled. "I don't speak to many these days. Please, come in so I can see you all clearly."

We filed in obediently, hushed and dumbfounded. I had no idea what she meant by _see_; her eyes were glazed over completely by the milky whiteness of one who has long been blind.

"That's better. Oh my, how beautiful your auras' are. They're positively radiant." she told us, smiling. "Lovely, lovely…"

"Er… hello." I stammered. "We, um, we came to see the Oracle. You must be her, right?"

"I am indeed. And hello to you too, Falshade. I have waited a long time for you to come to me." the Oracle said, smiling so widely it seemed to take up her whole face.

I did a double take. I'd heard the joke several times on the way here: _If they're psychic, how come they have to ask for your name?_ Angel must have been ready to stick his foot in his mouth. I glanced at the others, totally bewildered. They looked just as astounded as I felt.

"You… you have?" I asked stupidly. I couldn't help it; the combination of those incense sticks and the Oracle's statement had my brain scrambled like eggs.

The Oracle nodded. "Long have I felt your presence in the astral plane. You are a very luminous child. Never have I felt a spirit like yours."

I flushed and swallowed. Luminous? I was luminous? "Um, Oracle, my friends and I have come hoping you could answer some questions of ours. It's kinda hard to explain, but you see-"

"You've come to ask me about your nightmares." the Oracle interrupted fluidly.

"You… you know about my dreams?" I asked, feeling more overwhelmed by the minute. She definitely wasn't some guy who got a tingle in his big toe.

"Yes, I do, for I, too, have foreseen these visions. And visions are indeed what they are, Falshade Ravenscroft, although many have tried to tell you otherwise." the Oracle looked at me sympathetically. "Ignorance is bliss, and many humans will go out of their way to maintain this obliviousness. I understand your anguish. Many do not want to listen to me, either, they ignore my warnings. I am sorry that you have become a victim of such ignorance. But hold faith; your dreams, as you believe, are not mere collaborations of your subconscious. They are warnings, and you have done well to heed them."

I let out a short laugh, rubbing at my scalp at the surrealism of the whole situation. "You don't know how long I've waited for someone to tell me that."

The Oracle smiled empathetically. "So young. It's unfair that you've had to swallow these horrors for so long."

I shrugged as if it weren't a big deal. "Well, see, that's why we're here. These dreams… I've had them since I was little. But they never make any sense. And we were kinda hoping that you could… well, tell us what they mean. Please. I mean, if it isn't too much trouble."

The Oracle chuckled. "My dear, I am pleased to meet one your age with such thoughtfulness. But I'm afraid I must disappoint you. As I said, I too have long witnessed these ghastly visions, and I understand their content. However, it is not my place in your destiny to tell you their meaning."

My heart, which had been trembling brittlely in my chest, plummeted right down to my boots. Angel uttered an oath under his breath. Varan made a noise of suppressed disappointment.

"Oh…" I said, having nothing else to say.

"Do not despair. I am sorry to disappoint you, as I cannot answer the questions you came to seek. But I have other things to tell you." the Oracle said and I looked up, feeling ashamed at how easily my proverbial, optimistic hope so easily fluttered back to life.

"These things, will they help us?" I asked, sounding like a desperate child.

"They may. It all depends on what you decide to make of them." the Oracle said, sounding comforting. "Tell me, Falshade, do you believe in Destiny?"

"Destiny?" I reiterated. "You mean like, fate?"

"Yes, in a way. What, if I may ask, do you think fate is?" the Oracle asked curiously, leaning forward in her bundle of feathers.

"Umm…" I thought about that one for a second, feeling like I was back in theory class at the Academy. I remember being asked once what I thought the difference between right and wrong was. It was supposed to be one of those 'there are no wrong answers' questions, but I could tell my professor had already decided what was the correct answer anyways, and I doubted I got it right. "Well, when I think of fate I think of… well, kinda like some weird coincidence, something bigger then what we can decide."

"An interesting perspective. Tell me, have you ever read your horoscope? You're a Taurus, are you not?"

"Er, well, I was born in the beginning of May…"

"Then you, my child, are a Taurus." the Oracle smiled. "Strong, determined, patient, loyal… that sounds like you, doesn't it?"

Angel made a snorting noise behind me and I flushed like the idiot I was. I didn't take compliments that well, not like _some_ people I knew, who soaked it up like thirsty little buggers. "Uh, well, I guess that sounds a bit like me."

The Oracle nodded. "Many look at their star signs for reflections of themselves. Many find little connections here and there, some feel as if they are true representations of their zodiac symbol and others may find nothing of themselves in their zodiac. As it is, none of these people suffer nor gain for the connections the may or may not make to their star sign, for these horoscopes are not meant to give solutions or answers. They are merely stepping stones, little points of guidance that can be used along the path of our lifetime. How odd, how unfair would it be if our lives were dictated by the star sign under which we were born? Destiny, or fate, however you want to call it, works in the same way; it is not a set of rules or limitations. It can be ignored or followed with no great consequence or reward. It is simply something around us, guidance, a pathway we may or may not choose to follow." The Oracle looked up at all of us, a light in her blind eyes, a smile on her lips. "I sense a great Destiny among all of you."

Wasp examined her arm as if she expected to see this destiny. I couldn't help but glance about too, wondering if, for a second in the presence of this otherworldly woman, I'd see the strings attaching me to the others too. "We are? I… I'm sorry, I don't know if I understand."

"Do you think it was mere coincidence that you were drawn to your friends?" The Oracle asked me, smiling, not in a condescending way, but in the way of one who was enjoying telling us things that we didn't yet understand. "There was a reason you all were drawn together, a reason you built your squadron of those around you who were brave enough, open minded enough, to believe you. All of you are connected by a common destiny, an inter-weaving bond that reaches into your very blood. You were meant to be together."

I blinked and ran over how I'd come to meet my friends in my head; that though sheer luck Varan had ended up not confined on Atmosia but free on Vatican, that I'd been pinned in Angel's dorm room at the Academy, that I'd met… Stork, through total happenstance, at Finch's, that Fraggle had just happened to have been at the Skyside Shanty at the time we'd met him, despite the fact he should have been out on a week long fishing excursion and that, during our emergency landing on Macabre, Wasp had just happened to stumble upon Stork. Had I really just thought it all a string of wild coincidences? Or had some larger force been silently at work?

"That's… actually kinda… creepy. I mean, it makes sense, it's just… weird, you know?" I said and the Oracle nodded with, her smile never faltering, and it made me feel secure, somehow, to be in proximity with this higher being. Like things were finally going to start looking up.

"May I see your hands, Falshade?" she asked me and I fiddled with the hem of my shirt awkwardly.

"Er… they're kinda sweaty…"

The Oracle chuckled, her voice sounding like an oak tree bending in the wind. "Dip them in the basin there." she invited, waving a gnarled hand at the bronze dish, which was sucking up the water from the tiny, vertical stream invitingly and still not spilling a drop on the floor.

I glanced at the others. Angel shrugged and Wasp and Varan nodded encouragingly. They were wrapt in the Oracle's spell just as tightly as I was.

Feeling slightly foolish, I slid my hands into the water, which was icy cold, and yet not unpleasantly so. Pulling them out again, carefully so as not to spill anything on the floor, my eyes widened when I found them perfectly dry as if they'd been covered in wax, repelling the water.

I held my hands out to the Oracle, who turned them over so my palms were laid under her unseeing eyes. She ran her thumb over the line on my left hand thoughtfully, nodding every now and then and tilting my palms back in forth.

"I am sorry for your loss." she said suddenly and I started. "Your grief… it surrounds you all."

"Loss?" I murmured. She couldn't mean…

She looked up at me sadly. "One of you is no longer with you. Feonix. You miss her greatly. I am so very sorry; she meant so much, to all of you."

I ogled at her, my heart seizing uncomfortably in my chest. I heard Varan make a surprised hissing noise. I could practically feel Angel stiffen where he stood.

Before I could ask anything the Oracle was speaking again. "Ah… my poor dear. So much strife for one so young. These dreams of yours, those terrible things, they've taken a toll on you. And I sense your faith… great as it is, it has been tested and torn apart over these last few weeks in particular. I sense it becoming buried by sorrow and fear. But do not lose your hope, Falshade Ravenscroft, for that is a dangerous thing to loss. Hope is a great strength, never forget that. Never lose your faith, for despite the doubt you have of your path, it is your path, your destiny, and you have followed it bravely where many would have turned in fright and misgiving." she looked up from my hands and smiled. "You have a lion's heart; loyal and courageous. And kind. These gifts have become rare in our world. It is difficult, as you understand, for people to accept what you have been trying to warn them of, and this frustrates you. It is not easy to become comfortable with peace after years of war. But it is harder still to be born into that peace and to be brave enough to accept that nothing last forever. You are a brave soul, strong at heart. Never lose sight of these lights in yourself. Things have been put into motion now, pieces are at play, and this world will pay the price. You are our hope now, Falshade, and I have great faith in you and your friends. The coming days will not be easy. In these dark times, you must never lose your faith. Never lose hope."

I swallowed and nodded. My skin was tingling under the gentle touch of her fingertips. "I won't. I'll do whatever I can… but it'd be much easier if I knew what in hell I have to do. I'm sorry, it's just frustrating. Are you sure there's nothing you can tell me?"

The Oracle examined my hands again. "Hmmm… there is something here. These dreams of yours are muddled for a reason. You, alone, are meant to decipher them, and I believe that if you keep trying you can. But there are… answers here. Not from me, and not in the straightforward form you so seek. But they will come to you, from a source outside your dreams, a source that is right in front of you, even though you do not see it yet. You will, in time."

"A source… and it'll give me answers?" I breathed, hardly daring to believe it.

"Perhaps. I should think they will be more like your dreams, words you will not understand right away. Or maybe you will. And they will be dark words, but they can be changed. The events you see in your mind are not yet set in stone, as you have set out to insure. These words that are coming to you, they may help you, if you wish it of them, if you seek them."

"This source… can you tell me what it is? Where this… prophecy thing is coming from?"

"Prophecy… yes, I like that. And as for the source… as I have said, it is set before you, and you will find it, I can see that. When, it is not certain. But I can… help you. I cannot tell you outright, for it would tangle with another destiny, which I have no right to meddle with. But I can give you a hint."

"Anything would be great." I assured her and she chuckled again.

"My poor child… I do apologize that nothing is ever easy for you." The Oracle looked up at us all and her voice took on a strange undertone, something heavy and unworldly, as if something else were speaking through her. "If you so seek it, the Prophecy will come to you. And it will come to you through Mouthless Voices, given Voice by the Stolen."

"Mouthless Voices…" I echoed. What in the hell was a Stolen?

The Oracle was speaking again, before I could ask. "I see your father about you." she said, her voice back to normal now. I started. "You look like him. He's been watching you since the day you were born." here she paused and looked up at me with a shining smiled. "He is so very proud of you, Falshade. So very proud. He couldn't have asked for a better son, he says. He loves you so very much, and every day as you grow so does his smile for you."

I felt hot tears pricking behind my eyes. Everyone told me I looked like my dad, that he'd be proud of me. But this… this was something completely different. I sniffled a bit.

"He… he does?"

"Yes." the Oracle smiled. "Falco cares a great deal about you and your mother. He tells you not to worry about her, that she understands why you left. He visits her in her dreams, and she is not as sad as you think. She has you. And she is proud of you too."

I tugged my hand out of her grip carefully so I could wipe at my eyes roughly. "Thank you." I muttered, having nothing else I could possibly say.

"You are very welcome, my dear." she assured me, and released my other hand. I stepped back a bit and Angel put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Varanus." The Oracle said warmly and Varan jumped, thwacking Fraggle's shins with his tail. "May I see your hands now?"

"Um…" Varan looked at me nervously before stepping forward, extending his scaly hands hesitantly. The Oracle took them with a reassuring smile and examined them thoughtfully.

"Pain… pain encircles you all. It is not fair that you all must bear its weight so young. I see great pain in your past, Varan. To lose everything you knew, so brutally, while you were so small… it has scarred your heart. But I see brightness in you, a flame that refuses to go out, and this pleases me. You, too, are brave, are strong. It is not easy to walk among a world full of people who look at you full of scrutiny and scorn. Yet you have found some who make this easier for you, and you love them fiercely for it, as they love you. It doesn't matter who you are, as long as someone loves you, and your friends love you very much." she smiled at him and he gave her an edgy smile in return. "I see great things in your future. You have the power to change the tides of the discrimination that encircles your race. You are special, my dear, very special indeed. Never forget that. And do not fear yourself, for we are our own harshest critics and you have no reason to doubt yourself the way you do. For when we doubt ourselves, that is when all other influences begin to take their toll."

Varan scissored his mouth a few times but no words came out. The Oracle patted one of his large hands as if to tell him there was nothing he had to say. "There is a brightness like sunshine inside of you. You mother, she basks in this light from time to time. She loves you very much, and she is happy for you that you found another to raise you and care for you so tenderly. She only regrets that she could not have been there herself."

Varan nodded jerkily and slid back. Wasp stood gently on the tip of his flicking tail and patted his back twice, smiling wolfishly.

"Fraggle, would you come forward, please?" the Oracle called softly and Fraggle, who'd been staring off into space, looking distressed for the last little while, stumbled forward, not at all full of the reckless zeal that usually encompassed him. I remember Nord all of a sudden and felt bad for him.

The moment the Oracle took his hands she squeezed them tightly, comfortingly. "I feel your fear. Your home has been attacked, hasn't it?"

Fraggle made a squeaking noise. The Oracle smiled at him reassuringly and squeezed his furry hands again.

"Do not fret; your family is safe. The Icewind Howlers have lost their sharp shooter, but he died quickly, without pain. This is the only casualty I see for Nord, although some are mortally wounded and may not make it through the day. But your step-father is safe, he fought bravely, as did you mother. She is with your sister right now. Starla." The Oracle smiled brightly. "What a lovely name. I see her face… such a feisty little thing."

Fraggle's ears had shot upwards joyfully. "They're… they're all alright, eh? All of them?" he let out a mangled whoop mixed with a sob and smiled the hugest smile I'd ever seen painted on his face (which is saying something), all his jagged white teeth exposed. "Oh man, you wouldn't _believe_ how good it felt to hear that!"

The Oracle laughed lightly at him. "I can imagine. Starla… she is angry with you. But only because she misses you."

Fraggle's ears dropped a little. "Yeah, I miss her too, eh."

The Oracle nodded and peered at his hands again, white orbs flicking back and forth as if she really could see the markings on his palms. "You have more positive energy in you then what is normal even for your species. It feel it. You share it willingly with others, and it draws them to you. While you may not think so at times, and while others may not see it all the time, you are a very warm friend, caring and loyal. Your light heartedness is infectious. This is an admirable quality. It may be required of you in the coming weeks, a light in the shadows that will stretch over us all. While you may not believe it right now, you will be needed by your friends in the days to come. You may spend a great deal of your time on your ship, but I see the will to fight in you. Do not lose this will, for the sake of you and others."

"Oh, I won't, eh." Fraggle promised. I had a feeling if the Oracle had asked him to spend the night with a colony of Sky Sharks he would have agreed, no questions asked.

The Oracle peered at his hands again. "I see another little girl… Pippa, I believe. Despite the hardship she had faced while still so young, she will grow to be a brilliant and caring individual. You have influenced her greatly. She won't ever forget you. And Marle, as she raised Varan, will raise her to be an open hearted little creature. She will go one to do great things."

Fraggle grinned wildly and look at his hands. "You can really see all that in my hands, eh?"

The Oracle laughed. "It's more the physical connection to you, really. I see your father. You're a lot like him. He is happy for you and your mother, pleased that she was able to find someone else who made her happy. He watches over you, your mother and Starla closely."

Fraggle glanced out of the corner of his eyes as if he expected to see his father standing there, smiling the identical, maniac smile. "Thanks so much, eh. I feel _so_ much better now. Like I had a bad tooth ripped out or something. Meant a lot to me, eh."

The Oracle squeezed his hands one more time. "Not at all, my dear."

Fraggle sidled over next to me and nudged me with his elbow. "Two words, eh: fucking _whoa_." he whispered and I smiled a bit, nodding.

"No kidding. Glad you're family's okay, man." I said and he grinned happily.

"Me too."

"Angel, might I see your hands next?" The Oracle asked him kindly and Angel stood as if rotted to the spot, crossing his arms in an unforthcoming manner.

"I don't have to dip my hands in the Holy Water, do I?" he asked standoffishly. Oh yeah, he was back alright. Maybe it was all the psychic vibes, but for an instant I got the feeling that something was hurting him. That he was afraid.

The Oracle shook her head and held her hands out invitingly. Angel stepped forward stiffly and placed his hands in hers grudgingly.

A tug pulled at the muscles in the oracle's face as she looked down at Angel's slender, brown hands. Angel glared at her, stony faced.

"I see shadows. A darkness in your chest." The Oracle stated at length, looking up into Angel's face unerringly. "A darkness that doesn't belong there. You bear a weight on your shoulders, one you shouldn't, that you place on yourself. You path, in the coming days, will be a strange one. You must learn to overcome this darkness… or it will overcome you."

I looked at Angel's face. His jaw was clenched tight, and I swear I saw his arms trembling.

"Hold faith; you have a strength in you, and you are not yet unwilling to seek out light." here I thought I saw the Oracle's eyes flash to Wasp. "I believe you have the power to see past this darkness, but only if you will yourself to. I sense something powerful in you, something that can be directed either way. I trust in you to know the direction you wish to take. In the end, only you can decide." Again the Oracle looked up at him, as if she were desperately trying to convey something to him. "You life is not a mistake, not an abomination. What happened was beyond your control, and your mother's. I sense her about you… you hold what she did very close to your heart, and it pains you. Understand something Angel; tragedy is something that befalls us all. The dice will be cast, and it is up to decide what to do with the outcome. Your mother was not weak. She did not have the will you do, she lost all sight of her pathway, her life. And in the end, she could not pull herself free of the illness that affected her heart." here the Oracle leaned forwards and squeezed Angel's hands. "She was dead long before she claimed her own life. Suicide is an act only of the very desperate, the lost. There was nothing you could do to save her; she did not want to be saved."

The Oracle's word's hit me like a freighter. _Suicide_? Angel's words from the night before came back to me: "_I don't have a family_."

The Oracle tugged on Angel's hands. "Please know… in death, the spirit is cleansed of all that haunted them in life. She is able to see her errors now, and she is sorry for them. She regrets her actions. She regrets what she's done to you."

Angel's face, for half a second, lost its usual hardness, the ability to hide his feelings, and a pained expression flashed over his slight features. Then he tore his hands from the Oracle's and let out a bark of humourless laughter.

"Regret?" he echoed, a hollow, harsh sound cutting up his voice, his accent spiking. "She's feels _regret_? Good. Bloody fucking _good_. I'm glad she does."

The Oracle looked at him sadly. He glowered at her, eyes like ice. The Oracle held his gaze as if she knew exactly where his face was a moment longer before breaking away. I reached out for his arm but he shook me off.

"Wickett, may I see your hands, please?" The Oracle asked, acting as if nothing had just happened with Angel. I furrowed my brow, confused by the unfamiliar name, but it seemed to mean something to Wasp; for the first time since I'd met her, she jumped and stared at the Oracle, stunned.

"Oh, I do apologize. The names we are born into, much like our star signs, do not dictate who we are. Sometimes we change them to suit us." The Oracle smiled at her. "Could you step closer, please, Wasp?"

Wasp stepped forwards and offered her hands, looking slightly uneasy. The Oracle took her skeletal, pale hands in hers and examined them with interest.

"Who is Eris? I've heard of many different religions in the Atmos, and they fascinate me, but I'm afraid my knowledge of Faerieshian culture is a little scant." The Oracle explained apologetically, looking at Wasp with a welcoming smile.

"Eris?" Wasp repeated. "She's the goddess of the Underworld. Twin to Artemis."

"I see. The Black Jaguar, correct?" Wasp nodded. "Ah. And yet out here, no one has ever heard of her. How strange that we all share the same planet, and yet none of the same worlds." The Oracle tilted Wasp's hands considerably. "Oh my dear girl… your hands. They're stained by blood."

Wasp sniffled at her palm curiously. "All I see is dirt."

"Would you mind dipping them in the water, so I might see you more clearly?" The Oracle asked politely.

Wasp eyed the basin. We all knew how much she avoided any form of hygiene. But after a moment she seemed to swallow down her dislike of anything to do with clean and dunked her hands in before returning them to the Oracle's.

"That's better. Hardship and pain clouds all of you… I see it in your heart too. I see great loss in your past… I see guilt and shame and anger. You question yourself, the purity of your heart. I will tell you this, my darling, things happen, whether they are in our control or not. You understand this. You understand many things. But the events that have occurred in your past… I can understand why you do not wish to forget them. But you can not dwell over them either. You have a whole life ahead of you, and you do not have to face it alone, with only the bones of your past. Shake some skeletons out of your closet. Breathe. The differences between right and wrong are confusing indeed. Some believe there is no defining line. I am neither scolding nor praising you, but I will tell you this; I trust your heart. And as long as you have confidence in your actions, can justify them, then they were never wrong." The Oracle smiled at Wasp like a mother would her daughter. "You, too, have a power in you, special gifts that should not be squandered. You are special. Let no other voice tell you differently."

Wasp nodded stiffly.

The Oracle turned Wasp's right hand over. "I see this boy of yours around you. Rainer, that was his name, was it not?"

Wasp's entire body seemed to stand on end as if she'd been electrocuted. I gnawed on my tongue uneasily; when Wasp got tense like that, it usually didn't mean anything good.

"The heart is a wonderful and terrible thing. It aches… I feel your heartbreak in my chest. I am so very sorry he was robbed from you. But do not despair, child; he is around you, always. He does not blame you for what happened. There is nothing you have ever done that he feels is wrong. As long as you do what is in your heart, he approves. You feel him sometimes, don't you?" The Oracle gave Wasp a bittersweet look. "He watches over you. Sometimes he comes to you in the form of a dragon."

Wasp's eyes widened in realization that none of us understood and the Oracle chuckled softly.

"There is nothing more powerful or dangerous in this world then love. You've chosen to love those close to you ferociously. Guard them well, Wickett, for soon they may need you in ways you cannot possibly understand yet. You will all need each other." With that the Oracle let go of Wasp and stood, to our surprise. Despite her ancientness there was strength in her spindly limbs, more then I'd given her credit for.

"Listen to me now, all of you. In the coming weeks, your hearts and minds will be tested. Danger is coming, for others have a destiny to play in this war, and they will not give it up so easily." if possible, her white eyes seemed to darken. She raised her arms above her head, an alien spectacle of eternity. "I can see both sides to this war's outcome, and if these others should succeed in their goal, there will be no hope for the rest of us. And yet, I have faith in all of you. More then that, I have trust. You are bonded to each other through friendship and love, and these bonds are not easily broken. They lend you strength. They give you hope. But these bonds may be tested and you will have to depend on each other as much as you will have to depend on yourselves. Sacrifices will be made. Difficult choices will be thrust upon you, but I have faith that you are brave enough to chose between what is easy and what is right. You will have to grow, have to fight things with more then your swords. Even when things seem hopeless, you must remain strong. Even when you have no strength, you must never lose hope. And most importantly, you must never lose yourselves." she looked upon all of us, seeming taller then us all of a sudden, so wise and powerful. I felt something coursing through my veins, making my heart rate kick erratically.

The Oracle lowered her arms now, looking at us again with that mystic, gypsy smile on her face. "Never have I been happier to be presented with such a bold, loving squadron such as yourselves. I am very pleased to have met you all. You've given me more then hope for the fate of our world; you've given me hope for the future, beyond this war. Your destiny does not end after the battle; it is only just beginning. You all have the power to influence this wayward world of ours for the better."

I cleared my throat. "Thank you, for everything you've told us. We'll make good use of it."

The Oracle looked at me apologetically. "I do apologize again, for not being of more assistance. I feel your disappointment. You did not collect all that you sought. But hold faith. Your destiny is not mine to be tampered with." here she paused briefly. "You know, many have the wrong perception of destiny. Some pay too much attention to it; it consumes them, and when they leave this world, they are unfulfilled. But they are mistaken. They do not see the truth; Destiny does not shape who we are." She looked over each of us individually, imparting something onto all of us. "It is we who shape our destinies."

Call me a cheesy kind of guy, but that struck a cord in me somewhere. Over the years I'd gotten sick of people telling me what I could or couldn't do. I'd gotten tired trying to prove them wrong. It was a relief to know there wasn't some larger, more powerful force at work that was also bent on keeping me from my goals.

The Oracle settled back into her mound of feathers, wrapping herself back into some other dimension that we'd never understand. I took it that meant we should probably get going. I motioned to the others and then turned back to the wise old woman one more time.

"Thanks again. And, um…" this thought suddenly occurred to me. "If you see Sto-Feonix, you know, on… on the other side, could you just tell her…" Tell her what? That I was sorry? That I'd tried to save her, that we missed her so badly it hurt, as if she'd taken a piece of us with her? To tell her she was one of the best friends I'd ever had, that I'd loved her? "…Tell her we say hey." I said after a moment. Stork would understand that well enough.

The Oracle smiled at me as Pynthia fluttered down from her perch with a rustle of leathery wings and perched on her shoulder, staring at us with those dark, animal eyes. "You can tell her yourself, sometime. Dreams aren't only for nightmares. Now go, my dears, our hope. Go and shape your destinies."

With a nod I followed the others out of the dark little room. I reeled back in surprise when the scorching, white light of the sun burned into my eyes. Turning around I saw the might bronze doors swing shut and we were outside again, between those never blinking guard women.

"Whoa." Fraggle mumbled, shielding his eyes. "Did I miss something, eh? Did we fall down those stairs or something?"

"Inter-planar travel!" Wasp exclaimed excitedly. "Something else to scratch off my to-do list!"

Shaking my head briefly I stumbled slightly, leading the others back towards the market after a quick glance at the formidable soldiers.

"Well…" Varan said after a moment. "That was… enlightening."

"Now there's an understatement, eh." Fraggle stated.

"No kidding. But Jesus, I mean… holy shit, I didn't think the Oracle could really see the dead or anything like that! But I mean she looked at me and it was like she was inside, knew everything I felt." Varan went on. He always had to voice things out loud that weirded him out, even if he was more of an introvert.

"Yeah, that was pretty…" I trailed off, not having the words to describe it.

"I just wonder, though. She knew about Stork. How come… well how come she didn't tell us what Stork, wherever she is… is feeling. I mean, why didn't she tell us what Stork had to say?" Varan pondered as we passed under the gates, and the blow hit me as if one of those stone wings had come down and thwacked me across the chest. I gagged and the others looked at me, worried.

"Maybe she didn't say anything about Stork because Stork doesn't want to talk to us." I reeled off, feeling like I wanted to puke. Stork… was she angry with us? With me?

Varan's hand came to my shoulder and a second after Wasp was squeezing my elbow, sympathy etched in both their faces.

"No, Shade, that's not it at all. Why wouldn't she want to talk to us?" Varan reasoned comfortingly.

"She's not mad at you." Wasp added and I blinked at her. How in hell did she _do_ that?

Fraggle did a double take. "Why would she be mad at you, eh? There was nothing you could do, nothing any of us could do."

Guilt was still squeezing my insides, even though I knew, somewhere, that he was right. Wasp squeezed my elbow again, something like warmth spiking my joint through her.

"Stork hasn't been on the other side long. Maybe she doesn't know how to talk yet." she suggested. "Some people forget how to speak."

Varan nodded. "Yeah, Wasp's right. Don't beat yourself up, Shade, or I'll have to."

Here I snorted and tried to feel better. "You? That'll be the day."

He swung a mocking punch at me good humouredly, just to remind me he was the only one tall enough to hook me in the jaw without having to swing up.

"Jeez do I ever feel good, eh." Fraggle was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "About my family, I mean. I was feeling sick until she told me that they were okay."

"We can still go see them, if you want." I assured him, but he shrugged, to pumped to heed my words at the moment.

"We'll see, eh. Jeez, this place is like a chick convention. Must be the mystic vibes, eh. Wow! Ginger alert!" he stopped and Wasp bumped into him. Varan and I exchanged an eye roll; Fraggle had a thing for red-heads.

He looked at me craftily. "Mind if I, uh, catch up to you guys later, eh?" he asked, his eyes following his target, a curvy girl with flaming red locks all the way down to her non-too-subtle hips.

I laughed. "Go ahead, let her shoot you down. We'll meet you at the _Merlin_ in an hour, deal?"

Fraggle clapped me on the shoulder. "And that's why you're our Sky Knight, eh." he informed me before melting into the crowd. We heard him address the red-head through the throng of other mumbling voices: "Do you have a permit?"

"For what?" the girl asked, quirking an eyebrow suggestively.

"For lookin' that cute, eh." Fraggle said, using his best smooth-talker voice.

I snorted. "Cheesy pick-up line number 47."

Varan shook his head. "It's hard to picture my mom watching over me. I can't remember her that well." he said, apropos to nothing. I felt a bit of a jolt in my chest.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." When I died, would there be anyone I'd want to watch over?

Angel snorted from Varan's other side. "Hah. Watching over. That's bloody brilliant for the both of you. Must be nice, to have someone who loved you enough to watch over you, even when they're gone. Regret… _bullshit_."

Varan and I looked at each other. Always there'd been talk around us about family, parents dead and alive, who'd loved us, and all along Angel's own mother had just…

Varan reached for Angel's shoulder, but he shrugged him off like he'd done to me.

"Angel…" I started.

"Don't. Don't, you two. Don't you feel sorry for me. Poor little Angel Cakes, with his sick, dead mom who couldn't stand to be alive… don't feel sorry for me. 'Cause I stopped caring about it a long time ago. I'm happy for you both, know that, okay? I'm just a little pissed off at the moment, so don't mind if I tell you to fuck-" he cut himself off and looked over his shoulder, sniffing. "What the…?"

I followed his line of sight and couldn't help but smile, despite the dark cloud that had shifted over our immediate area. Wedged between two stands was a stall with a massive display of chocolate from all corners of the Atmos; Galeian chocolate, weird looking cars the size of my arm from Wallop (not to self, don't even eat that on a dare) and even Amazonian love chocolate (don't even want to know). Angel eyed up the stall longingly for a moment before clearing his throat and moving to keep pushing his way through the crowd. I reached out and grabbed him by the arm, wheeling him around.

"C'mon No Sympathy Needed In This Corner guy, let's see what kind of stoner chocolate they've got." I said with a smile and Angel, despite the grudging sound he made in his throat, let me tug him along.

* * *

"Why on Atmos would anybody want human hair?" Varan asked me in a low voice as we passed another vendor selling talismans and charms.

"So if brown hair keeps away evil thoughts, does blonde keep away thoughts in general?" I asked, making a horrible, stereotype joke that I didn't mean but still found funny. Varan cuffed me, chuckling.

"I wonder if the Oracle realizes her terra's become such a shopping wasteland." he mused, staring interestedly for a few moments at an array of little glassy orbs filled with roiling fire.

"I think she's got enough confidence in her powers that she doesn't care if she's got a hippie convention on her doorstep." I said.

"Yeah maybe." Varan glanced about at all the glittering, intriguing, and occasionally moving or rotting, objects then muttered under his breath "Remember to stop at our gift shop for all the useless junk you didn't know you wanted."

"You know what I find odd?" I asked, grinning.

"What?"

"The lack of Magic Eight Balls."

Varan laughed his rough, reptilian laugh.

Angel suddenly made an audible groaning noise on my other side and I gave him a smug look. At first he hadn't wanted any of the chocolate I'd bought (his reward for keeping all the snide voodoo comments at bay that must have fried his brain from overload), but eventually his pride gave way to his desire and he'd snatched the bag away from me. I had a feeling I wasn't getting it back.

"Good, huh?" I asked, trying not to be too haughty. "I _knew_ you wanted some."

Angel ignored my last comment. "Good is the understatement of the fucking year." he explained around the lump of half-melted chocolate in his mouth. "This shit is practically orgasmic."

I quirked an eyebrow while Varan pulled a face. "Oh really?" I asked, finding this all too funny; Angel was the snarky (grouchy) little tough guy to the extreme, until you handed him chocolate.

"Oh yeah." Angel assured us. "I'm trying not to cream myself as we speak."

"For lack of a better word, that's gross. No food should make you feel that good. Ever." Varan informed him.

"Not even yours?" Angel asked him.

"Especially not mine!" Varan barked over my laughter.

Fraggle pushed through the crowd and joined us then, brandishing some new lucky charm and with a self-satisfied little smile on his face. "Well, in case you're interested, she didn't shoot me down, eh."

"Damn, guess I owe you twenty." Angel said to me, referring to a bet we hadn't made of course, and Fraggle scowled at him.

"Laugh all you like, Cupcake, fact of the matter is, I can slay the ladies like none other, and you… you have chocolate, eh."

Angel smirked to himself as if he had some sort of private joke, but answered our inquiring looks with a simple "Well, to be honest, at least chocolate can't say no."

Three hands came up to smack the back of his head.

"Uh-oh, eh." Fraggle said, glancing around suddenly. "Did anybody notice we lost the psycho?"

I looked around quickly and swore. "Damnit, when did she slink off?"

Varan was scanning over the heads in the crowd. "Well, _shit_; we're never going to find her in this mob…"

"Think I should whistle for her or something?" I asked, only half joking.

"I wouldn't worry about her. She's probably already back at the _Merlin_. Besides, you said Fraggle could go, right? She probably just wanted to see those lizards again." Angel said, striding forwards and then turning back to us when he realized we weren't following him. He took in our gaping faces and scowled. "What?"

"Um, I might have missed something there, but _what_ did you just say?" Varan demanded, ogling at him.

"Is there really something in that chocolate?" I asked at the same time, looking into his eyes to see if his pupils had dilated to massive proportions.

Angel shoved me back irritably. "What are you getting so worked up about?" he asked gruffly.

"What are we…? Angel, whenever Wasp goes missing you're the first one to start ruing the day she was born!" I pointed out.

A look of dawning appeared on his dark features. "Oh yeah… well, fuck me sideways, she's gone. Curse her to the nine Hells!" he pushed another wedge of chocolate into his mouth. "Better?"

"Nah, I'm not feeling it, eh." Fraggle said and Angel rolled his eyes.

Varan and I exchanged yet another look. "Did I miss something?" he asked me in a whisper.

"Hey man, I was in PTSS the last three days, don't look at me." I said, feeling just as confused as he sounded. Then I stuck my fingers in my mouth and let out a loud, piercing whistle, a talent I'd learned from my mother, who used to be able to get my attention from the other side of the Plateau.

Several people looked at us curiously, but I ignored them. Letting Fraggle go off on his own was one thing, even though he was a bit of a letch. But Wasp, well… let's just say we'd thought she couldn't get into any trouble on Atmosia, and some poor guy had ended up with a broken arm. This place was a Wasp-tastrophe waiting to happen.

I don't know where she sprang from, but suddenly she was at my side, looking disgruntled. "You called?" she asked disdainfully.

"I can't believe that actually worked." Varan said with a grin.

I noticed the lump under Wasp's jacket and I gave her chastising look. "What did you take?" I asked, sounding like a tired parent talking to a troublesome child.

Wasp hugged her torso defensively. "I'm not putting them back. Poor little things, locked up in cages. It's like being eaten, you know, stuck behind bars…"

"You're not taking them on the _Merlin_." I told her firmly and she pouted.

"Can I let them go near the docks at least?"

"Yes, that you can do." I compromised and Wasp smiled ghoulishly.

It took us longer to get back to the wharfs, as we had to move against the tide of the swarms of people and I had to keep hauling Fraggle away from vendors operated by pretty faced girls. By the time we got in sight of the _Merlin_ I was feeling sweaty and a little grumpy, as if I were coming down from the fumes of the Oracle's incenses.

Wasp crouched in the sparse, prickly grass by the docks and pulled the wired cage out from her jacket. Two lizards, periwinkle blue with yellow flecks and cotton candy pink were hanging from the narrow bars with sticky fingers, looking around the new surroundings with large, reptilian eyes.

"Lizards aren't naturally this colourfully… too easy to be birdie snacks when you're this pretty." Wasp said, seeming to be speaking to herself. She opened the tiny latch on the door and coaxed the pink lizard from the cage. Flipping the lizard on her back gently in her hand, Wasp plucked something small from the lizard's belly scales and the little skink immediately became your garden-variety, light brown grass lizard.

"Chroma crystal." Wasp muttered, examining her finger tips, which had turned nearly black from the contact with the miniscule crystal shard. She plucked the other lizard free and removed its crystal too, revealing the tiny animal to be green with lighter green flecks in colour.

Wasp gave me a scalding look as she nuzzled the two little reptiles with her nose.

"What?" I asked.

"I wanted to grab some more… would have been easy but for the damn cages. Why'd you have to go and whistle?" she huffed.

"I'll be more considerate in future." I promised sarcastically and then pulled a face as she licked the little brown lizard along its spine affectionately.

"Wasp, just let them go already." Angel groaned.

Wasp sighed and opened her hands on the grass. The lizards scuttled off, tasting freedom, and Wasp watched them vanish into the grass.

"That's right, you go catch some buggies, and watch out for those cages, you hear?" she called after them, snaking her fingers through the grass as if communing with them through the earth. "Happy hunting! Shape your own destinies!"

Shaking my head I glanced at Angel, who'd been standing beside her while Fraggle and Varan had gone on ahead to start up the _Merlin_. And for the first time in a very long time, I saw him genuinely smile.

**Sorry guys, I know that was long-ass and not necessary all cut-throat and daring escapes either. But I just missed writing so much I couldn't cut it back. if you haven't read it on my profile, I've recently changed houses and my computer with all my stuff is still at my old house, so I can't write as often or reply as quick as I'd like to review/PMs, so take no offense. Hopefully that'll be a temporary arrangement. Anyways, missed ya'll and if I don't get a chance then here's an early Happy Holidays! And hello from the two newest members of my canine family, Mika and Luka ^^.**


	17. Boulevard of Broken Dreams

**17**

**Boulevard of Broken Dreams**

_**Some deny and search for things that never come around**_

_**Do I feel like a fool?**_

_**The places I have ran to all my life have disappeared**_

_**And I owe this all to you**_

_**I'm feeling like I'm sinking…**_

_**And nothing's there to catch me, keep me breathing**_

_**-Kiss, Korn**_

_**I left my best friends/ Or did they just leave me?**_

_**-Fallen Leaves, Billy Talent**_

**The Storm Hawks: Fallen Leaves by Billy Talent**

**Finn: Wake me up When September Ends by Greenday**

**Junko: Move Along by the All American Rejects**

**Piper: My Alcoholic Friends by the Dresden Dolls**

**Stork: Creep by Radiohead**

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x **

Some people took time out of their lives, maybe before they fell asleep or during one of those incredibly long, mind-numbing journeys, to fantasize about their futures. Who they'd like to marry, where they'd want to live, what they'd name their children… or maybe just things like what they were going to do after the war, or how they'd act at a friend's funeral. Rarely these things would actually turn out exactly how they'd planned, if at all, so they seemed rather redundant and useless if you asked me. But people did it anyways, at some point or another, maybe just to give them something to hold on to.

Me? I planned out exactly how I was going to die.

It changed with my mood from time to time. Often I toyed with the idea of suicide, not because I was morbidly depressed or anything, it just seemed like a nice, quiet way to go, kinda just slipping out of the world when I'd had enough. Other times, usually when I was hunched up under my bed at night, terrified of the things that lurked in my subconscious, I could imagine a drawn out and painful demise, one of the ones I'd so often prattled to the others about; a sword in the gut, an infection in the blood…

In the end I'd decided I wanted to crash and burn. Not necessarily the most gruesome or imaginative ending I could think of, certainly not on the top of my list of fears, but it sounded rather… poetic, if you will, and I liked the idea. The _Condor_ folding in all around me as it crumpled on impact, the shattering of glass maybe, and then just darkness… instant or not, it seemed fitting for me, a pilot and a mechanic, meeting my end among the crushing walls of my beloved ship. Besides, I spent the majority of my time trying to keep that damn bird from smashing into something or other, to keep her airborne, didn't it make sense that when it was my time to go she'd be the one to take me there?

The thread the looped all my demise fantasies together though, however they tended to differ, was that I always seemed to be dying young. I hadn't marked in exact date on my expiration calendar, but it didn't matter how long it seemed I wanted to live for, I was never older then thirty whenever the _Condor_ went spiralling into the Wastelands in my inner mind. That may not have seemed young to the others, teenaged little buggers that they were, but for me that was only a maximum of eight years in the future, and that put me on edge. And yet… it soothed me, somehow, as if by holding my death in my own hands like that it meant I and only I could decide when I was going to expire.

Back then we'd all thought we were immortal, untouchable. And time has a way of teaching you the hardest of lessons.

And now here I was, seventeen years down the road, nearly nine years over my expiration date. And it took staring into Feonix's fiery green eyes to realize I'd crashed and burned after all.

_Swinging around the massive death-machine of a battle cruiser so tightly I felt the _Condor_'s pontoons scrape against some of the wide range Blasters, I muttered an oath to multiple paint jobs and the short attention span of Blizzarians. The trio of cruisers I'd been supposed to keep within visual range with had been scattered by the enemy battle ships as they roared towards us like huge, metal bats. Bats with fire power. And now I'd just lost sight of the last of my little tactical entourage, the _North Wind Avalanche,_ and was utterly on my own to try and take down the Cyclonian battles cruisers that were pounding into me from all directions._

_Hoo hum, story of my life…_

_I was trying to calculate the chances of having received brain damage from the massive amounts of whip lash I was getting from all the hammering my poor ship was taking. Throwing another anxious glance at the silent radio, I knew I'd suffered some form of cranial damage anyways; I hadn't heard anything from the others for the past twenty minutes and no word of a lie, I was more concerned about them then I was for my own welfare by now._

_Quite suddenly the radar from the Crash Detectors I'd wired into the other's skimmers started beeping at me and flashing from over in the corner. My ears had been folded tightly against my head for the last hour, trying to block out the sounds I could hear leaking through the walls of the _Condor_; explosions, crunches of metal meeting metal, swords and axes sawing through wings and bones, charges going off left right and center… and the screams. Those horrible, gut wrenching, heart stopping screams. They made tears prickle like hot needles in my eye sockets. There wasn't the name of a virus alive that could ring with more terror in my mind then the sound of someone screaming. _

_But now, with that radar wailing away like a distressed baby bird my ears unfolded themselves from my skull and I stared at it, my heart thundering in the back of my mouth. I could taste it: blood, from where I'd bitten my tongue right through, from where my heart was leaking, breaking._

_And I let go._

_I let the _Condor_ go as I threw myself at the radar screen._

_Finn's beacon was flashing like the line on a heart monitor. My feet froze to the ground as the image of the pathetic little skimmer blinked on the screen, burning itself into my retinas. _

_And then another scream. It tore through my head like the shot from a cross bolt. _

"_STORK!!!" The radio took on Piper's voice as it screeched out a warning that came too late._

_I glanced out the windshield to watch as a colossal steel talon, sutured to the underside of one of the Cyclonian flag ships, careened towards the _Condor_ with only one intent. _

"It started after we evacuated those kids from Micronesia." I started, feeling some weird sort of numbing calm wash over me like I'd swallowed novocaine, as if this had nothing to do with me, I was just telling someone else's story. "Ae- _He _couldn't stand it, seeing all those poor little children… I guess we'd never took any of it seriously up to then, never realized that people were dying in the war, that there were people under Cyclonian control. You know, when you're young you turn a blind eye to all of that."

"So what did he do?" Feonix asked, watching me carefully as if she expected me to keel over from Ralix Limb Rot or something.

"He went to the Council, told them we had to do something. He rounded up all the squadrons, from every corner of the Atmos. I don't think anyone else would have been able to get them all together like that. And we had this huge meeting, trying to work out some sort of plan. He'd decided it wasn't enough to just chase the Talons around wherever they were causing trouble; we had to put an end to it, once and for all. A lot of other Sky Knights agreed with him, and eventually they brought everybody else around. We started forming a plan, the Final Strike they called it. _I _named it the Kamikaze Initiative, but nobody listens to carrier pilots. We meant to take months to plan everything out, upgrade weapons and ships, mass produce some crystals, make everyone go through a crash-course in training again, stuff like that. Piper loved it, all the organizing and planning out tactics." Piper wasn't a person anymore; she was a shard of ice that was lodged under my chest and it stabbed me whenever I tried thinking about her. "But then something went wrong. Starling hadn't been the only one of us under cover in the Cyclonian ranks, we had a few spies in there to leak us information. One of them, who was supposed to be our most valuable source, apparently, slipped up somehow and the Dark Ace started to catch on to what she was doing. I don't know for sure what happened, but he did something to her and she fled, and there went our cover. The whole thing got blown wide open and we knew Cyclonis would be on to us sooner or later, so we had to scrap the whole taking our time to lay everything out properly and attack her then, because the element of surprise was really all we had."

"What was her name?" Feonix interrupted. "This woman, the spy."

"Hell if I know, Pegasus or something like that… Starling knew more about her then we did."

"So then what happened? You just launched an attack, just like that?"

"Basically. A week later we were heading for Cyclonia, the largest Sky Knight army since the old Storm Hawks fought their final battle. And it was so… surreal. Everyone was acting weird. Aer- _He _changed, somehow, got really distant. The others were different too; Finn stopped being annoying and got really quiet. Junko wouldn't eat anything. Piper…" I trailed off. Feonix reached for my hand then stopped, because she knew by now contact had the opposite of a comforting effect on me.

"It was just… different. From anything we'd ever done before. Because we'd been in fights before, more then we should have gotten out unscathed from if you ask me. But this was different. This was do or die. And I think that was when we all realized we'd never taken the chance before to tell each other how much…" my throat constricted. Feonix gave me a look that told me she knew exactly what I couldn't say, that I didn't have to go there if it hurt to much.

"And by then it was too late." she whispered.

I nodded stiffly. "Yeah. We realized everything too late."

_The squealing the erupted from the _Condor _nearly made my eardrums_ _explode. The controls, back in my hands too late, shuddered and nearly popped my shoulder out of socket as my ship keeled, suddenly unbalanced. That metal talon tore through her hull like a hot knife through butter and severed the entire starboard side from the rest of the ship, engine, pontoon and all._

MY SHIP!!!

_I'd never felt such raw fury before, not even at the time when Finn cut holes in the crotch of all my underwear as a joke. I could feel the _Condor_'s pain searing and quivering in all her riggings, pure agony. _

"_YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!!!" I screeched so furiously froth bubbled in the corners of my mouth. Wrenching the faltering steering I tried to haul my bird around to take aim with the port side Blasters at that bastard son of scrap metal._

_But the _Condor_ was old. She wasn't meant to fly with just one engine, and even if she could, she was off balance, shredded, missing half her soul and I was pretty sure the heat dissipater too. Acrid smoke followed a roaring bang a moment later and the engine started to belch off heat, proving me right…_

_Oh yeah, definitely lost the heat dissipater…_

_And then my poor bird, my faithful ship, grudgingly, as if she'd been trying her damndest to keep the steering in my control, lost all steering. Meters going haywire, rivets popping like metallic popcorn, falling apart at the seams, try as she might, my loyal, beautiful baby just couldn't hold on any longer. With a long, apologetic groan, she started to keel then steadily dive forward, slowly, gracefully at first like an old girl like her should go, and then with more momentum, plummeting, falling, a dead bird, a falling star._

_And for all of three seconds I felt fear, the most intense I'd ever felt, blasting my veins so hard it hurt. My heart didn't have any regular beats anymore; it was one long note, a thundering note of finality._

_And then it was gone, and the most eerie sort of calm flowed over my skin, freezing me inside, like someone long dead that I'd loved had joined my soul and was singing me a lullaby. _

'_It's okay, Stork. This is how, this is how…'_

"_This is how I'm meant to die."_

"We didn't have much of a plan. Even with every squadron and then some reserves called in, the Cyclonians had us outnumbered. And we were fighting them on their territory. But we had something they didn't; they've always said, the best offence is a good defence. And we had everything to defend, spouses, children, siblings… our entire world would fall if we didn't stop them. We had something worth fighting for. Aer- _He_ said that was our greatest strength, our advantage over the Cyclonians."

"Those of us who were to stay on the carrier ships, to look after the other battle cruisers and the Blasters they had mounted on the outer towers, were supposed to stay in groups of four. The others all went in on skimmers. Of course Cyclonis wasn't going to let us stroll right in; she had a massive crystal shield erected around the whole main fortress, so we couldn't even get in from the Wastelands like we had last time. Piper'd thought of that. She and some other crystal experts from Atmosia made three Blocking Detonators. We didn't know how powerful the were, how long they'd hold up against the shield, so the plan was to try and get as big of a group as possible close enough to the barrier and set off a Blocker and get as many as possible in, fast. We split them up, you know, so we wouldn't keep all our eggs in the same basket. The Guardians took one, Starling had another and we had the third one. The dog fighters were meant to stay in packs. But everything always works out better on paper…"

"You didn't even know if they'd work? That's crazy!" Feonix burst out. I gave a hollow laugh.

"Hell, you don't think I told them that? But what else could we do, go in dressed up as sheep and hope Cyclonis would let us in? Crazy was just our style." I explained bitterly. You weren't so smart, when you were young. You weren't nearly scared enough yet.

"So… did it work? The plan I mean." Feonix asked breathlessly, totally caught up in my nightmare fairytale. Why is war so much fun to hear and read stories about until you're in it?

"Not in the way we intended it to."

_I could hear the streaming hiss of angry wind as gravity sucked the _Condor_ down into the hazy cloud layer. I had to cling like a spider monkey to the controls to avoid being lifted by the G-Force or being sucked out the gaping hole in the _Condor_'s flank. And all the while I just watched out the front window as if I were witnessing someone else's life. And I realized they'd always been wrong; your life didn't flash before your eyes before death. The only told you that to make you do things worthwhile, so you wouldn't feel like you'd wasted your time alive. _

_Maybe death and I were just so close right then that my past seemed obsolete._

_Then something swung into my vision, swung right into the pathway of the _Condor_'s bridge and crashed through the windshield, glass spraying like disturbed water towards me before getting whipped away by the vacuum of the rushing air. _

_Piper's Heliscooter screeched by me and thundered into the back wall and stayed there as if magnetized due to the heavier force of the _Condor_ pulling it down. But Piper was somehow at my side, screaming at me, pulling at my arms, her face cut and bloodied, eyes burning like an exploding sun._

"I always stayed behind on the Condor, watched the others fly off, and every time I thought to myself 'Jeez, I hope they make it back.' And somehow they always did. But that time, it was different. I didn't want them to go. Because that time, I didn't know if I'd ever see them again."

Feonix did grab my hand this time and I had to look away, grinding my teeth. "I was supposed to stay with three other ships, a back-up crew of Blizzarians, the Red Eagle's ship and the Neck Deeps'. But things got so… crazy. It was madness, all the charges going off and skimmers swinging past me, radio reports, none of them from the others, battle cruisers three times the Condor's size trying to squash me… the Eagles had to go defend the rest of their squadron's skimmer pilots. Then the Neck Deeps got separated from us. And then those damn Blizzarians… we got tagged teamed by three other cruisers and they veered one way, I went the other and I lost them. I was on my own, panicking, trying to figure out what had happened to the others, and then…"

And then the novocaine wore off and it all came back, the noise, the terror, the adrenalin, the screams… and the anger. That burning, biting, consuming anger.

"And it was Finn! He was always fucking crashing! He _always_ fucking crashed and I _always_ had to patch up his skimmer later! He always got it cut in half or smashed into something or didn't duck in time… stupid stupid stupid Finn, always crashing… and he must have crashed or been hit really hard, because his bloody Crash Tracker went off and I… I let go. I let the _Condor_ go. I freaked out, I lost it… and then I turned back around and this cruiser had this huge blade welded onto the underside of it like a fin or something and it tore the _Condor_ in half, took off the entire starboard engine, the whole bloody thing. And then we were going down…"

Feonix was squeezing my hand too tightly. My eyes hurt; they must have been bulging out of my face. I tasted copper in my mouth. She was staring at me with concern. I sobbed hysterically at the sympathy, at way she was trying to tell me she understood through her eyes, his eyes, his eyes, his eyes…

"_Stork, come on, we have to go!" she screamed in my ear, prying at my fingers, trying to break my death grip on the _Condor_'s controls. Her arm muscles were straining to hold on to me and yank me away from my beloved ship._

"_Stork, what is wrong with you! We're crashing, we've got to leave, NOW!"_

"_No."_

_She paused in her wrenching at my scrawny wrists. "Stork, you can't save her, the _Condor_'s going down, but we can still get out, now come on!" Terror and anguish and fury and desperation were all smearing together in her voice and she sounded five years old and ancient at the same time. A warrior, a child, a girl I'd grown to love._

"_Get out then."_

"_STORK!" she shrieked at me and I saw blood curdle with her saliva as all her careful grounded and protected emotions broke free with the force of a dragon, too much for her to control. 'There is no more control, Piper, but surely you knew that…'_

"_JUST LET HER GO!" she screamed, hitting me, clawing at me, tearing at my skin._

"_NO!" I shouted at her. "NO! I CAN'T! _THIS IS HOW I'M SUPPOSED TO DIE_!!!"_

"The _Condor_ was too old, she could fly, not with that damage. Maybe a newer ship might have hung on, with just the one engine… but the _Condor_ was going down and I was going with her. Because… she'd done this once before, crashed into the Wastelands, and we tore her from her grave, her peace, to make her fly again, and last time she died the Hawks died too, but she came back, so this time I thought if we both died together then the others could stay alive. So I hung on. But then… Piper came through the windshield. And to this day I don't know how she managed to do it… but she hauled me away from the damn controls, away from my poor ship…"

_Her punch nearly knocked my jaw out of socket._

"_NO IT ISN'T, STORK!" she roared, and I couldn't believe such a willowy creature could emit such a terrible noise. Then again, it's the smallest spiders you have to watch for, they're the most venomous._

"_YOU DON'T GET OUT LIKE THAT!" she continued to howl at me, tears and blood swirling on her cheeks. "THIS IS NOT HOW YOU DIE! _YOU_ DIE WHEN _WE_ DIE!!!"_

_And then she bit me. And, despite my efforts, my resolve to go down, like a good captain, with his beloved ship, his sanctuary, his home, it couldn't beat back four hundred years of Merbian instinct. _

GERMS_!!!!_

_And I let go._

_And she grabbed my around the torso and dragged me across the bridge, threw me over her Heliscooter, kicked the engine into life and roared towards they shattered windshield._

"So the _Condor_ crashed in the Wastelands, alone, again. And then Junko came out of nowhere, Finn on the seat behind him. His skimmer'd been demolished by a Mag Bomb."

_It was surreal to watch the _Condor_'s underbelly rip past us as Piper shot upwards in the opposite direction. Breaking through the smog she levelled off, and the screams and blood in the air and fear on the wind and electricity all around hit me like another punch to the face and I started bawling all over her, into her hair, feeling like my heart had been dropped in a blender._

"_Piper!" Junko's holler was so loud I felt it shake in my chest. 'Stop crying' I told myself and just froze up, numbed, dead like the _Condor_, my face still buried in Piper's midnight hair. _

"_I got him." she wheezed, her throat collapsed under the stain of all her shrieking. "I got him."_

"_Piper, we have to hurry, something's gone wrong with Aerrow!" Finn's voice, usually so haughty, so full of annoying energy, was paper thin and tearing and I had to look up. Junko's left hand was split wide open. I later found out he'd smashed one of the turrets with his bare knuckles, the Buster for that hand shattered by one of Ravess's wickedly accurate shots. Finn had a piece of his skimmer embedded just above his hip bone, and blood was trickling from his mouth. But their eyes were what alarmed me at the time, ate up all the relief I felt at seeing those two sons of bitches again. All four eyes, blue and grey and one a little red from a burst vessel on Junko's part, were glazed by white panic and lunging from their sockets as if they were possessed._

"_Aerrow? Where is he? Did you get a hold of him?" Piper demanded, her voice raw yet shrill with anxiety._

"_His radio's dead. He just called us and then it went out." Finn explained, stammering, shaking, coming apart._

"_AND???" Piper practically screeched like a banshee._

"_He said… he said he just took down the Dark Ace."_

"And they said they'd lost _him_. We lost all communication with him. But not before he'd told them… he'd taken down the Dark Ace. And whenever he said that, he meant he'd clipped his wings, taken out his Switchblade. But that time, we knew… we knew that time he'd killed him."

"_Go for the shield! He's got the Blocker! He's going to try and get in!" Piper yelled, cranking her poor Scooter into over drive, demanding too much speed of the thing, speeds it wasn't meant for. But Piper had a determination that rivalled Aerrow's himself, and she wasn't going to let some law of mechanics get in her way. Junko thundered along side us, his skimmer spewing trails of smoke, gears grinding._

_And I hung on. I hung on for Aerrow._

"We found Radarr, drifting under his shute. He- he cut off his sidecar. And that's when it hit us; he'd never intended for all of us to go. If anyone had ever been meant to finish the Dark Ace, it was him. And now he meant to finish everything, once and for all."

_And then the massive, purple miasma that had been shrouding the fortress flickered and went out. Piper's handiwork had come through after all. _

_But it didn't last long enough._

_Not nearly long enough._

_Because we gunned it. We all seemed to will our rides, the two we had left, to get there, to go faster then sound, then light, then death could work, just this once and then their engines could quit._

_But our rides weren't the _Condor_. They didn't feel our desperation, our need._

_We were always too late._

_And the shield came back up, right before our stretching fingertips, right before our failing hearts._

"He got in. But the Blocker didn't last. We were always too late. And Piper screamed and pounded on the shield with her staff and Junko hurled the last of his Turkey Burps at it and Finn tried to jump through and nearly got fried. But Cyclonis always had a way with crystals, and that damn shield was too strong, even for the Storm Hawks."

"And then… I don't know how long we pounded at that thing for. Could have been hours, could have been two minutes. But then the whole fortress… it started to collapse. Green light was bursting through the walls and windows like a meteor shower, and things were exploding and the terra itself started to give way. And then the fires started and the shield went out and it was like… a black hole. A reverse black hole. All this energy, like all the storms and elements Cyclonis had under wraps broke free at last and Piper didn't want to leave but I took her controls and… gunned it. I was always the first to run when things got bad. We would have been overwhelmed by the sheer energy of the place if we hadn't. It was like oblivion, unleashed. And that's how it all ended."

Feonix had tears running down her cheeks. I could feel them, as if we were looking in a mutual mirror, chasing each other down my face too. I'd never wanted to go back there, to that day, unleash that little bit of oblivion from my chest, and now it was pulling us both in to shadows.

But I wasn't done. I couldn't stop now. It was like I had some sort of horrible flu; once the vomiting started, I couldn't seem to get it all out fast enough. "That was how we ended. Because he broke the rule that day. He broke the one, golden rule. The only god damn rule we never ever broke, and he went and smashed it to pieces. We were supposed to get out together, to win the war together, or die in it together. We were supposed to go down together. Die together or live together. That was the only rule we had and Aerrow had to go and fucking break it!!!"

There. There it was. His name. It finally came out. Sixteen years and it finally came out with the rest of my soul's phlegm and bile. I'd opened Pandora's Box.

Feonix got up from where she'd been cradling herself on Aerrow's bed and wrapped herself around my torso, squeezing, as if trying to keep my leaking essence from spilling free. "I'm so sorry Stork." she sobbed in my chest. "I'm so so sorry…"

I snorted past the mucus and the tears and the pain. "Sorry for what? What difference would it have made if we got there in time? He wanted to beat Cyclonis, even if it meant he died, if it meant we could live. But he broke the rule. And that broke us."

"What happened to him?" she whispered, breaking away to stare into my eyes.

"Never found him. Just his skimmer, a week later, under the rubble. They never found Aerrow or Cyclonis, and believe me, they looked. Bodies might have burned, they might have got crushed, might have got sucked into the oblivion, imploded, no one ever knew. But that didn't matter. We knew he was gone. And without him, we couldn't go one. Live together or die alone. Die together or live alone. And we were still alive. There is no victory in war. No such thing. There is only death. Nobody wins at war, not even the heroes. And what do heroes become, after the war is over, when there is no more fighting, nothing left to fight for?"

Feonix looked up at me. She didn't want to know, but she asked anyways. "What do heroes become?" she murmured.

"They become lost." I said with a lopsided smile. "We became lost. Four days, we stuck together, didn't talk, didn't eat, didn't even look at each other. Finn was the first to leave, on the fifth morning. I think he only did it to spite Piper, to show her he was making the plans for once. He'd… he'd wanted us to stay together. But Piper didn't. She couldn't. It hurt her too much. She just wanted to let it all go. They had a fight and he left. So she left two hours later. I stayed with Junko and Radarr on Atmosia for another day but… I couldn't handle it. Junko needed us, needed me, but I couldn't… I just couldn't. So he went back to Wallop, took Radarr with him. Radarr was sick. You know how dogs get sick when their owners die? Well Radarr got sick too and he died, three months later."

"And what about you?" she whispered, as if she feared giving such a black story too much strength.

"Me? I didn't know what to do. The _Condor_… I'd always felt at home on the _Condor_. I didn't belong anywhere else. But I finally realized it wasn't the _Condor_, it was never the bloody _Condor_, it was the people who were there with me that made me belong there. So about two weeks later, I… I went back to Atmosia, found Piper. I'd always been closest to Piper."

_Soaking wet in the cold rain, freezing, starved half to death, exhausted, sore, haunted, I turned up on her doorstep ready to die. If I couldn't die with the _Condor_, I could die with her. Because nothing better was coming along._

"I stayed with her for nearly a year. She got in with the crystal scientist on Atmosia, they welcomed her in gladly. She was a genius and a hero, how could they say no? I just… wandered about her house, mostly, reading, working on blue prints, trying to figure out…"

"Figure out what?" Feonix asked, tears subdued, full power of comfort tuned into my bleeding soul.

"Figure out how to resurrect the Condor." I murmured. "That was just how I functioned, trying to fix things that were broken. I tried… I tried to fix her, too. Piper, I mean. But she didn't want to be fixed. She wanted to forget. And with me there, she could heal, couldn't move on. I was like an infection. She didn't want to agree with my way of moving on and I didn't know how to go with hers. I tried, fuck me, I tried, but I couldn't just forget it all… so we just… broke apart."

"_Then bloody get out, Stork!" she screamed, throwing my books, my diagrams at my head, screaming and crying. "Get out so I can _live_!"_

"Oh, Stork…" Feonix murmured, folding into me again. Contact… something I'd tried to avoid so long I never realized how much I needed it.

I sniffled. "I had this place set up out here, I was ready to go… and then we got the letter from Finn. He was back on Lyn, he grew up there. And he wanted us to come to his place. He said it was important. And… I hated how it seemed like obligation rather then just an act of friendship. I mean, Finn drove me bat shit crazy, but if he needed me in the old days I would have dragged myself to his side, eventually. But then it was like… trying to pull out my own appendix. It was like a huge sacrifice just to go see him, and I hated it, and Piper must have hated it too, because she locked herself in her room for three hours while I packed up my stuff. It hurt, to think that something we thought was unbreakable had just… turned to ashes."

Feonix nodded empathetically. "So why did he ask you to come then, after all that time?"

I looked into her face. I could see her forming an uncomfortable theory in her eyes, but she was stubborn, didn't want to say it. I let out a long sigh, wiped at my face and continued.

"Piper flew me out on her Heliscooter. That… that was the last time we were ever together, just the two of us. And we didn't say anything to each other, the whole six hours. It was the worst day of my life. Second worst, I mean. A very close second."

"So we got to Lyn and Junko was there too, and he told us about Radarr, but that… that didn't seem to make it past our ears. It was just one more bad thing to throw on the pile. Junko wanted to hug us, I think, but he didn't, because Piper had ghosts in her eyes and I wasn't very responsive at all. So we go inside this ramshackle house Finn's got out there, like three complete strangers who knew each other in a past life. It didn't even seem real, just another dream that we were too numb to care about. Until Finn showed us why he'd called us all out of our hidey holes…"

Feonix was fiddling with her cast. Her wrist was in working order by now, and I knew it was only a matter of time before there was nothing left on her for me to fix. I had the urge to snap her leg.

"And why was that?" she asked, a strange, indifferent tone clipping her voice. She was trembling, despite her efforts to try and hide it.

I gave her a look but she ignored it. Swallow, twitch, and then another round of vomit. I really ought to have taken my temperature… "You."

Her cheek inflated slightly as if she, too, was resisting the urge to puke all over the floor of the _Condor_. "Me?" she repeated, trying to sound innocent, oblivious. She didn't fool me.

"Yeah. I told you I met you as a baby. And there you were, barely a month old, hardly any hair, no motor skills and… the eyes. You had his god damn eyes. We all knew it. The Legion had brought you to Finn because of those eyes. And he thought… Finn still wanted us to be together. And he must have thought… because he was an idiot, he thought that you could take Aerrow's place. Aerrow had held us together before and then he got taken away. But now, a year later, there you were, with his green eyes, and Finn thought we could raise you together and that, somehow, would fix things."

Feonix suddenly stood up, a wild anger in her eyes. "And why couldn't I fix you? What, I wasn't good enough for you all?"

And I did something I'd never done in all my life; I stood up and hugged her.

"No." I muttered. "We weren't good enough for _you, _Stork."

She made a noise like a strangled whimper and pushed her forehead into my boney chest. "So then what happened?" she whispered. The story needed closure, after all, even if it obviously didn't have a happy ending.

"Finn and Piper got into another fight. Both of them were too sore, too proud to ever see eye to eye. And Junko started to cry, then Piper started to cry and then you started to cry, and that made Finn cry and I just stood there, because I didn't know how to cry anymore. And I freaked out again, like that day, a year ago, and I let go. I left. And that was the last time I ever saw any of them, ever again." I finished, because I needed closure too. The story had come full circle and it needed closure.

Feonix nodded as if this was a bedtime story she'd heard many times before and gently backed out of my grasp. Her eyes went to the photo again and then back to me. Okay, so there was one more thing that needed closure.

"Did any of you ever know… why I had Aerrow's eyes? Where I came from?" she asked, sounding small, a baby again, crying. Except this time I wasn't going to run.

"I'm sorry, Feonix. We never knew who your parents were, why… why you looked like Aerrow. The Legion said they found you alone." Something like razor wire was constricting my chest. "Did you ever wonder why they called you Feonix?"

She winced at her name and slowly, with more bravery then I'd ever had, nodded.

"They found you in the ashes, exactly one year after Cyclonia fell, after Aerrow died, after we won the war but lost everything else." I breathed, scared for her, scared to tell her because I had no idea what she'd do. I couldn't fix Piper, and now I was breaking Feonix, and I still hadn't learned how to fix girls I loved, girls who were strong enough to love me. But there was still one more detail, the epilogue to the fairytale that ended all other fairytales.

"They found you in the Scar, Feonix."

**Ha! Three o'clock in the AM and I got this out! Yes! And a short one, rejoice!**


	18. Chop Suey

**18**

**Chop Suey**

**A/N: So, so sorry for taking so long to bloody update. Also, just a note, there's a conversation near the end of the chapter that mentions some... erm... well I'm going to peg it as M rated material. Slang term gets thrown out there. Just thought I'd warn you. Zodiac: Violence Fetish by Disturbed (Wasp's battle theme has been switched to Bodies Hit the Floor by Drowning Pools) I have a playlist link on my profile of all the character songs, if you wanna check them out.**

_**trans·fer·ence: 1. The act of transferring something from one place or person to another. 2. Redirection of feelings (psychology); an unconscious process in which the person redirects feelings about something onto a new object or person.**_

_**I'm not doing great**_

_**I feel like I'm dead**_

_**Not thinking straight**_

_**Inside my body, troubled, full of hate**_

_**I had to let it out before it's too late**_

_**-Deep Inside, Korn**_

**x.x.x Fraggle x.x.x**

_Several whoops and cries of pity and delight went up from the group crowded around my table as smoke practically poured from Rooster's nostrils. I laughed as hard as I'd laughed the first time he'd done it; that reaction never got old._

_Rooster gagged, wheezed and choked all over the table, setting the bottle of Shanty's Malt Vinegar back on the table, considerably emptier then when he'd picked it up. Hand empty now, he bounced his palm in front of me, telling me to cough up. Still chuckling I dropped twenty grungy Flecks onto the table top._

"_I still say I'm getting underpaid for all the physical trauma I'm going through." Rooster objected hoarsely, sweeping my money towards himself. "Like if I have to get my sinuses replaced how am I gonna pay for it?"_

"_Tell you what, eh, you can have one of mine and maybe then you're snoring won't be so bad." I told him and several of our audience laughed (more than half of them were pretty shit-faced I knew, because they laughed a lot longer than my half-assed joke was worth)._

_Just then a cool wind cut through the muggy, smoky heat of the place as the doors banged open. The oncoming gale that had forced the crew of the _Merry Geronimo _into an impromptu holiday (what a shame, right?) was well on its way and its pre-full force winds seemed to shove the newcomers into the pub roughly. Their abrupt presence immediately drew all occupants of the place's attention, mine included, and held everyone's eyes longer than usual, even those of the more inebriated. And I mean hey, this was the Skyside Shanty, newcomers are rare and all, we regulars couldn't help but stare a little. But these guys, man, did they ever win some major points for shock value._

_Three dishevelled looking kids had stepped into the place, looking very edgy indeed about their current surroundings. Or at least the tall one did. The other two, a little dark skinned wraith and a very cranky looking girl with the weirdest blonde hair I'd ever seen were looking positively menacing, shooting daring glares at anyone who made eye contact and hackles twitching like a couple of Dobermans. _

"_Dude, check out Godzilla." Rooster whispered to me as I let out a low whistle. The last of the rag-tag little band was standing uncomfortably behind the others; actually standing was a bit of an understatement. Towering, that was better. The guy had to be almost seven feet tall. But believe it or not, that wasn't the oddest thing about him. _

_Standing with this odd little group of humans was a genuine Raptor, scales and all._

_Skylar (or Sashay we regulars had nick-named her because of the way she slung her hips when she walked), the head waitress of the Shanty, was tough and gutsy (something I dug in a woman) and approached the motley group with her usual gruff manner, barely faltering in the shadow of that brute. Although, I had to admit, the guy didn't look all that threatening; he looked genuinely timid with all our eyes on him and his tail was flicking from side to side neurotically._

_Skylar directed the group to a table and as they sat the noise level steadily started to increase again. That's the great thing about drunk people; we're pretty laid back, and we have a short attention span._

_Rooster was still eyeballing the kids though as I turned back to him. I rapped on the side of his head with my knuckles to get his attention. It was my turn to do something humiliating and/or bad for my health._

"_C'mon, man, give me a chance to win my money back, eh." I said as he refused to look back at me._

"_Fraggle, dig the blondie… that is some damn sexy hair she's got going on." Rooster exclaimed. I rolled my eyes; what was it with human males and blondes? Odd in a way that I was friends with Rooster, as we both possessed one of the things the other was turned on by; a couple of girls had told me I had the sexiest blonde hair they'd ever seen and Rooster was a true-blue redhead. I tried not to think about that too often, because it was creepy._

"_She ain't blonde, eh, she looks like a freaking Dalmatian." I told him._

"_I dunno, something about the black in there is really doing it for me… I didn't believe in love at first sight until she walked in." Rooster muttered and I felt like we were in a sitcom or something as more laughs echoed almost mechanically from the others._

"_Aw, give it a rest, Ginger. She's with those guys over there, and she's probably _with_ one of them anyways, if you know what I mean, eh." I said, taking a drink from my mug which had been in someone else's hand while I was distracted. The nice thing about the Shanty in comparison to some other bars I'd been in was all you had to watch was your drink, or maybe your dinner occasionally._

"_What, you really think she's banging Scaly?" Rooster scoffed and then I saw inspiration light up his cloudy orange eyes._

"_Wha'd'ya say, Prince Charming?" he said, turning to me. "I got a proposition for thee. You go over there and get Blondie to come back here with you within twenty minutes and I will up your wager, double or nothing."_

"_Hmm…" I said into my mug, taking another swig. A few people goaded at me and Rooster smiled his conman smile._

"_C'mon, brother, you're the lady's man around here, if anyone can do it it's you." he wheedled, but flattery wasn't really doing it for me tonight. Something told me that group was tight, and I didn't really want to go over there and try and get in between them. That and if that little chick _was_ banging the Raptor, well… I didn't want to be the sucker on the receiving end of that one's hook shot._

"_Looks like Fraggle will have to take a number, man." someone from our crowd said suddenly. I looked over at the quartet's table as so many others did once again as Barrel, probably one of the most cocksure, skirt-chasing big shots of the whole fishing community, swagger over and place one of his meaty hands on their table, leaning towards the blonde with what he must have thought an alluring smile splashed over his ass of a face._

_At first the blonde ignored him until he leaned in closer and pulled her chair out a bit, turning her toward him slightly. Everyone else was watching with baited breath as slowly the girl looked up at him from under her furrowed brow, piercing green eyes boring into him dangerously._

_I pricked my ears, trying to hear what pick-up line Barrel was trying to use on the little harpy. His mouth hadn't even stopped moving before she was spitting something at him fiercely and suddenly I was a little more interested in her (like I said, I've got a thing for the fiery ones)._

_Barrel was obviously trying to recover, attempting more smooth talk, until the dark skinned guy, who'd been drinking from his own mug as if this had nothing to do with him until now, brought his mug back down hard on Barrel's splayed hand. _

_The other human, dark haired as well but with a fairer complexion, nudged his darker friend as if trying to keep him in line, although he wasn't looking too happy with their guest either. _

_Barrel glared at the darker one for a second before turning back to the blonde, tilting her chin upwards and muttering something to her._

_What happened next almost made me want to cheer for her._

_Faster than spit the girl shook her chin free and chomped down on Barrel's pudgy fingers. Barrel let out a yowl and pulled back, which the darker skinned guy seemed to think was hilarious. The girl stood up and barked "That'll teach you to keep your hands where they belong!" at him, which we all were able to hear because she didn't bother to keep her voice down._

"_I'll decide where they belong, you little bitch!" Barrel growled (the guy had a short fuse and wasn't above getting rough with a lady, something else that bothered me about him) and grabbed the girl by her slender shoulders tightly._

_Both boys were on their feet so fast it was like they'd been zapped. "HANDS OFF!" they both snapped like they shared the same brain length or something. However apparently their girl didn't have playing Damsel in Distress in mind and was already in the act of taking care of herself. One snap kick to the knee and Barrel's grip loosened on her with a howl. The girl wriggled free and the taller boy looped an arm around her torso and yanked her back towards him. Then they both were pulled into a duck by the darker skinned kid as a pool stick whipped past their heads from an attacker from behind, one of Barrel's boys come to his aid. The dark skinned kid straightened up and landed a punch in the jaw of the newcomer. _

_And just like that we had a brawl on our hands. _

_Another one of Barrel's thick skulled chums joined in, catching the dark boy by the collar of his overcoat and landing a blow in his stomach with his free hand. As the kid doubled I could see his attacker preparing to drive his fist upwards to catch him in the chin with a vicious upper cut, but he never got that far. He was sent reeling back as the tall guy slammed the heel of his boot into his ribs. The slighter boy pulled free of his grip on his jacket and as the guy came back up for another go he was met by the most awesome roundhouse kick I'd ever seen, right in the temple. And I mean the dark, skinny kid wasn't that tall or anything either._

_Barrel was back in action and swung a hook shot towards the paler kid. He blocked it and threw one of his own fists back into Barrel's face, right in the cheek bone. Barrel's head snapped to the side. The pale human rubbed his knuckles briefly (Barrel's head was mostly bone after all) and then, as he turned to help his scrawny friend who was tangled up with a third guy, would have probably had his teeth knocked out by the elbow that was coming in his direction via a fourth bonehead had it not been for the girl; she ducked under her friend, deflected the blow with her forearm and, almost too fast for me to catch all of her movements, landed a knee in his crotch (girly knew how to play dirty), caught him in the chin with her own elbow as the guy buckled, snapping his head upwards with a crack and then launched a kick into his chest as he staggered, unbalanced, and sent him reeling backwards into one of his pals. She shot a smug look up to her friend, who ruffled her hair briefly before socking the guy who had their other friend in a half-nelson and had him angled toward _another _crony so they could tenderize the poor bugger like a side of beef._

_Up until around that point it had just been a bar fight, skin rumble, no knives or any other weapon that could cause some permanent damage making an appearance. And to be honest, the rest of us were quite enjoying the show. Barrel and his boys were always getting into fights and it was refreshing to see them getting their asses served to them by a trio of kids (two of them pretty pint-sized too). _

_But then Barrel, back for round three, apparently got sick of being made a fool of. And in a fit of typical brain-dead rage, his hand shot out for the nearest, heaviest thing he could grab a hold of._

_Which happened to be one of the abandoned bar chairs._

_And with crack that made my skull hurt just from the sound, it came across and caught the pale guy right in the brow._

_Blood was immediate. Several of the bigger guys at my table (me included) stood up, ready to jump to the kid's aid. I mean that was just bad form; he hadn't even been watching Barrel at the time._

_The kid staggered back a bit, caught a hold of the table ledge with one hand and the other clenched into a instinctive fist and I thought 'good boy'. His two little friends leaped in front of him to defend him, the girl's hand curling around his arm protectively, snarling and shouting curses like the Hybrids back on Nord._

_But we'd completely forgotten about the Raptor, who'd stayed out of the fray._

_Until then._

_Barrel was quite literally lifted off his feet as the Raptor's scaly hand wrapped around his neck and hefted him up. A hush fell over all present and I couldn't help but think I was about to see guts go flying everywhere. Barrel himself was too afraid to move, staring into the Raptor's unblinking eyes, trembling like a beaten dog._

_Then there was a crackling noise as Barky (the barkeep who we'd also pinned with a nick name 'cause he was such an old sky dog) lowered the sparking tip of his energy staff at the Raptor like it was an old fashioned shot gun._

_The Raptor let go of Barrel, who fell to the floor with a massive thud and refused to move. Tail twitching fretfully the Raptor's face arranged itself into one of a penitent sort of meekness, as if to show he wasn't going to cause any trouble, but Barky's hand refused to move from the trigger on his staff._

_Then the three humans arranged themselves defensively in front of the Raptor, shielding him, and five weapons suddenly blazed up with a unified buzz, lowered pointedly._

"_Try anything on him and we'll turn this place into a nice big pile of firewood." The girl snapped, two throwing axes crossed in front of her threateningly._

"_I don't want no fighters in me pub." Barky growled at her in response._

"_The fucking douchebag hit us first!" the dark skinned boy objected, outraged. He'd actually thrown the first punch in all honesty, but I agreed with him; Barrel had started it by grabbing the blonde chick and frankly I thought he'd deserved what he'd got. And so had Barky until the Raptor had stood up._

"_The Raptor needs to get out." Barky told them, and he sounded pretty apologetic for the guy holding a staff at a group of kids. Barky was a good ol' guy, he knew the score real well and I could tell he knew it wasn't fair to be kicking these half-starved looking kids out on their asses just before the storm of the century hit. They'd only fought back in self-defence after all. But Barrel was one of his regulars and that aside... you just couldn't have Raptors hanging around. Not as long as people still looked at them like monsters._

_Cries, shouts and swear words were hurled at Barky by all three of the loyal little punks but Barky still had the staff in his hand and I don't think they pale kid (their leader I'd gathered) really wanted to cause any more damage, so eventually, after glaring at Barky for a moment reproachfully, motioned to the other three to get moving to the door. As they passed by, and despite her fierce face, I saw the blonde girl squeeze the Raptor's hand._

_One last "burn in hell, fucktard" was thrown at Barrel by the dark skinned kid before his taller friend dragged him out the door and then an edgy silence settled over all present for a moment as if we'd all just witnessed some sort of catastrophe. Then, as Barky moved back behind the bar and put away his staff, the drunken voices and laughter and clinking of mugs started to rise in volume again. And another night at the Shanty, same ol', same ol'._

_I couldn't just get over what had happened, though. I found myself rising to my feet, heading for the door. Something about those kids, how they'd defended each other like siblings and just looked so damn lost in the world was tugging at me. And I really didn't like the idea that they were out there to face the wrath of the gale either._

"_Hey Fraggle, you get that chick back in here and I'll raise you fifty hit!" Rooster called after me as if he thought we were still messing around and the robotic slew of laughter chased after me as I stepped out onto the docks, into the already pissing rain._

_Storm a'comin'._

_I could see the four of them, huddled around their sky rides at the far end of one of the wharfs and headed towards them. _

"_Let's see, Shade." The blondie was saying, forcing the tall kid to sit on the seat of one of the skimmers so they could inspect his injured forehead._

"_It's nothing, doesn't even hurt." He reassured her as the Raptor pressed a thumb against the bleeding split above his eyebrow. "Ouch! Varan, easy!"_

"_Doesn't hurt, huh?" the girl repeated and he scowled at her before she continued. "I can't fucking believe that ape hit you with a bloody chair! We ought to go back in there and put his head on a pike as a warning to any other wife-beating, booze-hounding slimebag asswipe jerks to smarten up!"_

"_Whoa, that's so weird, eh, asswipe jerk is Barrel's middle name." I said and all four of them jumped. Apparently none of them had heard me approaching (I'm a freaking ninja, what can I say?)._

_The little scrawny kid had a sabre lowered in my direction so fast I think I must have blacked out for a second and missed it. "Back off or I'm cutting something off you probably don't wanna part with." he promised._

_I raised my hands good naturedly. "Easy there, cowboy, I'm not looking for a fight, eh."_

"_Yeah, neither were we, life's not all sunshine and lollipops." he growled, glaring at me with eyes like chunks of ice._

"_Seriously dude, ya think I'd come out here all by my lonesome to pick a scrap with you after what I saw in there, eh?" I asked him evenly. _

"_Angel, let him be." the other boy told him, getting up and eyeing me up warily. "Can we help you?"_

_I shrugged. "Pretty big storm rolling in on the weather forecast, eh. You kids got a place to stay?"_

"_We had one, thanks." the darker skinned boy snapped. "But they didn't give us enough towels, so we left. So did you say you were leaving now?"_

_I couldn't help but grin. The kid was funny, all sharp words and skinny-like. _

"_What's it matter to you?" the blonde girl demanded, stepping up beside the taller boy._

"_Well I was just wondering, since you've only got them little skimmers there, eh, and the next terra's about two hundred clicks right through that puppy." I said, motioning to the roiling black thunder heads that were looming steadily closer. All five of us stared for a moment in awe of ol' Ma Nature's power. Then the tall boy with the gash on his brow sighed and turned back to me, looking tired. _

"_Yeah, we know, but frankly we'd rather try and camp out somewhere in that then stay in a place run by Nazis."_

_I nodded and glanced at the Raptor. "I bet he's not really that bad at all, eh."_

"_No, he isn't." The taller boy said firmly, stepping on the tip of the Raptor's flickering tail._

"_Gotta say, those were some pretty nice moves back there, eh. Now either you kids are a crack little gang of wandering ninjas or... you're angling to be a squadron. Am I right?"_

_They all exchanged a quick glance. As if I looked untrustworthy or something. Pshaw, please, I'm practically a teddy bear._

"_What's it to you?" the girl asked eventually, folding her arms._

"_Sounds pretty cool is all."_

"_Yeah, flying around through hurricanes, getting kicked out of bars, camping out in the rain... it's a real blast." She said wryly and the tall boy rolled his eyes._

"_So you don't have a cruiser then, eh?" I guessed._

"_Oh, no, we do, it's got mad cloaking skills is all." The darker boy snapped irritably._

"_Hmmm..." I glanced towards the back air docks where the _Arcadium_ was all tucked in for the night next to her mothership, the _Geronimo_, ready to weather out the gale. An idea was forming in the bottom of my mind, fed by my recent boredom and my trademark random decisions that sound fun at the time. "I got a proposition for ya'll, then." I said, looking the tall kid in the eye. "I got a cruiser. Might be a little cramped, eh, but I can put you up for the night there."_

_The guy's violet eyes opened in surprise and disbelief. "Seriously?"_

"_Sure. And tell you what, I'll let you take her if you want. On one condition, eh."_

"_What's that?" he asked warily._

"_She's my baby, eh, and I can't just leave her, see. So you want her, you take me with you, and I'll be your pilot. Deal?"_

_The kid looked like he wouldn't believe me if I told him gravity worked. He looked at his friends then back at me. "Uh... are you sure? I mean, don't you have, you know, something that you, um...do?"_

_I shrugged. "Meh. I'm kinda drifter that way, eh. Plus this squadron thing sounds like fun, eh. Believe it or not fishing gets old."_

"_What do you guys think?" he asked, turning to the others._

'_Well we need a pilot..." the Raptor said lowly. "And it's not like we're going to have a whole list of people who'll want to recruit."_

"_I think we should check out his carrier before just signing on with him." The girl said gruffly. "For all we know it could be a garbage barge with an extra engine."_

_Ouch._

_The dark skinned kid snorted. "Yeah, we need a pilot, but you seriously wanna take on one who's a Blizzarian? C'mon, those guys are accidents waiting to happen, and this one's obviously crazy."_

"_Angel..." the other boy scolded in a mutter._

_I laughed though. "Yeah, crazy's part of my name, actually: Fraggle Thatcrazysonofabitch they call me, eh. But you can call my Fraggle for short."_

_The tall boy looked around for a general consensus; a nod from the Raptor, a 'meh, what the hell, so long as he's got a good cruiser' from the girl and a shrug from the other boy. Then the tall guy turned back to me and stuck out a hand. "Crazy, huh? Great, you'll fit right in."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Oh, god _damnit_!" Angel yowled, throwing his cards down as I trumped his queen of spades "You gotta be kidding!"

Giggling like a madman I scooped his cards towards me. "You're really not good at this game, eh."

Angel snorted. "You wouldn't be so good at it either if you didn't have those aces up your sleeves."

"Oh come on, you've got aces in your boots!" I argued as I dealt out the cards again.

"Well not anymore, I used them up two rounds ago!" he griped, frowning at his cards. I snickered; what's that old saying, winners never cheat and cheaters never win? So what happens when you've got two cheaters playing together?

I whoop ass is what happens.

"You shouldn't have those aces anyways." Angel muttered, laying down an eight of diamonds. "You've got enough horse shoes up your ass."

I laughed. "Get used to it, little man, I am the luckiest guy you're ever gonna meet, eh. You're just plain unlucky, that's all."

"Ain't that the truth." He grumbled then swore like a sailor when I trumped him again. "Oh, you gotta be shitting me!"

"I shit you not, eh." I said, pulling the cards over to myself and then laying down a seven of hearts (I was pretty sure there was two of them in the deck by now. With all our cheating and replacing cards lost due to temper tantrums, our deck of fifty-two had grown to a mutant deck of seventy-four, and they didn't even all have the same backs).

"Fuck this, I fold." He griped, thumping his cards onto the table top.

"This ain't poker, eh, you can't fold at Fuck your Neighbour!" I argued. The actual name of the game was _Screw_ your Neighbour (more polite-like, see) but, you know, teenage boys and all.

"Then I quit!"

"Aw, come on, that's a bloody seven, you can't trump a bloody seven?" I demanded.

"That was my highest card!" he snapped, stabbing the eight I'd taken from him repeatedly with his finger. I was laughing so hard I could see two of him in my swimming vision, sulking.

Varan entered the bridge then and scowled at us. "Don't you two have something more productive to do besides playing cards?" he asked, sounding grumpy.

"Nope." Angel and I droned in unison.

Varan rolled his eyes. "Look you two, there's loads of stuff that could be done around here, why don't you try and contribute for once?" he suggested, pushing Angel's boots off the table.

I pretended to look affronted. "Contribute? I'm the bloody pilot, eh! Without my contributing, we wouldn't be on this jolly little adventure!"

"I'm on sick leave." Angel added, trying to pick a decent card out of the deck and stash it in his boot without even bothering to be inconspicuous about it.

"You are such a baby." Varan growled, crossing his arms. "I lose teeth all the time and they grow back and you don't hear a peep out of me!"

"That, my crocodilian friend, is because those teeth are not growing in under _nerves_." Angel explained in a slow, obvious drawl. "Check these fuckers out." He opened his mouth wide and gave Varan and I a good, gory look at the sludgy mess that was the back of his mouth.

"Eww." I whined, pushing his jaw shut and thanking my lucky stars we Blizzarians didn't need to grow in extra teeth when we were older.

"Plus you probably don't want me doing anything with heavy machinery anyways, I'm loaded up on Tylenol Threes, and I think an expired vitamin too." Angel continued, adding one of the three aces of clubs into his hand.

"Yeah, that'll come in handy if we get into a battle or something." Varan muttered.

"Hey, in our defence, eh, we're not the only ones just chilling out." I said, jerking my head in the direction of the couch. Varan looked over me and smiled a bit.

"Aww." He said.

"See, when they slack off it's cute." Angel said to me like someone overworked and long-suffering and I nodded in agreement. Varan swatted at both of us.

"Well they _were_ working. Would it kill you guys to keep your voices down at least?" he said.

Falshade was flaked out on the couch, his field guide, which seemed to have become a sort of bible to him, and a bunch of scrap paper scattered over his chest like a shredded blanket. Wasp was curled in the tiny gap between his feet and the arm rest, although unlike Falshade I wasn't sure if she was really sleeping. Wasp didn't seem like the kind of creature that needed sleep.

"They weren't _working_." Angel grumbled. "They were brainstorming, talking a bunch of nonsense. And we helped with that, didn't we Fraggle?"

"Yeah, I suggested the wind, eh." I said.

"The wind?"

"Yeah, eh. Wind makes all kinds of noise but doesn't have a mouth." I explained.

"Oh, _that_." Varan said, sitting down next to me and looking at my cards. "That's a good one, actually. Although you're forgetting the second part: Given Voice by the Stolen. How can the wind be stolen?"

"What is a Stolen, for that matter?" Angel said. "We've been working on that damn riddle all week and no progress."

"Hence why we're taking a mental break and playing cards, eh." I concluded and Varan rolled his eyes.

"Hey, it's not like you were helping with the headache of the century!" Angel reminded him then pounded a fist onto the table in frustration when I took another one of his tricks. "I really don't like this game." He informed me.

"Wanna play Go Fish instead, eh?"

"Hey, smart guy, I have an excuse. I was working on my explosive stock, in case we get into another fight." Varan said shortly.

Angel snorted. "Yeah, too bad we haven't seen hide nor tail of those buggers, even though they keep popping up and then vanishing again like ghosts."

He was right; after leaving Delphi and skipping a trip to Nord (I'd refused to go despite Falshade's pressuring me to do so. Once I'd known my family was safe I just felt like I couldn't do it. I'd told Shade, who'd been insistent on keeping his promise, that it was because I was terrified Starla would tear one of my legs off so I couldn't leave again -which was part of the reason as well- but the thing I really feared was that once I got there, I wouldn't be able to leave again) we'd decided to try and track down these bastards that were attacking terras left right and center and then dropping off the radar again, and hopefully this Prophecy source would reveal itself as we went.

That was about a week ago now.

And now we were pretty much playing delivery service for the Squadrons, who kept changing address every other day and needed supplies like nobody's business. That and the fact that we couldn't peg down any of these bogeys, which was sitting pretty high at the top of our wish list, for multiple reasons (vengeance being the first one that came to my mind) and _that_ coupled with the fact that we could sooner draw up a map of the Great Expanse then figure out the source of our damn Prophecy, tempers were running pretty high and we'd started acting more like a pack of wolves then squad-mates more often than not, stalking like caged animals down the corridors and occasionally gnashing our teeth at one another.. Come to think of it, it was a bit odd that Angel and I were playing cards like civilized teenaged guys, as just this morning Falshade had had to come between us before it came down to a fist fight (which I would have won, by the way); I'd gotten sick of Angel railing on me for drinking the last of the orange juice and poked him in the jaw to get him to shut up. I blamed his unnaturally forgiving mood on the narcotics.

"Well since you're so eager to get in a scrap let's go do some training or something at least." Varan said, flexing his burned fingers experimentally.

Angel groaned. "Last time I trained with you I ended up with two busted ribs."

"_Cracked_ ribs." Varan insisted peevishly. "And I said I was sorry about that. Like, twenty hundred times."

"Nice math there, eh."

"Thanks."

"Yeah I know, I just like bugging you about it because I'm a shit-disturber." Angel said and Varan grabbed him around the neck with a grin and dug his knuckles into his scalp.

"Well, since you're being such a baby about these teeth of yours I guess I won't be making any brownies or anything for after supper and just go back to making explosives..." he said after releasing him, getting up.

A look of honest to god horror came over Angel's face and he was on his feet so fast his chair almost fell over backwards. " Sick leave null and void, reporting for duty." He said, even throwing in a little salute.

"Wow little man, you just sold your soul for brownies. You're practically a whore, eh." I said and he threw his cards at me.

"Go and tweak the crystal shields like I asked you to do _yesterday_ and I'll think about it." Varan told him.

"Consider it done. Can you make them kinda gooey inside so I can chew them?"

"I dunno, I don't see you getting to work."

Angel made an irritated noise and went over to the couch.

"He's so easy." Varan whispered to me, and I laughed because that was a lie and a half. Except where chocolate was concerned.

"Don't wake them up!" Varan warned him as Angel stuck out a hand to shake Wasp's shoulder.

"I ain't a damn crystal expert, you want me to blow this place to smithereens?" Angel asked pointedly.

Quite suddenly Wasp's eyes snapped open and she had Angel pinned to the floor a good five feet from the couch like she was a released spring.

"Oh, it's just you." she said flatly while Varan and I roared with laughter.

"Well who were you expecting, the bloody Easter Bunny?" Angel snapped, rubbing the back of his head. "Jesus, Wasp, I think you need to cut back on the energy drinks."

Falshade groaned and pushed his face into the armrest. "You guys are louder than a traffic accident."

"Yeah, excuse me for being attacked by a homicidal jungle freak." Angel muttered.

"Can I help you with something?" Wasp asked him.

"You might mind getting off me, for starters."

"Hmm." Wasp said thoughtfully. "Freak is so generic..."

"I'm having serious trouble breathing here."

"...and you did _imply_ I was a freak, by which I assume you meant as an insult..."

"I have stuff I have to do or I won't get my brownies!"

"...and insults _are _mean..."

"Wasp! You're crushing vital organs!"

"What part of shut up don't you two don't understand?" Falshade demanded, although he was smiling now at their predicament. That or he was just getting a kick out of me pissing myself laughing.

"...so in conclusion, getting off doesn't seem like an option. Plus you're pretty comfy."

"Look, I will _share_ my brownies with you if you get off me and give me a hand with-"

"I don't like brownies."

"That's because there's something wrong with you."

"That sounds like another insult to me." Varan pointed out.

"Stay out of this."

"Get him to say please, Wasp." Falshade suggested and then laughed into the cushions at the mutinous look on Angel's face.

"You might be here awhile." Angel informed Wasp, his stubborn, sulky expression set on his face.

Wasp shrugged. "Hope you don't have to use the bathroom."

"Well, I think I'm going to go and finish up one more Rapture before I start dinner." Varan said and Angel pounded his head backwards onto the floor a few times, looking torn.

"Wasp, c'mon on, don't make me say it." He hissed into her ear. Wasp giggled, tucking her ear back.

"That tickles."

"Kinky." I wheezed and started laughing all over again at the glare Angel shot me.

"Ah, this makes putting up with all your bullshit worth it, Angel." Falshade announced, leaning back on the couch with his hands linked behind his head, looking like he was really enjoying himself.

"It's a great stress reliever too." Varan added and Falshade nodded.

"You guys are the worst people ever." Angel stated.

"Angel, stop and think about that sentence for three seconds." Falshade told him.

"I have been a bloody saint lately!"

"You said something was wrong with me." Wasp reminded him. "And it kinda hurt my feelings..."

"Oh, I didn't mean it." Angel muttered, but I swore something apologetic flickered on his face as he looked up at her.

"So, since I'm not doing any extra cooking, you guys can make yourselves a sandwich if you get hungry, I'm really busy with my explosives stuff." Varan said, starting to walk off down the hallway.

"_PLEASE_, GOD DAMNIT!" Angel shouted and Wasp rolled off him, cackling.

"Wish I could have got that on tape." Falshade said to me and I sunk into hysterics again because that happens to me when I get kinda high-strung.

"Ugh." Angel said, getting to his feet. "I hope you know I hate you all."

Wasp nodded.

"I'll hate you less if you help me with something, though." He wheedled and Wasp seemed to consider this concept.

"Okay."

"Great!" Angel hauled her to her feet by her jacket, for which she shoved him and then tugged her jacket back down irritably. Angel hardly seemed to care and he cornered Varan, looking threatening and determined and for his part Varan tried not grin.

"You better make me something now or I'll starve to death. I can't bloody chew at all."

Varan ruffled his hair. "Well we can't have that. I'll make spaghetti, that's mushy, seeing as how we have to treat you like a baby now."

"Is that that wormy stuff?" Wasp asked while Angel muttered an oath under his breath.

"And the brownies?" he demanded.

"Well I don't see you getting off to fix that shield, but if you do..."

"Right, on it." Angel said and whistled. Wasp leapt over beside him.

"Can we skip?"

"_No_."

Wasp pouted then ran off down the corridor, arms out behind her, singing at the top of her lungs: "_Miiiiiiiiiissss Mary had a daddy, her daddy was a drunk, and when he came home all sauced up he'd like to fuck her in her TOUCH ME ONE MORE TIME DADDY AND YOU'RE HEAD IS GONNA ROLL over sweetie, it's not going to hurt LAY A FINGER ON ME AGAIN AND YOU'RE GONNA BE SIX FEET UNDER DIRT!"_

The four of us stared down the hall after her.

"Wow, and I thought _your_ music was raunchy, Fraggle."Varan said.

"Have fun with the Homicidal, eh." I said to Angel, who pulled a face and followed after the sound of Wasp crashing into something.

Shade stretched and got off the couch, sighing as he kicked a sheet of paper glumly across the floor. "I think my brain is bleeding." He told Varan.

"Give me a hand with making supper, that'll help." Varan suggested and I followed after the two of them since my card playing partner had up and left in the name of brownies. Honestly, what's happened to the term _loyalty_ these days? I mean hell, I would have stayed until the subject of a good looking red head came up. Jeez, some people huh?

Falshade sat on the counter, banging his heels against the cupboards distractedly as Varan deposited a bowl in his lap. "You make the meat sauce, ground beef makes me feel sick if I stare at it too long."

Falshade prodded the lumpy meat with a wooden spoon as if it were brain matter. "Does look kinda icky... so I had an idea. Actually, Wasp did and it really makes sense to me."

"Wasp? Make sense?" I asked, motioning for Varan to toss me an apple and catching it.

"Easy there, Hairball, you don't often make a lot of sense yourself." Shade pointed out.

"True say." I agreed, grinning.

"This stuff?" he asked, holding up a container of spice for Varan's examination. After getting a nod of approval he continued. "So we're thinking of all these things that could 'talk' but don't have mouths, right? But I guess we haven't been focusing enough on the second part: 'given voice by the Stolen'."

"That's what I said." Varan agreed. "Don't put that in there, Shade. Chop up some onions or something."

Falshade put down the bottle of none-too-welcoming looking liquid and slid off the counter, reaching for the cutting board. "Anyways, so Wasp suddenly mentions the idea of spirits. Dead people. She says... and I mean not saying this makes her sound any saner mind you, but after talking to the Oracle I kinda agree with her...anyways, she says that spirits can talk but they don't have mouths in this world, or we don't always hear what they say anyways. And she says what if someone was killed before their time, taken away from us? Wouldn't that count as Stolen?"

Varan and I were silent for a moment as we mulled this idea over in the ol' noggin. Until I'd met the Oracle I would have called Wasp a right loony, but I had to admit, I was ready to believe in flying unicorns these days, and Wasp's theory had substance. I mean, looking at it from that angle, didn't we all have someone who'd been stolen from us?

"So do you think maybe that's why the Oracle didn't say anything from Stork?" Varan asked eventually. "Because she was pretty much stolen from us. And the Oracle said it wasn't her place to tell us where the source was coming from, so maybe that's why..."

"That's what I was thinking too." Falshade nodded grimly, then wiped his streaming eyes. "Argh, fucking onions... but say Wasp is right, and I definitely think she's on to something, how do we find this... mouthpiece? That's what Wasp called it, something that can give the dead a voice again... the Oracle already said it wasn't her place..."

"But she also said that was because it would tangle with someone else's destiny, eh." I reminded them. "Maybe... maybe it's one of us."

The other two seemed to consider this and didn't say anything for a while so I continued because I'm like filler in burgers that way "I mean Falshade's got his freaky, psychic dream future powers there eh, so maybe, if this destiny supposedly brought us all together, one of us has some kind of super powers? Like, we get the Death channel up in the attic, or something, eh."

Varan snorted. "Death channel, how eloquent of you."

"Thanks eh."

Falshade was mashing the meat around and it made me think of road kill for some reason. "It is possible though. Got any super powers there, Fraggle?"

"Hmm..." I considered this. "Well I _am_ ridiculously good looking, eh."

"Yeah right, and I have x-ray vision." Varan said sardonically.

"What about Wasp?" I asked abruptly, my mind making one of those jumps in the conversation's thread that drives people nuts. "I mean I remember the Oracle mentioning, and go easy on me 'cause I wasn't really listening, too darn happy eh, but she mentioned this dead boy who visited Wasp in the form of... a dragon or something, eh? What's that mean?"

"I don't think that's any of our business." Varan muttered. "It seemed like whoever this guy was... Wasp must have felt something special for him. That's how the Oracle made it sound anyways."

"Forgive me but I can't see that." Falshade muttered, speaking my mind. "I mean... Wasp doesn't seem like someone who can form... attachments."

"Falshade, why do you think she bloody hangs around with us if she can't form attachments?"

"I didn't mean it quite like that but... I dunno. It's weird to me. Then again I couldn't really picture Stork..." he trailed off, avoided our gaze and dumped his road-kill mush into the saucepan Varan had set on the stove top. "Maybe it's just girls in general. They're like a totally different species."

"Amen, brother." I agreed, raising my apple in a cheers salute.

"I assume they think the same of us." Varan said matter-of-factly.

"No, see that's the kicker, eh." I said. "They get us, like they learn our mentality, eh. It's downright creepy. Girl can look at you and tell you exactly what your problem is down to a science, eh. Watch yourselves with them creatures, boys, because believe you me they'll let you think you're fucking them, but in reality, eh, they're fucking you."

"Okay, sexist and crass language aside, I might have taken that to heart if I thought you knew anything about girls to begin with. Which I don't." Varan told me. I folded my arms and pretended to be insulted. "Plus you sound like you're trying to tell us homosexuality is the way to go. Are you speaking from experience?"

I got up casually and then jumped on him as he laughed. It was so unusual for him to make any sort of even slightly prejudice joke that I had to laugh too. "Maybe I am, eh." I said, clawing at his scaly chest suggestively and he threw me off, laughing.

"Sorry Fraggle, you're not my type."

"Really? Not even with my cute little toque, eh?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to call it cute... dorky, that's the word."

That was something I admired about Varan. He took all kinds of crap good naturedly and when he did tease he did so carefully, almost hesitantly, because he's just a nice guy that way. And nothing you said or did really seemed to bother him. Hell I could have clambered all over him like a monkey and he would have just kept making spaghetti.

And for the record, I'm all about the chicks. Just so that's cleared up. I've heard too many jokes about what sailors do on long excursions thank you very much.

"So I guess we're done talking about my theory then." Falshade muttered, drawing his face back quickly when the sauce pan spat hot grease at him angrily. Varan leaned around him and turned the burner down.

"Chief, believe me, I'm as hardcore about figuring this thing as you are, eh. But you've been giving yourself a brain tumour about it all week, and now you're spreading the love and giving me a headache, eh. So maybe you should just chill about it for awhile. Things come to you when you least expect them."

"Yeah, Fraggle's right, Shade. I mean, there's plenty of other stuff to worry about besides the Prophecy thing. Let those bother your ulcer for a bit." Varan added.

Shade laughed. "And what things might those be? I mean with nothing going on lately, this damn source thing has been the only thing I can really throw any energy into."

"Well let's see... off the top of my head I can think of all of us slowly losing our minds via cabin fever, extreme neuroticism due to not knowing when or where these guys are going to strike next, frustration because of the above, steadily dwindling food supplies by the way and the Atmos' oldest baby whining my ear slits off because of his damn teeth, for starters." Varan said, ticking things off his fingers and I laughed. "Worry about some of those."

"Oh damn." Falshade said, snaking his fingers through his hair and clutching his head. "That reminds me..."

Varan and I stared at him for a moment before we both asked "Well?"

"Oh, it's nothing really, I just... hey, did Stork ever mention home to either of you?" he asked, trying to sound casual and not quite getting away with it.

Varan shook his head. "No, not to me. I don't think she liked getting all nostalgic, you know, her fear of acting anything feminine and getting sentimental and all. Why?"

"Well I'm thinking if she did have family, they won't know what happened." Shade muttered quietly and I felt a jolt go down my spine. I thought about how I'd felt, thinking my family might have been hurt or... dead, and let me tell you, that had to be the worst feeling in the world, other than _knowing_ someone was dead. Like someone had torn your heart out and replaced it with a time bomb and you were just waiting to blow up. It gave me a horrible, gut clenching feeling to think someone out there right now thought Stork was still alive, maybe caught in limbo wondering if she was safe or not or maybe just blindly thinking all was well, but... I thought of something Barky had told me once, apropos to something I couldn't remember at the moment, but right now it came to mind: _'Fraggle lad, let me tell ya something. Knowledge is over rated. Sure, it's powerful, it's good to have smarts, but ya know, kid, it fucks with you, too. Ignorance is bliss... anyways, I'll tell ya, once you know things, know how bad things can be, there's only one thing worse than knowing bad things and that's not knowing.'_

That sure made a lot of sense to me now, and I could understand Falshade's anguish about the whole thing.

"She mentioned home once to me, eh. Something about not having been back in awhile. I asked if she had any siblings and she said only no, only us, eh. Well she didn't say eh, you know, but.... anyways, I think she had something. Home, somewhere, with someone, eh." I said, not thinking that helped a lot but I had to say it anyways.

Falshade nodded. "Yeah, I had that feeling too, that somewhere she must have had someone, she just seemed like the kind of person who... well who didn't grow up alone anyways."

"Have you asked Wasp?" Varan asked, opening a can of sauce.

"No."

"I would. Girls are like that, they talk to each other about stuff they wouldn't with us."

"They do? I dunno, Stork always seemed pretty open with us." Falshade said, sounding slightly hurt.

"Hell Shade, girls practise kissing with each other, eh, you wouldn't believe what they don't tell us about." I said and Varan stiffened up while Shade's face turned slightly red. I snickered, getting a kick out of watching those two squirm.

"They don't really do that, do they?" Varan muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

"You bet they do, eh!"

"Well I can't picture Stork and Wasp doing that, anyways." Falshade said, clearing his throat.

"You can't? I can, eh." I said and earned disgusted glares from both of them. I laughed, showing them my palms for mercy. "Kidding!"

"You better be." Varan said, scraping the can of sauce with a spoon before getting out a second bowl, I assumed for Angel's brownies (which he was _so_ sharing, if he knew what was good for him).

"Nah eh, I got better images then those two. No offence to her, but Wasp isn't my type, she's too blocky." I didn't say anything about Stork because I was still in a grieving process about her and it stung to say her name, gave me a watery feeling in my stomach. It was hard to think that just over two weeks ago she'd infiltrated my room and talked to me about Starla...

"You both don't give that girl enough credit. Between you thinking she can't form bonds with people and now saying she's too 'blocky'? Which by the way, I might not be as much as an 'expert' as you, but I don't think girls would appreciate that kind of description at all. Admittedly, yes, Wasp is strange as all get-out and she gives me the creeps sometimes. But she worked really hard to look after us after... after what happened, remember? Like I don't think she likes touching people that much at all and yet you needed a hug, bam, she was there. I dunno, maybe this is me just sticking up for the underdog, but... lay off her a bit, would you?" Varan said and Shade and I exchanged a shameful look.

"Right eh, sorry. I was just kidding around anyways."

"Yeah, I didn't mean anything bad, that's just how she comes off to me, kinda... detached. Anyways, you're right, she's been helpful trying to figure this Prophecy shit out with me, nonsense being her thing and all. Her words, not mine." Falshade added.

"Which brings me back to the whole spirit thing. Say Wasp is right, say one of us is supposed to get this message from someone who's gone... how do we know how said person is going to hear them, or even who is going to be telling them? Stork seems like a candidate, because she was a part of what was going on, but if it's not her then who? Whose destiny is getting tangled up in it?" Varan said, stirring the contents in the bowl meticulously, avoiding our gazes. "If you really think about it, we've all lost someone, it could be any of us."

Shade made an irritated noise. "See, welcome to my dilemma. Any theory we make just gets more questions hurled at it, and I feel like we're running out of time, like all this chaotic shit going on out there is like the calm before the storm, if you know what I mean."

"Ow, yeah, there's the brain bleeding, eh." I said in an attempt to lighten things up a bit and Falshade laughed shortly. After that we remained all but silent, mulling things over while Varan finished up supper and wrangled Shade and I into setting the table. Then he leaned out the kitchen door.

"FOOD'S DONE, YOU TWO!" he hollered so loudly it hurt my ears.

"Do you find it odd at all that Angel was perfectly okay with having to work with Wasp on the shields?" Falshade muttered to me but I didn't have time to respond as said desert boy abruptly stalked into the kitchen to sit on Shade's other side.

"So did you get it fixed or do I have to let the others eat those brownies on their own?" Varan asked him then pulled a faced at the sheer amount of spaghetti Angel piled into his mouth.

"Jesus, Angel, don't forget to breathe or anything." Falshade said sarcastically, taking the bowl of spaghetti away from him and passing it to me.

Angel held up a finger and swallowed roughly. "Not my fault, I'm fucking starving, seriously, I can't chew anything without feeling like I'm getting stabbed in the head. And to answer your question, yes, we amped the shields, they should be somewhat useful now. Praise me."

"If it's really that bad we should take you to a dentist so we don't have to listen to you whine all day." Varan told him, jumping as Wasp brushed past him like a cat, materializing from apparently thin air. She froze in the act of sitting in her chair.

"You can't do that!" she said, looking genuinely horrified. "Dentists will put you under so they can yank out your teeth and stick things in your head instead! Wires and lights so you're like a Christmas tree!"

"I don't whine _all_ day." Angel grumbled. "And they don't do _that_. They stick in remote bombs, you know, with buttons they can press whenever they want."

"Don't encourage her." Varan scolded.

Wasp's eyes got so big I thought they were going to fall out of her head. "That must be why they make you use toothpaste!" she whispered, looking as if some horrible realization had just dawned on her. Then she started staring at the floor. "Do we have any of that blood stuff? In the bottle? Cat-sup?" she asked, sucking on the tip of her thumb.

"Fridge."

"Wasp have you ever kissed another girl?" Falshade asked so out of the blue that I nearly spit all my mulched up pasta onto the table and Angel made a snorting noise then coughed as milk dripped out his nose.

"Where did that come from?" he demanded in a wheeze and Shade's cheeks turned red as he scowled at Angel, handing him a napkin.

"I'm just curious, that's all." He muttered.

"Nothing wrong with curiosity." Wasp said, sounding unperturbed as she hunted around the fridge. "And to answer your question no, I haven't."

"That's disappointing" I said and earned a smack from Varan.

"Although there was this one girl I used to know, she was really pretty and she smelled like vanilla, not the kind in coffee but the kind when you just picked it from the trees, you know? Like, earthy? She was a prostitute. I used to dance with her sometimes." Wasp continued on, folding her legs under her as she sat down, bottle of ketchup in a strangle-hold in her hand.

We were kind of thrown off by that. Eventually Angel cleared his throat. "Uh... what does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh, I'm just saying, if I would have kissed a girl it probably would have been her. She had freckles too." Wasp explained cheerfully, dumping half the bottle of ketchup onto her spaghetti.

And maybe it was because my brain had gone into symbolism default and I kept looking at everything like it was supposed to be something else, but that mess of red looked a lot like spilled intestines to me and a cold, foreboding tingle shot down my spine.

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

_The floor was cold under my bare feet as I crept down the stairs, making sure to avoid the third one from the bottom because it creaked traitorously and was sure to give me away. I paused at the bottom, listening before padding along the hallway until I reached the corner by the kitchen door, which was open slightly, allowing a blade of pale light to slice the shadowy hallway. I crouched in the corner so I could peer into the kitchen with one eye._

_Oz was pacing back and forth past the kitchen table distractedly, her boots thumping on the wooden floor ominously. She kept glancing at the front door erratically and brought her hand up to nibble at her thumbnail, a nervous habit of hers. She only chewed on that one nail, a compromise she'd made with Aries if it meant she'd leave all her other digits alone. I liked Oz's hands. They seemed to tell the story of her life more accurately then any palm reader could; calluses, short nails, burns and scars… and the curve of her knuckles when she bunched her bronze fingers into a fist. My hands were still too small and childish to form fists as formidable as hers._

_Suddenly there was a rumbling noise outside and a light flashed by the kitchen window as a skimmer slowed to a halt on the lawn and then was switched off in the barn. Then I heard footsteps echo back across the yard, as it had been a dry summer and the earth was hard and betrayed your whereabouts just like the third step. And I knew the clipped, purposeful sound of those hushed steps anywhere._

_Mom was home._

_Oz stopped in her neurotic pacing and went to the front door just as Caspia pushed it open. I couldn't see her from here, but I knew it was her, just from the warm, reassuring feeling that washed over me, a child's sixth sense. Not that I didn't have fun hanging out with Oz for the last two weeks, because I did. She let me stay up late and was easier to wheedle into a playing make-believe games then my mother. And she was a good tree climber and taught me some new swear words (by accident). But, and maybe it was because I only had the one parent, I'd started to miss Caspia all the same. _

"_I didn't know if you were going to make it in tonight or not." Oz was saying. "Jesus, Caspia, you look like hell, why didn't you just wait until tomorrow? I wouldn't have minded watching Falshade one more day."_

"_I missed him too much." came Caspia's reply and as she stepped briefly into the small field of view I had I saw the weariness on her face. "He's in bed, is he?"_

"_He'd better be. I made him take a bath today, he and Varan found some old cave up on the far side of the plateau and he came home covered in bat shit." Oz explained, betraying me ruthlessly. I wrinkled my nose at the memory and knew I was going to get it from Mom later; she'd told me to stay out of the numerous caves lining the plateau on more than a few occasions._

_Caspia dropped down into one of the kitchen chairs after taking off her travelling coat and draping it on the back of her chair indifferently. Oz moved over to the cupboards and looked like she was going to put on a pot of coffee but Caspia waved her away and motioned for her to sit._

"_So… where is he?" Oz asked after a tense silence stretched between the two women, long enough for me to worry that I'd been caught. I really was supposed to be in bed._

"_On Saharr." My mother answered tiredly. I couldn't see her face anymore but I could hear the exhaustion in her voice and it tugged at my heart. And there was something else in there too, something I wasn't used to, a troubled sort of sorrow that made my pulse stir slightly at the sound._

_Ozprey seemed to have been stunned into momentary silence. Then her words came tumbling out in her loud voice and I flinched as if she'd caught me eavesdropping: "_What_? You… you just left him there? All alone?" she demanded, sounding shocked._

"_He didn't want to come." Caspia muttered and I heard Oz's chair scrape back._

"_Didn't want to? He didn't have a choice in the matter! For Christ sakes, Caspia, he's only eight years old! You can't leave him alone out there with nobody to look after him, he'll starve to death or get hurt out in the desert or get sick or-"_

"_Something tells me he's pretty effective at looking after himself." Caspia said in a pained voice and I really wanted to run out and hug her, screw getting in trouble. Her tone seemed to calm Oz down and I saw her move to comfort my mother._

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I spoke to the doctors before… before the funeral. They say she'd been extremely unresponsive to everything around her for years now. She was manically depressed, and her insomnia didn't help. They said she just finally gave up and stopped taking her medication. He… he was the one who found her, poor little thing, dead. She slit her wrists open, Oz. She just didn't want to live anymore, and she didn't care about anything or anyone around her. He was already on his own." By the end of her explanation, which so far made no sense to me, her voice had taken on the tint of fury I respected and feared so much. _

_Oz made a noise like a choked sob in the back of her throat. "What does he look like?"_

"_He's a skinny little devil, dark skin like all the other boys on that terra. He's got Pegasus' eyes, exact shade and shape and everything."_

"_And…" Oz's voice took on an uncertain tone, one I'd never heard in it before. "Does he look like… like _him_?"_

"_No." My mother said sharply. "No he doesn't."_

_Another long, uncomfortable silence settled between the two of them before Oz cleared her throat. "So where is he now?"_

_Caspia let out a dreary sigh and I couldn't remember her ever sounding so down before. "Well… he didn't do so well with the burial. I took him home and just tried to talk to him for three days. He never slept. Then on the fourth day he got mad at me and just… took off into the desert. He knows it pretty well out there. I looked for him for the entire day, couldn't find hide nor tail of him. So I waited another four days, to see if he'd come back, but… he didn't want to be around me. He didn't want to be around anyone. You should have seen the way he _looked_ at her Oz, when she was in that damn casket. Like he hated her…" Caspia trailed off then cleared her throat and continued "And so by the fifth day I just left. I knew he wasn't coming back. He didn't want to come with me."_

_Oz made a noise somewhere in between upset and annoyance and then asked. "Are you… are you going back for him? Because I can look after Falshade again, maybe all he needed was time…"_

"_No. I thought about going back in a month, but Oz, it's pointless. He's made up his mind and there's nothing I can do-"_

"_Caspia!" Ozprey exclaimed, standing up again. "For God's sake he's no older then Falshade! If something happened to you wouldn't you want to know that Shade was with someone who would look after him and make sure he was safe and healthy?"_

_My mother's chair scraped back now too and I saw Oz cower slightly, even though Caspia was shorter then she was. _

"_Do you think it was easy for me to just leave him there?" she demanded and I flinched at the full on fury that was thick in her voice. "Do you think I wanted to do it? No! I would have loved nothing better than to have brought him home and raised him like he was my own damn son! But he didn't want to be with me and I have to accept that! He's just as stubborn… just as _stupid_ as she was and he's going down the same road she did, and I'd love nothing more than to save him from that but I can't because he doesn't want me too! You remember what she was like… and he's just the same, exactly the same. And it ate me up for nine years, nine years, Ozprey, to try and save Peg from what she became… but I couldn't, no more than I can save him. I had to let him go, I have to let it all go. And don't you dare bring Falshade into this! Because he's different than Angel. He'll never have to know what it's like to make that decision. Never. Because I'm not going anywhere."_

_Sometimes I heard her crying at night when she didn't know I was awake. But never had my mother cried in front of anyone, least of all me. So it was strange to hear the sobs that wracked her voice as she yelled at Ozprey, strange and frightening. Maybe I shouldn't have come down here after all…_

_I saw Oz come forward and embrace Caspia so tightly I heard something pop. Caspia breathed deeply a few times before breaking away from her friend and wiping at her face._

"_I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up, I know it must not have been an easy decision, Casp, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" Ozprey murmured but Caspia lifted a finger to silence her._

"_It's okay, I'm alright Oz. I shouldn't have shouted. I just feel so… horrible. About the whole thing. Even now I don't know if it was a mistake to just leave…"_

_Oz came to her side comfortingly. "Well, you know, like I said, maybe he just needs time. Why don't I come back with you in a month or so, even if we just check in on the little bugger and who knows, maybe he'll have changed his mind?"_

"_We'll see." Caspia compromised quietly. "We'll see. Now, it's late, so did you want to just stay here another night?"_

"_Nah, I better get going, Aries is getting a little lonely I think…" Oz said, picking up her rucksack from where it had been left dejectedly by the door and slinging it over a narrow shoulder. _

"_I don't see why the two of you just don't tie it off and get it over with." Caspia said and Oz snorted._

"_Because I'm not his type, that's why."_

"_Honey, believe me, you're his type alright. Nobody else is his type but you." Caspia teased and Oz swatted at her before pushing the door open. "I'll walk with you, if you want…"_

"_No, Caspia, I'll be fine. You just go get some sleep. I'll drop by tomorrow if you want, Ray and the others will probably wanna see you." Ozprey offered and Caspia nodded distractedly. _

"_Alright, Oz. Thanks for watching Shade."_

"_Are you kidding me? I love that little monster, I look for excuses to come see him. He's getting good with his left hook shot, we just gotta work on his right now. Anyways, goodnight, Casp, and don't… don't beat yourself up about it okay?"_

"_Goodnight, Ozprey." Caspia said, ignoring the concerned frown on Oz's face as closed the door and turned towards the kitchen again with a heavy sigh._

"_Falshade." she called out and I jumped. "I know you're behind the door. Come out here, please."_

_Cursing my luck I pushed the door open. No matter how stealthy and silent I was, somehow she always knew when I was up to something. _

"_Hi, Mom." I said, trying to act innocent. I searched her face, trying to predict whether she'd be angry or not. As usual there was nothing to give away her mood on her angular features, but there were dark hollows under her eyes and she looked almost sick to me. Sick and sad._

"_Come here for a second." she whispered and I obliged, padding across the kitchen until she could reach out and grab my shoulder. _

"_Hi, baby. I missed you." she said and I hugged her around the waist._

"_Yeah, I missed you too." I said. I felt her fingers run through my hair absently and I stepped away from her a tiny bit, confused by all that I'd heard._

"_So Mom… um, is my brother here too?" I asked, even though I'd already figured from her conversation with Oz that there wasn't going to be a brother anymore. I'd just been hoping like mad they'd been talking about someone else._

_Caspia made a noise like a sob and suddenly crouched down to my level, pulling me in so tightly it alarmed me. Her face went into my dark hair as she whispered "No, Falshade, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, honey, but your brother… well you're not going to have a brother after all. I'm sorry. Are you upset?"_

"_No." I said, swallowing my disappointment for her sake. I was scared that she, ever such a strong and assuring presence, now seemed so weak and vulnerable._

"_Listen, Falshade." she whispered and I did listen, very intently. "I need you to promise me something, okay? Can you do that for me?"_

"_Sure, Mom. What is it?" I asked, trying to sound brave for her. _

_Abruptly my mom let me go slightly and held me at arms length, looking into my eyes even more seriously then she had the time after Varan had half dragged me home when I fell from a ledge on the plateau and she made me promise to never, ever do anything so stupid again. There was the same desperate fear in her eyes, the need for her to hear me promise I'd keep myself safe. I straightened my back slightly, to show her I could be strong, that I could keep my word._

"_Falshade, you need to promise me that you'll never, ever let me let you die." she whispered, and I saw for the first time in my life a glittering tear in the corner of her eye._

_And I didn't understand what on Atmos she was talking about, or what the significance was if I promised to do as she said. But I did the only thing a confused yet willing to please eight year old could and leaned forward, wrapping my small arms around her neck and pushing my face into the ocean of her blue hair and promised her anyways:_

"_Okay, Mommy." I mumbled. "I promise."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You sure you wanna do this?" Angel asked me, slouching with his hands in his pockets, not looking very thrilled at all at the task ahead of us.

I blew out a long sigh and eyed the door in front of us warily. "No. But I need to do it anyways. But if you don't want to help me, I'll understand."

"No, I'm staying." He said. "I think this is something we should do together anyways."

I smiled tightly, glad he was with me. I was freaked out like nobody's business about what we were about to do; talking about searching Stork's room had been easy enough just talking about it, but now that we were actually here...

Wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans, I reminded myself that I'd already put it off long enough, grit my teeth and stepped though the sliding doors to Stork's room.

I dunno if it was just having spent so much time in such close quarters with them or if I was just weird, but over time I'd begun to recognize all of my friends had their own unique smell. Well, besides the obvious if they forgot to wear deodorant that day. It wasn't something obvious, like I could sniff and smell them coming up behind me or something (that'd be cool, in a kinda creepy way) but if I was close enough to them I could smell them and it always made me feel a little more relaxed inside.

Well, usually anyways...

Stork's scent must have been concentrated in her room, just waiting for someone to open the door and release it. And when I stepped into her room in hit me like it had been waiting to pounce and I froze so that Angel bumped into me.

Girl sweat smelled sort of different from guy sweat, not quite so raunchy. Stork wasn't the most hygienic girl on the Atmos by any means, but rarely had she actually reeked like Angel or I or woe-betide if Varan skipped a shower could. There had also been the permanent, musky smell of grease clinging to her, as well as something sort of luscious, like fruit, her girls' shampoo and deodorant. And it all swirled together and whenever I smelt it made me think of all the times Stork used to sleep beside me on the ground, before we had the luxury of the _Merlin_.

God, sometimes I wished it could go back to just being that simple.

"Shade?" Angel asked. "You okay?"

I had to try twice before the words came out. "Yeah... yeah, just give me a second."

Angel grasped my shoulder comfortingly. "Yeah, no worries man. It's not like I'm really in a hurry anyways."

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." I muttered, my chest starting to ache again.

"Well that's what _I_ said, but nobody listens to me around here..." he muttered under his breath and I pushed him away half-heartedly, trying to be playful.

"Alright, so... let's get started."

"What are we looking for, exactly? I just don't... really want to go through anything too personal, you know?" Angel said, glancing around Stork's tiny room edgily.

"Neither do I... so anything that, you know, looks private, don't touch it. Like a journal or something."

Angel snorted. "Oh yeah, like Stork kept a journal: 'Dear Diary, today I stabbed Angel with a fork and everyone had a real good laugh. Hope he gets tetanus from it, although, you know, he needn't die of it.'"

"Can you die from tetanus?" I asked distractedly, glancing at the books above Stork's bed.

"Hell if I know." Angel sat on the floor and opened the lid to Stork's trunk as tentatively as if he were opening Pandora's Box. Then he immediately shut it again and was standing beside me like he'd been bit by a snake or something.

"What?" I demanded.

"Underwear. That's personal."

I felt my face heat up for some stupid reason.

"Freaking girls have to have such weird stuff."Angel muttered.

"Okay, just stay out of the trunk. Check under her bed or something instead."

"Shade, this is really stupid. We can't look in any of her personal stuff, which would be where she'd keep letters or something from home, and I feel like a god damn thief rifling through here anyways."

"Yeah, I know." I muttered, scanning the shelf: a mechanic's handbook, a few issues of different racing magazines, a book of skimmer models, a biography on Farley Throttle... and a leather bound book that look like it could have been a log book.

Maybe Stork really had kept a journal?

I was torn between curiosity and morals. If that _was_ Stork's journal, I probably shouldn't have read it, even if there was something about her life before us in there. But if I didn't check, I might miss the information I'd forced myself to come in here for in the first place.

"Maybe we should get Wasp down here." Angel was saying as I plucked the book from the shelf and weighed it carefully in my hands.

"Why?"

"In case you haven't noticed, she's a girl, that's why." Angel said gruffly, lying on the floor so he could look under Stork's bed. "I mean it'd be easier for her to go through Stork's... _girl_ things then it would be for us, right? And besides, she and Stork were close, maybe..."

"Stork and I were close too." I snapped. I was getting sick of people telling me about girls and how close they were together and that sort of shit.

"Yes, but did she ever walk around for you in her bloody underwear? Shade, all I'm saying is girls are weird that way, they're closer, they do that kinda stuff." Angel said sharply.

"Are you fucking kidding me, you wear your boxers around all the time and we deal with that!"

"So do you!"

"So what's the difference?"

"The difference is we don't wear fucking lacy-" Angel cut himself off and thumped back against the wall, holding something delicately in his finger tips.

"What?" I asked, jumping down from Stork's bed and crouching next to him.

Angel tilted the photograph he was holding in his hand with a wry grin. There was the two of us, the day we'd passed the Sky Knight Trials, faking smiles that weren't entirely fake, in all honesty, because we'd been too pumped up that day to not smile. Even after we'd been standing in the sun for about an hour while Stork made us stand around like mannequins to feed her photography addiction.

"Aw, look at us, all young and innocent." I said and Angel laughed.

"Well, you were innocent. I was just young."

"This was under her bed?" I asked, taking the photo from him and examining it more closely. My hair was longer, flopping in my face and Angel didn't look quite so sickly. I was shorter then too, but other than that we didn't look so different then we did now; like two gangly German Shepherds stuck halfway between puppies and adults, all long, awkward limbs and wolfish excitement. Angel even had the black and tan going on...

"Yeah, in here." Angel answered, pushing a shoebox in front of me while flipping through some other photos Stork had been hoarding. "Man, I don't even remember her taking half of these- ugh!"

"What?" I asked, reaching for the picture he'd snatched out of the pile. He crushed it in his hand behind his back.

"I'm not going to show _you_!"

"Tell me what it's of then, or I'll take it and look at it anyways!" I threatened him tauntingly, trying to get it out of his hand.

He muttered several oaths under his breath before saying grudgingly (because he knew I was bigger than him and if I really wanted to see it I could have taken it from him) "Remember that haircut she gave me?"

I collapsed backwards against the wall I was laughing so hard. "She got a shot of that? Man, that's _priceless_!"

"Bet she had it for black-mail... shut up, would you?" he snapped. "I thought we had a job to do!"

I rolled my eyes, still chuckling to myself. "Oh, come on, that was funny, admit it!"

"Funny because it wasn't your damn hair! How about I shave patch out of the back of your scalp and we'll see who's laughing then?"

Still laughing a bit under my breath I started sorting through the photos in the box. Damn, she really had been a trigger-happy little shutter bug. I didn't know when she'd had the time to get all these developed... some of them looked really recent. She had one of Varan with his arms crossed, looking disgruntled, Angel and Fraggle pulling some sort of punk rock mock-up shot, laughing their asses off, me standing next to my skimmer with a bored expression on my face, me again with my eyes rolled upwards and trying to look angry with Fraggle, who'd jumped on me, but we were both grinning like hyenas... even one of Wasp, who had her head cocked, standing awkwardly in the corridor as if she weren't entirely sure what Stork had been doing.

Then I uncovered one from near the bottom and sobered up. Lifting it free of the others I brought it closer for examination. It was one Stork had obviously taken on her own of herself, because the angle was skewed and you could see the side of her arm in the corner, holding her camera in front of her for the shot. I felt cold claws tear at me to see her, but that wasn't what had drawn me to the photo. There was someone else in the frame with her, a man I didn't recognize, with blonde, spiky hair and large blue eyes. He looked sad, somehow, like there was permanent misery under his skin, like a flu he couldn't get over, but he was smiling widely and he looked genuinely happy at the same time, crammed in next to a younger looking Stork, who had a bandage plastered over her right cheek, one of those kiddie bandages, green with purple monkeys. She was smiling so widely I could see a gap where she was missing a tooth and she was leaning against this strange man, her head resting against his.

Who was he? He looked like he could have been her older brother... or... hell, no, she was too young to have had a boyfriend. I shook that thought from my head.

"Hey, Ange, check this out, who do you think this is?" I asked him, turning to show him the picture. "...Angel?"

Angel wiped at his face quickly with a sniffle. "I'm such a bloody baby..." he muttered and I leaned in to see what he was looking at and felt my breath freeze in my chest.

One day, back before Angel and I had finished at the Academy, the three of us had spent the day just ambling about the terra square, catching a few of the movies playing at the old theatre and spending hours in shops, sticking hats on each other and without actually buying anything. And then Stork had found one of those old photo booths where you put in your money and it takes pictures of you. Course the bloody thing was broken and Stork shoved in about seven Flecks before it started snapping pictures like there was no tomorrow. So needless to say we had a good collection of us doing what we did best, acting like we were asylum escapees. A few of the wallet sized pictures were balanced on Angel's knee now; him and Stork doing their best 'sexy' faces and one of me and Angel kissing Stork on either cheek, her face beat red. Then there was the next shot where she tried to beat us up at the same time while we laughed and slapped each other a Sky Five.

But the one Angel had was the last one we'd done, the one Stork insisted we do properly. It was the three of us all crammed into that booth, practically on top of each other; Stork had both arms wrapped around Angel's neck, pulling him in tightly under her chin and I had an arm looped around her shoulders, her head leaning against my neck and my fist in her hair playfully. We all were wearing our trademark smiles; my boyish, roughish grin, Stork's mischievous and slightly suggestive beam, and Angel's devious little smile like a fox's smirk.

"Oh man..." I said in a low voice and Angel butted my shoulder with his head empathetically.

"Heh... yeah. God, look at us..." he muttered.

I let out a sigh and dropped my chin to my knee, feeling an overwhelming sadness consume my chest. "It's never going to be like that again."

Angel groaned. "Don't say things like that, Shade, because I swear to god if you start to cry then I'm going to have to hit you and then I'll feel bad and I hate feeling bad and then _I'll_ probably cry and I...Falshade!"

"I can't bloody help it." I choked out and Angel gave me an apologetic look and grabbed me around the shoulders tightly, comfortingly, letting me lean against him.  
"I know, I know. We're both bawl babies then." He muttered, letting my cry silently into his boney shoulder blade.

After a moment I held my breath, trying to get a hold of myself. "I'm sick of being sad, you know that?" I muttered, wiping snot from my nose with my sleeve.

"Yeah, me too."

I took the photo from his hand and stuck it in my pocket. "And it bugs me, because I was doing okay all week, you know? Thought I was getting better about it."

"Shit happens."

"Yeah..."

Angel picked up the photo I'd dropped and furrowed his brow. "Who's this?"

"Dunno." I said, clearing my throat to get rid of the last little dregs of tears. I was sick of crying too. "How old do you think she is there, nine?"

"Maybe ten." Angel agreed, flipping the picture over. "Nothing written on the back... well is that just our luck or what?"

I snorted. "Does he look like her at all, you think? Like aside from the blonde hair."

Angel studied the photo critically. "Even the hair's not the same, Stork's is lighter."

"Yeah, I thought so too. They don't look alike at all so... I dunno, do you think they're related at all?" I looked up distractedly as the riggings of the _Merlin_ groaned as if strained, like Fraggle had turned too sharply.

"Well maybe she just takes after her mom." Angel suggested.

Something jerked uncomfortably in my chest. "You... you really think that's her dad?" I asked quietly, taking the photo back and examining the man again. How old was he? He looked old, but not from age. He didn't look old enough to be Stork's father anyways.

Angel shrugged. "I dunno, you're asking me all these questions and I'm just giving you some answers. But I mean you don't look anything like your mom, that's genes for you, so...Jesus, what the hell is that hairball doing up there?"

The _Merlin_ banked sharply and a few of Stork's old photos slid across the floor. I scooped them up and deposited them back in the box before getting to my feet and hauling Angel up too. "C'mon, let's go see what's going on." Our search had turned up a dead end anyways.

We were nearly thrown into our skimmers when we entered the hanger again as the _Merlin _swung to the left wildly like it was skidding in mid-air (which, given our pilot, is probably more probable then physics would let you think).

"Fraggle!" Angel shouted, disgruntled, staggering onto the bridge. "What hell are you doing, playing hopscotch? Quit flinging us around!"

"I'll be playing soccer with something of yours, eh, if you don't mind your manners there. I'm not doing this on purpose, thank you very much." Fraggle snapped then had to wrench the _Merlin_'s controls to the right as a huge gust of wind threatened to throw our bird over. Angel windmilled his arms for balance but ended up crashing into me anyways and I staggered into the wall.

Fraggle righted us and I pushed Angel away from me before joining Fraggle at the helm. "What's going on? What's with these winds?" I asked, eyeing the meters, which were going haywire with the shifting currents.

"Flew into a Negative Zone, eh. Gusty Crossroads I think. Huge rifts in the Wastelands below, eh, causes massive plasma thermals like crazy, eh. Didn't notice it until I got sucked in, thought it wouldn't be so bad, but..." Fraggle trailed off and struggled with the steering as another blast of wind hurled the _Merlin _to the side.

"Well can't we turn back and just go around?" I asked, catching Angel by his arm as he skidded across the floor and jumped when Varan, who I hadn't noticed come up behind me, grabbed my shoulder for balance.

"I can _try_, eh, but that's the thing, these winds aren't stable, they keep knocking me from every which way." Fraggle said, attempting a 180 and then had to fight for control as the winds caught hold of our turning ship and flung her to the side like someone would tear a blanket from over your head.

Varan's claws dug into the metal floor with a horrible screeching sound and he tried to hang on to me to save me from careening into the wall but he lost his grip and I ended up crushing Angel under me as both of us got plastered against the bookshelves on the far wall. Wasp must have been somewhere around without us having seen her, because suddenly she thundered into the shelves beside me, legs straight up in the air as if she'd done a complete summersault over herself.

Then it was like there was a null in the winds and the _Merlin_ was upright perfectly as if nothing had happened. Or it would have been if it weren't for the collection of swearing and tangled limbs that was us over by the shelves.

"Well that was exciting!" Wasp said, staring at her feet with interest from where they were hovering above her face. I rolled her off of me.

"Fuck you two are _heavy_!" Angel growled, pushing into my back with his boots to try and get me off and I swung at him irritably.

"Knock it off would you, I'm moving as fast as I can." I said, untangling myself from Wasp as Varan hurried over and grasped me under the arm to haul me to my feet, nearly wrenching my shoulder out of socket.

"This is like a carnival ride!" Wasp exclaimed, spinning around as the _Merlin _got flung to the side again but thankfully avoided tilting as wildly as it had a moment ago.

"Yeah, it's a real blast." Angel said sourly.

"I dunno what's going on, eh, the _Merly_'s been in high winds before." Fraggle said, sounding distressed, straining the steering against the winds.

"Yeah, but the _Merlin_'s a lot lighter too. She's built for speed, not like the cargo ships that usually fly through here." Varan pointed out. "Maybe we need to kick in the auxiliary thrusters and plough our way through."

Fraggle's ears shot upward in alarm then hung down like a puppy who knew he was in trouble. "Ooooh, right, the thrusters.... uh, yeah, about that, eh." he said, grinning sheepishly.

"They don't work, do they?" I guessed.

"No, uh... _Merly_ doesn't exactly... have any. I um, hocked 'em, eh." Fraggle said in a please-don't-kill-me tone.

Angel made a spluttering noise. "_What_? You freaking clobber me because I put a dent in the hanger wall by _accident_ but you went and hocked your fucking thrusters? _Why_???"

"Look, that doesn't matter right now." Varan reminded them, throwing his arms out for balance as we were buffeted again and thwacking Wasp in the chin by accident.

"Varan's right, we gotta get through here or turn back around somehow." I reminded Fraggle.

"Without thrusters." Angel added and I grabbed him around the head, hand over his mouth.

"Well we could always just use a Velocity array, don't need thrusters for that, eh." Fraggle suggested, wrestling with the steering. "Leave us alone!" he shouted at the windshield.

"Right, we've got some Velocity crystals somewhere... Angel you know how to set them up, right?" I asked and then realized I still had his mouth closed. He scissored his jaw irritably when I let him go.

"That's not _my_ job. Can you make a Velocity array, Wasp?"

"Did you know that the Velco in Velco Raptors comes from Velocity? Because they were like, one of the fastest dinosaurs ever. Some people think they evolved into birdies. Like, chickens. Varan, where you ever a chicken, in a past life? What came first, the chicken or the egg? What are those words that come from other words? Root words?" Wasp asked, spinning around even faster. "I bet if-"

"WASP!" Varan, Angel and I all shouted at the same time. She stopped, one leg out to the side, her back to us.

"Listen, we need you to-look would you freaking pay attention when we're talking to you?" Angel snapped as Wasp looked to the side, sniffing. Abruptly she turned around, nostrils flared, all joy gone from her face. She inhaled sharply, mouth open, eyes flashing about. The she marched across the bridge and stepped out onto the deck, body bent against the wind.

"What's up with her?" I wondered aloud.

Fraggle abruptly shuddered and Angel backed away from me. "Don't you dare sneeze on me again!" he warned.

"Nah, eh, don't gotta sneeze. Either someone just walked over my grave in Doc Martens or I just got a really bad feeling, eh." Fraggle said in a low voice, peering out the windshield intently, like he was expecting something to be out there.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well ya know how animals have that sixth sense sort of thing, like they can tell when a storm's coming or something? Well I dunno about you, but girly there seems pretty close to animal, eh, ears and all, so..." Fraggle jabbed a finger at Wasp, who was leaning out over the railing, sniffing furiously. "I'd call that one hell of a warning sign, what say you?"

I watched Wasp run from one side of the deck to the other, head craned upwards like she was trying to catch a scent.

"Angel, Varan, go get your gear on, just in case." I said before stepping out onto the deck as well. The wind grabbed me from all directions and I had to grab on to the railing to avoid getting scooped up and thrown from the _Merlin_ by the air current.

"Wasp!" I shouted over the roar of the wind, my hair blowing into my eyes. Note to self, trim bangs. "What's up?"

She came over to me and grabbed hold of my shirt with both hands for balance, one foot on the lowest rail so she could stand up higher, inhaling deeply.

"What do you smell?" I asked as she hopped back down, something hard glinting in her eyes.

"They're up wind of us." She said, sounding hostile. "But I keep catching it for a second..." she angled her head, sniffing, then looked directly into my eyes like she was trying to tell me something.

"_Them_?" I whispered, like if I said it too loud they'd be all over us like gremlins. Like Bloody Mary, if I said the name too loud they'd come up from the realm of the dead and get us.

Wasp scented the wind again. "It's hard to tell _exactly_." She said. "But I could pick up that red hair a mile off."

I nodded and dragged her back inside. Angel was back already, muttering an oath to his shoulder armour. After a moment he threw it off and looked at us. "Well?"

"It's them. Get down the hanger." I told him on my way past to my room. "VARAN! IT'S GO TIME!" I shouted down the hall as I grabbed my armour from my room and tried to clip it on with shaking hands while talking to Fraggle.

"Fraggle, listen, you've got to get the _Merlin_ out of here." I said, punching my chest gear because it was out of shape and just didn't want to fit. I should have got Angel to hammer it out after our last battle I realized too late.

"What?" Fraggle's ears shot up indignantly. "No way, eh, I wanna help!"

"I know you do, but listen for a second, those winds out there are crazy and they're flinging the _Merlin_ all over the place, you're more likely to nail one of us with a shot then you are them." I said, finally clipping on my chest guard only to have it snap off again when I moved. I aimed a kick at it frustrated.

"But-"

"Listen, here's the plan. You're gonna gun it, straight through if you can. We'll keep them off the _Merlin_ and the ship should make a bit of a lee around us from the wind. We're going to be really close so remember, don't fire unless you absolutely have to, okay? And for the love of god look before you shoot." I said while hopping on one foot, trying to tie my boot. "This isn't a discussion!" I added as he opened his mouth to argue. He called me some nasty name or other under his breath and nodded stiffly.

"Right, we'll be in contact. Keep us posted." I called over my shoulder as I hurried down to the hanger.

Wasp and Angel were fighting about something when I got down there, Wasp making irritable spitting noises as Angel tried to catch a hold of her, swearing at her.

"What are you two _doing_?" I demanded, jumping onto my Ultra. "We're about to be ambushed here!"

Angel finally caught a hold of Wasp's jacket and snapped something to it then smacked her hand away when she reached back for it. "Wear the goddamn chute or you can stay here!" he told her sternly and she looked positively distraught.

"You're messing up my Karma!" she wailed.

"Hey!" I shouted to get their attention. "Skimmers, now!"

Wasp slumped unhappily over the handles of her Gremlin, a parachute clipped firmly to her back. I gave Angel a look but he refused to meet my gaze. Varan had joined us then anyways, snapping down the bay door controls and as the wind started to hurl itself into the hanger I turned to the others.

"Okay, so we're in a bad spot but I mean what else is new?"

"Just our luck." Angel muttered and I nodded grimly.

"Our game plan is to get out of here, we can't have a proper fight in theses winds and if we stick around it's just going to get worse for us. We're going to flank the _Merlin_ for wind cover and keep any skimmers as far away as possible. Any questions?"

Angel threw his hand up sarcastically and I rolled my eyes. "What?"

"You said it's them right? Like _them_ them?"

I swallowed the knot that was tightening in my throat. "Yeah, why?"

"Well who gets dibs on the red head?"

Wasp perked up immediately. "Red haired scalp is MIIIIIIIINNNNNE!" she howled, shooting out of the hanger, engine roaring angrily.

"Hell, not if I get her first!" Angel shouted after her, taking off. Something was hammering like a cold fist on the inside of my stomach as Varan pulled up beside me, looking uneasy.

"This just got personal, didn't it?" he said and I blew out a long sigh, adrenalin spiking through my veins hard enough to make my arms start shaking.

"Yeah, it's personal all right." I muttered. "Let's go give them something to think about."

The two of us shot out of the hanger and were almost immediately ripped to the side by the wind, Varan's Bone Wing crunching into my Ultra as both of us were sent tumbling to the side like we were caught in a slip stream.

"Go around the side!" Varan shouted at me over the howling wind and I rolled my skimmer to the side, around the _Merlin_ as Fraggle pulled her past us carefully and nearly careened into Angel as I came around the port side.

"Wind's better but not great." He said, moving his skimmer closer to the _Merlin_'s hull to make room for me and Varan.

"It'll have to do." I said, peering into the wind, eyes narrowed. 'Do you see them?"

"No." Angel said, eyes flashing all about.

"Fraggle, anything?" I asked over my radio. I had to strain to hear him over the wind.

"I got nothing here, Chief."

Varan's tail hit me in the shoulder as he looked around neurotically. "This isn't right. They've got it just as bad out here as we do, we should be able to-"

"Scatter!" Wasp shouted, ramming her skimmer into ours so we got thrown apart like bowling pins just as a dark skimmer plummeted straight down between us and then pulled back up, a maniacal laughter scratching against my eardrums.  
"Surprise, kiddies!!!" Carrion's voice cackled like the Wicked Witch of the West from hell. "Trick or treat?"

Angel fired a bolt at her which she batted out of the air with that massive hammer of hers and I felt something start to pull tight in my chest, thrumming and pounding away like a forgotten heartstring. But I barely had time to do anything as Varan suddenly grabbed me by the arm and pulled me down, yanking my skimmer to the side wildly and under the _Merlin_'s belly for safety just as a whole horde of Nightflyers came pouring down like maggots from a split carcass where we'd just been hovering.

"How in hell are they fighting the wind?" I heard Varan ask before I was abruptly separated from him as a skimmer ploughed into my side, knocking my skimmer back into the winds. Before he even had his sword on me though I rammed my elbow up straight into his nose, feeling bone crunch under the blow. As he crumpled forward onto his controls with a gurgled howl I slashed out with Sliver, carving into his engine compartment and pulling my skimmer away from his so he went spinning down, the winds tearing him from his ride. I watched him fall, feeling a terrible anger swirling like thick miasma in my chest, tainting the oxygen supply to my brain and making my limbs feel more powerful at the same time.

The hair on the back of my neck prickled suddenly and I looked over my shoulder in time to see that blazing halberd rushing towards me. I flattened myself to my seat and flipped my skimmer into a barrel roll, narrowly avoiding having my wings clipped. Halo's Nightflyer crunched into mine from behind, throwing my ride forward-

Right into Wasp's

Well, almost. Wasp had gunned her Gremlin right towards mine and it would have been a real bad front-end collision if I hadn't managed to go into another barrel roll to avoid it. Instead the front end of her Gremlin smashed right into Halo's wings as he also tried to go into a barrel roll, an instant too late. There was a crunching, wrenching noise and Halo's skimmer spun down past us while Wasp turned back around, laughing, to take in my scowl.

"Bet he wasn't expecting _that_!" she cheered.

"Neither was I." I pointed out shortly. "Never do that again."

"They're using some sort of weird crystal to repel the wind." Was her response as she took off again. I searched for Halo in the tangle of skimmers, trying not to acknowledge the fact that last time I'd seen him I'd ripped him up pretty badly and by all laws of human biology he shouldn't have been moving around like he was by now.

"GARGOYLES HIT THE DECK!!!!" Varan bellowed suddenly from somewhere I couldn't see and my hand went to my conversion gears, because 'hit the deck' is Gargoyles' code for 'lose some fucking altitude right fucking _now_ if you know what's good for you'.

My wings clanged back in to the sides of my skimmer and the next second I was plummeting like a meteor, skimmer being flung all over the place by the wind and I ended up falling _upside down_ for a frightening five seconds before I could right myself.

Then a massive explosion rocked the air around me, strong enough that the shockwave even held back the winds for a moment.

"WHAT THE HELL, EH?" Fraggle was howling from my radio as I switched back to air-mode and just managed to dodge a piece of smoking debris, stomach wrenching in complaint. "YA NEARLY TORE A CHUNK OUTTA MY ENGINE!"

"I'm sorry!" Varan's voice yowled apologetically. "Everybody's okay?"

I glanced around and spotted Angel levelling off a little way away. "Angel and I are okay. What happened?"

"Threw one of my smaller Bugs and the wind blew it back towards us."

"Right, no more explosives with the proximity and the wind then." I said. Shit this wasn't good; Fraggle couldn't shoot, we were outnumbered and shorthanded without Stork, the wind was mauling us every which way and now Varan couldn't use his explosives. I started feeling slightly panicky, like I was claustrophobic and something was tightening around my ribs and it made all my nerves stretch tight, trembling, like they were about to snap.

Angel suddenly banged into my skimmer, the wind pushing his lighter Slip Wing a little closer then he meant to. "Where's Wasp? Did she get out of the way?"

I swore, having forgot about her. "Varan, you see Wasp?"

I didn't get to hear his response as three Nightflyers dropped down on Angel and I. Angel fired a few shots before his skimmer got caught up in the wings of one of the Nightflyers and they both spun out of my sight. I caught the blade of the closest guy as he tried to slash my chest open and kicked the second guy in the arm so hard his shoulder jerked back too far and popped out of socket. His sword just missed me and managed to tear a chunk out of my jeans before it fell from his limp fingers. I twisted back around and decked the other guy in the face as he tore his blade free from mine and moved to chop my arm off. His upper body jerked back and, Sliver now free, I slashed it down in backhand swipe that tore the steering console from his skimmer. The next blast of wind sent him careening helplessly off to the side where he crunched into another Nightflyer and both of them tumbled messily into the cloud layer.

"Two birds with one stone!" Wasp's voice said next to me, sounding delighted by her own pun and I swung around to glare at her.

"Where were you? Didn't you hear Varan ask if we were alright? That's generally a good time to say 'I'm alright!'" I shouted at her, hot blades of stomach acid tearing up my throat, feeling anger not exactly directed at her stretching like a woken beast in my guts.

That was around the time I realized Wasp was _hovering_ next to me, completely unaffected by the wind.

"I told you." She said, tossing something towards me. "Crystals. That's what I was doing."

I caught the small object, an oval shaped, yellow-green crystal and quirked an eyebrow.

"Put it in your inductor! It's like being in a goldfish bowl!" Wasp explained cheerfully.

Hesitantly I dropped it into my skimmer and abruptly it was like an invisible force field had been erected between me and the wind. It was like flying on any regular day.

"Well that makes things easier..." I said and she grinned. The next second though her face twisted into a snarl and I barely moved my skimmer out of the way as she hurled herself past me. I turned to see what she was doing in time to see Angel, who I'd forgotten about, take a combat boot to the face so hard his head cracked to the side and he let out a yell. Wasp tumbled over head of him in time to smash her skimmer, now in land-mode, into the front of a second oncoming skimmer while Angel, out for blood now, twisted himself back around, one foot balancing on his wing while the other whipped out in a backwards roundhouse that caught his attacker in the throat. His opponent's head snapped upwards and, fingers sliding from his controls, tumbled over backwards off the seat of his skimmer.

The wind had nearly thrown Angel's thin frame from his skimmer, pushing him off his balance so that he would have fallen from his wings had I not zoomed over and caught him by the arm to haul him back onto his seat. He was gagging and spitting blood all over the place and for a second I though his jaw might have been broken.

"You okay?" I asked, concerned as Wasp motored back over. Angel didn't answer me, wretched and then spat something into his hand, still choking.

"Well that feels a hell of a lot better." He growled. "Guess I ought to thank the fucker, huh?" He opened his hand to show me one of his new wisdom teeth, shiny with blood. He must have almost swallowed it.

"Keep it, bet you get a ton of money for one like that!" Wasp said, tossing him a crystal. "Here!" she nodded at me. "I gotta go get one to Varan!" she said, taking off.

"Put it in your inductor, it's what they're using to fight the wind." I told Angel, who was examining the crystal uncertainly. "You gonna be okay man?"

"It's just a tooth." He assured me and I decided not to point out he'd been bitching about that 'just a tooth' for days now. He dropped the crystal into his skimmer then lifted his crossbow to fire at a 'V' formation of about twelve Nightflyers that were moving in on us. We pulled closer to each other instinctively.

"Fucking wind... no point in using this." Angel muttered, pulling out his sabres instead and giving me a side long look. "Shade?"

"What?"

"Ya know the whole thing you always wanted us to keep to, that aim to cripple shit?"

I grit me teeth as those skimmers advanced on us, waiting for them to be close enough for my charge to hit something without getting blown off course. "Yeah, what about it?"

Angel gave me a pointed look. "I think you and I both know we can't play that way anymore."

What, was he asking for my permission? Since when did he care?

Because we were talking about killing people, that was why.

"I'm still calling that plan B." I told him, feeling strange that I should sound so calm as those skimmers got just close enough; inside I felt anything but calm. "We're not murders yet, Ange."

And with that we both exploded into action, firing off charges, Angel rolling over to take on the six pilots on the right of the formation while I wrenched my steering to take on the six to the left. My entire body was rattled as I collided with two separate skimmers, slashing around in all directions with Sliver, hacking off wings and controls, knocking back blades as they came at me from all sides. My heart was pounding so wildly it hurt and with every new pulse sending adrenalin and anger through my limbs I felt a pressure growing tighter, in my throat, behind my eyes. And I had to keep saying it in my mind, over and over, _we're not murders yet, we're not murders yet, we're not-_

Two hands on Sliver's hilt, dragging it straight down through the back end of one Nightflyer, severing it free from the front end, I heard Varan's shout: "WASP!"

Glancing over I watched in slow motion as Wasp, limbs tangled and teeth gnashing with Carrion, red hair flying up around both of them as the two of them plummeted, shoulders thrown down towards the Wastelands below, so far below...

And there it was, exploding in my mind like a tumour had burst somewhere in my head, Stork, my Stork, _my Stork_, plummeting, without a parachute, without a hand to catch her, and me, too far away to save her, speeding towards her own death, awake and alive the whole time so she could see it coming and feel the fear tear her apart. And I, watching the whole time, feeling the hopeless desperation tear _me_ apart again and again and again...

And it snapped. There was no other way I could think to describe it. It just snapped, in one, mighty tug, stretched too tight trying to hold all the bad things back.

I saw it inside my own head, that arm, blazing sword in hand, swinging into my vision at the same time that the bad things hit my veins and a fury I never knew reared up inside me, hungry and screaming for vengeance.

The next thing I saw was blood spray into the air like red mist as Sliver came out and sliced through my attacker's forearm. I didn't hear the scream; everything sounded like Stork screaming around me, everything was so loud I felt like I was blinded into silence in my mind, deaf to all but my roaring blood, rage punching into me, chest feeling so tight I felt like my head might exploded like a shaken can of soda. All I saw was the blood like it had splashed into my eyes, painting my world in varying degrees of red.

We weren't murders yet. But we should have been all along. Because _they_ already were. And they'd always be that way.

So who in hell was I trying to spare?

I knew the answer as I turned to the man on the Nightflyer, bleeding stump of an arm clenched by his other hand, looking shocked as I lashed out at him, Sliver ripping through his torso, tearing everything lose and open like my own god damn heart.

No one.

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

Something seized up in my chest as I watched Wasp get blasted from the seat of her skimmer by Carrion, back onto her wings. Wasp's teeth went for her throat and Carrion's hands went to Wasp's, but neither of them got the chance to squeeze as Fraggle, that fucking _idiot_, fired off three rounds to try and swat back the skimmers that were closing in on the _Merlin_ while the rest of us had been distracted. One of his shots caught the wings on Wasp's Gremlin's other flank, blasting her ride into a wild spin that sent both of those bloodthirsty creatures tumbling into open air.

And all I could think was '_Not again, not again, not like Stork...'_

But then Wasp's parachute deployed and she was yanked upwards violently. And for a second I was ready to let out a sigh of relief before I realized two things; Carrion, who'd been tangled in Wasp's gangly limbs, now was tangled in the cords of Wasp's chute, still clawing at her like mad. And Wasp was tangled in the strings too and as both of them grappled with each other, oblivious to all else, I saw with my sniper's eyes one cord pulling dangerously tight around Wasp's neck.

Aw, fuck _me_.

"Varan, grab the chute!" I shouted, throwing my throttles forwards, firing bolts at any one who looked like they were going to fly into my path. Varan was already dropping after the two of them, broadsword in hand, and I leaned even further on my throttles, Bucey's exposed engine shaking violently from the strain, realizing his intent.

"Varan, wait 'til I-!"

Nobody ever god damn _listens_ to me around here.

"Grab her!" Varan roared at me as he swung, slicing through all four tangled cords at once, cutting Wasp and Carrion free to plummet again. I was almost too late; Wasp was almost below my skimmer when I sped past and she crashed into my wings with a thud that dipped my ride to one side precariously.

That one cord was still wrapped around her throat though and I realized not a second too late that Carrion, who'd clawed at my wings but missed, was still attached to the other end. I cut through it in the nick of time, just before the slack pulled tight by Carrion's weight and would have snapped Wasp's neck or sawed right through it.

"You alright?" I demanded, pulling her off my wings and towards me. A blue tint was fading from her cheeks. She blinked at me, looking disorientated, then tore herself away from me looking furious. And I'd just saved her life! That's bloody gratitude for you. Last time I ever do anything nice...

"I _told_ you!" she yowled. "You jinxed me!"

"Well _sorry_ for caring!" I snapped. "It'll be the last time I do _that_, don't worry!"

Varan swung down beside us, Wasp's Gremlin alongside him. Wasp jumped back to her seat, scowling.

"Something's wrong with Shade." Varan told me, ignoring my still sour expression.

"Like how'd you mean?" I asked, looking for him and firing a bolt at an oncoming Nightflyer that was charging in behind us. You may not realize this, but it's hard as fuck to shoot in high winds. I didn't have my Sight for one thing, and although, you know, I've got pretty superior eyesight without it, the wind was whipping my hair into my face and that aside my bolts kept getting blown off target. Still, this guy was close enough and my bolt caught him right in the chest, sending him reeling backwards and I had to crack a grin. What, it was funny!

That's when I spotted Shade just as he slashed out with Sliver and carved a _chunk_ out of the torso of the guy who'd been speeding towards him, both arms raised to chop downwards with a bulky short sword and had virtually no defence against Falshade's attack.

"Oh..." I said, having no other words. That just... wasn't Falshade. I mean... the guy couldn't have blocked that in time. Our Falshade knew that, he would have gone for his engine. That's what he'd told me a moment ago after all; we were still aiming to cripple. And I mean I didn't really agree with that. These guys had already killed Stork, and they weren't that hesitant about trying to kill us either. It was like they'd brought knives to a fist fight and yet we were _still_ trying to play the Sky Knight way. And I was mad as hell too; seeing Carrion had been like a kick to the balls and my blood lust was spiking like mad. All things considered I wasn't at all opposed to screw aiming for wings and engines and really start hacking up some flesh, call my psychotic all you want.

But then I saw Falshade, blood bursting around him as he plunged his scimitar up to the hilt into the belly of another pilot like the sparks given off by a fire cracker, his face twisted into an expression I'd never seen him wear before.

And I didn't like it at all.

"He's lost it." Varan breathed.

"Yeah, that's the Stage Five for you." I muttered. I could have kicked myself for not thinking about it before, what this might do to him. Shade hadn't gotten shell shocked by losing Stork; he'd gone completely past that, right into the Soldier's Rage.

"Do you... you guys see Falshade, eh?" Fraggle asked us then, always slow on the uptake.

"Don't worry about him right now." I said, shaking my head. "Fraggle, we have to get the _Merlin_ out of here, get going, and for the love of god don't shoot like that again, got it?" I heard him mutter something. "I heard that!"

"Well I wasn't being that quiet, eh!" He snapped and Varan and I exchanged a look. "Do something about Falshade, would you? It's making me sick seeing him like that!"

"You guys are all a bunch of blood virgins!" Wasp shouted at us then, hurling some guy over her via his arm, flinging him down into the sky with a definite snapping sound. "There's nothing wrong with a bit of a violence fetish! About time we started playing rough!"

"Duck!" Varan shouted at her and Wasp pitched herself forward, clinging to her ride with her thighs so she was flipped the right way up, facing her attacker, and with a snarl like an angry dog she lashed out with both her machetes, tearing them through the air in opposite directions. With a ripping sound her attacker fell from his Nightflyer. In three separate pieces.

Varan twisted his face away as Wasp turned to look back at us, blood running down her arm. "It's called survival. Get used to it!" she snapped and took off to keep a cluster of skimmers away from the _Merlin_.

My hands were shaking against my controls and I felt my chest being torn two different ways. Admittedly, that was Wasp. It didn't bother me much, gore aside. But Falshade was a different matter, and now that I'd seen him out there, the epitome of everything I thought was good in the world, slashing people to bits, no matter how bad said people were...

Then again, Wasp had a point. I recalled my thoughts during the first battle we'd been in: hit or be hit. Kill or be killed.

Had it really come to that? And what had I been expecting all along?

"Angel." Varan called in a low voice, firing a charge at an oncoming skimmer to deflect him. I ignored him, but he wasn't giving up like that. "_Angel._"

"What?" I snapped.

Varan gave me a hard look. "Don't you lose it too. It's not right."

I gawked at him. "It's not _right_? That's the best excuse you're going to throw at me? _It's not right_? These are the fuckers who _killed_ Stork, Varan, and you-"

"You're people killed my entire family!" Varan shouted at me and I did a double-take, stricken, for possibly the first time in my life, speechless. Thank god he had more to say or I would have looked pretty stupid. "But does that mean I go around cutting the head off every prejudice human I see? No! Two wrongs don't make a right! We have to remember that or how can we justify anything we do?"

Fuck this really wasn't a good time to get into a moral dispute. Varan must have been really upset about what was going on with Shade... he'd never brought up Bogaton before, and never referred to the people who'd ruined his life as _my_ people. So maybe it was that, or maybe it was because I always had a hard time arguing with Varan because he was so agreeable and easy going, but I nodded stiffly.

"Right. I'll keep it together. That's still our last resort."

"Thank you." He growled, looking around.

Call it a habit of mine, but I always have to have the last word. "But if I get a shot at Captain Douchebag or his serial killer in training I'm not holding back." I told him and he looked at me, something glinting in his eyes and I realized he was just as angry as the rest of us, just as hungry for vengeance despite his 'wrongs don't make rights'. And that's when I counted my lucky stars he didn't lop the heads off _my_ people, despite what they'd done.

"Well for those two I think we can make an exception." He agreed and he gunned it towards the _Merlin_ which was in some serious need of help by now, despite the fact that Wasp was holding her own pretty well, slashing and chopping at anyone who dared get too close.

I was looked around, picking off two Nightflyers that were headed after Varan, trying to decide what to do. I was a little hesitant to get too close to Falshade, but on the other hand I didn't want him to get overwhelmed.

It was around that time that I noticed the absence of Halo. I mean I'd seen his ride get banged up by Wasp, but something told me that wasn't enough to put him out of action.

I was reminded of Fraggle mentioning warning signs then and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

And that would be around someone dropped from out of nowhere and bowled me over, right flat onto my wing.

I struggled, legs wedged against my seat at a really painful angle, left arm pinned under me and my right arm and crossbow caught between me and whoever the hell had attempted to flatten me. But as I was halted in my attempt to get my arm free as four thin blades shot out of the hand that was pressed into my collar bone so the tips of those razors were poking into my chin.

I stared at that hand and had to pause to admire this new type of weapon I was dealing with here. Those four wickedly sharp daggers protruded from the knuckles of some strange looking gauntlet that stretched up and over said person's hands right to the elbows. A small chunk of orange Striker crystal was stuck in an inductor near the wrist, although judging by how easily those daggers were digging into my flesh I doubted they really needed the crystal's assistance. The rest of the gauntlet was lined with spikes and little metal bands holding down extra daggers, ready to flip open like a switchblade.

I followed the gauntlet up to where is met the elbow, from where a thin, curved blade shot out backwards, and then finally to take in the face of the guy who was crushing me.

Red hair, like Carrion's, was the first thing I noted and that was the point when I knew I was in trouble. But his eyes, nothing like hers, were what got me; both were completely black, like his pupil had taken over his entire eye socket. But, despite the fact that it was bright out, there was nothing bouncing off the blackness, no gleam, no reflection, as if they not only repelled the light, they absorbed it.

Leaning over me he lifted his free hand, similarly decked out in a gauntlet, blades snapping out to form over his fingers like a large, psychotic, rabid cat unsheathing its claws. "Any last words?" he asked, sounding like he'd swallowed razor blades.

Bad situation aside, I liked this guy's style. Got right to the point, no pathetic introductions.

"Yeah." I snarled, collecting some of my bloody-clotted saliva at the back of my throat like I'd seen Wasp do on countless occasions. "You mind getting off?" and spat right into his starless night eyes. I wasn't a sharp shooter for nothing you know.

I didn't expect him to let me go just because of some spit in the eyes, but it had the affect I was going for. Instinctively he jerked back, blinking (too bad he didn't try to wipe his eyes with those claws out. Now _that_ would have been funny) and I managed to get my arm free and, twisting until I felt something pop in my elbow, fired a cross bolt, point blank, at his chest.

The resulting blast was enough to send him reeling backwards and to cause me to punch my own elbow into my stomach, knocking the wind out of myself. Wheezing I tried to scrabble back into a good position to defend myself from, reaching my sabre at the same time. But he was already back in a crouch, ready to launch himself at me for round two, despite myself telling myself that wasn't possible, he should have had a collapsed lung...

But he never got close enough to shred me, because Wasp came barrelling out of nowhere, shoulders blasting into him with considerable more force than my crossbolt had, and the both of them somersaulted over the side of my wings. I lunged after them, remembering Wasp didn't have a parachute, but needn't have bothered; her skimmer was waiting underneath and Wasp dug her feet into this new guy's belly and kicked out, slamming him hard into her wings before rolling into her seat.

Out came those claws though, digging into metal so their owner could get purchase on her wings and Wasp might have been in a sticky situation if I hadn't came to her aid (see, there's me being nice _again_).

One of my sabres came down, not in attempt to disembowel him, which was showing restraint on my part, but to get his attention. As I'd hoped he'd do, he jerked out of the way, glancing up to meet the heel of my boot.

"Two for flinching, fucker!" I told him, and as his head snapped back and he jerked upwards from the force of the first one I launched a second kick that caught him right in the chest and sent him plunging from Wasp's Gremlin.

"Thanks." Wasp said, sitting up.

"Yeah, right back at you." I said and noticed a tear in her jacket. "You okay?"

"Still breathing, right?" she said. Then she whipped her head about, sniffing. I didn't have the time to pay attention to her though because that was when Fraggle chose to start whooping excitedly over the radio.

"Hey! Hey, eh! Wind's died down! Must be out, eh! Alright, you hosers are going to get it now!" he was yelling, turning the _Merlin_ so sharply that if she had breaks they'd be squealing and fired a dozen shots at the skimmers that had been carving chunks out of the _Merlin_'s hull the whole time. "EAT IT, EH!"

"Angel!" Wasp was suddenly tugging at my arm desperately as I watched Fraggle go ape shit on those tools, grinning. Or I _was_ until Wasp bit me.

"Ow! What was that for?" I demanded.

"Falshade's bleeding!" Wasp said, eyes stretched wide. "Badly!"

"What?" I whipped around, looking for him and at first I couldn't pick him out. These jokers couldn't decide whether to keep ambushing the _Merlin_ or back off now that Fraggle had the upper hand and there were skimmers all over the place. "Where?"

Wasp stood on her seat, grabbed me by the chin and craned my neck around so it popped, angling my view. "There!"

And there he was, tussling with the new bastard who'd I'd only just sent spinning into the clouds. His face was still twisted by rage, but I could see from here his motions were getting less and less accurate and coordinated, slower and clumsy.

And blood was dripping in a stream of red from the underside of his skimmer.

My heart literally stopped beating for about three seconds. Anything I'd been feeling previously, anger and adrenalin and the ache in my jaw was immediately run over by cold, hard fear.

"Varan!" I'd barely realized my finger had gone to my speaker. "Falshade's hurt! Get those guys off him!" Then I looked at Wasp, who was already back in her seat, waiting for an order. And I gave her the only one I could think of at the time, because there was no way in hell I was losing both my best friends in the same month and I needed to pull something drastic:

"Sick 'em."

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

I didn't know where I was anymore. It was like my conscious thought had taken the back seat and all rage and primal instincts were up front, whipping my arms out to slash with my scimitar or hit any inch of flesh I could reach. I couldn't remember that the others were there, possibly in trouble, I couldn't remember I was supposed to be better than this, then these guys, that I wasn't supposed to reach to their level. I couldn't even remember if I cared if I died or not. All I could remember was the sound of Stork's plummeting Hornet and the horrible, splitting pain as if it had been my body that had splattered in the Wastelands.

I couldn't tell that my heart was truly beating anymore. All I felt was the mad pounding of my blood like I had no more veins and it was my own liquid hatred that was slamming against my insides, crushing all my organs inside under the pressure, flooding my lungs, pouring over my brain and all I wanted was to see the same pain on the faces of my opponents that I felt every single _second_ because they'd taken _MY STORK_ away from me. And so I just slashed and gouged at anyone who got too close, blood spraying and sloshing all over me, driving my anger only hotter, my mind in rapture.

Then Halo appeared in my vision, a darker blotch of hatred in my red-hazed mind.

"Well well, it appears Sky Knights _are_ just as human as the rest of us." he said, his mouth curved in a mocking little smile. I glowered up at him, heat scorching through my eyes, my chest becoming that much more crushed. Carrion may have been the one to take out Stork's ride, but _he'd_ gotten in my way, _he_ was their leader, it was _his_ fault.

"Oh my, hatred is a dangerous toy, Falshade. Are you sure you know how to handle it? Are you sure you want to make this personal?" Halo asked, hefting his halberd up between us as if to ward me off.

It only beckoned me forward.

I don't even think he knew what hit him as my skimmer crashed into the front of his, Sliver whistling through the air, aimed for his throat. He barely got his colossal blade up in time to block me and that's when I saw something shift in his face, his eyes narrow, his jaw clench, like he only just realized how badly I wanted to kill him, and how far I was willing to go to achieve it.

And that's when it all broke down, mind closed itself off and I became the very kind of person I'd sworn never to become, the person I was trying to destroy: a monster, a machine, filled with only one desire, the oldest desire of them all, the desire to kill.

And at another time I might have hated myself or been afraid of myself for it. But right then... right then nothing else mattered.

His blade screeched against mine, trying to throw me back but I ducked in under his swing and made a slash towards his chest. His sword caught up with mine again and I flipped Sliver over, gouging his arm and then throwing my blade at his exposed torso again. And it went on like that for an endless amount of time, the two of us slashing and blocking, circling around the other again and again like wolves, tearing into each other occasionally, snarling and howling. And the whole time my mind stretched out blankly, so that nothing seemed real, and I couldn't hear what he snapped at me or feel the heat as his blade pressed close or even understand what I was doing. I could only hear three words hitting the inside of my head, again and again, fuelling the demonic rage that had taken over my body: _you...killed... STORK_!

Something slammed into me from the side and I turned on this new opponent, Sliver coming down only to be caught up between blades like wicked claws. Black holes bored into my skull and I snapped out with my foot, feeling it conect with something, probably a rib cage. Then I felt something tear, like my shirt had been caught and then ripped down the front and finally the pressure started to let go a bit so I could breath.

Twisting Sliver until one of those narrow blades snapped and my sword was free I slashed at those black eyes, hating them, wanting to blot them out forever. But my movement seemed slower and I felt like my rage, my powerful, driving, demanding, starving rage, was leaking out of me, abandoning me. Those claws came back and I managed to deflect them, but no, things weren't as easy anymore. Sounds were coming back, adrenaline was waning. And those eyes rushed over me like Death itself throwing back its hood.

"No! NO! Leave Ravenscroft! You're orders were to leave the Sky Knight! GET THE BLOODY RAPTOR!" Halo's voice was loud and real all of a sudden and that's when I could see the rest of this new face, a rabid, hungry face and I wondered if it was my own reflection.

"Oh, that's nice." Someone's voice said in a displeased growl and the next thing I saw was Varan's scaly fist thunder right into my reflection, right between those black eyes.

"How about you come get me yourself?" Varan roared at Halo and swung a mighty back-hand towards him, which Halo barely managed to hold off. He hadn't tangled with Varan yet, who was bigger than he was and had a blade to match up to his flaming halberd, and he looked uncertain all of a sudden as Varan leaned in on him.

Carrion was screaming with laughter as she flew up behind Halo suddenly, her hammer raised and ready to smash down on Varan's head, eyes flashing with murderous, twisted glee. And that was when Wasp launched herself up over Varan and smashed into Carrion, both boots pounding right into Carrion's narrow face. Blood was immediate and Carrion shrieked so loudly it felt like someone had hooks in my eardrums, dragging them outwards, before she crumpled back under Wasp's weight. Wasp rolled over the back end of Carrion's Nightflyer and grabbed a hold of her Gremlin below, swinging back around to take on the other red head, who was trying to keep himself upright after Varan's sledgehammer of a punch.

That was when I felt something punch into my ribs and I wheeled around, Sliver crashing down on whoever was attacking me and two blue blades caught my scimitar between them in an X just before it came down on their owner's head.

"It's me you fucking IDIOT!" Angel was shouting at me. "Are you bloody STUPID, Shade?"

My anger was still ebbing from my veins, continuing to leak out from some place in my midriff and it was leaving me confused and muffled to the world. "Huh?"

"Don't you realize you're fucking bleeding out all over the place?" he bellowed right in my face as he pressed both hands against my torso. I glanced down and finally realized it wasn't my anger that was spilling from me but my blood, cascading down, soaking into my jeans and dripping from my skimmer into the open blueness of the sky.

"Looks like they're falling back, eh." Fraggle was saying then as I continued to stare at the gash that ran from my belt all the way to my shoulder, which was spewing out blood around the ragged edges of my torn shirt and flesh. I wondered absently why I couldn't feel it.

"GARGOYLES FALL BACK TO THE _MERLIN_!" Angel roared. "VARAN, GET WASP AND BRING HER BACK TO THE SHIP, NOW!" then he was seething at me in varying degrees of volume, his accent all over the place. "Fuck you Falshade, you fucking idiot, didn't you hear us SHOUTING at you to come back? What's fucking wrong with you, huh?"

I blinked at him. "Nothing's-"

"SHUT UP! Don't talk to me! Keep your arm pressed over it, damnit, and get to the _Merlin_!"

But I didn't want to go the _Merlin_. I could still see the Nightflyers as they took off into the distance, not too far, still catchable. And if I could only catch them-

Angel's punch got me in the jaw this time. "GET TO THE _MERLIN_!" he shouted, forcing my arm down over my torso and grabbing my handle bars, half steering me the whole way back to the ship.

"But Angel, those guys, Halo and Carrion, they-"

"Fuck Falshade, you're going to bleed to death! Does that not matter to you in the slightest?" he snapped forced my arm back down again. "Keep pressure on it, damnit!"

I was trying to, but my arm was feeling light and tingly by now and I couldn't keep it pressed as tightly as Angel kept yelling at me to do.

My landing was messy. My skimmer hit the runway, rolled unevenly into the hanger and then toppled over. I hit the floor, feeling tired, wanting to just stay here.

Angel wouldn't let me. Fury was dancing all over his features but his eyes were shining desperately as he hauled me off the floor. "Get up, you asshole! C'mon, Shade, move!"

I tried, but my legs were weak and shaky and I couldn't get them to go where I wanted. Angel was under my arm, trying to drag me along, but I was bigger than he was and it didn't seem to be working well. We both staggered towards the sliding doors, Angel cursing the whole way.

"Falshade I swear to god if you die on me I'm coming after you and you won't have to go to Hell because I will beat the shit out of you from now until the end of eternity! Don't you die on me, Falshade, please don't fucking die..." he was seething incoherently, hauling me towards the bridge. "C'mon, Shade, walk!"

"VARAN HELP ME!" Angel shouted desperately as the doors to the bridge slid open. Varan skidded out from the corridor and his eyes got so huge when he took in the sight of me I thought they were going to roll out of his head.

"Holy _shit_! Shit, shit, _shit_, this is bad! I didn't think it was this bad!" he whimpered, saving Angel from me and hefting me up under the arms to sit me delicately on the table. Fraggle peered over from the helm and swore bloody murder.

My head felt really woozy and I was having a hard time keeping Varan in focus. "Can I lie down?" I asked, surprised at how drowsy my own voice sounded. Why couldn't I feel any pain?

Varan didn't get a chance to answer me as I suddenly keeled over backwards, head thunking against the tabletop and making my vision go blurry.

"Shit! Shade, stay with me, okay? Don't fall asleep!" Varan demanded, trying to sound threatening and coaxing at the same time.

"He's losing too much blood, Varan, look at his jeans! We've got to stop the bleeding or we're going to lose him!" Angel said urgently.

Fraggle had put the _Merlin_ in autopilot and was hopping from foot to foot, panicked. "Well what do we do, eh?" he demanded, his voice cracking hysterically.

"We need to lift his feet, keep the blood flow around his heart. Wasp, lift his feet." Varan instructed. Wasp came over hesitantly and grasped my ankles, pressing the heels of my boots into her shoulders and burying her nose between them.

"Fraggle, go to the bathroom and get the bandage rolls from the first aid kit. Quickly!" Varan ordered and Fraggle took off down the corridor. Then Varan was hovering over me again.

"Sorry about your shirt, Shade." He muttered and tore what remained of my shredded shirt off of me. Then he squeezed his eyes shut and looked away.

"It's bad?" Angel asked, something cold and brittle in his tone.

"Yeah, it's bad. Really bad."

"Bandages!" Fraggle announced, holding the rolls out to Varan, who passed them to Angel.

"Keep pressure on it while I figure out what to do." He instructed and Angel wadded some bandage around his hand and leaned down over the gash on my torso, pressing down. And then I finally felt the pain.

"Ow, easy!"

"Shut up, Shade!" Angel snapped at me, not meeting my eye. "Varan, keeping pressure on it's not going to cut it, his wound's too big."

"He needs to go to a hospital." Varan muttered, clutching his head.

"We're two hours out from the nearest terra that might have a medic center, he won't make it that far!" Angel shouted at him.

"I don't want to go to a hospital." I muttered hazily.

"Shut UP, Shade! You don't get to have a say in this! You fucked up big time, you know that?" Angel snarled at me and I couldn't remember the last time he'd looked so angry.

"Stop yelling at him, it's not helping!" Varan snapped at him. "Even if we keep pressure on it you're right, he won't make it to a doctor, we've got to stop the bleeding now..."

"Well you can stitch it, can't you?" Angel snapped right back, his jaw pulled tight.

"It's too deep, it won't matter if I stitch it, he'll keep bleeding underneath." Varan was stalking back and forth on shaking legs. "We've got to close up where it's bleeding from..."

"Well what do they do when someone comes into a hospital all diced up?" Angel demanded.

Varan looked like he was having a bit of a meltdown. "They put them under with an IV drip and go in and suture everything up one by one!" he said, tail thrashing wildly.

"Well bloody do that!"

"I'm not a surgeon!" Varan shouted at him, throwing his hands up in frustration. "I'm not even a real medic, I throw fucking bandages on things!"

Angel made a noise between frustration and anxiety, squeezing his eyes shut. "Well there must be something they do in the field if someone gets torn open like this! They do something, don't they, they burn it closed or whatever!"

Varan paused in his mad pacing, staring at the floor. "They cauterize it, yeah. We could do that. We'll cauterize it."

"How?"

"How... Fraggle, go down to my room and get one of my Blazer crystals." Varan said slowly. Fraggle nodded and took off again.

"Varan?" I asked, my head feeling so woozy I was having trouble understanding what was going on. I could feel weight dragging at me, like my whole body wanted to sleep, as if my anger had simply been throttled and died inside me, pulling me down. God I just wanted to fall asleep now... "What are you going to do?"

"We're going to burn that gash shut." Varan told me, trying to appear soothing, but he looked like a shipwreck.

"... I dunno if I wanna be awake for that."

"Falshade, that's not our bloody problem, you had to go and get yourself sliced up, so you just shut up and stop moving!" Angel snapped at me, eyes glaring down into mine and for a fraction of a second I saw the fear rampaging behind his stain-glass eyes and finally understood why he was so angry with me.

"No, Angel, he's right, if he freaks out and moves we could do some major damage." Varan said and turned to yell down the corridor. "Fraggle! Grab the Hypno crystal, it's in the cupboard under the bathroom sink!" Varan called and then glanced back at me as my eyes started to close. He snapped his fingers next to me and I started.

"Hey! Stay awake!"

"I'm tired, Varan..."

"I know, Shade, hang in there." Varan pleaded and I sighed, trying to fight back the blackness that was creeping up from the corners of my vision.

Fraggle skidded back onto the bridge, panting, holding out the Hypno crystal in one hand and a Blazer in the other. "Got 'em eh." He said, looking over at me and shrinking back. "Oh god..."

Varan took the Hypno crystal, and I stared at it, remembering in my hazy state why we'd got it in the first place. It had been Stork's idea, and at first she'd assumed if we hypnotized me maybe we'd be able to get more information about my dreams from my subconscious, but all it did was put me to sleep for hours on end. Then we'd got the clever idea to try it on Angel, our harebrained cure to his insomnia, and he'd staggered around for the rest of the day in a highly suggestible state of mind. Fraggle and Stork, thinking it was hilarious, made him do all their chores and only say nice things and he'd sulked for days afterwards.

And it was one of those memories, those back pocket things Wasp had told me about, that seemed to snap me out of it, and that's when the pain exploded in like my mind had been blocking it, trying to block out everything. Halo was right, hatred was dangerous, because it made you lose sight of all else that mattered. Stork's loss and the pain in my side dropped on me like vultures already tearing into me and as I jerked and Angel cursed at me, trying to keep pressure on the gaping tear in my torso, I realized he was right, I'd messed up, I'd crossed a line. I'd let them all down and I felt god awful about it. Before, with only the memory of Stork's death in my mind, I'd just wanted to fight back, take out all the bad things on the people who'd hurt us. But Wasp had told me already, I couldn't go back with death; I could only go forward with the people who were still alive, my friends, and now... fuck now I might die on them, despite how much they needed me and how much more I needed them.

It wasn't necessarily the actions I'd done that made me feel bad. I was too full of hurt and anger to feel overly bad about that, because I knew deep down those guys would have kept killing my friends and even if we just took them out, gave them another chance, they'd keep coming back with murder ready in their hands. But it was the way I'd done things, thrown everything else that mattered so much more then retribution aside like it wasn't important, like it wasn't worth living for, that made me feel bad. God I felt more than bad, I felt like shit and if my side was killing me then that was my own body teaching me a lesson.

I looked up at Angel and Varan as the latter moved the Hypno crystal in front of my eyes, and I wanted to tell them all that, that I was sorry I'd cast how important they were, they all were, out of my mind. But the crystal's soothing energy hit me like a freighter and I could feel my mind shutting down already. And in that last second before I passed out, I prayed to any forces that were there that I'd wake up again so I'd have a chance to tell them then instead.

**x.x.x Varan x.x.x**

_He knew he should leave as he heard the crackling fires grow ever closer over head, smelt the smoke curling around in his nostrils. He knew he should but he didn't. His mother had told him to stay put and she hadn't come back for him yet, so he was staying put._

_And out there were the screams. He didn't want to get anywhere near those screams, those sounds that shredded the air and tore through his mind in lashes, taking away everything but the all-consuming fear. It flowed through his body like ice, freezing his vesicles so they broke apart and sloughed off, clogging up his veins, preying on him from the inside like a parasite. He didn't want to get closer to those screams, to that fear, because he knew if he did it would tear him apart._

_His mother had told him to stay put._

_And so he waited, eyes stretched wide, his body frozen by that paralyzing terror so he couldn't even tremble if he wanted to. And he heard it all, the terrible, guttural human sounds, the splitting, ripping, splattering sounds, the fires roaring, callous beasts of flame and blind hunger, not caring what it consumed. And the screams, those horrid, piercing screams. They blinded him as if acid had been released behind his eyes, melting his brain, searing his heart._

_He waited through it all, and even when the floor above him started to crumble and he could feel the heat of the flames tightening his scales, burning him, he refused to move because his mother had told him to stay here and she hadn't come back for him yet and that meant those screams were still out there, even if he wasn't sure he could hear new ones anymore or if it was just the echoes rolling back and forth through his head like a black tide. Like a stunned baby rabbit he was staying exactly where his mother had left him, even if the jaws of some cruel animal were closing in around him, because his mother told him to stay here and his mother's word was safety._

_But then the blood started to leak in._

_The flames were breaking apart the ceiling above him and through those cracks, like they were rifts in flesh, the blood was pouring down in streams and rivulets that just wouldn't end. It snaked down over his arms and spine, it flowed over his face and into his eyes and the smell crawled up his nose like a decrepit creature and sank venomous fangs into his receptors, hot, salty copper burning into him like he was being branded by the scent of death._

_And that was what broke him._

_Clawing past the hot coals and crumbling earthen structure all around him he forced his way up through the gap in the floor where his mother had shoved him through ages ago, it seemed. A lifetime ago._

_He came up with the murky light of the sun trying to fights its way through the clotted clouds of smoke and ash. His home was no more, he realized, glancing about. Nothing was anymore. All around there was just the left-overs of destruction, crumbling homes and..._

_He didn't recognize them as his own kind anymore as he wandered through the carnage. They weren't Terradons or even any type of once-living creature now. They were shells, broken, twisted, bloating, burning, bleeding shells like deformed cocoons of butterflies that had been torn open before they were ready to fly. Organs and vessels spilled over the sides of split ribs cages and shredded bellies. Faces mutilated, scales and limbs hacked off like trophy prizes, maiming carcasses unrecognizably. Eyes jabbed inwards, jaws severed, crest spikes peeled back from the skull as if they'd been scalped... and the blood. It seemed to merge together in a swamp of thick, red water around him, sucking at his feet, splashing up around him as he stumbled and fell into it again and again. As if all the dead's blood had joined together like so many tiny tributaries leading to an ocean it pooled over the dry earth, shining like glass, soaking between his scales and clinging to him as if it wanted him to join the others, to add his own life-blood to the rest._

_He sloshed through the remains of the slaughter for hours, his legs shaking with exhaustion. He found himself wishing for the fear again now, because the dull, numbing ache that is washing over him now, robbing him of all feeling as he absorbed everything, unwilling, his childish innocence struggling as it died slowly like a sparrow with a broken neck in his chest. He wished for anything else but this._

_And then he found her, cast aside from a pile of others' twisted limbs and hanging intestines. He ran over and fell to his knees beside her and picked up her head to cradle against him, because he knew that face anywhere and was glad it hadn't been as maimed as the others. Her body, wherever it was, as he realized her head had been separated and cast aside from the rest of her, was probably in much worse shape, but he was glad he could find this one piece of her, whole, that he could hang on to among all this blood and death and fading screams. And he held her head against him and sat among the carnage, the baby rabbit again, staying still even if it meant death, until a dark haired human found him seven hours later._

_And one day he will understand what the word massacre means._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I was fighting to hold on to my own mind as it threatened to pitch me off into dark, shadowy rooms with walls made of congealed blood. My entire body was trembling and shaking inside and I felt like my muscles had turned to water as I watched Falshade's eyes roll closed. Oh god, what if he never woke up again?

Head reeling I tried to force myself to think clearly. Falshade's life was counting on it. I couldn't lose it now. I could break down later, I kept telling myself, later, later...

Angel held one of his sabres out to me and I jumped as the blade swung in front of my nose. The muscles around my eyes were hurting my eyes were stretched so wide as I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye.

"What?"

"Use my blade, it's thinner." He said as if he was reminding me of something and I glanced at the Blazer crystal Fraggle had retrieved from my room. Those things used to scare me from my own sleep I was so sure one day the temperature stabilizer I had them set in would break down and they'd go up and take the whole _Merlin_ down with them. Maybe it was a challenge to my own neuroticism that I kept those things in the first place, like I was trying to prove that no, I couldn't beat my childish fears, my anxiety over nothingness, but I could still go on with my life _despite_ them.

And now the tables had turned and my neuroticism was challenging _me_; have a breakdown all over the place or just plough forward and do what I had to do despite all of Falshade's blood, which was swirling around my feet like it was taunting me, back again after fourteen years of trying to forget that god damn day.

"Varan?" Angel was shaking my arm, his arms stained to the elbows by Falshade's blood. His grey cargos were blotched up too, as if he'd been the one injured. Falshade had lost too much blood already, what the hell was I waiting for?

"I dunno if I can do this, Angel." I said, my voice low and pathetic. I wasn't even sure if this was the right thing to do, for all I knew I'd cause muscle, nerve or even organ damage depending how deep that gash was by burning it closed, and what if it didn't work?

It was hard to tell if Angel's eyes widened or narrowed. Whatever he did, he looked formidable and I remembered a time when I used to be afraid of his eyes, of how steely and piercing they were, like the cold stare of a bird of prey. I guess I'd always been the damn baby rabbit that way.

"What? Varan you've _got_ to, you're the only one who can! None of the rest of us bloody know what we're doing!" he shouted at me. Angel was the only one who wasn't afraid to get angry with me and I guess I could respect that about him. Sometimes I wondered if the others only refrained from getting annoyed with me because they pitied me. Or, you know, because I kept them fed.

I looked from his sabre to Falshade and bit my own tongue, trying to force the smell of Shade's blood out of my head. Human blood wasn't as heavy smelling as Raptor blood, but there was something vulnerable about it I didn't like, like it was weaker, more susceptible to the effects of toxins and drugs. It scared me to think these creatures, who made themselves so powerful, had such thin blood beneath the surface.

Did I have weak blood?

I set my jaw, telling myself no. I wasn't as brave as Falshade or as tough as Angel but I was resilient, a survivor, and what was more, the Oracle was right, there were few people in this world who were open minded enough and bold enough to love me and god did I love them back for it. So I could do it, because despite all the shit I'd found a way to live my life anyways, and that way was beside Falshade. Where would any of us be without him?

I tossed Angel his Striker back and popped the Blazer into the Cradle of his sabre, watching his thin blade flare to life as if it'd been dipped in star fuel and I tried to push the image of Halo's huge halberd out of my mind.

I swallowed, staring at the gash on Shade's torso, which was still spilling blood at an alarming rate. How much blood could humans lose? How much blood did Falshade have _left_ to lose? His entire body seemed pale, his veins jumping out alarmingly like blue threads.

"Okay, so..." I choked, forgetting what I was trying to say.

"Just do it already!" Angel snapped, backing out of my elbow space. Wasp hunkered down against Falshade's feet, pressing her face into his ankle, gagging from the blood scent that was oozing like a viscous liquid over the front of my brain.

_Just do it. Get out of your damn hiding place, Varan, the whole world is dying._

And so I did it, pressed the blazing flat of Angel's sabre against the gaping wound along Falshade's torso and saw his skin sizzle as it seemed to jump back together like seams being stitched. His blood steamed and his skin must have burned a bit too because there was smoke and the smell of burning flesh hit me like a freighter and I had to jump back, gagging and choking, eyes streaming.

"Did you do it?" Angel was back beside Falshade, peering at the seared mark that ran from Falshade's stomach all the way to his left shoulder. I came over hesitantly as Wasp wretched.

"You okay?" I asked, my throat clogged. She nodded.

"It's just the smell." She muttered. I could relate.

"So I guess we're not having any bacon or anything for a few weeks, am I right, eh?" Fraggle asked from where he'd been cowering over by the corridor, ready to run again and Angel and I snapped him a glare.

"Sorry, eh." He said, scuffing his feet and looking ashamed of himself. "I was just trying to break the tension."

"_Now_ do you guys understand why I'm a vegetarian?" I asked sardonically, inspecting Falshade's now sealed torso, trying to get the image out of my head at what the insides had looked like, all his flesh and muscles... I was going to make myself sick in a few minutes, there was no way I was keeping anything done much longer today.

"Did it work?" Angel asked again more impatiently this time, leaning over me. I swatted him back out of my space; humans and their warm bodies soothed me most of the time, but with the memory of Falshade's blood and burning flesh still so fresh in my mind I didn't want anyone that close to me.

"Pass me those bandages." I told him and he pressed one of the rolls that weren't soaked in blood into my hand. I wiped some of the area around the burn I'd branded into Shade clear so I could see better for myself if it had indeed worked.

"I don't see any blood leaking out... but I mean if it didn't close everything off he might still be bleeding underneath." I muttered, feeling twitchy and sick from all the adrenalin that had been spiking and punching in my veins for the past forty minutes now and especially in the last ten.

"But then we'd see bruising, wouldn't we?" Angel pointed out.

"Not right away..."

Wasp made a noise and moved away from Falshade's feet, letting Fraggle hold them up for a second so she could bend over Falshade, her long nose pressed right to his skin and I felt awkward about it for some reason.

"I don't smell any blood under his skin. Like I do I mean, if I didn't he'd be like, a zombie, right? But it's not leaking or spilling under there..." she reported, pulling back and turning to snort and snuffle and gag a bit more.

"You're sure?" I asked, feeling a dangerous amount of relief build in my chest, something that was usually very easily taken away.

"Yeah." Wasp nodded, giving us a straightforward answer for once, thank god. Fraggle clapped me around the shoulder then and I glanced at him wearily, but I was grinning a bit now too.

"Not a medic my furry ass, eh." Fraggle said and I tugged the rim of his toque down gratefully.

Angel was still looking at Falshade, his muscles tense. "He's still too pale..." he muttered and I came back beside him. "He's still too pale, Varan, he's lost too much blood... look at his gums." He said, moving Falshade's lower lip back a bit to show me. His gums were yellowy looking, not nearly pink enough, and the veins stuck out like they'd the rest of his flesh had been carved back.

I put my fingers to Shade's neck to get his pulse. It was shallow but it was erratic and I didn't like that at all. His skin was sweaty and his eyes had shadows under them like he'd been decked hard in the nose.

"He needs blood." Angel muttered, looking up at me. "He's lost too much blood, if we don't get some back into him he could go anemic."

"Anemic?" I asked, trying to remember the word from all the other ones Aries had theoretically taught me about, my half-assed medical training.

"His body will try to keep blood flow around his heart, it'll shut down his other organs. He'll go into shock we could still lose him anyways." Angel said lowly. "He needs a blood transfusion."

"We're still two hours out from anywhere..." I reminded him, feeling adrenaline and anxiety come charging back in. Angel was right, Shade had lost too much blood, he wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Then we'll have to give him some." Angel growled.

"What? Angel, are you crazy, we can't give him any, we don't know his blood type! His body could react and go into anaphylactic shock and he'll still be in danger!"

"Yeah, and if his heart defibrillates now he's done!" Angel shot back sharply, then turned on Fraggle. "Fraggle, in Falshade's room, his trunk by his bed, go and find his dog tags, he got them at the Academy, they'll have his blood type on them."

"Right!" Fraggle said, dashing back down the corridor.

I was staring at Angel hard until he finally wrenched his gaze up to mine. "What?" he snapped.

"We're scared too." I told him softly and he looked away, wiping at his face roughly.

Fraggle was back a moment later, a thin chain swinging in his hand. "Okay, okay, I got 'em, eh. It says... uh, B... plus?"

"B positive." Angel corrected, sounding like his was talking to himself. "He's B positive."

Something came back to me from one of my doctor's appointments in which they had to record everything about me and let the Legion have access to my records so that I could remain on Vatican without surveillance. "I'm think I'm B something." I said slowly.

"No, Varan, we can't give him your blood. You can't inter-mix species like that, that'd be like giving a cat dog blood. He'll definitely go anaphylactic." Angel said shortly.

I hadn't thought about that. Sometimes I just got so used to being with these motley kids, all different in their own ways, species or whatever aside, that I forgot about the biological differences. "But that means the only one here who can give him any is..."

"Me." Angel finished for me. " And I can, too. I'm O positive. He can have my blood."

"But you just said he was a B! That won't work either, eh!" Fraggle said, looking hysterical again.

"No, Os are universal. He's got the positive and so do I. If he were a negative we'd be in trouble, but anybody can use O type." Angel muttered.

Suddenly I started thinking about how bad of an idea this was, all the ways it could still go wrong. "His body still might reject it, Angel, and if it does we're in serious trouble. And if you're sick or something..." I cut myself off at the look on Angel's face and changed track. "Look, there's a test we can do to make sure his blood will mix with yours, we can-"

"You wanna bleed him out a bit _more_? Varan, he needs blood now and I can give it to him, that's all that matters!"

I sighed, feeling paranoid and torn but then, after a glance at Falshade's sickly white skin, just nodded. "Right, how we gonna do this, you can't just pour it down his throat."

Angel had apparently already thought of this. He turned back to Fraggle. "Fraggle, sorry to keep you running, buddy, but I need you to go grab the whole first aid kit and bring it out here, alright?"

"Yeah, no worries, I'm on it." Fraggle said and took off for a fourth time. Wasp picked Falshade's feet back up again without my having to ask her too and if I hadn't been so afraid for Falshade and uncertain about Angel's plan I'd have been proud of the three of them for working together so well (about time).

I retrieved Falshade's shirt from where I'd cast it to the floor and tore a long strip from it, grabbing Angel by the upper arm. He looked at me uneasily, his muscles tensing at my touch.

"I gotta tie your arm off a bit, control the blood flow, you know?" I said and he nodded, letting me tie him up just as Fraggle came back.

"So what are you going to do? We're not going to have a blood transfusion kit in there or anything." I pointed out as Angel dug through the box Fraggle had handed him.

"Don't need it." He said, pulling out what he'd been hunting for; a needle.

Wasp's ears went back and she hissed apprehensively at the object. I grabbed Angel by the wrist.

"Angel, you can't just go shot for shot, that's retarded!" I said sternly.

Angel shook himself free. "I'm not stupid, thank you!" He said gruffly before he snapped the syringe and vile away from the actual needle. He held the hollow point out for me to see obviously. "See? Hollow needle, they're meant to pierce veins and shit. But we need some sort of tube... Fraggle, Stork had fuel lines down in the supply cupboard in the hanger, go grab one!"

Fraggle took off again and I felt bad for making him run all over the place. He looked shaky and punch-drunk-ish, like he just couldn't handle all that was going on. I didn't even know how I was handling it. Right now all I could do was hold all my nerve-racking, anxious and ragged feelings at bay, like I'd cauterized them up like Falshade's chest. I glanced at Wasp to check on her; she seemed alright for the most part, although slightly twitchy. Then again I'd come to the assumption by now that although we weren't really used to the things that had started happening lately, like death and near-death and fighting for your life, this was all probably old routine to Wasp. She was a survivor too, and all of a sudden I felt bad for not knowing her history. What kinds of things had she experienced that made this all so natural to her?

Maybe I'd talk to her about it one day. Survivors Anonymous kinda deal.

I looked at Angel then, upset about him. He'd gone back to the state he'd been in after losing Stork, all withdrawn and seeming achy from the inside, like something was sore in him and he was desperately trying to ignore it. And he had that passive sort of anger in his eyes, like he was defending himself from everything around him. I remembered yesterday and almost wished I hadn't made him and Fraggle stop playing cards. Between this sort of Angel and just regular, difficult, asshole Angel, I'd pick the latter, hands down, every time. He wasn't any easier to deal with, but at least I didn't have to worry about him so much.

I think I had a talent. I could expect things to happen. I did it all the time, every time we were stopping at a terra or meeting new people or even if something bad was about to happen I could usually expect the worst. But I could never _prepare_ myself for it, and that was the kicker. It was like I had to pick one or the other, and my neurotic mindset never let me just stop trying to predict the worst and allow me to actually deal with it when I got to it. I always had to come to things the long way round. And fuck I was getting so tired of it. Like not losing patience kind of tired. It was just a tiring ordeal, picking yourself up and putting everything back together. I knew one of these days I was going to just run out of glue and then...

I guess it all came down to the idea that everyone could deal with a finite amount of trauma. Some more than others. And maybe one day it would run out. And I feared mine would run out before I'd come to need it most. And I feared also that, if all these things were already happening and I was using all my ability to bounce back, what was going to happen next, in the future, that'd slam us all next? And what would all of us become when we just ran out of resolve?

That was why I needed Shade to be okay. He shared his willpower, but that wasn't why I needed him. I needed him because he gave me something to be strong for, even if he wasn't strong at the time.

Fraggle came back, panting, and held a thin, rubber tube out to Angel, who stuck a needle point in each end and secured it with medical tape. I gave him a look.

"That is definitely the worst emergency transfusion device I've ever heard of. We're using a fuel line for god's sake. That's a health code issue and a half right there." I said, not knowing why I was still trying to talk Angel out of this. Falshade _did_ need blood, I knew that for sure, and pretty badly. But we'd already done so many impromptu and improvisational emergency procedures today I was sure we were pushing our luck, something else everyone had only a finite amount of. So many things could go wrong and then what would we do?

Angel rolled his eyes at me. "If you've got any better ideas, I'd love to hear them. No? That's what I thought. Now give me a hand." He held out his forearm pointedly and I sighed before grabbing the peroxide and a cotton ball and swiping his arm so it could at least look like we were doing something sanitary.

"Okay, I need to find a vein, so I'm going to have to jab you." I said, lifting his arm closer and squinting. His tan skin made it hard to see any definite veins. "Sorry if it hurts."

"Just hurry up already, okay? His breathing's going all weird." Angel said and I glanced at the rapid, uneven way Shade's chest was moving and felt panic prick the walls of my stomach like I was the one being stuck with a needle.

I didn't think things could get much harder than having to cauterize my own friend's chest closed. But it was really hard to poke that needle under Angel's skin. I could feel his skin push back slightly with retention, and then break and to let the needle through and it made me feel sick. I pulled it back out faster then I meant to and Angel muffled noise in his throat.

"Easy, you know?" he growled.

"Sorry." I said, watching to blood bubble up. "Okay, got one, hold still." I pushed the needle back in then turned to Falshade. With his pale skin it was much easier to find a vein.

"Is it actually going through?" Fraggle asked pointedly, because the line we were using was yellow in colour and it was hard to tell. But shortly after he asked a drop of Angel's blood swelled on the tip of the opposite needle so I guess it was working after all. I quickly found a vein on Falshade and stuck him too, feeling like I was learning to become a junkie or something.

"Angel, you have to stay higher than him." I reminded him as he moved to sit. He nodded and lifted his arm slightly so gravity could do its thing and pull his blood into Falshade. I was stricken by how weird it was all of a sudden, to be sharing blood with someone. Like people got blood transfusions all the time, but usually from an anonymous donor via a plastic medical pouch that for some sick reason reminded me of those juice pocket things hyperactive kids drank all day. But this was different. Like Angel and Shade were sharing the same pulse or something, almost intimate, and it just made me feel weird all over. Not in a bad way, just... when people formed those kinds of friendships, the 'I'd die for you' kind, it rarely actually has to come down for one dying for the other. This wasn't exactly like that, but it was pretty close, and it was hard on me. Those kind of close relationships scared me, not because I have issues with having friends or anything, but because I fear what would be if they weren't there anymore, how I would function after.

I paced a few times then came back beside Angel. "I'm shit scared." I muttered honestly. "I'm scared this is going to go wrong."

Angel furrowed his brow then let out a low, quick whistle. Wasp came over, putting Shade's feet down carefully.

"Wasp, do you think you can... you can smell our blood, can't you? Do you think you can check and make sure this is working?" he muttered to her and she nodded, sniffing at his arm then at Falshade's very carefully. That too seemed intimate and weird to me, just another testimony to how close and dependent we Gargoyles were on each other, like we were one big, connected unit. Wasp drew her nose up to Shade's shoulder and cocked her head.

"I can smell Angel's blood here." She said, pointing to the crook of Falshade's elbow. "And Falshade's blood here." She pointed to Falshade's upper arm. "But here." She circled at a place in-between. "I can smell... both. Like they're mixing. It's kinda weird."

I decided not to point out that it was weird that she could even smell their blood through Shade's flesh and recognize whose was whose in the first place. Instead I said. "So... it's working?"

Thank god Wasp seemed to understand for once that we needed her to be certain. It looked like it was an effort on her part, but after a moment she relented "...Yeah, I think so."

Fraggle let out a whoop that made me jump. He spun around, doing some weird sort of air guitar thing then abruptly grabbed me around the shoulders and pushed his face into my shoulder blade, making a sniffling noise.

"Thank _god_, eh." He croaked. "Don't know what we'd do without Chief around."

I ruffled his toque comfortingly. "Me either. But now that the main crisis is averted, I think we have to think about getting out of here, in case they come back with reinforcements or something."

Fraggle nodded. "Right eh. Luckily they didn't have a carrier this time, and the wind was messing their aim up just as bad as it was mine, eh, so I think the _Merly_ should be okay. Where we headed?"

"Just find somewhere to take her down for the night. I don't think we'll be doing anything else for today." I suggested and Fraggle nodded, ambling over to the helm. After a second thought I grabbed a map and tried to figure out where we were and who was nearby. I consulted the huge, Atmos map I had as well, which I'd stuck colour coded stickers all over until it looked like a map of terra Neon; terras that had been attacked, terras with a squadron defending them for now, terras that had been found, massacred (unfortunately there'd been two other's besides Pippa's, although there'd been more survivors of these two, thank god) and terras that were currently housing refugees and/or supply depots. I was trying to keep track of everything, draw up some sort of pattern, but with all the reports flooding in, sometimes the same one just from different squadrons, it was almost impossible to keep everything organized.

"Do you think we should alert the Legion there's been enemy activity in this area? I mean this is a really good place for an ambush, after all." I said after awhile, peering over both maps I had stretched out on our chart-holder, as Shade was occupying the table.

"Probably, eh. Give them a head's up." Fraggle nodded. "Got me some coordinates there?"

"Yeah, little terra about an hour from here, uh, north by north west? Oh, hang on, upside down, make that south by south west." I corrected. Then I went back over to Falshade and Angel, trying to figure out how long it'd been and how much blood had been exchanged between them in that time. Angel was shaking slightly, despite his tense muscles trying to hold him still.

"You okay?" I asked and he nodded stiffly. "Angel did you eat anything today?" I remembered to ask suddenly. With his damn teeth, which by now I'd been trying to ignore him about, I'd forgotten he couldn't chew anything and it had completely gone unnoticed to me now whether he'd had any breakfast or not.

He shook his head and I groaned.

"Angel, you idiot, that's not good."

"Oh, that reminds me, check this out." He said, changing the subject pointedly and reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small object and showed it to me. I pulled a face.

"Oh god, please tell me that's yours at least." I said and he grinned slightly.

"Nah, it's a keepsake. Of course it's mine, nimrod. That one was really bugging me too." He tapped his jaw pointedly.

"Well I guess that saved you one hell of a dentist bill huh?" I said, trying to make light of it, and he snorted.

"Yeah really."

"Just mind it doesn't get infected. If we've got any mouthwash you should use it." I suggested and he rolled his eyes towards the ceiling.

"Yeah, sure Mom."

I refrained from hitting him playfully and stalked back and forth across the bridge, trying to put everything that had rattled loose in my chest back in order. By now I was certain there was an indentation in the floor of the bridge, from the years we'd all spent, at one point or another in time, slowly wearing down the metal as we paced contemplatively or nervously. That was one neurotic habit we all shared; with our copious amounts of teenage energy coupled with often frazzled nerves, we all had to keep moving when something bothered us or we went right bat shit. There'd actually been a few occasions in which two or even three of us once or twice had all stalked back and forth, staring at the floor and still managing to avoid bumping into each other like the timed changing of guards.

Twenty minutes later I looked up from where I'd been watching my feet tread back and forth, making myself dizzy, to check in one Angel and was shocked at how haggard he'd gotten in that short amount of time. Even with his darker skin he looked pale now too, sweat beading on his forehead. His whole body was trembling by now and he was blinking a lot like he was fighting off sleep.

"Okay, Angel, you've given him enough, you gotta stop." I told him sternly, checking Shade's pulse again. It was still shallow but it was more regular now, and slower, which was an immense relief. There was a bit more colour in his face and when I checked his gums I was glad to see they were at least a mediocre shade of pink.

"He's still so pale, Varan." Angel said hoarsely.

"Yeah and now you're getting pale too, and if you pass out none of us are going to be able to give you blood." I pointed out. That was the downside about O types.

Angel ignored me, glaring fixatedly at Shade's closed eyes.

"Ange, I'm serious. He's not going to look back in great shape right away, and besides, no offence, but you're smaller then he is. You give him too much and I'm going to have two cases of blood loss on my hands."

No response. God for somebody who went out of his way to prove how great he was, he sure didn't care much about himself when the rest of us were in trouble. It was sort of annoying, actually.

So maybe that's what drove me to reach out and just tear the needle from his arm.

"OW!" That snapped him out of it. He pressed his fingers to his arm and glared at me. "_Ow_. Well you didn't have to go and bloody tear it out!"

"Well maybe you'll learn to listen to me in future." I said gruffly, pulling the other needle from Shade's arm and sticking a bandage over the tiny hole. "Now go sit down. Fuck I shouldn't have let you give him that much. You _are_ smaller, Ange, and you don't sleep and if you haven't eaten anything... you gotta tell us if you feel dizzy or anything, alright?"

"Don't start getting all worried about me again." He warned me.

"Go and sit down, please, or I'll cripple you." I threatened him back and with a growl he sat down on the couch. "Fraggle, can you put her in autopilot for a second, I need you to run for me just one more time." I added, not wanting to leave the bridge myself because I knew as soon as I did Angel would slink off and I wanted to keep an eye on him and Shade.

"Sure eh, just tell me what you need."

"Just go and get a glass of juice, please. And throw this out or something." I added, handing him the coil of tubing, not wanting to deal with anymore blood today. Fraggle nodded and scooted off down the hall. He came back a moment later with a glass of orange juice which I held out to Angel, who looked up at me, weary and sulking.

"You need sugar." I explained. "Drink it."

"Orange juice gives me heartburn." He said, which was a lie and a half.

I bent down so I was face to face with him. "Drink it or I'll _make_ you drink it." I vowed and after a little bit of a staring match he let out a pained sigh as if he were doing me some great favour and took the glass of juice. I gave him a look and he took a swallow from it with an eye roll before holding it out to show me he had indeed drank some of it. "Happy?"

I nodded and that was when it occurred to me I'd been so focused on saving Shade I hadn't noticed of any of the others were hurt. "Besides the tooth you alright?" I asked him and he nodded before sinking further into the couch tiredly.

"Fraggle, you're okay, right?" I asked out of habit and he seemed to consider it.

"Well I think I pulled my back or something trying to steer in them winds there, eh." He said after awhile and Angel snorted.

"Wow, that's more pathetic then getting shot in the ass." He informed him and Fraggle flipped him the finger.

"Goes on the same list as getting your teeth knocked out, eh." He countered and Angel scowled.

"Wasp?" I called out, glancing around for her. She was hunched up in a shadowy corner, singing to herself and didn't glance up until I called for her the second time.

"Did you get hurt?" I asked and she shrugged and as she did so a beam of sunlight glanced off her jacket sleeve and I had her hauled to her feet in a second, inspecting her urgently. Angel sat up a bit, looking concerned.

"I was comfy down there!" Wasp complained, beating my arm with her free hand.

"Jesus, Wasp, you're arm's bleeding! How come you didn't say anything?" I demanded, but then again what would I have been able to do before now? Falshade had taken priority on the serious injury list.

Wasp flicked her ears nonchalantly. "Doesn't hurt."

I tried to mover her ripped sleeve back. "How'd this happen?"

"Hmm... hard to recall."

"That was him, wasn't it?" Angel demanded. "That new bastard, the same guy who cut up Falshade."

"His name's Zodiac, eh." Fraggle announced then and we all turned to look at him.

"What he give you his business card or something?" Angel asked sarcastically.

"I heard them talking over the radio. Something like this was his test flight or some shit." Fraggle elaborated.

"Look we can worry about whoever the hell he is later." I said. "Wasp, take your jacket off so I can get a better look at this."

Wasp's eyes widened and she stepped back from me. "No."

I rubbed at my temples. "You guys are going to give me an ulcer, seriously. Look, I have had an _extremely_ stressful day, would it kill you to be cooperative for once?" I asked, trying to keep the pleading tone out of my voice. Wasp looked me up and down critically, scratched at her neck then moved her bulky jacket off her injured shoulder and I gave her an appreciative look before inspecting the four thin gashes on her arm. I'd seen how Zodiac, if that was his name, had slashed Falshade with the elongated, curved blade that shot from his elbow, which had reminded me of those little spikes that bats of on their wing joints. But he must have got Wasp with his claw-like daggers. Luckily it was a passing glance, not as deep as Shade's, although the thickest one in the middle looked a little more serious then I liked.

"Well, the cuts on the outside are fine. And this one isn't so bad." I told her. "You're lucky, he must have just grazed you. But I think I should stitch this one here so it won't get infected, because this is really close to your head and everything and if it gets infected before we catch it..." I trailed off.

"I can't see a doctor." Wasp whispered.

"Then I'll stitch it." I confirmed, going back to the first aid kit and motioning for her to sit in one of the chairs. She sat, looking hesitant, glancing around uneasily as if looking for an escape route. She was distracted when I moved a new cotton ball of peroxide towards her but suddenly her nostrils flared wide and she leapt back.

"It's just going to clean it." I told her quickly. Her hackles were quivering as she fixed me with a predatory stare.

"Don't touch me with that." She said in a flat tone that somehow conveyed a lot of formidable feeling.

I'm pretty well known for my patience. But today really had taken a toll on me and I wasn't in the mood for anyone else to be difficult. "Wasp, come on, it's just going to clean it. I know it stings but it's not that bad."

Wasp looked at me as if she thought I was incredibly stupid. "It doesn't sting me. It burns. It breaks down my cells and they burst open and all my fluids, my precious fluids, they spill out, and I need them! It burns!" she was grabbing the sides of her head suddenly, eyes gone very wide and disturbed looking, flicking back and forth rapidly as if she were watching something flashing past. "No! Don't touch me! They're my bones! MINE!" she shrieked all of a sudden , her voice changed as if possessed, like she wasn't talking to us at all anymore. My tail started whipping back and forth across the floor and Fraggle looked over his should timidly, his ears quivering.

Angel was one his feet then, brushing past me and grabbing Wasp's arm, which took more guts than I would have had. She struggled against him and he staggered a bit but clung on and muttered something into her ear. She looked at him with vacant eyes.

"Don't let them look inside me." She whispered. "Rainer, they're going to vivisect me."

"I'm not Rainer, Wasp." Angel said in a tone I'd never heard him use before. "It's Angel, you know?"

She blinked at him. "Angel? I... Angel! I remember you. Right... Angel they're not going to cut me up, are they? They're after my insides."

"No, no one's going to cut you up. Varan's going to stitch your arm, but he has to clean it first, alright?"

Wasp looked at me and cocked her head. I was frozen where I stood. Then she looked back at Angel again.

"I don't like the stuff."

"Yeah, nobody really does. It'll be over in two seconds, okay?"

Wasp sighed and picked at a scab on her knuckle before sitting back down. "I don't like doctors either." She told me.

"I'm not a doctor." I managed to wheeze out and she grinned crookedly, disarming me.

"I know." She held out her arm boldly and motioned with her hand. She held perfectly still until I actually brushed the peroxide over her; then she pushed her face into Angel's stomach and he grunted but didn't push her away.

I tried to be quick but she had four cuts and I'm kinda thorough about my job. She fought to hold still but finally she tore her arm back. "Okay, okay, enough!" she said, licking at her shoulder like an animal and spitting onto the floor. "Maybe you should get into herbal remedies!" she suggested, brightening so quickly it scared me, like she had MPD or something. "They're much better tasting, you know."

"Well medicine isn't supposed to taste good. That way kids don't drink it or anything, you know?" I said, still feeling alarmed by her episode, something I'd never seen her do before, reaching a whole new level of freaky, but she seemed to have forgotten it already so I tried to get over it.

I frowned at the thread we had in the first aid kit. It was literally thread, like the kind you'd use to stitch a hole in your pants, not someone's arm. "Only colour we got is black." I informed her, pulling some out and running a bit of peroxide over it, despite her distasteful look.

"Black goes with everything. Especially lime green." She said brightly and I grinned a bit.

"I'm more of a forest green guy myself."

Wasp looked at me critically. "Nah, I'd say you're more... hmm... olive green."

Angel laughed as I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't referring to that, but whatever. And I always liked to think I was dark green. Basic, boring, dark green."

"Well, olives are pretty gross." Wasp agreed and I laughed this time too "You have to bend the needle." She added, making a semi-circle motion with her finger. I bent the needle like she said so it'd be easier for me to hook it back up through her skin.

"Sorry if it hurts." I told her, grasping her arm firmly but gently. She shrugged and I gave her a look to make her hold still.

"I can always do it myself." She suggested, watching me with fascination. I wasn't a looker about vaccinations and stitches; it creeper me out to see something going into my flesh, and that aside it always got me too worked up watching and waiting and trying to expect when I'd feel it.

"You know how?" that surprised me.

"Sure. You don't last long on Macabre if you don't know how to patch yourself up." She said simply.

"I'll take your word for it. Angel!" I added as I noticed him trying to slink off. "I want you to stay on the couch where I can keep an eye on you for at least an hour, so get back here."

Angel grumbled something and sat down again.

"You should get one of those stickers!" Wasp said excitedly. "You know 'I donated blood'. That way if you pass out on the street someone will take you to a hospital before they rip your wallet."

Angel and I gave her a strange look.

"I like stickers." She explained simply, flicking her ears. "And those temporary tattoos. I always wanted a real tattoo, actually. Wanna know the funniest place to get a biohazard symbol would be?"

"Not particularly." I muttered and thought about Roo. After all the shit had gone done I hadn't really thought about her at all, but over the last week with barely anything to do she'd crossed my mind once or twice. The others had tried getting me to spill about what had actually happened on my way back to the dock, that lifetime ago when we'd stopped at Vatican, but of course, shy and respectful guy I am, I hadn't told them. I hadn't really done anything that mentionable anyways. In fact she'd been the one to initiate it, and it was just a kiss after all. A rather long kiss... human bodies were really warm, I'd known that before, but that was the first time I'd ever realized how deliciously warm they could be.

I felt my face heat up and knew Angel was watching me, a smirk on his mouth, but I avoided his gaze purposefully. "Fine, where?" I asked Wasp to switch the conversation before anything awkward was brought up again.

She looked at me like she'd forgotten what she was talking about. Then she perked up. "Oh, your cunt." She said bluntly and Angel choked on his mouthful of orange juice.

"_Pardon_?" I said as Fraggle whipped around, eyebrows vanished behind his bangs they were raised so high.

"That's not possible, is it?" he asked.

"Well I don't _think_ so. Not right there, you know, but the general pubic area, you know?" Wasp said breezily, thumping herself with a fist in the crotch. "What's that called, pelvic or pubic bone?"

I pushed the heels of my palms into my eyes. "Wasp, you are something else, you know that?" I groaned. So much for avoiding anything awkward.

"Did you know people get themselves pierced down there?" she said conversationally, plucking at my fingers to keep me working.

"Yeah, that's something I don't get, eh." Fraggle said, sounding genuinely thoughtful. "Only one thing you can really do down there, so what's the fun if you got a bloody ring in the way?"

Angel was giving me a pained look. "I blame you for my having to hear all of this." He told me.

"Are you kidding me, I've heard you guys talk worse." I said, although I wasn't enjoying this conversation any more then I had those other ones. Angel seemed to try and come up with an argument but then must have realized I was right and just shrugged.

"There." I said, knotting off the thread and cutting the extra off with the surgical scissors, which always seemed wickedly sharp and cold to me. All medical equipment was that way, come to think of, indifferent, stainless steel. It wasn't hard to imagine why people like Wasp and Falshade didn't like doctors, come to think of it.

Wasp moved her arm a bit experimentally. "They're itchy." She said.

"Tough." I said, wrapping a bit of bandage around it to protect the other gashes. "There. Just don't do anything too wild." That probably wasn't the right word. Wasp was wild, whether she did it on purpose or not.

"So, um... what are we doing with Shade, eh?" Fraggle asked then. "Think we should move him? Can't be too comfy on that table, eh."

I looked at Falshade critically. Considering all that had happened to him, lying on the table was the least of his problems. "I dunno if it's a good idea to move him just yet. He'll be fine. Just don't pull any Sharpies." I let out a long sigh, holding my head between my hands as I sat down on the couch, feeling wiped out. And to think just yesterday we'd all been perfectly bored... I guess this was one of those 'careful what you wish for' situations.

Angel put a hand on my shoulder and shook me a bit. "You did good today, Var." He said, grinning honestly.

"Yeah, eh. Proud of you, brother." Fraggle added and I smiled a bit.

"Thanks guys." I muttered. "For making me keep it together." Abruptly that reminded me and I looked at Angel, who'd curled on his side in the space between me and the armrest. "I'm sorry for what I said." I muttered and he glanced up at me.

"Which thing are you referring to?"

"About your people." I said, twisting my tail between my fingers. I'd just been so frustrated and shaken by seeing Falshade like that it'd come out without my thinking about it. It'd never come out before, but with all the stress and anxiety weighing down on me since losing Stork I'd felt like pieces from my brain, locks that should have stopped those kinds of things from slipping out, had been deleted somehow, vanished or misplaced. But I felt bad for saying it now, because I knew it wasn't Angel's people, the human race, who'd done what they'd done. It was a small group outside the mainstream, and I always made myself remember that, because I had to believe the entire human race wasn't as cruel and merciless. And I held to that in hopes the humans would look at me and realize, in a parallel to what had happened on Bogaton, it was only a small group of Terradons who'd been the ones to tear the Sky Knights apart in the past as well.

Angel looked up at me, face impassive, but intensely none the less. "I know you didn't mean it, Varan. Sometimes people say things without thinking. It didn't... well it didn't, you know, bother me or anything. It only reminded me how much better you are then the entire race of _my_ people. Bit of an ego blow, actually..."

"I wouldn't say the _entire_ race." I said, feeling embarrassed. "I can think of tons of really great humans."

"Name ten." Angel said like he didn't believe me.

"Well you and Falshade of course. And Stork. And then there's Marle and Caspia, Rayvin, Ozprey, Aries, Nimbus... how many is that?"

"Nine."

"What about that little punky chick, what was her name, eh, uhh.... Roo?" Fraggle supplied and my face burned while Angel smirked at me.

"Yeah, she seemed like a nice little human to me. How _nice_ would you say, Varan?" he asked and I put my head in my hands again while Fraggle snickered.

"My point was," I said into my wrist bones, ignoring the two of them "That there's good and bad people on all sides."

They were quiet for a moment before Fraggle piped up "I dunno, I've never heard of any bad Blizzy's there, eh."

"That's because you're all too brain-frozen to do anything monumental." Angel said and Fraggle laughed good-naturedly.

"Yeah, that's probably it, eh."

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

I blinked sluggishly, body feeling like half of it was still trying to remain asleep and undisturbed. The other half of it proceeded to flood my brain, telling me how awful it felt. My chest felt hot and tight and sore, and on top of that my stomach felt queasy and I was light headed and dizzy.

"Ughh..." I groaned, glancing around, trying to figure out what was going on. I remembered vaguely what had happened to me before the Hypno crystal had knocked me out but at the moment I was more concerned with what was going on now with the others.

"Falshade?" Varan was hovering over me then, his mouth cracked into the hugest crocodile grin I'd ever seen. "Shade! Oh thank god..."

"Is he awake?" Fraggle was beside me then too, took one look at my face and let out a whoop, jumping on Varan. "Yes! Whooooo, alright, eh! Falshade man, am I ever glad to see you."

"Good to see you too, Fraggle." I said, grinning. He smiled at me then abruptly tried to look furious, leaning in on me.

"You scared the shit outta us!" he scolded. "Never, ever do anything like that to us again, you hear me, kid?"

I nodded and wished I hadn't. "I know. I know, I fucked up, I am so sorry you guys." I tried to lever myself into a sitting position but Varan held out his hand to stop me.

"Whoa, Shade, take it easy, don't try to move around a whole lot." He told me and I rested on my elbows agitatedly and then took in the sight of my chest for the first time.

"Holy shit!" I yelped, sitting up anyways and staring down at myself.

"Falshade!" Varan groaned. "Seriously, _be careful_, I have no idea how well you muscles and everything are being held together under the surface and that aside you lost a lot of blood."

I barely heard him, staring at the wide, red scorch of a scar that stretched over my torso. Jesus I hadn't know it was that... bad. God, what had I been _thinking_? Had I really just not cared at all if I lived or died?

I looked at Varan and Fraggle, who were watching me like they thought I might keel over again at the drop of a hat. "You still look pretty pasty, eh, you feeling okay?" Fraggle asked and I nodded.

"Yeah I feel alright... kinda shaky. So... you really did burn it shut, huh?"

Varan winced. "Yeah, we really did. Angel had to give you some blood too, we thought you were going to go into shock. But I mean you're okay now, so..."

I did a bit of a double take, ignoring the taught feeling of my skin stretching with the strain. "He... wait... how... I've got Angel's blood in me?"

"Creepy, ain't it?" Fraggle said and Varan swatted at him.

"Go get him a glass of juice, he looks like a zombie." He said and Fraggle scooted off after thumping my shoulder in careful affection. "And yeah, you do, and it probably stopped your organs from shutting down." He added to me and I felt swamped by the sheer amount of stress I must have inflicted on them. Varan looked pretty haggard standing there, his eyes bloodshot and tired looking.

"So you and him probably saved my life today, didn't you?" I muttered quietly and Varan fidgeted, looking away.

"I dunno... I... Jesus, Shade, when Angel dragged you back here... fuck I thought we were going to lose you." He looked back at me and I felt horrible. "Falshade you have to promise me you'll never lose it like that again." He said quietly, sounding as close to tears as I'd ever heard him and I hunched my shoulders, ashamed.

"I promise. I'm sorry, Varan, I really am, I just got so angry and it was like... nothing else mattered." I said and could hear the self-disgust dripping off my words.

Varan nodded as Fraggle came back, trailed by Wasp, who perked up at the sight of me sitting up. She clambered up onto the table beside me and licked my cheek happily and I felt my cheeks heat up.

"That's gonna be one wicked scar." She commented, swinging her legs childishly.

I snorted. "Yeah, that really makes up for everything else."

"Chicks dig scars." Fraggle pointed out but I didn't really feel like laughing this whole thing off. I took the glass of juice he offered me and looked and glanced around as I sipped from it half-heartedly.

"So where's Angel now? He's okay, right?"

"Well if he knows what's good for him he _should_ be lying down in his room." Varan muttered darkly. "He looked a little shaky but yeah, he's fine."

"And the rest of you are alright? Like none of you got hurt?"

"Yeah, we're all alright, Shade. Wasp's arm got sliced up a bit, but your a tough girl, aren't you, Wasp?" Varan asked and she grinned and nodded, peeling back her ripped sleeve to show me her bandaged arm.

"It's gonna be one kick ass scar too." She explained and I gave her a small smile.

"Alright, good." I stared at my knees, at the massive bloodstain that had taken over the denim of my pants. "Look, all of you... I'm really, really sorry. I just... I lost it. I saw those guys and I just thought of Stork and I just lost it. It wasn't right of me though, and I feel like shit for it. I forgot how much the rest of you mean to me." I wiped at my eyes roughly, hating how I always seemed to abandon ship when things got rough, how I couldn't hold on long enough to get through it properly. And I always did it at the cost of the others, constantly dragging them through my shit.

Varan's hand was on my shoulder, Fraggle had me around the neck and Wasp snaked an arm around my waist all at the same time.

"We understood." Varan said quietly.

"Yeah, eh. I mean if it hadn't been for them winds, eh, I would smushed them like bugs." Fraggle added.

"It's not like we're just forgiving you." Varan went on as I opened my mouth. "But we can understand why you lost it and, you know... as long as you just remember next time and try to keep it together..."

"If you throw your life away then who's going to get them like they deserve, right?" Wasp jumped in. "There's a line, you know, between them and you. Just keep on your side. Bring it right up in front of them."

I glanced over all of them, at a loss. "...Thanks you guys." I muttered eventually.

"Aw, you're welcome, eh." Fraggle said, mussing up my hair and breaking away, stretching. "Welp, I'm beat. I'm going to bed."

"Welp!" Wasp shouted with laughter, rolling off the side of the table.

I slid carefully off the table top, testing myself. My chest didn't really hurt, but my skin felt like it was stretched tight so I moved carefully, afraid it'd tear open again if I did anything too quickly. My limbs felt uncoordinated and shaky, like I'd gone too long without eating, but other than that moving around wasn't so bad. I looked at Varan reassuringly.

"Calm down, Var, I think I've stressed you out enough for one day." I said. "I'm fine, see?"

"I know, I know, I can't help it though." He said. "You gotta tell me if you feel anything leaking inside."

"Leaking?"

"You know, like your bleeding inside. I don't know how much damage was done, and you aren't bruising or anything but still... anyways, just take it easy for awhile alright? I'm not giving you anything solid, just to be safe, but drink that juice anyways."

I didn't complain, even though I felt pretty hungry. "Right. Taking it easy." I walked extra slow to show him and he swatted at me with a grin.

"You're one lucky son of a bitch, Ravenscroft." He told me and I shrugged innocently.

"Maybe fate just owed me a favour. I'm going to get changed." I said as I turned down the corridor. The legs of my jeans were stiff from my dried blood. "Stop worrying!" I threw over my shoulder because I could feel Varan watching me intently.

I stepped into my room and was annoyed to find my trunk was open and things were thrown helter-skelter across my room, which I made a point to keep slightly organized at least. I picked my spare jeans out from the mess and sat on my bed to unlace my boots. I stared at the mess absently until it hit me that just earlier today Angel and I had been rifling through things in Stork's room and that I still had that photo in my pocket.

Digging it out from my crusty pocket I looked at it and felt awful all over again. It too had been stained and it felt flimsy as I held it carefully. I thought about Angel then, how he'd almost lost both his best friends, the only people in the world who'd have been able to drag him into that thing to get the picture in the first place. I tugged at my hair, angry with myself for forgetting I still had a best friend, that just because I lost Stork didn't mean the others became less important. In fact it made them that much more important.

Jeez, even my boxers had been stained I realized as I hiked up my clean jeans roughly and out the picture on my desk before stepping back through the mess and out into the corridor again.

Angel's door wasn't locked for once when I stopped in front of it, but I knocked on it anyways. "Angel?"

Nothing. Well what else did I expect, they guy ignored you even if he wasn't pissed at you. "Angel I'm coming in, okay?" I warned him before stepping into his room.

I dunno if it was possible to tell someone was a bad sleeper just from the way their room looked, but if there was a certain way someone's room would be after all the time they spent cooped up in it, painfully awake, Angel had it down. His room had this sense of organized chaos, books left open all over the place purposefully and clutter stacked in appointed places as if it was easier to find them there then putting them somewhere out of the way. His bed was untouched but also unmade. And it just smelled like it housed a disturbed sleeper, like stale sweat, the nervous kind of sweat that doesn't come from over exertion. When I'd first entered his room back at the Academy the first impression that'd came to mind was a new white rat being placed in a glass cage that had belonged to hundreds of other rats before it, the animal smell of fear and paranoia still lingering in the corners, mixed in with cleaning chemicals.

Today his room also smelled like smoke I noted irritably.

He was sitting on the floor next to his bed like he always used to back in our dorm room, as if he wanted to shun his place of rest if he wasn't going to be able sleep on it anyways. He had a cigarette in his hand again, a pile of ashes and burn marks on the floor next to him. He looked like how I must have to the others, pale and sickly, even under his tan skin. He glanced up at me with a quirked eyebrow, face impassive.

"I'm getting sick of finding you with those." I informed him, stepping forward and grabbing his cigarette from his hand before he had time to react, crushing it and effectively burning myself.

"Hey!" he snapped indignantly, hauling himself to his feet. "That was my last one!"

"Well now you have to quit one earlier." I informed him and he scowled, looking me up and down.

"You shouldn't be up running around." He said after awhile.

"I'm taking it easy. Varan said you had to give me some blood." I said, scuffing my foot against his floor.

"Yeah, you lost too much." He said shortly.

"Yeah, that's what Varan was saying... so... thanks for that, you know. You feel okay?"

"Well I'd feel better if I would have finished my smoke." He said irritably and I rolled my eyes. "You should go lie down, Shade, you look like hell."

"I will, I just wanted to talk to you." I said, trying to remember what, exactly, I'd planned on saying. "I just... well I wanted to say sorry, I guess."

He snorted. "Sorry? Wow, well aren't you the little peacemaker."

I looked at him. Something felt off about him. I was reminded of weeks ago now, when he'd come into my room after I'd forgot to mention him at the Council Hall. I remembered the space in time after that when he'd been acting weird. I was used to snarky, distant Angel, but that had seemed different, like there was something eating him up inside that he was trying to avoid and it made him act strange, not even cold but just cut off. But lately he'd seemed okay again...

Maybe I'm just childish that way, but it upset me when things were odd between me and my friends. I wanted to know what was bugging him. "Well what do you want me to say?"

He snorted again and made a weird, jerking half-pace in one direction before staring at me again, running had fingers through his hair and tilting his head in the way I knew he hated, because the stance just seemed to tell me he was just going to mock everything I said. "What do I want you to say? Alright, how about you start by telling me what the hell you thought you were doing."

I felt my own shame burn as I had to break eye contact with him. "I _wasn't_ thinking, that's the thing." I muttered.

"Well isn't _that_ a concept. Shade not thinking. Wow."

"Look, I don't know what came over me but I know was wrong, alright? I just... I lost it, Angel." I was getting sick of saying that. "Something snapped."

"You lost it, huh? Hmm..." he feigned thoughtfulness. "You know something Shade, I'm thinking back to a conversation we had. Another occasion when you weren't thinking. And you spat out this _retarded_ idea that hey, why don't we make _Angel_ our Sky Knight. You remember that? And do you remember me telling you that there was no way in hell I was ever going to do that, that _you're _our leader, our Sky Knight? Well, do you?"

"Yes." I muttered.

"Well you aren't completely hopeless then. So, with that in mind, Shade, I want you to tell me why you thought it was okay to lose it. Why it was okay for you to fly out there and not care if you fucking _died_. Because that's how it came off as to me, that you didn't really care if you died out there, because in your empty of a head you thought it was okay if you died, because you've got a back up Sky Knight and we'd all be just fine without you, that I'm like your deputy or something and if something happens to you I'll just jump right in there and take over. Well guess what, Falshade?" he snapped, refusing to release me from his hostile glare. "That's not how it fucking works! You can't just throw your life away and assume all will be well, that we'll keep on going! Because you are this fucking mission, Falshade! You dragged all of us into this and you gotta take responsibility for that! You're the Sky Knight, you get to be the hero, you get the glory, that's what Sky Knights do, but they also gotta make sacrifices, and you're not _allowed_ to lose it like that! You're not allowed to just throw it all away! Because we're still here, damnit, and you don't get to just die on us like your dad did!"

I wasn't going to get mad. Because he was right, and I deserved to have him shouting at me. I needed some sort of rebuke from someone.

But then he'd made the supreme mistake about bringing up my dad and I got angry right back at him.

"Don't you pull that shit on me!" I shouted at him. "Don't you bring my dad into this, because this is nothing like what he did!"

"Oh, yeah, I guess you're right, because at least when _he_ died he did it to save his friends!" Angel snapped, fury on his face again. I wanted to punch him then. "But you, Shade, you don't get out that easy, you don't get to leave us to clean up after your mess, you can't do that to us! You don't get to lose it, and you don't get to die like that because YOU FUCKING DIE WHEN WE DO! Fuck, Falshade, we need you, don't you know that? You can't just leave it like that, we need you, _I _fucking need you!"

He slammed his mouth shut then and averted his gaze. I felt my anger just drop out of me like a flame being snuffed out and stared at him. He was shaking all over, hair flopping into his face as if to hide him. His cargos were stained with my blood, all down the side.

"Angel..." I muttered, reaching out for his arm.

"Don't touch me!" he snapped, backing away like a wounded animal. "Jesus, Falshade, I saw you out there and I thought... it was bad enough losing Stork. But you... I dunno... I dunno what I'd do without you, Falshade. And I thought you were going to die right there in front of me... fuck, Falshade, you can't _do_ that to me... I can't lose anybody else, Shade, or..." he trailed off, clutching his arms like he was trying to fight off the cold, face cast down, more vulnerable then I'd ever seen him in my life.

I remembered that Angel's mother had killed herself. And I didn't know what she'd done to him, how she'd made him feel, but the anger I'd seen a moment ago was the same kind of anger he'd shown back in the Oracle's Temple, the kind he used to shield his hurt. And so it occurred to me that he must have loved her and she'd left him. And in his mind I'd almost done the same thing.

I made a move towards him and he gave me a freezing look. I stayed out of his bubble respectfully and cleared my throat, feeling a whole new level of horrible. "Angel... I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I know I can't just leave you guys, and I don't want to, either, I know that now. I knew it then too, but it was like... it was like it all turned to shit. I was just so angry... but I'm not ever going to pull something like that again, okay?"

He made a noise in his throat. "You scared the shit out of me."

"I know, and I feel awful for it. Please believe me on that one. But you're right, okay, I can't just walk out like that, not just because I'm the Sky Knight but because you guys are my friends. I don't want to leave you. I _love_ you guys. And..." I paused, scratching at my scalp. "And I can't promise anything, because... shit's going on out there now and sometimes things happen we can't control. But I'm not going anywhere, okay? Not if I can help it. Nobody's going to leave you this time, Ange."

He looked up at me then, his eyes glinting strangely. His face was vacant but there was something struggling in his eyes and it made my stomach clench uneasily. I had a sort of urge to back away from him. "What?"

I didn't even know what he was doing, but suddenly he was right in my space, just like that, his mouth was crushed right over mine.

Pure shock shot through me like a lightning bolt and it froze everything, all my nerve signals and thoughts just stuck, moving nowhere.

And then everything came crashing back to life all too suddenly, like the following clap of thunder, and I tore away from him, backing away on watery legs, blood pounding against the back of my eyes as my heart slammed against my ribs. I couldn't have thrown any words at him even if I'd been able to think of some.

He wouldn't look at me. Staring at a spot next to my elbow he pulled is teeth over his lower lip like he knew he'd just fucked himself over and muttered "Whoops."

**Do not try to medical procedures carried out in this chapter at home. Seriously, get to an ER room, stat. **


	19. Psychosocial

**19**

**Psychosocial**

**For the record and pronunciation, Varan's mother's name is like a smattered combination of **_**chameleon **_**and **_**Amelia**_**. Clever, no?**

_**Show me how it ends, it's alright**_

_**Show me how defenceless you really are**_

_**Satisfied and empty inside**_

_**Let's give this another try**_

_**If you find your family, don't you cry**_

_**In this land of make-believe, dead and dry**_

_**-So Cold, Breaking Benjamin**_

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

"_Hey."_

"_Hey." I say again, and I know I've said that already tonight. Neither of us are asleep but our eyes are closed and somehow we've plunged past ourselves, stopped being fully conscious, like the creatures that slept under our skin were up instead, stretching stiff muscles, off and sniffing things out for themselves._

_I feel her shift and suddenly it rushes up from under my stomach, a horrible sense of being alone, fear that I've cut myself away from everything. Her music is plucking low, moody chords in the darkest places in my chest, feeling like nostalgia, heartbreak, déjà vu, and bittersweet chocolate all at the same time. It washes over me, predatory and unearthly, familiar and strange, like love from a stranger and I feel like I did when I was nine years old, watching the pale grey sun smouldering down behind the horizon line and thinking one day I'll just walk towards that sunset and never come back. It makes me ache for some reason and I want to be closer to her, I need to feel her._

_So I reach out, middle finger stretched out and arched so it's directly lined with my palm as I skim my hand over her skin; over her thigh, curve over the sharp angle of her hip towards the dip of her belly, taught like a bow string, a nubby bit of flesh of her outwardly turned belly button that makes me think of something symbolic, somehow. _

'Since we were old enough to scrape our knees against the world I knew you'd need me'

_Up between the crest of her ribs, around the slight rise of her breast, all the way over her sternum, slowly, up to the hollow between her collar bones._

'Cracked lips turned so the sun can't bleach anymore of my blood I push my fingers forward, listening for you, we're taking you back, Max, we're taking you back, Max, we're taking you back, Max...'

_And I reach her throat as the song changes itself, the guitar starts to thrum like a steady heartbeat and I can feel it in her vein as it pulses against my palm. I curl my hand slowly around her neck and I feel her there and it's like being back under the bed, things are safe to fall apart, things are breaking and it's okay._

'There comes the day when you throw your insides against the wall, your hand curled between your stomach and thighs and you scream NO MOOOOORRRE!!! And that's when things change, Max, you start biting back, teeth to the throat, fist in your hand, breaking the rain over your head and charging back they way you came.'

_Feelings aren't feelings, not like this song sucking away at the bottom of my chest, but they are pieces, things I can tack up like the glow-in-the-dark-stars she has all over her walls. Fear is the first time I ever got bit by a viper and watching Shade's blood soaking into my pants, it's looking in the mirror and trying to remember what my own face looks like so I can tell myself I don't look like him. Anger is the danger that thrums in my palms as they curl around the hilts of my sabres and the way I smash my head into walls in the night when no one can hear me._

'We all believed in happy endings when we were young, sand in our hands, thorns in our hair. It only changed when Daddy's hand came across your cheek, when teeth started falling out of your face and when the monsters came out of the closet to live in your head.'

_Sorrow is the photo I found in Stork's room and the dyed flowers at funerals, it's Rainer to her and it's Caspia to me, what could have been, what should have been and all the things that happened instead. _

'But we're taking that all back, Max... ITS'S ALL COMING BACK LOVER BOY, WE CAN STILL BE SAVED!"

_Happiness is... happiness is Falshade snoring in the bunk under mine, the green in Stork's closed forever eyes, happiness is ill-gotten brownies and Varan's half-hearted sigh when you jump on him, acting innocent just to get what you want, happiness is Fraggle's laughter in your ear and bruises from playing too roughly, happiness is wind in your hair and blood in your mouth so you can really taste that, yeah, you're still alive._

_And then I know I've got tears on my cheeks and I couldn't tell you why for the life of me. But they're there, all the things I tried to ignore for too long pushing their way out and something's gotta give._

_I feel her mouth, her tongue, trailing as slowly as my hand had up the side of my face, along the tear-tracks like they're road to something better, until she is right under my eye and I can feel her lips press close over my eyelid._

"_I'm not crying." I tell her even though fuck, of course I am and she nods, her mouth on my cheek bone and then the corner of my mouth reassuringly, not comfort, not sympathy, not concern. But something that understands. Something that's been in my place before, something mutual, as a part of me and as detached as this song, something like my own shadow, although I don't know if it's the one that dances along beside me when I'm facing the sun or the one in my chest._

_I feel her hand now, over my stomach, trailing over the dusting of fine hairs from my half-hearted puberty, until her fingertips touch the metal buckle of my belt. I feel her under my belt, just behind where I used to have a button on my pants, fist bunched slightly so the edges of my belt pull tight and cut against my hips. I feel her move lower and then... oh god do I feel her._

_Bittersweet is this song and the knotted muscles of her thigh as I grasp her knee, it is the look I see in her eye when both our eyes are open, it is my own smile and the taste that's always at the back of my mouth._

'We're taking you back, Max.'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Maybe it was just because I don't sleep regularly, so unlike the average person it's not the norm to me. But something about it gave me the creeps.

I liked _sleeping_, don't get me wrong. But the whole transition thing, from waking to sleeping and vice versa.... it threw me off. I was afraid to let my brain power down, thinking somehow I wouldn't wake up again or if I did I'd wake up somebody I didn't know anymore. Sleep was a state I couldn't control, I had no awareness and barriers to force things behind and if I should let those go, come down, who knew what might spill out. And if they got out what was to stop them from sticking in my conscious mind like seeds spread by the wind, seeds that grew into venomous plants, tendrils covered in thorns. I never dreamed, but I was afraid of seeing the little dancing things that sprung up like flames right before I fell asleep, that space in time before completely letting your mind go and just having enough of it left to realize everything you didn't want to know, all the secrets you hid from yourself, were waiting right there to pounce on you. It almost seemed like dying to me and it made my heart start pounding like crazy, blood rushing so fast I could practically see it behind my eyes and it startled me right back into being fully awake. That probably was reason I didn't fall asleep half the time in the first place...

Waking up after actually falling asleep was more confusing and disorientating then anything, but that's also something I didn't like. Knowing I'm vulnerable, not exactly knowing what is going on or what had happened while I'd been asleep... I dunno if most people think of those things when they wake up. But I do.

Plus I don't really sleep all that often, so it's not really a normal thing to me in the first place.

So, needless to say, when I actually do find myself waking up it really throws me for a bit of a loop.

My eyes opened slowly and I glanced about drowsily, surfacing from sleep and at first I had no idea where I was or how I'd gotten here. Or even what had happened. I had to remind myself what sleep was, that that was all that was going on, waking up like a normal person did in the morning.

I groaned and blinked a few times, trying to clear the last dregs of sleep from my mind as I tried to figure out where I was. This wasn't my room, that much I knew. I tried to remember what had happened the night before but my memory was hazy, only partially visible as if it were still coming back from wherever the rest of my had been when my body had been asleep.

It was around then, as I foggily started to recognize the collection of broken, tattered treasures that were scattered about the room, that I suddenly realized I wasn't the only one breathing. And then it all clicked sharply into focus.

I'd fallen asleep in Wasp's room, half sprawled over her mattress and apparently half sprawled over _her_. I was flaked out on my side, torso draped over hers and, until recently, I'd been drooling on her neck. She was twisted weirdly under me, her legs tangled through mine, lying on her back with her head tilted to the side so my hair was splayed over her cheek and her leathery ear was flopped over my brow, twitching in her sleep.

She wasn't wearing her boots... or her jacket... or her shorts. I wasn't wearing a shirt. And my belt was hanging open.

I sat up abruptly, alarmed, trying desperately to remember why I'd come here and more importantly what I'd done. But like the quick snap of a switchblade being flicked open, Wasp's eyes flashed and I found myself pinned to the floor before I even heard the snarl, head banging back against the floor and finding sharp, slippery fangs bared an inch from my face.

Wasp's hackles came back down a moment later and I felt my muscles unknot uneasily. She cocked her head, staring down at me as if she were confused.

"It's you." She said slowly after a few uncertain seconds.

"Yeah, it's me." I muttered, rubbing the back of my head. "Are you high strung or what?"

"Old habits." She said, leaning down to sniffle at my slight pectorals curiously. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

"I was kinda hoping you could tell me that." I said and that's when she must have realized her own current state of undress. It was weird seeing her without her jacket; it was practically like seeing her without a shirt at all, I was so used to her wearing it. She stared down at her t-shirt now, which was oversized, black and half-shredded. _Runlords_. The name sounded familiar. Her shirt was so long she might have been wearing her shorts after all, although that thought didn't make me feel any less awkward.

She on the other hand didn't seem to mind so much. She picked idly at a scab on her knee then looked at me, ears hanging forward like an intrigued puppy, inquisitive and unsure in a sort of positive way.

Both our heads turned after a second of us staring at each other to the sound that had been flickering away in the background, the clicking of the needle on her record player scratching in boredom against the rim of her record, which had played itself out.

She pushed herself upright, off of me and moved past all the junk she'd hoarded into her tiny room to save her record from its mundane spinning. I heaved myself to my feet and scuffed the floor awkwardly, staring at my unbuckled belt as if it were evidence labelling me guilty. Shit, what the hell had I _done_?

"Wasp?" I called out hoarsely, trying to remember what, exactly, had gone on.

"Angel?" she called back, bouncing from the tips of her toes to the soles of her feet and back again.

"We... we didn't... oh, fuck me." I growled, hating the way I couldn't string anything out without sounding like I was eleven years old about the whole thing. I aimed a kick at her bed post before realizing I wasn't wearing my boots either and regretted it.

Wasp blinked at me and then grinned slowly, coming forward to wrap her arms around me from the side as I stood there tensely, and damnit, I was shorter then her so my cheek got crushed into her collar bone. I sighed, feeling awkward and uncomfortable and confused and hating myself for it.

I felt her lean down slightly then, only rubbing salt in the wound about her being about five inches taller than me and nosed my hair away from my ear.

"You worry about the weirdest things." She told me in a low voice that sent a tingle down my spine. "You have to go talk to Falshade, remember?"

I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose as _that_ unfortunate detail finally came back to me, of all things. I'd epically fucked things up all over the place, that was for sure.

"Wasp, I..." I trailed off when I looked at her face and realized I didn't have anything to say anyways. She gave me a reassuring grin before turning me around by my shoulders and propelling me towards her door.

"I fell asleep too. Weird huh?" she said, wrapping my shirt around my neck like a noose and I couldn't help feeling like I was a dead man.

"I dunno if I can go talk to Shade. Wasp, we-"

I felt her slide her fingers over my mouth and then lean against me as she planted a kiss on my dishevelled hair. "Shoo little fly." Was all she gave me by way of condolence as she pushed me out into the hallway.

Her door clanged shut behind me and I had the urge to hit myself around the head with something heavy. Rubbing my temples I leaned against the wall, trying to sort out the last twelve hours, which at the moment seemed like they'd been thrown in a blender with the lid off and had splattered all over the inside of my head.

I thought back on the night before, right back to when Falshade had infiltrated my room. I winced at the memory, clutching my head in my hands and trying to jump past what had happened while he'd been there. And after that... I'd had no idea why I'd done what I did. I only had half an idea and a lot of bad feelings about what I _had_ done. And I had no idea what I was going to do about it.

And so I'd gone to Wasp.

And I felt bad about that too. I only seemed to go to her when I had a problem, when something was really tearing me up inside. Other than that... well I didn't all out ignore her or anything, but... god damnit why couldn't I just go to her with a 'Hey, what's up, wanna go grab a cup of coffee or something?' or whatever the hell guys said to girls when they just wanted to talk.

But I went to her anyways, after stalking back and forth across the deck for about an hour, occasionally punching the railing or the wall until my knuckles were bleeding. I rubbed my hand now, remembering that much. Okay, good start.

And then... then I'd just out and out spilled my guts to Wasp, how disgusted I was in myself, how I'd gone and just ruined my friendship with Falshade, all the gut-wrenching, headachy things I felt about everything that made no sense to me and drove me crazy at night. And Wasp, brilliant creature she was, just listened through it all, nodding and grabbing my hand to press her mouth all over my split knuckles. And by the end of my emo-fest she'd just asked me one thing:

"_So why'd you do it?"_

I think that's what I'd needed, something blunt and honest, right to the point. I was too scattered, I shoved things away from myself. I needed something to center me, a point of orbit for all the broken things I left behind to circle around and maybe crash into each other.

_I snaked my fingers through my hair. "I don't know." I muttered._

_Wasp pulled her knees in to her chest like I'd noticed she did when she was really thinking about something. She nibbled on her finger for awhile before she said "You know that girl I told you guys about? The one with the freckles?"_

_I thought back to it. "The prostitute?" I asked carefully at last._

"_Yeah, that's right." Wasp nodded, sounding unperturbed. "Her name was Fli. She was a friend of Rainer's. She was the one who bought me my boots." She explained, clacking her heels together._

I remembered untangling the knots from those boots later, pulling them free to compare our feet.

"_Anyways, at first I didn't know why this one guy, Buzzard was his name," here I saw something venomous flicker over Wasp's face, a flame flare up dangerously in her eyes. "I didn't understand why this Buzzard guy could tell Fli what to do, force her to go and fuck all these guys. So one day when Rainer was out doing something or other with Sketcher she was babysitting me I guess, and we had this bath with all these bubbles that smelled like cherries. I'd never had a bubble bath before." Wasp grinned at the memory while I felt my face heat up for some reason._

"_And so she lit up a smoke and I asked her if she liked all those men she was with. I didn't understand what a hooker was yet, see. And she looked up at me and kinda smiled and blew a bunch of bubbles at me._

'_No, I don't like any of them at all, really.' She said. And that kinda confused me, you know? Like... I dunno, I don't think you have to be in love with someone to fuck them. You don't even have to know them." Again something flitted over Wasp's face and I reached out to cup her kneecap because I felt I ought to comfort her somehow. She glanced up at me and grinned slightly before continuing._

"_But... I dunno I just think that you get left with something, no matter who you have sex with. So I didn't really understand her. And she must have realized that because she looked at me and then curled her toes over my knee. Fli always used to paint her nails. She tried to do mine once but the smell made me sick. And she leaned forwards and said in this low voice like it was something she was afraid of, like a confession or something 'maybe it sounds crazy, or maybe I'm just a really good whore by now. But I used to ask myself aren't I supposed to love these men? Isn't this supposed to mean something? And Wasp it used to tear me up inside that I could throw my emotions out as easily as my body. It made me feel like I was missing something, like I was doing something wrong to myself.' And then she started to cry."_

_I looked at Wasp critically, feeling an unusual amount of empathy flooding through me. And hell I didn't even know this girl that Wasp was talking about. But then I hadn't known Rainer either but I felt attached to him somehow anyways. It was the way Wasp talked about them, they way her voice curled around them like she was hugging her own words. In a selfish way I wanted her to talk about me like that._

"_So why did she do it if..." I trailed off, not understanding how any girl would want to put themselves through that sort of torment._

_Wasp blew out a sigh, ears pulling back dejectedly. "She had to. I'll tell you about it, sometime. I asked Rainer the same thing once. Anyways... after a while she stopped crying and looked at me like she was sorry and said 'Wasp, I don't know if you'll understand this, because I don't even understand it myself, but... there's a difference, sweetie, between telling yourself what something should be and what it really is. What I do with those men is a convenient, meaningless fuck... there's no love in there. There's no feelings at all, no disgust or shame or guilt. Because that's all it is. Meaningless. It happens, they get laid and I get paid. That's what I have to tell myself.' And I didn't really have anything to say, so eventually I just asked 'So what about Sketcher?' and she laughed and splashed me. 'Well he gets it for free.' She told me." Wasp looked at my face and must have thought I was confused about her last statement. "She and Sketcher had a thing." She explained._

_I nodded and swallowed. "So... not that I don't enjoy your stories, Wasp, but... what does this have to do with anything?"_

"_Well, the meaning of the story, boys and girls, is that you humans are bass-ackwards about these kinds of things. You attach a bunch of meaning to things that shouldn't matter at all and then, when there're things that matter the most, right in front of you, you miss the meaning completely. It's like Shade's dreams. He's obsessed with looking at what he sees and not what is actually there. Symbolism, you know?" She said, batting at my bangs absently before catching a few strands of my hair to tug playfully, pulling me closer. "Think of it like that, Angel. Think if what's there."_

Think of what's there... hell I still didn't really understand what she meant. Or maybe my problem was I just didn't want to think back to my original problem at all. That, first and foremost, was my major malfunction. Maybe I'd learned too well from the creatures of the desert and had ultimately become too much like the jackals, chewing their own limbs off to get free. I did the same thing on a much less drastic scale; something grabbed me in way I didn't want, dragged me down for reasons I didn't understand and I cut part of myself out to get away and went on to gimp through the rest of my life missing something. And then years later it's come back to haunt me in some way or other.

I sighed and slid down to the floor, grinding my teeth absently. Looking at it that way, it was like this: I could either forfeit my friendship with Falshade, the easy way out, or... or I could plough through something and finally fix one issue with myself for once in my life. Wasp had told me I needed to hang on to things more and I'd told myself I was going to do that. And besides, didn't I owe it to Wasp to try and clean up the messes I made if she was going to give me these heart wrenching inspirational speeches I always went to her for in the first place? And didn't I owe it to Shade to at least explain to the guy why I'd... ugh.

I put my forehead on my knees and thought about it, picking at all the scabs on my brain tissue. Where along the line had this gone wrong... well hell I'd always known I had an unhealthy relationship with Falshade. I'd been obsessed with the guy and then gone on to resent him for no apparent reason. But that didn't mean I...

'_Well, Angel, you did _kiss_ him and everything. But not like _that_ means anything or whatever...'_

I groaned and tore at my hair. Yes, I kissed him, but that didn't have to mean-

That's when I got it.

I'd been so worked up about the fact that I'd actually gone and kissed the guy I hadn't thought about _why_. But suddenly something started to form in my mind, like a tumour surfacing from the years of buried toxic waste up there. Wasp had said this girl of hers, Fli, had fucked all those guys thinking she was supposed to feel something. I'd kinda gone the opposite way with it (and hadn't fucked any guys thank you), I'd done something meaningless because of something I felt but couldn't voice. I mean it wasn't that I didn't...love Falshade. I loved all my friends, and Shade... Shade was my best friend, practically my brother. But I didn't love him _that_ way, the way I'd told Wasp I'd never be able to love anybody.

But there was something about Shade, I realized that now. And it was so singularly pathetic I felt pretty wretched about admitting it to myself but there it was, plain and simple: Shade had been the first living person who ever cared about me. He accepted me, reached out to me, trusted me and actually _cared_ about me, even though at first I'd ignored him and even these days I was an asshole and a half to him on a regular basis. And in my brain, that for ages had been purely scientific, mechanical, all numbers and facts, where things like emotions got shoved to the back burner because I didn't know how to handle them, it threw me off completely. The way he just easily and completely accepted me for who I was, no compromise, no questions asked, and even more then that he wanted to be my friend... it boggled me. I didn't know how to process it. Inside it made me feel good, it made me feel wanted, less lonely, it made me... happy. But in my head it scrambled up everything, my carefully organized and protected way of functioning, destructive as it was. It changed all the rules and things I thought I knew.

And somehow that confusion coupled with this new feeling, the ability to actually trust and care about him, to want to be around him, to miss him when he wasn't there... I'd never had a crush on him or anything. But somewhere, in my head, something thought that's what all these strange feelings were because of the simple, sad fact that I'd never had them before, never had a friend in my life. And then even when the others came along and I opened up to them a bit, eventually considered them my friends too... Falshade had always been my first friend, my best friend, and that little voice, the demon on my shoulder kept telling me this wasn't normal, that I liked him in a completely different way than 'just friends'.

And the thing is, if you think something long enough you start to believe it. And because I so blatantly shoved it to the back of my mind, left it in a cage only to come up at inconvenient times like when I jumped on the guy and wondered if it had turned me on or not (half the reason right there why I avoided contact) it just grew, undetected, like a deadly tumour or clot in the blood, waiting to rupture and leave everything in gory ruin.

And now here I was... gory ruin alright.

I stood up and remembered I was still shirtless. I pulled my shirt on over my head as I strode down the hallway, trying to think why now, why now had it suddenly burst out? I'd been angry with the guy not even a minute beforehand... but only because I'd been so damn scared. The moment Varan let me out from under his gaze I'd gone and hurled my guts into the toilet and then hunkered down on my floor, lighting up smoke after smoke and trying to avoid bawling my eyes out. I'd done enough crying, damnit. And then I'd gone and broken another one of my survival laws and told him how I'd felt, how much I needed him (which I did of course, but he didn't have to know that) and then _he'd_ gone and just like that smashed the cold shard of ice that had been wedged somewhere in my gut, he'd torn out the vine and all its horrible tendrils that not three weeks ago had made me feel like I hated the guy, put pressure in my chest all the time, by telling me he wasn't going anywhere. And I don't even know why that had got to me. I'm not going to say I don't have issues, who doesn't? But I was sure none of them had been abandonment issues. I hated the feeling of loneliness even though I liked my privacy, but I mean... anyways it wasn't like I had some deep psychological issue implanted by my mother's suicide that made me fear losing other people too or some shit like that. No the only psychological damage my parents had inflicted on me was purely self-directed.

I think it had just been the fact that he'd said that, to remember that Falshade, being Falshade, supreme lord of marshmallow hearts, cared more about me then I deserved and I'd admitted I needed that about him and he'd gone and assured me it was still there. It was something I didn't realize I'd needed to hear until he said it. And in my cut open and bleeding state, all those nauseatingly warm-'n-fuzzy feelings running rampage in my veins after a very stressful day to add to a collection of very emotionally trying and scarring events prior to that... I dunno, something just gave out. That'd be the rupturing part, the inevitable aneurism. And, being the distant, emotionally shut off guy I generally am, I had no idea what to say or do to show him what it meant. And that part, that little demon, just jumped in and I'd gone and done it.

I found I'd wandered into the kitchen and like a zombie, only acting on the most basic of needs, I realized I was hungry and headed for the fridge. Just 'cause I'm a skinny little sonbitch doesn't mean I don't eat like your average teenage boy. And now that I was minus one hell of a toothache I could actually take care of the gnawing hunger in my belly.

I peered into the fridge and frowned. _Fuck_. We needed supplies. The most appetizing thing in there was the half eaten stick of salami that had a knife wedged in it conveniently. We didn't even have enough milk for a bowl of cereal...

I was in the act of trying to remember if we still had frozen waffles as well as trying to come up with ten different ways to tell Shade why I'd done what I'd done (if he was going to listen to me mind you) at the same time when I felt someone's hand come down on my shoulder. I jumped and banged my head off the handle for the freezer door before backing out of the fridge and then backing away from the person who'd tapped me before I'd managed to get the oath out of my mouth.

Shade held up the palms of his hands as if to calm a startled animal, staring at me directly and for once I had trouble reading the expression on his face. I was trying to judge how angry he was and what level of forgiveness I was working with here.

"I'm not going to kill you." He told me slowly as I fidgeted nervously. "I just want to talk to you. Alright?"

Three weeks ago I would have snorted and hunched my posture, pretending I didn't give a shit if he was furious at me or what have you. But this time I actually did feel bad for what I'd done and more then that I needed him to know why I'd done it if I had a chance in hell of scraping my friendship with him back together because, fuck me, I _did_ need him. I needed him to be my friend. And I needed him to know how much I wanted to be his.

So I straightened up to show I was listening and tried to look submissive, watching his face carefully. "Okay."

He blew out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his hair uneasily. He looked every bit as uncomfortable as I'd felt waking up in Wasp's room. "Ange, you do a lot of things that drive me up the wall, you know that?" he started at last and I nodded because hey, it was true. "And I mean I can deal with that. But there's a line and you _really_ crossed it."

I scuffed my foot, feeling ashamed and embarrassed, two things I usually didn't have to deal with. "I know I fucked up." I muttered.

"Yeah, you really did. Now, I'm pretty sure I asked you this question before and you told me no. But I'm going to ask you again, and it's not like I'm going to get mad at you or anything, but you gotta know I'm not into you that way _at all_. So are you-"

I felt heat rise to my face and I threw my hand up to stop him. I didn't want to hear him ask me again. At least last time I'd been able to laugh about it, but there was only so much mortification I could handle. "I'm not a fag." I assured him, cutting him off.

He crossed his arms. "Forgive me but you're previous actions beg to differ." He told me evenly and I made an irritated noise, swinging a half-hearted kick at the fridge and luckily remembering this time that I still didn't have my boots on and stopped short. Falshade waited patiently as I paced towards the cupboards and then back, trying to put some sort of explanation together, muttering to myself. I finally stopped and turned back to him, drawing in a deep breath and thinking of that proverb I'd never thought would have to apply to me because I was an insomniac, the ol' make your bed and then lie in it bullshit.

"Okay. I have something to say. So just hear me out, okay?" I said and Falshade nodded. I took another deep breath then just ploughed into it. "Falshade, you were the first friend I ever had. Ever." I started and I don't think he'd been expecting that because he raised his eyebrows, looking baffled. "Fourteen bloody years old and I'd never had a friend before. Yeah, pathetic, I know. And man I was happy being alone. I was." Compulsive liar, what're you gonna do? "I was fine, you know, all on my own, my own damn little lonely world, by myself at the Academy and everything. I thought it'd always be that way, you know, just me, and I was okay with that. But then you came along and you... you actually gave a shit about me. You know, you tried to get to know me, you reached out to me, you actually wanted to be around me and it just... I dunno. I'd never known that before. It got to me, you know? But I didn't really... laugh if you want but I didn't understand it. I knew you were just trying to be my friend, I knew it wasn't like you were coming on to me or anything." I cleared my throat and kept going "But somewhere in here." I dug a finger into my temple like the barrel of a six gun. "In my fucked up little way I didn't understand that having a friend was just that, you know, that you can have platonic love for someone. Because dude, I love you, you know." I nearly choked on that but I felt it important he know it. After all he'd confessed that he loved all of us. "I love you but I'm not _in _love with you, okay? And I knew that, I told myself it was normal to have friends and to care about them and all that shit, but in my fucked up way there was something in my head that thought _maybe_ I had something for you because I'd never, you know, just had a bloody friend. And this thing, I tried to tell myself no, that's not how it is, but I couldn't prove it. And so it just stayed up there and then..." I sighed and broke away from his gaze. "I dunno, yesterday you fucking had me scared and I just... I remembered how much you're my buddy and that we need you around here and I thought about life without you and... you know, if you _had_ of died yesterday, if I didn't have as many nasty thoughts as I do about suicide, I probably would have killed myself." That wasn't a lie, in all honesty. With my hands pressed over him, feeling his blood leaking out between my clenched fingers despite my desperate efforts to hold it back, I knew if he didn't make it the only thing that would have stopped me from pitching myself off the runway would have been the thought that I'd ended up like my mom anyways, after trying to avoid it all my life. And even then I still might have done it.

Falshade gave me a sad look but I kept going before he could comment on that last part. Things were coming up now and I had to get it all out now before I lost my nerve. "So then you came and told me you weren't going anywhere and I dunno... I appreciated the hell out of it. But I didn't know what to say, it was like that whole side of me that knew all these things just shut down... I'm not like you, Shade, and all that emotional crap? Jams up my gears. And so... so this little part, this thing that thought maybe I _did_ like you that way, it just came up and I did it because... I dunno. I didn't really know what I was doing, I just did it, but I understand it all now, and so I'm not going to do it again, I don't have a thing for you or anything so-" I cut myself off while I still had dignity and looked up at him uneasily. "God damnit I hate these angst conventions." I muttered and he grinned a bit. Maybe that's what gave me the nerve to stick my hand out professionally and clear my throat. "So anyways, all that being said... friends?"

He stared at me for a long time and I fidgeted nervously. Hell I was in the red when it came to Falshade's forgiveness these days anyways, there wasn't a reason in the world why he should just get over this on my account.

But then he grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me into a brief, somewhat stiff-limbed hug, but a hug nonetheless. He thumped me on the back and pushed me away again, grinning good naturedly.

"Brothers." He corrected and I felt immense, ill-earned relief and happiness flood through me. "And we really are brothers now, I've got your blood in me, remember?" then he gave me a bit of a pointed look but there was laughter in his eyes. "And that'd be incest. So don't do it again. Ever."

I felt my cheeks heat up but I rolled my gaze upwards, trying to keep up some sort of aloof image. "I'm going to be hearing about this forever aren't I?" I said dejectedly.

"Only when I _really_ want to get to you. I'm going to try and forget the whole thing. But Jesus, Angel, seriously, if you took half the time you use being an asshole to just _tell_ me half these things we wouldn't end up in situations like this, you know?" he told me and I choose not to hurl a comment on our marriage at him because that really would have been pushing it. Too soon, you know?

"Yeah, and talking about feelings wouldn't have made me seem any less gay." I muttered instead and he laughed.

"Anyways, I'm not going to say I understand it completely, because you were kinda confusing back there and... I dunno. But I get the gist of it, you know, and I trust you, so I think we'll be alright. But... no offence if I seem a bit awkward around you for a little while though. Because as much as I like to think I can get over pretty much anything... that was _really_ not cool." He said and I nodded, not expecting anything less. I felt like an idiot but hey, at least that meant I'd be spared a few nougies for now.

"Okay, well... okay." He said. "I dunno about you but I'm so hungry I could eat Merb Cabbage. Too early to wake up Varan?"

"No point man, there's nothing in there." I said, opening the cupboards hopefully and for once feeling grateful that Shade's temper was hard to get going, that he was okay with throwing bandages over things, unlike myself. I mean hell, I'd just had all these huge revelations and if he hadn't seemed as forthcoming as he had I probably would have just let them rot in the back of my mind like everything else I tried not to think about. So maybe Wasp and Falshade had something going on with their childish philosophies and ways of dealing with things. Or maybe they were both just braver people then I was.

Shade opened up the freezer and his eyes lit up abruptly. "And Falshade scores the last Toaster Strudel!" he crowed, pulling out the box and I scowled at him.

"Aw, no way, we still had that in there? That would have been mine if you hadn't interrupted my foraging!" I said and he gave me the 'snooze you lose' look before popping it into the toaster. Just for that I decided not to tell him the temperature was set too high. Hey on any other day he would have had to fight me off with a fork or something to keep his prize, I was being pretty penitent.

Instead I reached for the jar of peanut butter and grabbed a spoon out of the drawer, noting with distaste all the remnants of toast and jam that Fraggle had blended into the mix. Is it so hard to grab a different knife?

I sat on the counter, banging my heels into the cupboard door irritatingly and watched as Wasp, back in her usual attire, entered the room, testing out some weird new walk; she was walking on tip-toe on her right foot and slamming down her left foot, making her look like she had a limp. She waved at Falshade and then hobbled her way over to me, plucking my spoon out of my hand halfway to my mouth and sniffing it curiously.

"You did it." She said, grinning slightly and sucking on my spoon before she pulled a face.

I wasn't much of a peanut butter fanatic either but that was my breakfast and I was hungry after skipping most of my meals all week due to my teeth and then giving half my blood to Falshade. "Give me that." I said, snatching the spoon back.

"I knew you could. You make things harder than they have to be." She told me, sitting beside me.

"Yeah well we aren't all as brave as you." I muttered and noted she had a smudge of peanut butter in the corner of her mouth. I smeared it off with my thumb before glancing to see what Falshade was doing before continuing, my voice lowered because I knew she'd be able to hear it regardless of volume. "Look I'm sorry for being all stark on you this morning. It's not like I was freaked out if... you know. I just... I don't sleep enough, so when I do it fucks with my head. I forget things."

Wasp flicked my hip bone twice. "Well you sure are confident in yourself aren't you?" she asked and I felt my cheeks heat up _again_. Well she didn't have to say it like _that_...

"So we didn't then." I said, sounding sulky and she licked my cheek, grinning.

"Don't you think you would have remembered?" she said and I made the mistake of looking into her eyes for a moment, earthy orbs that dragged me into places both frightening and beautiful.

"Now who's the confident one?" I asked and she gnashed her teeth at me playfully.

All of a sudden I thought about how I'd felt about going to her last night, dragging more of my issues into her life selfishly and I got worried. Thinking about why I'd done what I'd done to Falshade had got me all analytical and paranoid about my relationships. What if all I had with Wasp was the same sort of thing, something I did in place of unrelated feelings? I used her like a crutch, I realized. I told her we were friends now but what if... what if just because we'd spilled personal things to each other, what if I tricked myself into thinking that meant we were friends when really I just liked the idea of having someone to bitch to and then practically forgot about her when all was well?

"Wasp?" I asked lowly and she flicked her ear to show she was listening, knotting up the laces I'd so carefully untangled on her left boot.

"I... I told you before I couldn't love you. So... if you get sick of me, don't be afraid to just walk away." Walk away from what? What the hell did we have?

She perked up and looked at me, head tilted, waiting for further explanation.

"Well I just mean... I feel like I'm using you, Wasp. I need you, I go to you. You always listen to me. Do I ever listen to you?"

"Sure you do." She said quietly. "I just don't always have a lot to say. And Angel... friends are there for each other. It's what they do, right?"

"Well, yeah, generally. But are we friends? We're different you know, you're different them my other friends. I just... I don't want to abuse your friendship. You're too good for that."

She made a snorting noise and craned her head back, exposing her throat and looking at the ceiling with concentration. "You told me you didn't want to love me, and I can't love you. We agreed on that. So maybe we're friends, maybe we're not. Maybe we're just two lonely, strange people who found each other and that's all we have in common. Maybe that's all that connects us because we just need to know there's someone else out there who needs the same thing. And what's wrong with that? Why can't we just be two people who need each other?" she looked back down at me seriously, her gaze holding me like a cobra's would. "Believe it or not, Angel, life can be that simple sometimes."

I stared at her and if Falshade hadn't been in the same room I probably would have kissed her right then and there. But Falshade _was_ there so I grinned at her instead and muttered. "You've got to be the easiest girl in the world to get along with."

"Kudos to me." She said and hopped off the counter. "You're thingy's about to burn!" she added as she hop-skipped out of the room to go do Waspy things somewhere else.

Falshade had heeded Wasp's warning and popped his strudel out of the toaster just before it went from nicely browned to burned just as Varan entered the kitchen, looking considerably less fragile then he had yesterday. Enough so that he noticed what I was eating and gave me the mother look anyways.

"Yeah _that's_ real nutritious." He scolded. "God both of you only lost a few pints of _blood_ and here you are eating empty calories. Do you _want _to make it to twenty five?"

"Hey, this has protein in it!" I objected around the wad of peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth.

Falshade squeezed the entire packet of frosting onto his pastry and looked up to met Varan's scornful gaze innocently. "Var-_an_, a guy's gotta eat and there was nothing in the fridge, I swear." He said, coming off all whiny because he knows it'll let him get away with anything and Varan rolled his eyes.

"I bet there's plenty in there, just nothing that comes with frosting." He said and Falshade grinned deviously. "Anyways, food _was_ running kind of low a few days ago so we'll have to grab some supplies today."

Falshade gave him a pained look and I froze with my spoon almost to my mouth. Any sort of supply gathering (AKA _shopping_) had always been Stork's job. We guys all but lacked the bargain hunting gene.

Varan looked back at us and frowned. "Don't pull that shit with me. You all eat it and since I'm gracious enough to bother to cook it for you, you can at least help me get it."

"Help with what now?" Fraggle asked upon oozing into the kitchen, still in his pyjamas. He glanced over at the coffee pot which I'd forgotten to put on (generally as a common courtesy first one into the kitchen was supposed to start the coffee) and groaned, slumping down beside Falshade, head banging on the table top.

"We either need to get one of those timed coffee makers or start sleeping in a bit more, eh." He informed us.

"Or just cut back on the masturbation dude and get to sleep earlier." I suggested and got a sour look from both Falshade and Varan. Fraggle snorted.

"Nah, I don't think that's an option there, eh." Then his ears perked up and he lifted his head from the table to give me a crafty look. "Hey, you don't sleep at _all_ there eh, what's that say about you?"

I stretched. "Well why do you think I'm in such a good mood all the time?"

Falshade snorted this time. "Wait, this has been you in a good mood? Jeez I'd hate to catch you on a bad day."

Fraggle blinked at me as if he'd just noticed something. "Are you eating peanut butter?"

"Uhhh... no." I said, pushing the jar behind me. Just because I didn't like it that much didn't mean I had to share it.

"Nobody is eating any more peanut butter, damnit!" Varan interrupted Fraggle before he could say anything else. "I'll make something, I think we have flour..."

All three of us perked up. "Pancakes?" we all demanded in unison and Varan sighed.

"Yes, pancakes."

"Well this day is looking up already." Fraggle said, eyeing Falshade's pastry until Shade slid a chair away from him.

"Huh." Varan said, hunting through the fridge. "Well scratch that plan, we don't have any bloody syrup."

"And then it plunges back down again, eh." Fraggle said, banging his head back onto the table top.

"Let's just make them with chocolate chips then." Falshade suggested.

"Oh yeah, that'd work, if we _had_ any chocolate chips left." Varan said, shooting a look at me.

"Hey, you're the one who made them easily accessible, you practically gave them to me!" I said defensively.

"It's called self-control, smart guy."

Ah yes, self-control. A department in which I was seriously lacking, right up there with good behaviour and altruism.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I can't help but notice that I'm still hungry, eh." Fraggle's voice was muffled by the table and his hair. Varan let out a sigh.

"Angel, get off the damn counter and see what's in the cupboards." He threw at me and I folded my arms, eyes narrows pointedly. "_Please_." He added and I nodded, sliding off the counter.

"That's what I thought." I said and he rummaged in the drawer briefly just to throw a spoon at me, which I dodged. "Okay, let's see what we got... wow. We totally fail at survival. We've got a jar of pickles and a can of chickpeas. Who the fuck eats chickpeas around here?"

"I do, thank you." Varan said stiffly.

"Aw, dude, bust out the pickles, eh."

I pulled out the jar. "These are a year past their expiry date." I noted casually and Falshade snorted.

"So? Jar's sealed, eh, pass 'em here." Fraggle said, holding out a hand. Varan grabbed the jar from me before I was even considering if I wanted to get up and walk them over there or not.

"I don't think so. Do we not remember what happened last time someone ate something that was past the expiry date?" he said pointedly and I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my palms.

"I'd rather _not_ remember that." I groaned at the memory. After weeks of warning the others of how scatterbrained Blizzarians could be when we'd first teamed up with Fraggle I'd completely forgotten my own warnings when, hunger-stricken, I'd gone and made a ham sandwich with cold cuts that Fraggle had left in the back of the fridge for about four months and was violently sick for about three days later.

"Yet another flaw with you carnivores. You never hear about anyone getting Ecoli from veggies." Varan said like he was a real know-it-all.

"Actually you _can_, genius." I said sourly. "Salmonella too. And at least you don't have to worry about finding monster green worms in your steak."

"That happened to me once, eh!" Fraggle reported and Falshade pulled a face.

"Hence why I stay a healthy distance from anything green." He said. Varan gave him a look and he laughed. "Well, that only applies to you if we're training." he clarified.

"I don't think it's fair to say we train with Varan anymore." I said. "More like we just try to avoid getting beaten to a pulp while he attacks you."

"Oh come on, I take it easy with you guys!" Varan said defensively.

"Yeah but Varan, Cupcake there's about a foot shorter then you, eh." Fraggle said and then ducked, laughing, as I chucked the can of chickpeas at him. The only thing I hated worse than Angel Cakes, which they used just to get to me, was Cupcake, which they used to get to me _and_ imply I was pint-size at the same time. That was another downside to losing Stork (among many of course); without her around I was now the shortest and therefore automatically the new victim of harassment towards the vertically-challenged.

"That's true." Varan agreed, grinning as I glared at him. "Then again I suppose you still might have a growth spurt, Ange. You're still only what, thirteen?"

Falshade burst into laughter as I flung my sticky peanut butter spoon at Varan. "I'm out of ammo now." I warned him curtly. "So next clever comment I hear and it's gonna be my fist coming at you."

Just then we heard something smash out on the bridge.

"Damnit, Fraggle." I said automatically before remembering he was sitting at the table and his ears shot up indignantly.

"I've been here the whole time, eh!" he said, sounding offended and then we all frowned at the same time and turned towards the door.

"Wasp?" we called out tiredly.

"Wasp doesn't live here, please leave a message after the beep!" she screeched, running down the hallway in a totally non-guilty way. Falshade rolled his eyes and lifted his hand, counting down from three silently. As his last finger came down Wasp shuffled back into the doorway, looking apprehensive.

"Mustard gas is bleach _and_ ammonia, right?" she asked nonchalantly and we all straightened in alarm. We had some pretty toxic chemicals flying about the place, albeit the fact that we used as much safety precautions as your average six year old when tampering with them and we lacked adult supervision.

"What the hell did you knock over?" I demanded.

"The glass."

"What glass?" Varan asked.

Wasp seemed to have forgotten we were interrogating her. "I wonder what speed that hit the floor at? What's the impact velocity for glass to shatter? And what does Chaos Theory have to do with it I wonder..."

Falshade was rubbing my temples. It struck me that the Angel from three weeks ago would have snapped something at her by now, irritated. The Angel today kinda felt like laughing.

"Wasp." Falshade was saying. "Don't bring up physics. And what glass are you talking about? What was in it?"

"Stork's glass of the de-gunkifying stuff." Wasp said. "It had my Cracker Jack prize in it, you know, that thing I ripped off the dead guy?" She pulled something out of her pocket and tossed it onto the table.

I was on my feet and staring down at the thing as Falshade and Fraggle leaned in closer. Varan came over as well and it took the four of us a moment to recognize the flashing emblem on the table that looked like it was made of quicksilver. Then I remembered the little badge Stork had dropped into the glass of cleaner, all that time ago now and ran my fingers through my hair contemplatively.

"Oh fuck, I forgot about that!" Falshade exclaimed, reaching out to pick it up and then dropping it a second later. "Well that stuff sure does burn." he muttered, shaking his fingers before pressing them to his mouth.

"Well don't get it in your mouth then, genius!" I said, swatting at him. He gave me a bit of a look and I took the hint and sat down across from him without further comment, trying not to feel angry at him. The guy was all over me all the time and I slipped up _once_ and now I couldn't even... well then again he never went and kissed me, I had to remind myself and folded my arms under my chin, feeling moody.

"So what's on it, now that we can see it?" Varan said, furrowing his brow.

"Looks like the Grunge logo if you ask me, eh." Fraggle said and I snorted.

"Yeah because every rogue wants to make sure his victims know what brand of jeans he buys before he decapitates them." I snarked and he gave me the finger.

"Yeah well what do you see then with your 'superior sniper vision' then?" he shot back and I stared at the thing considerably.

"Hmm..." For a second I didn't really have an answer. Then I found myself thinking back on the day I'd been talking to Fraggle on the docks of Atmosia, waiting to get going, the sun pouring down on us and the jolt in my stomach when I'd realized what symbol I'd so idly scratched into the sand.

"It looks like the old Talon insignia." I muttered and the other three stood up to get a closer look. I watched Shade's fingers slowly slide through his hair as he clutched the sides of his head.

"What?" I demanded as he sat back down.

"I've seen that symbol before." He breathed. "In my dreams... someone's always carving it into their arm."

"It was on the side of Halo's skimmer." Varan said suddenly and the rest of us looked at him in varying degrees of surprise.

"Well some details would be nice here, Var." Falshade said.

"What more is there to say? I saw it on the side of his skimmer and I'm pretty sure Carrion's got it painted on the head of her hammer. At least I hope that's all it was... that doesn't matter though, does it? What matters is if they're all were wearing the same symbol it means that Halo and the others and these guys who attacked Pippa's terra are all the same. All these bastards out there... they're all working together."

That was something that had occurred to us already but of course we hadn't been able to prove it. There'd been no way for the Sky Knight Legion to identify any of these guys as part of a specific band and had just classified them as rogues for now. Fair enough, I'd called them that too. But the fact that we now had proof that they were organized and unified... that presented a few problems. There were a lot of them, for one thing. And they had some sort of higher motivation then stirring up some shit for another.

"But that doesn't make sense." Falshade was saying. "The Legion hasn't been able to identify anything about these guys, skimmers, armour, weapons, crystals... none of these guys have the same anything. They're just rogues to them. But Halo's little fleet, they're all on Nightflyers and they seem to have some sort of ranking. Halo seems like their leader I mean. None of the other squadrons have said anything about getting attacked by people on Nightflyers. Nor have they mentioned any sort of order to these bands."

"Something else that should be pointed out." I said. "Is that Halo and his fleet have specifically targeted us twice now. How come they aren't going after the other squadrons? And did anybody else notice a difference between yesterday's attack and the one before that?"

"Besides the new psycho, eh?" Fraggle pointed out and I nodded.

"Besides that. Last time there was more of them. They had cruisers, they attacked us in the open, no stealth or anything and... they were a little more thorough."

"How'd you mean?" Shade asked quietly.

"What I mean is they were a little more eager to finish us off." I said, drawing a finger over my throat obviously. "Look at what happened to Stork." I was met by a morbid silence and cleared my throat awkwardly before continuing. "But yesterday... that was an ambush, they snuck up on us, got us in a place where we had no advantage in a fight and... let's face it, if they wanted to finish us off, they could have. If they would have had a cruiser we'd have been toast. And Falshade... Zodiac or whatever the fuck his name is, he had you. But Halo called him off."

"Yeah..." Varan said slowly. "He told him to leave the Sky Knight alone and come after me instead."

"Right." I said. "But when Zodiac jumped me he was quite alright with trying to make mincemeat out of me."

"And Carrion targeted Wasp." Varan added. "She flew right over me to get her." Wasp made a low growling noise at the memory.

"But what does that mean? Why target you three and leave me? And if they could have taken the _Merlin_ with a cruiser, then why not take one?" Falshade asked.

"Well that's exactly what I mean. They could have really had us. But they didn't take it. It's almost like they weren't exactly there for a fight." I said. The more I thought about it the more it made sense. If they really wanted Falshade dead they wouldn't have fallen back when I had to drag him back to the _Merlin_. And it wasn't like we'd stumbled on them by surprise and they just happened to decide to attack us. They'd been prepared to fight in those winds, meaning they'd set it up beforehand to attack us in the Crossroads. Which meant they would have had to of known our position. So why wait to attack us there? If they would have brought enough reinforcements and caught us off guard, where they did it wouldn't have...

"They're tracking us." I said abruptly and the others snapped me a look. "They're monitoring our movements. I dunno why they chose to check in on us then, but they knew where we were. And they did before too. They knew our names the first time we ran into them, remember? They planned that attack too. They're targeting us."

The others fidgeted and remained silent for awhile before Falshade finally piped up. "Why? What makes us so special?"

"I dunno." I said, pacing because I think better that way. Wasp apparently had been mimicking me, pacing along behind me until I turned around and bumped in her. I flicked my hands at her to move her out of my pacing zone. "But that would explain why they have a specific little group that seems to keep picking on us, although I don't know why in hell-"

"You're wrong, Angel." Falshade interrupted me suddenly and I froze in mid-step and turned slowly to look at him. Varan and Fraggle jumped back from between us like they were expecting an all out brawl.

I fixed Falshade with a steely look. Just because things were supposed to be a little touchy with us now didn't mean he was allowed to be condescending. And I dunno, maybe I was getting a little sick of trying to be sensitive and considerate with him; three weeks ago I wasn't dealing with this much bullshit. "Sorry Shade, I cut out there for a second." I said to give him a chance to change his statement. "What was the last thing you said?"

"This hasn't been the second time. It's the third." He said, sounding like he wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying. He wiped the emblem with his sleeve and was able to pick it up properly this time. Staring at it he continued. "I've seen this somewhere else too. The day we went to the Scar. 'Member that guy who I flung over the side of my Ultra?"

I thought back, remembering watching him grappling with one guy before he'd come up with his oh-so-brilliant idea to light that cruiser's engine up like a firework show (I had a permanently darker patch on my back now thanks to that). That guy he'd dispatched though, he'd had a mark on his neck...

"That guy with the tattoo?" I asked and he nodded.

"This was what the tattoo was of. Which means that that _was_ an ambush after all, they'd known who we were and where we were. My mom was right. They've got massive numbers if they could have dispatched two units to different locations almost at the same time. And not only that, they've got the numbers to scatter the Legion all over the Atmos _and_ still come after us, the only ones who aren't pegged to a specific terra because we're not _with _the Legion. And as long as we're out here, the only ones who can really launch anything against them..."

"They're going to keep coming after us." I finished for him.

An uneasy silence settled over us. I felt that feeling you get when you know someone is watching you crawl right up my spine. It was bad enough that these guys were out there and we couldn't catch them or stop them. The Legion had their hands full protecting the front, they couldn't just decided t stop to try and hunt these guys down. And Shade was right, we were really the only ones who could do anything drastic, as we weren't a part of the Legion and therefore not getting told where to be and what to do. But we didn't have any answers either, no idea where to begin looking for these guys even if we wanted to. It was like we were trying to hunt prey that left no footprints and was constantly downwind of us.

But now we were being hunted by our very own quarry. And they had the upper hand.

Wasp fidgeted and finally was the one to break the silence, spewing out how we all were feeling in two simple words:

"Well, _shit_."

**x.x.x. Falshade x.x.x**

I don't know why we ended up migrating to the bridge. We didn't feel like breakfast anymore, but that wasn't the reason. I think it was because we usually had discussions, the big, important ones on the bridge. We ate in the kitchen, slept in our rooms, trained in the hanger... the bridge was our control center, where we all came together to get organized, think of a plan, brainstorm... that was its purpose. And right now we all must have felt the need to get some sort of plan worked out. There were too many questions and not enough answers and we needed something solid.

Fraggle was perched uneasily on the armrest of the couch. Angel had his feet up on the table and for once nobody was hacking him out for it. Varan was pacing back and forth behind me like I'd seen him do yesterday. Wasp had taken up residence on the floor next to my shins, blowing spit bubbles under the table. I was just sitting there, staring at a blot of my blood that had stained the table top. I pushed my fingertips into the scar on my chest, which had stopped searing sometime in the night after I'd smeared some burn salve over it and just throbbed slightly, especially if I moved too quickly. Another fucking scar... I felt like every time we managed to fix one thing up, get some sort of answers or assurance, something else just had to keep coming along and blow us back again, like we were moving up one square and then going back two.

After a long time Angel finally drummed his fingers over the edge of the table as if to call our attention and just started talking "Look, as much as I think this whole Prophecy thing is important and all, I think we've been forgetting about other stuff. We need to figure out who the hell these people are."

"The Prophecy was supposed to tell us that though." Varan muttered, clinging to his hope. I had to admit I'd thought the same thing.

"Not necessarily. We need a bit of a reality check here, guys. The Oracle told us she didn't see when we'd figure it out, and I kinda feel like we're running out of time here. That aside... there's something that's not adding up to me. Before, when we fought those rogues outside the Scar... they were different from these guys who keep attacking us now." Angel said.

"Different how?" I asked.

"Oh come on Shade, you didn't notice? There's something off about them, they're different then the guys we fought the first time, connected to each other or not. Like Halo for example; last time you saw him you stabbed him pretty good. That was what, almost two weeks ago now? He shouldn't have been moving around like he was for another three weeks at least. And Carrion. Not even ten minutes before she was all over Stork's Hornet I watched Stork hit her in the _spine_ with one of her throwing axes _and _Wasp break both her wrists. There was no way she should have been able to _move_, let alone bash anything with that hammer." Angel said and I winced at the image of Stork's Hornet crumpling like one of Wasp's empty cans of Buzz Juice.

Varan had paused in his pacing. "There's something else about Carrion. That hammer of hers... I mean I'd probably have a hard time swinging it around. But she... she's scrawnier then Angel for god's sake and Ange, you wouldn't be able to lift that thing with both hands. Physically, for her size and how big that hammer is, she _should not_ be able to use it like she does." He said lowly.

"They're different then regular humans." Wasp piped up suddenly.

'Well that's what I'm trying to say." Angel agreed irritably.

"Their smell is different. They're using crystals to make them that way." Wasp carried on and we all craned our heads to look at her. I held out my hand which she stared at before giving me a Sky Five as if that's what she thought I wanted. I grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out from under the table.

"Wasp..." I started slowly. "Can you explain what you mean, please?"

"It's... weird." She started after a moment, walking her fingers over her knee distractedly. "Their smell... it's like it's shifted. These men... they've got crystals in their bodies, right here." She pushed the pads of her fingers into the right side of her chest. "Like a second heartbeat. And they're... sort of bonded with these crystals. It's in their muscles, I can feel the energy singing away..."

The four of us were watching her intently. She looked up and smiled brightly as if pleased with herself then let it slowly fade when she took in our faces. "What?"

"You're sure about that, Wasp?" Angel asked her carefully.

She blinked at him. "Pretty darn. But Carrion and Zodiac... they're even _more_ different. They're blood tastes strange. It's like... it's like the crystal is _in_ their blood, is _part_ of them."

Stunned silence settled over us. Wasp glanced around and hunched her shoulders. "Can I go back now?" she asked, scooting back towards her sanctuary under the table but I braced my leg against the table's to block her.

"Hang on." I said. "I don't know if I get what you mean, Wasp. How... wait, how do you know what they're blood tastes like?"

"Well, not both of them. I got a good sample of Carrion's when I bit her." Wasp elaborated, her tongue flicking over her teeth as she thought about it. "She bit me too, actually. Look, she got a chunk of my ear." She said, twisting her ear up for examination. "But that new guy, Zodiac, his smell is the same as hers, his energy is like hers. It's like the Brawl Cage."

"Well I don't know about blood or anything but I'll believe they're different, eh." Fraggle said. "I mean I watched those two... they go ballistic, eh. They just want to destroy, it's like they don't care about pain or anything, eh. That first time they attacked us, Carrion or whatever, she flew right into one of my shots and didn't even seem to notice. Like she didn't try to dodge it or anything, eh."

"And I got Zodiac point blank in the chest." Angel added. "And he was right back up a moment later."

"Oh, Carrion's not exactly like Zodiac though." Wasp said casually. "Somehow she's messed up. Her bones are brittle, I felt it. Her blood is weak. I think she's not all there, you know?"

Well if anyone knew how to tell if someone wasn't all there it would be Wasp, right?

"Okay, hold on a second." Varan interrupted. "I'm not saying there isn't something messed up with those two, but what does crystals have anything to do with it? How can someone be bonded with a crystal?"

"People have been trying to do it since they first discovered we can utilize crystal energy." Angel said. "Crystal scientists and biologists have been trying to synthesize humans with crystal energy forever, they get busted for it all the time because the experiments they do are unethical. What was it, maybe fifty years ago this one lab got found out, the Black Coats, they'd been slicing people open and implanting them with crystals. They ended up putting a Geyser crystal in some poor fucker but the problem was any sort of impact and the crystal..." Angel trailed off and opened his hands wide to demonstrate a blast. "Bangerang." He finished and I felt slightly queasy.

"But that's stupid." I said. "I mean hell I suck when it comes to crystals and even I know you can't bond them to something living."

"Exactly, two totally different energy types. Anything that uses fuel to power its body, people, animals, plants, that's all natural energy. Anything else is synthetic and the two can't work with each other. That's why we need adapters. Although I've heard of some people who can use crystal energy without an adapter, like old Arygryn and apparently the Cyclonian empresses."

"But we're not talking about using the energy, we're talking about being bonded with it." Varan reminded him and Angel looked thoughtful.

"Well... the only way I could think of bonding something to a human or something would be nerve-graphing. They've already been trying to do it with amputees to give them prosthetic limbs that actually move like real limbs."

"Prosthetics being...?" I asked, feeling like an idiot.

"Artificial limbs." Angel elaborated in a 'duh' tone. "Like say you lose an arm. They've been trying to create prosthetics that can move like a regular arm based on your nerve signals, they hook up wires to your nerve endings. After all nerve signals are just electric impulses from your brain, you can convert 'em. They haven't perfected it yet or anything, but they're getting better. It's like bionic, you know, machine and human?"

"Oooh like Dash Lightning, eh!" Fraggle perked up, glad he could actually understand what was going on. "Half-human, half-machine, one hundred percent hero, eh."

We all stared at him until he scuffed his feet on the side of the couch. "It was a good comic book series, eh." He muttered defensively.

"Well that's all sci-fi is, science with imagination." Wasp agreed.

"There's another term for it too, begins with a bull and ends with a shit." Angel added and I snorted, although I was quite the comic book fan myself (less words more pictures, see). "Although, that's a good example. The villains Dash is always beating, they all have these mad crystal powers, right?" he glanced at Fraggle for approval, who nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah eh, got all sorts of cool guys, like Typhon, he used Blazers to breathe fire and shit like that, he was my favourite." He gushed. "They had the main villain there, Doctor X, who created Dash and then went all evil and whatever and started making these new guys who were more powerful and-"

"Fraggle! I don't need to hear a whole summary of the damn books!" Angel interrupted him. "Only good thing about them was Cyprus and she was in, what, all of three pages?"

"Ah, Cyprus, the femme fatale." Fraggle said. "First love of my life, eh."

"You kidding? Jericho from Tales from Ground Zero could totally kick Cyprus' ass, hands down."

"I'd pay to see that fight, eh."

"You guys have no taste. What about Nightshade from Gotham Underground?" I threw in and Fraggle snapped his fingers, nodding.

"Oh yeah, Nightshade for the win, eh. She's a babe among women." He agreed.

Varan cleared his throat obviously. "Sorry to break up the Comic Convention here, but weren't we trying to figure out how in hell these guys are managing to do what they do? What does any of this have to do with crystal energy?"

"Everything." Angel insisted. "I dunno who coined the phrase first, comic book writers or actual scientists, but when someone can utilize crystal energy without an adaptor and have 'bonded' with it it's called _cionic_. Different then bionic, see?"

"Almost missed that one." Varan said sarcastically.

"Well you can see the kinda the issue with it... say you've got a guy with a prosthetic arm that he can use like an adaptor and fire crystal energy from it without using like a sword or something, you're going to have a hard time disabling the guy, right?"

"Yeah, I can see that being a bit of a hassle." I said.

"Okay, well now say said guy doesn't even need the arm. He can use crystal energy like you'd throw a punch because it's bonded with him."

"Bigger hassle." I concurred.

"Exactly. But of course if you're not living in a fantasy sci-fi world then it's theoretically impossible. That'd be like feeding me a rock and telling me I can shoot rocks at you now. Doesn't work."

"So then how can these guys be bonded to crystals?" I asked, feeling like we were running around in circles.

"Well say... say it's not about breathing fire and all that shit. Think of it like this; you've got one engine, you go fast, right? Two engines you go twice as fast."

Fraggle groaned. "Are we talking comic books or mechanics or what here, eh?" he asked tiredly.

"We're talking science. I'm trying to make it easier for you boneheads to understand." Angel said shortly.

"I'm not a bonehead." I said irritably. "I just don't happen to have one-fifty as an IQ, thank you."

"Sticking to the point." Varan reminded us as Angel opened his mouth to argue. He rolled his eyes but continued.

"Okay, so my _point_ was, synthetic energy is obviously more powerful then natural. So if you were able to bond with it, it'd be like... well like Wasp said, a second heartbeat. It'd kick all your cells into repairing faster, meaning more muscle power, faster regeneration and you'd just be full of more energy in general. But thing is, crystals don't produce their own energy, they run out eventually. However, if one was bonded with you... we're always creating energy. As long as we've got fuel coming in, we have energy. So it'd be like constantly reenergizing this crystal inside you, as long as your body keeps creating energy to fuel it. Get it?"

"That's... not good." I said, thinking of the possibilities that meant. Faster healing, stronger muscles, more stamina, speed... fuck. "So you'd be like... super human."

"Well that's what I'd expect anyways. And if Wasp is right and that's what these guys are using then..."

"Then we're fucked." I muttered. "With a capital F-U-C-K."

"My thoughts exactly." Angel said grimly.

"Okay, we know that's bad. But what I want to know is _how_?" Varan said, sitting down at last and Wasp batted at the tip of his flicking tail like a kitten. "You keep saying this is impossible, then, and I believe Wasp on this one, how in hell are they able to do it?"

"Wasp, explain it again. Halo and the other guys. They have crystals implanted in them, you think, right?" Angel asked.

"Yeah. But it's a weird type of crystal. Well maybe it isn't. I've just never smelled it before. I don't get out much." Wasp explained, rolling onto her back and pulling on Varan's tail until he whipped it out of her grasp.

"No, it must be some weird type of crystal... they've been trying to find one that corresponds with natural energy forever." Angel said thoughtfully.

"How in heck are you the expert on all this shit, eh? It's giving me a headache." Fraggle informed us, rubbing his temples.

"It interests me. Only so much you can learn about weapon technology." Angel scratched his knee casually.

"You still didn't answer my bloody question." Varan grumbled.

"Maybe we have to stop looking at what makes sense, what's possible, and start thinking about the other things. You know, play a bit of make-believe." Wasp suggested, pulling at the laces on my boots. I grasped her by both wrists and hauled her off the floor, depositing her in the chair next to me.

"If you're going to contribute to the conservation sit somewhere we can see you." I told her and she sighed.

Angel seemed to be thinking. "Halo and the others got the crystal, whatever kind it is, implanted. But Carrion and Zodiac... how the hell can it be in their blood?"

"I heard if you eat a bunch of carrots you turn orange, eh." Fraggle piped up.

"Somehow I don't think they've been eating crystals." I told him in a light tone so as not to hurt his feelings.

"Speaking of which it'd be a lot easier to do all this thinking with a few friggin' calories." Angel complained gruffly.

"That's not what I meant, eh. If you expose someone to something long enough doesn't it start to affect them? You know, like fetal alcohol syndrome kinda deal?" Fraggle explained peevishly.

"Like radiation you mean? I don't think you can do that with crystals." I said but Angel straightened up stiffly all of a sudden.

"I never thought I'd say this, but Fraggle you're a bloody _genius_!" he said, getting up to start pacing.

"Well that's what I keep telling everybody, eh, but nobody believes me."

"What's up?" I asked as he paced by me, pinching the bridge of his nose the way he did when he was trying to slow down his hyper-speed thought process, like he was trying to keep all his sparking brain cells in one place.

"DNA grafting... stem cells... exposure to chemicals, of course, it all makes sense... see I'd have thought of this if I would have had a proper breakfast..."

"Atmos to Angel! Don't leave us hanging like that!" I snapped at him, sticking out my foot so he stumbled and snapped out of it.

"Okay, so fetal alcohol syndrome got me thinking. You expose a fetus to something and it affects their growth and development. Much easier to do then with already developed cells, which would be why Carrion and Zodiac are different. Let's say as fetuses they were exposed to these crystals, like that's part of how they were built."

Something was niggling away in the back of my mind. The other's still looked baffled though.

"How can you expose a fetus to enough crystal energy that they absorb it?" Varan asked pointedly.

"Easy. It's not exposed to it. It's created by it." Angel stopped and gave me a pointed look. "In an incubation tube."

And there it was, bursting to the front of my brain, the tubes, the green fluid...

"It was Zodiac!" I exclaimed, standing up. "That's who I saw! I saw him being created... the fluid or something from those tubes, they must have been pumping whatever this kind of crystal is into him..."

"Exactly! And Carrion... Carrion is messed up... maybe she was like a prototype? They got it to work with her so now they're using her DNA to create more, better ones. That'd explain why they both have red hair." Angel agreed, sounding excited all of a sudden.

"Did I miss something here?" Fraggle leaned over to ask Varan, who shrugged helplessly.

"Sorry." I said, turning back to them. "I had another dream the night before we made it to Delphi. And in it I was in this weird tube thing, an incubation tube, and it was like I was seeing what was going on through someone else's eyes. I think it was Zodiac. It was like he was waking up for the first time, like coming out of a coma."

"So what does that have to do with fetuses, eh?"

"Cloning." Angel took over because I was still a bit iffy about this part. "See right now we can create test tube babies using... well, you know. But you need both parts of the genetic material. But wouldn't it be great if all we needed was DNA from just one person? Used the right way it could do really great things. Varan's species for example, brink of extinction... sorry Var." Varan just waved a hand for him to continue, although I saw the muscles twitch in his tail. "But I mean they're coming back. Thing is it takes time, you know? And you've got a small gene pool to work with. Which is why they've got these freezers full of Raptor..." Angel cut himself off and glanced at Varan. "Um, cream."

Varan smacked a hand to his forehead while Fraggle and I snorted with laughter. "That would have sounded so much better if you just would have said sperm." Varan groaned.

Angel grinned mischievously. "They got a cup of your little guys frozen somewhere?"

"_No_." Varan said shortly.

"Anyways I digress. My point was, wouldn't it be great if you could speed up the reproduction process by just using DNA? Of course that doesn't help with the gene pool variety, but... anyways. Doesn't matter anyways, since we can't just create something using DNA. It'd be like me telling you, Shade 'Okay, so this is how an engine works, go build me a skimmer'. However... if you've got this crystal energy speeding up the process, warped the right way to build off the DNA blueprints, creating cells all that shit... it's like fast forwarding evolution."

"So... you're saying Carrion was made from DNA and crystals. And now they're using her DNA to make more... things like her? I have that straight?" Varan asked slowly.

"Sounds about right. Just a theory mind you, but call me crazy, it makes sense to me."

"Yeah... something about that is clicking with me too." I agreed, flicking through the scattered images from my nightmares in my head; the baby in the ashes, the regenerating humans, the incubation tube... "But there's one thing I don't get. How did they do it? Angel you said it yourself, people have been trying for hundreds of years..."

"Red light!" Wasp declared, pounding a fist to the table.

Fraggle grabbed himself around the ears. "Argh! So we're right back where we started then, eh!"

"Fraggle... let's see if you can go two for two here." Angel said slowly. "What was it you said yesterday, about Zodiac, something Halo said to him..."

Fraggle let go of his ears. "What?"

Angel's hand twitched dangerously and Fraggle grinned, holding up a hand. "Just kidding, I heard ya... uhh, give me a second... something about a trail flight, eh. Like this was to test his abilities?"

"So a test run... that's why they jumped us. That explains why they only targeted some of us." Angel said.

"Yeah, but why target you guys and not me? Like, why not take out all of us if they really wanted to? But I mean if it had of worked Fraggle and I would have been alright... why leave us?" I pointed out, my stomach clenching uneasily at the thought.

"Maybe they didn't want to take all of us down like that." Varan said evenly, as if it didn't bother him that it was his neck that'd been on the line. "If they're watching us, for whatever reason, then there must be something about us worth keeping an eye on. Some of us just happened to be target practice, that's all."

"Don't say it like that." I growled at him.

"I don't mind." Wasp said cheerfully. "Bet I'm worth more points then you, Angel."

Angel snorted. "Not even. I'm pretty much high score."

"Glad you all think this is so funny." I muttered. "Anyways, that pretty much proves Wasp's theory though. If Carrion is defective somehow they'd wanna test out Zodiac for bugs, right?"

"Still doesn't tell us how they managed to do it in the first place, eh, but I'm probably just being picky now." Fraggle grumbled and I swatted at him.

Varan's tail, which had been tapping a steady rythmn against my foot through all of this suddenly held very still and I glanced at him to make sure he hadn't dropped dead all of a sudden or something.

"Hey, you okay?"

He turned to look at me and blinked. "Shade, we've known the answer all along. The Cyclonians. Angel, you said it earlier, the Cyclonian empire, they were always doing strange stuff with crystals, making machines like the Storm Engine... so what if they figured it out, got a hold of some crystal that _could_ bond with natural energy? I mean as if they'd care about unethical experiments or whatever. Wouldn't that be why you keep seeing Cyclonia in your dreams? And why their symbol they're suing looks like the old Talon insignia?"

I felt something rise in my throat I stared at the table top, imagining it wasn't made of wood anymore but hard, black stone. I was sitting on the top of the staircase in the Scar, and I could hear Stork's voice in my ear as she crouched beside me, always the supportive one: "_But this is good, right? You always thought Cyclonia might have a hand in all this, and if you've seen those things before that must mean you're right!"_

I let out a hollow laugh at my own scatterbrainedness. "They did have it figured out and left all the technology, the crystals they were going to use, behind. And now these guys are using it."

"Well fuck me _sideways_." Angel said, sitting back down. "The Legion never did really care about the Scar, for all we know the Cyclonians had posts all over the place where they left this stuff lying around."

"And they're making these freaking super soldiers... Berserkers or whatever you want to call them. We don't even have the man power to defend ourselves against an ordinary attack." I said, feeling like all my insides were sinking lower and lower until my hope, squashed under all of it, was ready to drop out the bottoms of my feet.

"And if they've got a crystal that can do all that, create people and what have you, then... what else can it do, eh?" Fraggle said in a quiet voice and I dropped my head with a thunk onto the table top.

"That's not so much the important factor anymore." Varan said, grabbing me around the neck to pull me back up. "We've got something now at least on these guys, we've got to try and do something about it."

"Oh like what, Var?" Angel snapped, getting to his feet again. He moved around a lot when he got worked up, it was hard for him to just sit. "The Legion's scattered and stretched thin, they're pulling in bloody reserves for god's sake, even if we _were_ a hundred percent on this and even if the other Sky Knights _did_ believe us they can't just pull off the front and leave all these terras open for attack. We don't even bloody know where these bastards are operating from, we couldn't launch an attack if we wanted to!"

Something cold was slithering like a long, slimy worm from the back of my throat and over my stomach down to the base of my spine. All this time I'd been telling the others it was going to get worse, that this wasn't it, this was just the rain before a hurricane. And even now, when I wanted things to stop being worse, to just figure something out, I couldn't ignore my innate sense of dread. Like a sixth sense expecting the worse had been drilled into my instincts.

I looked at Wasp, who'd been remaining quiet for a while now and she flicked her ears pointedly. "I get that feeling sometimes too." She whispered, tapping herself just below her collar bone. I took that as a signal to just get it out. What was the point of holding bad feelings back now anyways? We all were past the stage where hiding under the blankets and hoping the storm would pass was an effective way of dealing with things by now.

"Look, there's something I don't get and it's bothering me." I interrupted Angel and Varan, who'd been arguing over what good the Legion would be able to do with our information. "We're open for attack now. So what are these guys waiting for? They've got the one-up on us. We're all over the place and even with reserves there's not enough of us to defend the whole Atmos. And these guys are stronger and faster than us, more stamina, they even heal quicker. So why wait?"

"Hmmm..." Angel muttered, glancing over his shoulder for some reason. He wandered over to the shelves while Varan seemed to settle into deep thought. I felt irritated with both of them.

"Can either of you guys finish a thought without freakin' wandering off?" I demanded as Angel pulled down one of our maps and came back.

"Jeez you get feisty when you miss a meal don't ya? Do we still have those little army guys, you know, from the Risk set?" he asked, ignoring my sour look.

"We've got _some_ of them." Varan clarified. We didn't have many board games anymore, as people (people meaning Stork and Angel) tended to throw things and overturn boards when they got pissed off during a game (which was anytime we decided to play a game). I think I'd stepped on more plastic soldiers then I'd actually ever had on the board in a game of Risk.

Angel pulled the dusty box out from under the shelves and grabbed a handful of the green soldiers (there was only about a handful of them in the box anyways) and scattered them all over the map he'd spread on the table. Wasp abruptly became fascinated in what was going on and went about setting all the soldiers upright meticulously without realizing she was knocking them over again with her bulky sleeves. I didn't have the heart to tell her.

"Okay, so let's say green is us." Angel said, separating a few little groups of four or five soldiers onto a few of the larger terras on the map. "Well, not _us_ us, but the Legion and everything. Our guys."

"The good guys." Wasp added.

"If you want to get cheesy, sure. So there we are, all scattered but you know, we can look after ourselves. Enter red guys. Bad guys." Angel added for Wasp's benefit, dropping a pile of red soldiers onto a terra in the far right corner, where Cyclonia used to be.

"Isn't that a little stereotypical?" I asked and he fixed me with a scowl.

"Well at least I'm not using black and white, alright?" he demanded and I grinned.

"Carry on." I invited and he rolled his eyes.

"_Anyways_, colour coding aside, right now, things are looking okay. You've got these guys protecting their terras and-Wasp, leave the damn pieces alone- and just a few red guys down there by their lonesome. We can handle that. But that's not how you play world domination. You gotta start taking up a bit more space." He explained, moving a few green guys out and dropping a couple red players onto their terras instead. "So this is what it looks like out there right now. We've got small numbers, we're scattered, but so are they. They can't just take over like that, not without stretching themselves too thin."

"But there's still them guys down in the corner, eh." Fraggle pointed out.

"Exactly. And every turn," Angel dropped a large portion of the red guys onto their original terra. "While we're being distracted by these guys up here," He circled his finger around the smaller red groups. "These guys down here have been gaining reinforcements." He dropped the rest of the red soldiers onto the pile. "And that ladies and gentlemen is how you play War."

"So it's a diversion." I swallowed, staring at the mass of red players ready to sweep across the board. I'd lost enough games of Risk to Angel to know how that play worked. Our poor little green men didn't stand a chance.

"Exactly. Not only do they have us pinned, depleted and ready to be wiped out, they've got enough men to make sure there's no uprising, no counter-attack. Just complete and total annihilation." Angel said grimly.

"They're building an _army_ of those Berserkers?" Fraggle exclaimed, catching on.

"That's what it looks like, yeah." Angel said, sitting on the back on one of the chairs, feet on the table for balance so he could look down at his diagram properly. Then he lunged forward to catch Wasp's hand on its way to her mouth, three red soldiers between her fingers.

"Does the term intestinal obstruction mean anything you?" he snapped.

"No. Why?"

"So this is a big problem." Varan interrupted the two of them. "Angel said it before, we can't call the Sky Knights off the front. We're the bottle neck." He grabbed five blue pieces out of the box and dropped them directly in front of the mountain of red players. I grinned despite all the things that weren't really worth grinning about. It was just something about those five pieces, all of whom were standing up without being placed that way on purpose.

"We know what they're up to. We're the only ones who can do anything about it." I agreed and Varan nodded.

"Which might be exactly why they keep cherry-picking us. But that doesn't matter anymore. What we have to worry about is this; where are these guys, how long have we got before they're ready to make their move and what are we going to do to stop them?"

"Who, what, where, when, why and how." Wasp muttered, flicking one of the red players off the board so it clattered down the corridor. "Sucker."

I got up and scratched at me scalp. "So where do we start?"

"Anywhere there used to be Cyclonian activity." Angel said immediately. "Any of the terras they had long term control over. Cyclonia was their stronghold sure, but they might have had other operations going on all over the place."

"Wouldn't we have known about that though, eh?" Fraggle piped up. "I mean, we had informants on the inside and everything."

"Yeah but our informants we're like, foot soldiers at best. If there was something big going on I doubt they'd know about it." Angel pointed out.

"What about that one chick there, eh, the old Sky Knight for the Interceptors?" Fraggle went on doggedly. "She knew a lot."

"Starling?" I said.

"Yeah, that's the name, eh."

"I dunno, she's been off the radar for ages. Nobody knows where she is." I said, thinking about the rogue Sky Knight. I remembered turning six and my mother handing me a strange package wrapped in brown paper that had more stamps then I could count decorating it. Inside had been a working toy model of a Slip Wing that converted and everything. God that had been the coolest present I'd ever gotten, until I got my actual skimmer eight years down the road and I'd told my mom so too. When I asked where it came from she'd told me about Starling, an old friend of hers, and since then I'd pressed her for stories about her almost as avidly as I did about the Beast Keepers. Starling had been somewhat of a hero to me, right up there with my dad and Aerrow of the Storm Hawks.

"Didn't we have some other chick in there too, big traitor or something like that, eh?" Fraggle was going on I realized and I cocked my head, thinking.

"She wasn't a traitor, Fraggle, she got found out, she had to run." I told him firmly. "I think she was mentioned in one of our history books... you remember anything about her, Ange?...Angel?"

He'd gone very white, even under his tan skin, and his hand was clenching and unclenching uneasily. He was staring at a fixed point somewhere next to the helm with one of the strangest expressions I'd ever seen on his face.

"Pegasus." He muttered. "Her name was Pegasus. And she won't be of any use to us. She's dead."

Pegasus... the name sounded familiar to me. I knew I'd read it somewhere, but that wasn't what made me feel like I knew it. And Angel was still staring off into space. He'd been surprising me a lot lately, with all his usually guarded emotions coming out in sporadic outbursts, but I'd blamed that on losing Stork, which had shaken all of us out from our normal habits. But there was something about how he looked now that got to me; over the last few days I'd seen him with tears in his eyes, raw fury etched dangerously into every inch of his features, pale faced with fear, laughing, sneering and just generally impassive. This one was different. He just looked... vulnerable. An unjustified little kid, lost in the world, lonely and bitter, like how he'd looked, for a split second, when he was talking to the Oracle.

I came back to the table on a sudden impulse, sat back down next to him and grabbed him in a headlock gently, mussing up his hair, trying to communicate reassurance Gargoyles style. He broke his vacant gaze to glance at me and the edge of his mouth ticked up in a smile. Sure I felt a little awkward around him now, but he'd spilled his emotional guts to me, which I knew must have been hard for him and I wanted him to know I still had his back, I was still his brother and sometimes I could be the one to watch out for him too.

"Hey, Falshade." Varan spewed out abruptly, a strange hitch in his tone.

"Yeah?"

"What about Bogaton?" he said, his voice devoid of any sort of emotion but very brittle at the same time, like something was thrumming dangerously underneath.

I felt Angel tense up and Fraggle's ears sprang forward, surprised. Wasp put her chin on the table like a puppy and stared up at him with large eyes. I just stared at him.

"Like... what about it? Are you worried about, you know... I dunno, the Treaty and all that?" I asked carefully, wondering if all this talk of the Cyclonians and insiders of the old war had reminded him about the pact between the Raptors and the Cyclonians that had in affect been the cause of all his misery? Was he worried that might pick back up now that war was brewing?

"No, not _new_ Bogaton." Varan said, waving his hand. "I'm talking about old Bogaton. The Raptors. Repton. He was inside Cyclonia, and unlike Starling, we know exactly where to find him."

Angel, Fraggle and I all pulled a double-take. I blinked and swallowed a few times, unsure of what to make of that statement. Even if I would have thought of Repton I never would have suggested going to Bogaton, ever. Even if I hadn't known Varan there were so many wrong things about going to see Repton; seventeen years of solitary confinement doesn't break old habits and instincts, fuck whatever anyone said to justify it. It only made that resentment deeper and in the eyes of those Raptors any human was the same as the ones who'd all but destroyed their species. It was picking old wounds that really should have been left alone.

"Varan... I dunno if that's a good idea. Repton won't tell us anything, he's bitter about everything we did to him and to be honest I can't blame him. He won't talk to us." I said finally, forming each word cautiously. I lived in constant fear that one day I'd say the wrong thing and set off Varan's fragile emotions about the whole thing. I didn't fear him getting angry, exactly; anger I could have dealt with. But there was something loosely threaded to him when it came to the Raptors, delicate, like a soft spot on a baby's skull and I was afraid of crumpling it by accident and crushing all the finely etched things underneath.

"No, that's true." Varan muttered, his chin set at an odd angle, somewhere between Angel's proud tilt and Wasp's defensive one. He stared off out the window as if he were afraid to look at any of us directly and added in a calm voice like a man sentenced to death: "But he'll talk to me."

**x.x.x Varan x.x.x**

Once, when he must have been around seven, Falshade caught a cold, which evolved into a particularly nasty respiratory infection, so bad his breathing had reminded me of the rattling of seeds tumbling through a rain-stick. And, just as small children will pass on the Chicken Pox and bad behaviour to each other, I of course caught his cold as he started to get over it. However, in case you didn't know, Raptors and humans have very different immune systems, and my body reacted rather harshly to the intruding bacteria cells. By only the third day into the attack my throat was so sore and swollen I couldn't even speak and Marle had to take me into the doctors, where they went on to send me to the hospital in order to get my tonsils removed that very same day. And I guess that wasn't such a big deal. As long as they weren't prodding me with needles and other sharp instruments doctor's didn't scare me and I really did feel awful, and if getting rid of my tonsils meant I was going to feel better then I was all for it. I was pretty logical for an eight year old.

The next few days after the operation went well; I got to sit around reading comic books and Falshade showed up at my place with an entire box of popsicles for us to share, which when you're that age is pretty much the best thing that could ever happen to you, even if popsicles made your insides hurt a bit from how cold they were (that's being cold-blooded for you).

But then something went wrong, I don't know how. But sometime when I was asleep my stitches came undone at the back, probably from one of my ever-growing teeth coming in to replace another I'd lost. Of course I didn't know and for about five hours I ended up swallowing my own salty blood until I woke up early the next morning, feeling horribly sick and finally tasted my blood coating my mouth like copper wire.

Almost immediately after that I was sick and I think once anyone realizes they're vomiting their own blood it's enough to freak them out, and I don't need to tell you how I get about blood anyways. So of course I panicked, feeling my blood oozing and leaking down my throat, spilling out uncontrollably, filling up my stomach and flowing over my tongue and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I felt like everything was draining down from my head and I was sure there wasn't enough blood left up there and any second my brain was just going to give up and shut down.

I was alright of course. My mom took me right back to the hospital and they ended up cauterizing the back of my mouth to prevent further incident and pretty soon I forgot about it, although since then I always felt slight anxiety when I could taste blood in my mouth somewhere.

But today I was feeling exactly like I had that day, feeling like there was once again something making a slow, ominous crawl down my throat, sloshing heavily in my stomach and making me feel sick. I even thought there was the slight flavour of blood in my mouth. Things seemed to be draining down slowly from my head and curling hotly around in my chest, putting me on edge. And once again I found there was nothing I could do to stop the leaking feeling.

I don't know what possessed me to come up with the idea. But as the others had been talking about Starling it had filtered into my head and I'd acted on the thought, one of those spontaneous decision making moments that everybody else in my squadron but me seems to act on on a regular basis. The only other time I'd acted on such a wild idea was when Falshade had returned, nearly two years since he'd left, with a brassy little blonde girl and a sharp tongued hell raiser in tow, and told me he _was_ forming a squadron like he'd always said he would and wanted to know if I was coming along. And that was more like a delayed reaction; I'd always known I was going with him if he actually made it that far, it had just taken me until then to say so.

Maybe it was the idea of Starling herself, who I'd always idolized. I mean the Raptors had personally destroyed her entire squadron and yet she'd been all for evacuating Terradon scientists from Bogaton and she hadn't taken the final shot on Repton when she'd had him pinned, even though she could have done it and gotten away with it. I always felt somehow that I was her Karma in living form, that her and I were mirror reflections somehow, that we shared the same past in a way. I would have liked to meet her someday.

Or maybe it was just what the Oracle had told us, that we'd have to make choices and they weren't going to be easy. We needed this information. We had something that seemed solid. So if I had a possible lead on that we should of course follow it, right? Repton would be better than any spy, I figured. He'd been in Cyclonia, but more than that, he been on Cyclonis' side. It seemed almost too perfect, like we'd finally caught a lucky break.

Or it would if I didn't feel so neurotic about the whole thing.

Falshade kept asking me if I was _sure_ I wanted to do this. He was worried about me. He knew about all my messy, confused, phobic feelings towards Repton and the whole Raptor thing in general. I think he felt he was somehow subliminally pushing me into doing this and was trying to get it through to me that I didn't have to, that I could back out if I wanted. Fraggle was keeping the _Merlin_ at a steady, mediocre speed for once as if to give me as much time as he could to let me realize 'hey, I really _didn't_ want to do this'. Angel stopped griping about breakfast and remained silent, which was his way of being uncertain about this whole thing and giving me my space. All of them were acting very edgy, tense, like they were afraid to set something off.

I appreciated their concern, I really did. But it wasn't helping my case. I doubted anything would calm me down, mind you, short of sedation. I was naturally a high-strung guy and this whole thing had me ready to crawl the walls. Although it wasn't necessarily the situation that made me feel so unsure. When I really set my mind to something it was because I'd given it a lot of thought and was certain about it. I knew I had to do this, for our mission and for my own good. It was what was going to happen that had my insides tensed up in a tight knot and I was glad I hadn't had any breakfast or I surely would have been sick by now.

"Won't they ask you if you're registered or something?" Shade was saying suddenly. He was worried about what this was going to do to me and kept trying to think of reasons why we shouldn't go. "I mean, you're supposed to be in their system by now, right? Won't you get in trouble? What if they make you stay? I thought you were supposed to have registered or something when you turned sixteen."

"I was." I admitted, appreciating that my voice could stay so steady when the rest of me definitely wasn't. "I'm in their records and everything I think, but I was supposed to sign up for the programme by now... but that doesn't matter, they can't make me stay, I'm signed on with you first."

"You rebel you." Angel quipped.

'Programme? What programme, eh?" Fraggle asked curiously. I think he was just glad someone was talking; silence made him uneasy.

"Their breeding programme." I muttered, too strung out to feel the usual awkwardness I would when talking about the subject.

"Breeding what?" Fraggle demanded while Angel snickered to himself.

"Well that's a fancy way of putting it." He said, a grin curling around the corners of his mouth.

"Laugh all you want, it's true. At sixteen I supposedly hit sexual maturity and they wanted to pair me up with someone. By eighteen I technically had to." I said shortly. I knew all the little rules and guidelines enforced around my species by now. They wanted to control a population, keep it under tabs and yet raise it as the same time as if they were growing vegetables in a garden, not dealing with actual people.

"Well what's wrong with that? I woulda signed up, eh." Fraggle declared and I sighed to myself.

"It's different for me, Fraggle. It's all fun and games to you, but to me it's not. They pair me up with some female I've never met before who's either five years younger or thirteen years older than I am and expect me to want to mate with her, like we're dogs in a kennel or something. It's all different." I said quietly. I'd never really been interested in anybody, except maybe Roo. And I'm a nervous guy; hell I wasn't even the one to start that kiss between me and her. And that was just a kiss. I couldn't even imagine being _that_ intimate with anyone, forget a complete stranger. Maybe some people could laugh it off, look at it like a one-night-stand sort of deal, but I wasn't that type of person.

"It's different because she's supposed to have your baby." Wasp murmured suddenly and I glanced at her. We'd forgotten about her, actually, as she'd sort of slipped off after we'd made all our plans. I hadn't realized she'd come back. But there she was, lying on the couch, staring at me from just her right eye, her yellow one, and looking at me in a way she'd never looked at me before.

"Yeah." I muttered and for some reason felt very affectionate towards her for understanding that part.

She made a strange noise and pushed her face into the couch cushions, refusing to look at any of us, holding her body tensely, pulling her legs into her chest. "Little mini Varans running around with baby mohawks of their own..." she gurgled, her voice muffled by the cushions. 'I think it's very sensitive of you, Varan. Like, noble."

I scratched at the back of my head, not knowing what to say. "Well, thanks." I said after awhile.

"Well I didn't think of it like _that_, eh." Fraggle said, suggestive tone gone from his voice. "Looking at it that way I can see why you wouldn't like it, eh."

"I dunno, maybe it's just a morale thing of mine, but brink of extinction or not, I just... I can't do that to a kid, you know? And I'm way too young to look after one." I said casually. It was true, after all. Hell I spent every day with prime examples of boys who'd grown up without fathers; I wouldn't want my child to grow up without one, nor would I have been able to go on with my life knowing I had a kid somewhere out there.

"I think you'd be a good dad." Wasp said in a strangled voice. Angel moved over beside her and I think I was the only one who saw him reach out to stroke her hand gently like he was trying to comfort her. It made me feel something warm spark inside but I didn't say anything.

"Yeah, you look after us all the time." Falshade added and I had to grin.

"Yeah but that's different, you guys already talk back." I said and he laughed.

"I almost had a kid once." Fraggle said suddenly and we turned to look at him.

"Really?" Falshade said, sounding surprised.

"Yeah. Well, not really, you know, I thought I knocked up this one girl..." he trailed off and I didn't feel like picking at him for his language choice because there was a wounded tone in his voice. "I didn't, false alarm, eh, but you know, for like two weeks I thought maybe I was gonna have a kid. Jeez I was only Chief's age too..."

"Did you actually want it?" I asked him carefully.

"Well... not really. Like after I was pretty relieved. But, I dunno... I wouldn't mind kids. I mean when I'm older, eh." He said and I didn't know whether to smile or frown at him. Jesus, I forgot sometimes that he was my age, eighteen, technically an adult (and when it came to Fraggle he was an adult by legalities only). I was reminded then of how young they all seemed to be but by age they were all almost adults. Angel and Falshade would be eighteen soon too and yet Falshade had almost died before his eighteenth birthday. And yet they still got excited over things like chocolate chip pancakes for god's sake. Fraggle might not live to be old enough to have kids. None of us might make it to our next birthday. Stork hadn't. Lord she was only sixteen... the same age people deemed old enough for me to be having kids of my own.

I felt conflicted then on what was worse: growing up or not making it to be old enough to grow up.

"Did you ever want kids there, Chief?" Fraggle asked, breaking up my thoughts.

"Me?" Falshade repeated, surprised. "I dunno. Hell Fraggle I've never even had a girlfriend."

"Well say you met someone then, eh. Like someone, I dunno, special."

Falshade let out a sigh, thinking. "Maybe. Depending on who I met. I dunno, I never looked farther ahead then this, forming a squadron. There wasn't much to build on beyond that, with my dreams in mind and everything."

"That makes sense." I agreed. "Still though Shade I can see you raising a couple kids, like in the distant future. You'd get a kick out of it."

"Really?" Falshade sounded incredulous. "Huh... guess that's 'cause I'm such a kid myself though, right?"

"Yeah, you'd fit right in, eh." Fraggle said. "What about you there, Angel Cakes?"

Angel snorted. "Hell no. Come on, kids? Me? No way."

"Yeah that's the last thing Atmos needs, more little devils like you running around." Falshade said and Angel saluted him.

I glanced at Wasp, who seemed to have zoned out again, ear twitching occasionally. "What about you, Wasp?" I asked lowly. I was pretty curious to hear it from a girl's point of view, as they seemed to be the type who wanted to have families more often than guys our age did. Didn't some girls even have names and things picked out?

Then again Wasp wasn't like most girls. Actually, she wasn't like any girl I'd ever heard of.

Wasp sat up slowly and blinked at me as if she wasn't used to the light. "I never wanted to have a baby." She droned, sounding far away.

We fell silent for a moment, all of us thinking about the futures we tried not to think about, all that space that lay ahead of us, vast and ominous. Jesus I'd never really thought about life beyond Falshade's mission. Come to think of it there didn't really seem to be much life to me outside the Gargoyles. When all this was over... I mean if we all came out of it alive, what would happen to us then?

I realized then that I'd never expected there to be much of an after. There was only life with the Gargoyles in my mind, all of us, young, reckless and together, and we weren't even really together anymore, not without Stork. But that's how I expected it to end too, that's all I could see, us at this age and never much older, just doing the only thing we seemed to be good at and that was being a bunch of punk teenagers trying to save the world (operative word there being 'trying'). I mean say... say somehow we put an end to this slowly unravelling war and we came out of it alive, maybe heroes, maybe not. But then what would we do? I mean this had been the only life I'd known and envisioned for so long... I didn't have any other skills or plans or goals besides this. And I didn't really feel like I belonged anywhere but with the Gargoyles. And Falshade, what would he do? What could a Sky Knight do in a world with no war? This was his life, the single platform that he'd built for himself. There was nothing else for him. And Angel and Wasp... what did they have besides us? The only one I could see coming out of this and being able to lead a relatively normal life was Fraggle, but even then I imagine he'd get pretty bored.

It wasn't that I didn't expect us to make it through this. For being as rational and down-to-earth as I am I'd managed to delusion myself into thinking that there was no way I could lose my friends, not when we were charging out to meet Falshade's dark terrors head on. It seemed like a Karma thing to me, like we were protected from death by the simple fact that we were trying to prevent it. Stork's death of course had proven me horribly wrong of course, and I understood now that even if I hadn't expected to lose anybody, hadn't even let the black thought cross my mind, I'd still worked myself into a trap; whether I died or not in this mess now I realized I had no future either way, at least, not one I could see myself looking forward to. It was all just a long black stretch in my mind that started sometime after tomorrow, the only amount of time that I could gamble on and even that stretch seemed unstable these days. So much could change so quickly...

However I can't say it bothered me that the only alternative I could imagine besides life with the Gargoyles, no matter how dangerous, heart-wrenching and unhinged that life may be, was death. In fact I figured that's how we all envisioned ourselves going down, was beside or for each other. I mean when you really think about it we've all got to die sometime and to be honest... I couldn't think of a better way to go then with the people I loved, if there really was no other way out.

Thing is, when you spend enough time with Falshade you begin to believe that there is always, always another way out. And that in the end would probably be our undoing.

"Anyways, Varan, I just don't want you to get in trouble or anything, you know, if they make a hassle about the registration thing." Shade said after awhile as if he suddenly remembered what his original point of the conversation had been.

"Well worse comes to worse we have to fight our way out of there." Angel said nonchalantly. "That's just how we roll, right?"

I snorted. "Unfortunately. But I wouldn't worry about it too much, Shade. Chances are they won't know me from any of the others."

"Well alright." He said, still sounding uneasy. We both knew it wasn't the registration thing that was going to be the issue.

Fraggle fidgeted edgily as silence settled over us again, looking tense. It only took about two minutes before he finally exploded. "Damnit, somebody put some tunes on, eh!"

"Ugh, I swear if I hear Get It Up one more time I'm gonna light myself on fire." Angel growled, getting up to leave as Falshade dropped the pin of the record player down on Fraggle's copy of Spontaneous Combustion Mentality, which was scratched beyond belief but heartily played on anyways in spite of its wear and tear.

"Ooh I could put on StraightJackit Parade again!" Wasp suggested, eyes lighting up.

"NO!" The rest of us shouted, recalling the one and only time Stork had been considerate enough to ask Wasp if she wanted to play her music on the bridge. If I thought Fraggle's music grated on my nerves then Wasp's bored holes into my head with the same effectiveness of blunt spoons.

Fraggle's music didn't do much to distract me as I felt my gnawing anxiety clamber back up into my chest. I wasn't exactly sure where the nervousness stemmed from; going to Bogaton itself was enough to put me on edge, as it risked letting old memories and feelings flare back up from where they were flickering away as pilot lights, just waiting for that extra bit of fuel. Seeing Repton though... god there were so many sticky little angles about that one, sharp and foreboding. I mean he might not even know about me, or want to talk to me for that matter. And he might not know anything we needed. But the big thing was the simplest one; I'd never actually met the guy before. I'd heard stories about him and saw his reflection shadowed in my own face, his legacy had pursued me in the forms of nightmares and nasty looks of contempt and fear from many of the humans I'd come across. But meeting him... that was pulling at a whole other thread altogether. I was freaked out about my reaction, which of course I wouldn't be able to judge until I was actually right there in front of him, which would be the most inappropriate moment to have a breakdown. And that was what was bothering me most. I hated feeling unprepared about my own emotions. I pushed thoughts of Repton to the back of my mind so often I'd never really thought about how I felt about him. I didn't know if deep down maybe I wanted to care about him, or if I wanted him to care about me... he was my father after all but... thing was technically I had no real reason to be angry with him, except for the fact that his actions conflicted with my morals and had, inadvertently, led to the slaughter of the Terradons. And I didn't know if I could feel sorry for him. All I felt was a tangled and frayed ball of wires like a lump in my throat about the whole thing and I knew that ball was going to shred my insides up the moment I saw him, no matter how hard I tried to prepare myself for it.

Something I could recognize was apprehension and guilty excitement however about the whole father thing. I... I hated to admit it but I kinda wanted, in a dark, awful, shameful way, to see him, just to know what he looked and sounded like, just to see. But at the same time I felt like I was breaking some sort of code. There was something that connected me to Falshade, Fraggle and Angel, probably one of the only things that really linked the four of us, and that was the fact that we all had been raised without a true father figure. I didn't know if Stork or Wasp had proper parents, but somehow it seemed different to me when it was a guy growing up without a dad. I mean I knew it would affect anyone to be missing a parent, but it was just something about the four of us that got to me. As far as I knew all our fathers had been in the war, Fraggle and Falshade's dying as heroes and mine, in a twist of ironic injustice, surviving as a rogue and a villain. I had no idea what had happened to Angel's father, but I had a feeling he'd never really known his either. None of us knew ours, we'd never met them, even when we were too small to remember. We were Lost Boys, sons of war and peace and raised and moulded by the powerful influence of women without a brush of a male role model. Well Fraggle had his step-father I suppose, and Rayvin, Nimbus, Owhl and Aries had been a common factor in mine and Falshade's childhood, but it wasn't exactly the same. I thought briefly of my trinity of mothers, my birthmother who'd managed to impart some of her love of sunlight and the brighter things in the world to me before being torn from me, Marle, my adopted mother, who'd made sure I grew up well-mannered and open-minded but at the same time nurtured and spoiled me because the woman had too much love in her for her own good and of course Caspia, almost like a second (well, third) mother to me, teaching me some valuable lessons and providing me with Falshade. The others too seemed to have been mostly raised by females in their lives, who had affected their character for better or for worse; Fraggle had Maxi-Ruth, who he said was probably the most easy-going woman in the world and yet somehow he still feared her authority, and Starla of course. Falshade had Caspia and Ozprey growing up to shape and temper him and later Stork, to test that work. And Angel... Angel had his dead, nameless mother who'd left some sort of stain on him (but... recently I'd like to think he had Wasp too, come what may of that). I wondered briefly if the reason we four guys got along so well, were able to look out for each other beyond the reaches of a normal friendship, had anything to due with the strong female influence that had always played a part in our lives. Not that I thought males were necessarily any less caring or anything, but I mean if we'd has a stronger impact of testosterone growing up maybe we would have actually snapped on each other a little more by now.

Fathers though... that was new and dangerous territory indeed, and I felt like going to see mine somehow shook this connection I had with the other three. I mean parents were already a jumbled, messy novelty among us. Up to my count we had two dead and two living mothers, two (three, probably, including Angel's) dead fathers and one living sperm-donor (I didn't know if I could count Repton as a proper father yet), one step-dad and one half-sister, one adopted mother and a slew of others that fit everywhere in-between. And that wasn't even counting anything of Wasp's. It was unfair that Repton was still alive when someone like Falshade or Fraggle deserved their fathers so much more and I felt like I was tugging at things that maybe should have been left alone to go and see him. But the others wouldn't want me to think that and were being supportive for me anyways and it hurt. It hurt that they were so good to me.

I don't know how long it took us to get there. Incidentally we weren't that far from Bogaton to begin with, for which I was both grateful, because if it would have been a longer trip I probably would have gone right bat shit from stress, and at the same time disconcerted, because it meant we were there that much sooner. The whole flight I stayed sitting in my chair on the bridge, fretting over every imaginable thing to fret about this encounter and winding myself tighter then a bowstring. Falshade stayed loyally for morale support, even though neither of us spoke a word to the other and despite the fact that Fraggle had the stereo turned up to an obnoxious volume because he's half-deaf. Although I don't think Falshade minded Fraggle's punk bands all that much. I thought some of it was alright but it struck on my nerves like a dentist drill at the worst of times and I couldn't really grow to be that fond of it, although I never told Fraggle because I knew he must get bored just flying around all day and I didn't want to take his music from him.

But all too suddenly I seemed to sense the presence of my homeland nearby and got up, moving to the windshield to peer off into the distance. The terra on which the new Bogaton development was set up, and also the underground barracks in which they kept Repton and those who'd been closest to him, wasn't actually that far off from the original terra, because of course we Terradons like a certain climate and so the Council made sure not to uproot us too badly. I knew we were close now and I felt a shiver run like icy water down my spine.

Falshade's hand was on my shoulder reassuringly and he was standing beside me, looking out the window also. "If this starts getting too messy just say the word and we're out of there." He assured me and I nodded. He glanced at me and then added. "I... you know I always kind of admired you, Var. But today..." he drew a line in front of him with the hand. "Whole new level of respect."

I grinned nervously, feeling strained but I meant it none the less. Respect was something important and special to me, and when coming from Shade it just made it that more monumental. I admired him too, after all. "Thanks, Shade."

"Land ho, eh." Fraggle said then, pointing at the terra that had appeared from between the clouds. "That be it?"

I glanced at the terra, my stomach squeezing painfully. "Yeah, that be it."

"Be careful coming in, Fraggle." Angel, who apparently was at my other side now, staring out at the rapidly growing terra and making me jump at his sudden appearance, advised suddenly. "They've got those energy cannons that target aircraft, remember."

"To keep people out or Terradons in I wonder?" Shade said with dark sarcasm.

"Well aren't we feeling scrappy today." Angel muttered. I had to agree with Shade, however. The Council might have said the canons were for the protection of the people of Bogaton, but I had a feeling it was more of a security for the people of Atmos. I couldn't really blame them, however; as much as I didn't agree with the strict regulations enforced around my people, I could see the reasoning behind the Council's precautions. Raptors can hold grudges all their lives if they want to, and we live long ones, unfortunately.

Fraggle kept a wide, wary arc around the terra as we got closer, swinging the _Merlin_ around to bring her in on the east side of the terra, where the huge, studded gates towards just beyond the small docking space, used mainly for cargo ships I figured. Even while we were still some distance away I could make out the revolving, armoured cannons where they were placed strategically at the landing strip; there were two posted on the edge of the terra by the wharfs and another two on the walls and I swallowed uneasily, holding my breath as Fraggle pulled in closer.

Suddenly the radio crackled at us and a gruff sounding voice joined us on the bridge: "Unidentified aircraft you are flying in a restricted flight zone. Please identify yourselves or we'll be forced to take defensive actions against your ship."

"Try it, hoser." Fraggle growled and Falshade waved a hand to shush him, grabbing the radio.

"This is Falshade of the _Merlin_. We, um... we've got business, uh, here."

"Real professional." Angel congratulated him snidely and Falshade shot him the finger.

"The _Merlin_... never heard of your ship. You got a docking permit?" The voice asked and Falshade winced.

"Um..."

"Yep." Angel said, taking the mic from him.

"Identification code?"

"...Okay I lied." Angel said and Falshade looked like he'd love nothing more than to strangle him. "Listen, we're on a bit of a mission here and you're kinda wasting our time."

"...Uh-huh." The guy on the other end sounded cynical now. "Okay, you've got thirty seconds to get out of our firing range or we're going to blast you."

"Give me that!" Falshade snapped, wrestling the mic from Angel's hand. "Look, we're not here to do any harm, we just need to talk to someone! We can come in on our skimmers instead if you want."

There was a pause and I dug my claws into the floor, ready for Fraggle to make an emergency, high-speed Uey. This was a bad idea...

Then the voice was back, sounding a little less hostile. "How many are you?"

"Six. Er, no, sorry, five. Just five." Falshade corrected himself and I felt a little stab of pain in my crowded chest, remembering our lost number six.

"And you're armed?"

"Yes." Falshade said honestly.

"Right. Bring your ship into the docks and come to the gates, where our men will relieve you of any weapons until you leave."

"Alright." Falshade agreed and replaced the mic, shooting a venomous look at Angel. "Take her in slow, Fraggle. And by slow I mean by regular standards."

Fraggle sighed and pulled the _Merlin_ into the docks carefully at a speed considerably lower then what he deemed acceptably 'slow' thankfully. We touched down and Falshade gave us a quick scan before looking to me, waiting for my lead. I just nodded, muscles stiff and trembling at the same time.

"Alright, let's go. And remember this is really not the place to pull anything funny, okay?" Falshade reminded us, his last remark directed at Angel and Wasp pointedly. "Let this not be another Rex, okay?"

Wasp flicked her ear in an agreeable fashion and Angel just rolled his eyes resignedly. Falshade glanced at me one more time before leading the way onto the docks. As we passed between the turrets the energy cannons revolved around to target us and I felt myself cower slightly, shoulders hunching defensively and tail thrashing like mad. Wasp scratched at her throat and growled uneasily and Angel and Falshade kept wary eyes on those massive blasters the whole, seemingly endless stretch to the gates. Fraggle kept his gaze on his precious ship.

As we reached the mighty gates I felt the coolness of their shadow pass right through me like a knife and fought back the urge to start shivering. I glanced up at the armed guards on top of the wall, who were looking down on us from behind yellow masks and the blank glare of those faceguards frightened me, like they were working in a quarantine zone or something. I had a foreboding feeling about this, it already wasn't off to a good start. I was worried that should have been heeded as a warning.

Before I was able to think too much about it though a smaller door creaked open in the center of the left gate and a guard in spiked armour stepped out, energy staff in hand obviously. He glanced over us to make sure we weren't carrying any weapons and his eyes lingered on me for a moment before he motioned us through the smaller door. Falshade nodded the others through and waited for me to go ahead of him as if he wanted to make sure nobody pulled anything funny on me and I felt touched by his concern among all my other swirling, nauseating feelings.

Another guard was waiting for us on the other side. He led us silently towards a nearby building, a guard's post I assumed, and ushered us inside impatiently. We crowded in nervously and a man got up from his post by a radar screen, approaching us with a look of cold scrutiny on his face.

"Well I have to admit you weren't what I was expecting." He told us and I realized he was the one who'd addressed us over the radio. Angel's arms tensed up dangerously already and I found myself trying not to shake, feeling a panic like claustrophobia closing in on me. "Now, who exactly is it you wanted to speak with?"

"We'd like to see one of the um... prisoners." Falshade stepped forward, stumbling on the word and I knew he felt uncomfortable about saying it, especially in front of me.

"I see. Well I'm afraid you'll have to talk to head of administration before you can do that. His office is upstairs. You may go and speak to him once we're sure you not carrying anything threatening." He explained shortly, waving his hand to a metal detector in front of us.

"Oh come on dude, we already came in here unarmed, what else do you want?" Angel said snarkily and was met by both the guard's and Falshade's bald glare.

"Would you prefer I do a full cavity search?" the guard asked snidely. The corner of Fraggle's mouth quirked dangerously as Angel scowled at the guard.

"Yeah you'd like that, wouldn't you?" he muttered under his breath, stepping irritably through the metal detector. The rest of us passed through without incident until Wasp tried to go through and the alarm went off piercingly.

Wasp looked up, nose wrinkled curiously. "Hey, I win!"

"Step back through, please." The guard said, yanking her back. Falshade was muttering something that sounded like a prayer under his breath. "Would you empty your pockets, please?"

Wasp looked him up and down. "...Why don't you get your own stuff?" she suggested helpfully.

"Wasp, if you've got anything metal in your pockets just put it in the bin!" Angel hissed at her.

She looked at him like he was from another planet. "But it's my stuff!" she said as if she thought he were crazy.

"You'll get it back!"

Wasp glanced at me then sighed, reaching into her numerous pockets meticulously. Three cans of Buzz Juice came out, as well as some loose change, a bent spoon and very small wrench, which I recalled Stork raving about for weeks that she'd lost. Wasp stepped back through the detector and it went off again. Angel smacked a hand to his face and Falshade rubbed at his temples.

"All of it, Wasp." He said tiredly and Wasp pouted, stepping back to the bin. Another can of Buzz Juice was unearthed and a handful of multi-coloured bottle caps cascaded into the bin, as well as a broken pocket watch on a chain and a metal earring shaped like a wing. She tried the detector for a third time and once again was halted by the alarm.

"WASP!" Angel, Falshade and Fraggle yowled at her and she looked outraged.

"What did I ever do to you?" she demanded of the detector as she was hauled back _again_. Then she brightened. "Oh, hang on, bet ya it's my Boo Koo..."

Then she pulled out something vaguely tube-shaped with a pin dangling from the top, and that's when things got hairy. Immediately five different staffs were lowered at her from the present guards and Wasp's ears went back aggressively.

"Wasp..." Falshade called out, sounding like he was trying to keep his voice steady. "Put it down _slowly_..."

So of course she dropped it unceremoniously into the bin and all present flinched as if they expected the whole place to go up. I didn't know what a Boo Koo was exactly, but the pin gave me a general idea. Then she leaned towards the head guard and said in a low, threatening voice "I know _exactly_ how many bottle caps I had, buddy."

And with that she strode through the detector to join us. "Lead on, Captain." She invited and Falshade gave me a distressed look which I could _so_ relate to before motioning for us to carry on. Behind me I heard Angel giving Wasp hell about carrying explosive devices into defensive places like this.

My body felt like lead as I forced myself up the set of stairs. Fraggle went beside me, step for step, as if to remind me that he was there for me and I smiled at him to try and commune I was okay, even though I wasn't, the second time he glanced at me nervously.

The stairs brought us right up to another two guards who pushed open the door for us wordlessly. God those guys creeped me out, with their silent presence and reflective masks... they reminded me of scarecrows.

Angel nudged me in the back to keep me moving and the five of us clustered together inside the office, flinching as the heavy door swung shut behind us again. It was too damn quiet around here, more like a morgue then a facility to bring back a species. Then again I guess the two kind of went hand in hand...

A wiry, brown haired man was sitting behind a large desk, looking bored out of his skull. He had filing cabinets ceiling high behind him and a large window off to the side overlooking this section of the terra. I glanced out, wondering if I'd catch a glance of a fellow Terradon out there and suddenly I felt a trickle of anger when I saw those high walls surrounding the place, allowing shadows to flow and block out the sun.

The man looked up at us, closing some sort of file or other and folding his hands over it protectively as if he expected us to rush forward and try and take it from him. I wondered absently if I had a file with my name on it somewhere in one of those numerous drawers and my fingers started to itch suddenly. His eyes roamed over my features as if he were trying to catalogue me and I had the urge to squirm under his scrutiny. I mean people always looked at me with varying degrees of examination like they were trying to judge how likely I was to tear their throat open. But this look was different... it seemed strictly scientific and I felt like I was under a giant microscope all off a sudden. It made something crawl under my scales like maggots and I had to tense my entire body to keep from shuddering.

Falshade must have sensed my distress. He stepped in front of me protectively as if to shield me from further dissection and at almost the same time Angel's boot slid over subtly to press my tail down onto the floor securely.

"Hello." Falshade said clearly, standing up straight like he did when he was trying to seem professional; his staticy hair and flopping bangs kinda took away some of the effect though. "We were told to come talk to you about a request of ours."

The man nodded as if this was already known to him. "Alright, and what would this request be?" He had a quick sort of business-like manner to him and I knew we had about as much chance of persuading him to let us see Repton as we did flying through a school of Sky Sharks covered in meat tenderizer and getting away with all our limbs intact.

"We... we need to talk to one of the prisoners. It's sort of important." Falshade explained, as he was always honest with his goals no matter how absurd they sounded.

"A prisoner huh? And which prisoner might that be?" he asked us calmly, his eyes roaming over me again and I felt something stir in my chest that might have been a growl if my throat hadn't been so clogged up.

"Repton." Falshade said in a sharp tone to get the man's attention off of me. "We need to see Repton."

The man looked over us, his face half-breaking into a smile as if he were waiting for us to start laughing and say "Gotcha!". However when he realized we were serious he took on a more sceptical expression. "That's a mighty big request." He informed us in a final sort of tone.

"Well it's mighty important." Falshade assured him.

"And why is it so important, may I ask? Why on Atmos do you kids need to see Repton?" he asked us coldly. We all exchanged a quick glance. How much were we willing to tell this guy, and how much of what we did would he believe?

"We think he's got some information we need." Falshade said at last and the guy blinked at him and then laughed.

And that's around when Angel snapped.

In three clipped strides he was standing on the other side of the desk, staring down this man with an icy glare that only he can muster. And trust me he may be kinda small, but nobody can look nastier then Angel when he wants to. And no one can sound nastier then him either:

"Okay, listen pal. I've had it up to here with this permission bullshit. Now just because you've got a fancy little badge that says you're part of a branch in the Legion doesn't mean you know every little thing that's going on with them, okay? There are guys in the Legion you've never even heard of, and you never will either, and _they_ sent _us_ here to get some classified information from your prison because they believe what he knows might be crucial to oh, hey, look at that, the _war_ going on outside." he snapped, waving his hand at the window to accentuate his point sarcastically. "Which reminds me, how many armed guards did I see standing around doing nothing? A dozen just defending that wall? In case you didn't know we're calling in reserves to help our defence out there and if you ask me there's a ton of perfectly capable soldiers hanging around here doing _nothing_. All I have to do is go back to my superiors and tell them you gave me a hard time and you'd be on the front lines so fast you won't even have time to realize you've been demoted. And trust me, people are coming home in baskets out there. So we can do this the hard way or the easy way, but whatever way you chose we're getting our information, so what say you just let us go and talk to Repton and you'll be able to go home for your next birthday and hey, maybe the wife will give you a blowjob. How's that sound?"

Silence settled over us as Angel held the guy with his piercing gaze and the rest of us prepared to make a break for it. The guy seemed to have shrunk into his chair, swallowing repeatedly and not saying anything for a long time before he scissored his mouth and muttered in a much more agreeable tone. "Al...alright. I'll get someone to take you over to the confinement facility."

"Glad you've got your priorities in order." Angel said scathingly, watching him get up and go over to an intercom box in the corner before turning back to us, a self-satisfied smirk crawling over his face.

"And _that_ is how you get things done." He informed us smugly.

"You didn't have to scare the guy." Falshade hissed, yanking him back over with the rest of us. Fraggle clapped him on the shoulder, trying to keep his laughter subdued.

"A warden from downstairs will lead you to the facility." The brown haired man turned back to us, sounding strained. He looked like he just wanted us to get the hell out of his office. We tend to get that look a lot, unfortunately...

"Thank you." Falshade said, trying to at least save a bit of our reputation. Angel gnashed his teeth at the guy mockingly before following after Shade down the stairs.

There was a burly looking guard downstairs, his uniform slightly different than the ones the other guards were wearing; he had thick metal bands around his neck, wrists and upper legs and arms (covering the vital arteries I realized) and instead of an energy staff he had something that seemed sharp and sort of club-like, powered, by the looks of it, by a large Frost crystal. It must have been sort of like a tazer I figured; Frost crystals might freeze a warm-blooded human, but they did serious tissue damage to Raptors. Not to mention it hurts like hell to have a chunk of you turn to solid ice while the rest of your blood tries to slosh around it. And it's the only kind of crystal energy that works instantly on us, scales or not.

The warden, as that's what he must have been, didn't bother to eyes us up like the other's had. He was a man who followed orders and that was about it I suppose. He motioned for us to follow and led us out a back exit and along a dusty little pathway that led a little further into the terra interior, towards a semi-circle shaped building that seemed to curve from the ground's surface. It was guarded by another pair of energy cannons, as well as several stationed guards. They watched us, or more specifically, me, pass by curiously. Poor fellows were probably bored out of their minds, although I couldn't say I felt sorry for them. Usually I was pretty good about humans, no matter how badly they treated me (like on Rex for example); I tried not to think nasty or angry thoughts about them too often or feel too unjustified whenever they judged me harshly. But there was something about these particular humans that didn't earn the effort. They were willingly guarding my people after all.

The warden led us under the lip of the curved building, which reminded me of some of the caves scooped out of the Plateau back home, and mashed a thick finger into a button next to a set of heavy, sliding doors. We waited uncertainly, listening to several unforthcoming rattling and clanging sounds before the doors sprang apart to reveal a metal, boxy elevator car. The warden motioned for us to step inside and I felt my nerves stretch past the breaking point. That car was way too small...

I felt something slide into my grasp then, and glanced down at Wasp's pale hand clamped firmly around mine. She looked up at me, teeth chattering and gave me a grim, mutually freaked out grin.

"Me too." She whispered and I nodded as if agreeing to some sort of pact, tugging her in behind me as we crushed in alongside the others. Her ears were pressed right back against her skull and when the doors clanged shut again as the warden joined us she did some weird sort of twitch thing, fidgeting and catching Angel in the ribs with her elbow. I squeezed her hand reassuringly, trying to share my own discomfort with her as if that'd help us find some sort of joint relief.

"Tail, Var." Falshade muttered to me out of the side of his mouth and I realized I'd had the tip of my tail wrapped around his ankle, practically crushing the bone, because he was standing on the rest of it to stop me from thrashing all of us in the cramped space. It took all me willpower to loosen the cramped hold of my muscles.

The elevator dropped abruptly, not a very smooth transition and Wasp scratched at her neck with her free hand until the skin started to peel back, revealing little pink lines. Angel grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand down and she pushed it through his hair experimentally instead, shoving his bangs into his face which made me want to laugh for some reason, especially when he shot her a disgruntled little frown from under the wisps of his hair. I think I was getting sort of hysterical by that point. I squeezed Wasp's fingers again and she squeezed back like we were communicating through some sort of sign language and I thought of Stork then, how the first thing she'd do when I'd displayed any signs of distress would be to wind her smaller, feminine, calloused hand through mine and squeeze gently. A trickle of hurt rolled like a bead of acid over my heart and, as if in these squashed quaters we all were picking up each other's frequencies, Fraggle made a snuffling noise and hunching his shoulders slightly.

I felt like we were dropping hundreds of feet that damn elevator ride took so long. The air turned cooler at one point and Falshade, on my other side, shivered uneasily. I guess it comes from spending so much time flying around in the sun soaked sky and roaming about on open, flat terra tops, but the whole underground thing just got to us, made us sweaty and twitchy. I felt something sharp tapping annoyingly at the base of my spine at the thought of being this deep underground, even though I couldn't actually tell how deep we actually were. Finally though we were jerked to a halt and the doors rolled open. Wasp sprang out like a grasshopper and flattened herself to the floor, forehead pushing into the stone. "Guh."

"Repton, right?" the warden asked and Falshade nodded, hauling Wasp off the floor by her jacket.

"That's right."

"Number 17. C'mon." The warden instructed gruffly, waving a hand to get us to follow him down a darkly lit corridor, lights interspaced just close enough to touch the very edges of their beams together. Fraggle coughed lowly and tugged at the collar of his t-shirt under his jacket.

"Hot down here, eh?" he muttered to me and I felt the air, which I only just realized was considerably warmer then it'd been in the elevator, and dry. Terradon sort of temperature. I felt a small prickle of forgivness towards these hostile looking people for being that considerate, even though they probably shouldn't have cared if the temperature down here was a comfortable one or not.

The warden unlocked a heavy door in front of us and led us down three stairs, where the corridor became so narrow we had to walk single file and changed into sort of an ailse between rows of floor to ceiling bars, all crackling with thin lines of crystal energy as if they were electrically charged.

And that was the first time I saw another Terradon in thirteen years.

He glanced up at us as we passed and I saw his eyes, yellow like mine and slightly reflective in the dim glow, widen in surprise as we took in each other. The men here might not have known the difference between their resident Terradons, but they must have, and this one knew I was a stranger. He eyed me up and down, the vicious scowl that had been on his face when he saw the warden pass slipping to one of smother shock. His crest spikes sloped backward, streamline, along his head and he had a thinner facial structure, like mine. I couldn't really tell from the light but his scales seemed slightly lighter then most Raptors, which I assumed had something to do with the lack of sunlight. I didn't recognize him, but then, I'd only been four years old the last time I'd seen any of my own kind. He half-stood as if he wanted to approach the bars but then backed off a bit into the shadows.

We passed more cells, whose occupants all gave me a lingering, surprised look, some of them muttering something as that might have been a question except their voices had long ago forgotten volume. It must have been odd, it struck me then, to see one of their own kind moving freely, no restraints or guards circling them like hawks. I'd sort of found it strange too that there hadn't been more precautions taken around me, but then, I figured the people here were pretty confident in themselves; at the first sign of trouble I didn't doubt for a second that they'd be able to kill me three times before I hit the floor. That was the difference between this place and Rex.

It was only when we reached the end of the morose hallway that one of the Raptors reacted violently as the warden passed. There was a zapping sound as a large body crashed against the bars, emitting a fierce, reptilian snarl. Poor Falshade, who'd been behind the warden, jumped and nearly backed right up into the bars on the other side of the aisle and surely would have been zapped too if Angel hadn't yanked him back.

"Get back!" the warden's heavy voice became threatening as he jabbed with his prod through the bars, blue sparks of ice striking off the floor. There was a yowl and another snarl and a set of claws came through the bars and were effectively frozen as well and I winced.

"Hoerk, knock it off!" a scrawnier Raptor snapped in a raspy, strangled sort of voice from the cell next to the hostile Raptor's. I could hear the shifting of scales as several other Terradons from behind us leaned forward to see what was going on, a few growls erupting uneasily.

There was a name I recognized. From what I knew Hoerk was technically my uncle, my father's brother and of course one of his sidekicks from his days as a rogue. Glancing into the cell next to me on the other side I caught sight of another Raptor, chunkier although he looked pretty worn and diminished, who was hunched up unhappily. He was watching the two across from him with an upset look on his face. I figured that had to be Leugey, making that another one of my uncles, and I felt really sorry for him all of a sudden. I knew he was no innocent but just from the meek sort of way he was sitting there I had a feeling he'd been bullied into a lot of the things he'd done. Poor weak-willed fellow.

I looked back down the hall as the warden continued to try and subdue Hoerk and Spitz, who I assumed must have been the one doing all the yelling, snapped things at both his brother and the warden, taking in all the eyes behind those bars. If I they knew who I was, would I behind one of a set of those metal teeth?

'_You're different from them'_ something inside me spoke up then in a very quiet voice, something opening up and letting a strange, cooling, collecting feeling wash over my rattling chest, ceasing all the mad traffic that was going on in there.

"_How?" _I wondered absently.

'_Did you ever think maybe the fact that the way you are is what's keeping you out of here, not the other way around?'_

No, I hadn't thought of it like that. If I'd been thrown in here with the rest of them, over the years, would I become just as bitter and nasty as they were, harbouring all the bad, dark things in the absence of the sun? But no, even before... my mother had been different than this, and I was too, didn't take pleasure in the ideas of ripping apart those who'd wronged me, didn't want to hurt people and was still capable of love. So maybe in some sense of fate I hadn't ended up in here and was able to stay the way I was, to try and understand and grow past the bloody past of my people, to try and do the right thing. Sort of like an exchange, my freedom as long as I kept to my morals.

And I dunno what it was, but this feeling sort of circulated through me, something familiar and yet strange, a sense of confidence and almost serenity, like there was a small crack opening somewhere like a small mouth, letting out those words. It wasn't a huge change of heart or spiritual realization or anything. But it felt like agreeing with myself, blowing out a calm breath, and I felt then as if I had the strength to talk to Repton, to do this, and come away the better from it.

Finally beating Hoerk back into submission the warden drew out a set of keys and inserted them into a door in front of us, which was plated with a small grill in which to look through. Snapping down a switch on the wall I saw a sudden blaze of yellow energy flare up behind the door and solidify into something like more bars of crackling energy. The warden pushed to door inwards.

"Number 17." He grunted and I realized he wasn't coming with us, probably so he could torment Hoerk and the others a little more. I swallowed, my heart beating painfully slowly, a sharp barb of anxiety tearing up and down the inside of my spine.

Falshade glanced back at me and I nodded again, the action disconnected from me, my mind in a blackout. I had to train my eyes to the back of Falshade's head as a focal point to guide me forwards.

The yellow energy had indeed formed a web of crackling bars through the center of the cell, set up for face to face conference that one would only desire with the leader of the Raptors himself. The door clanged shut behind us as we filed in like men on their way to gallows and the only light provided was that cast off of those snapping yellow bars.

And there he was behind them, Repton, my father.

My eyes were guiltily fixated on him and only him, seeming to blot out the buzzing energy lines so I could see him in full. I scanned every inch of him, looking for similarities, for familiarity, for something, something that'd strike off something in my heart. He's scales were darker than mine, even in this gloom I could tell, but they looked faded and dulled too, going for too long without the lustre of the sun. In fourteen years had he ever seen the sunlight? His crest spikes seemed to mohawk slightly too, although his sloped backwards more than mine did, which stuck up right from my skull. His eyes were dimmer then mine, although there was glint in them I noticed, a reflection from the sparkling energy and I felt relief for some reason that he wasn't dead inside, not quite yet. His shoulders weren't quite as bulky as mine, although we had the same basic, leaner build, not as broad or large as some of the other specimens outside.

It was when I took in his face that I saw myself. His snout was squared and angular, like mine, his facial stricter slimmer and with sharper features. Jaw, muzzle, nose, brow... mine. All of it echoes of mine. Except for the shape of his eyes, which were more circular then my slightly oval shaped ones, not quite as wide or open as mine. My eyes were my mother's and that made something flutter, pleased, in my stomach.

He didn't seem to notice me, not right away. He'd only looked up when the door slammed shut and the first thing he'd seen was Falshade, who had now bravely approached the crackling bars, his face set in one of open, even determination, and some form of polite kindness too.

"Hello, Repton." He said, his voice steady and forthcoming. "My name's Falshade Ravenscroft." Ever the one to attempt seeming proper and friendly, he stuck his hand through the gap in the bars and I don't know if I wanted to stare at him in awe or stupidity. Falshade was innocent and optimistic, having me as his only example of Raptors and that made him blind and overly confident. He didn't realize how easy it would be for Repton to grab him and drag him into his cell to tear him to pieces.

Repton made no move towards him, however, staring at him from where he'd stood near the back of his cell, his face arranged into an expression of dismissive scorn. After a moment Falshade took his hand back and went along undeterred. Thank god Angel had trained him, over the years, how to deal with indifferent personalities.

"I'm the Sky Knight of the Gargoyles. This is my squadron." He waved at the rest of us by way of introduction. "We think you might have some information that might be useful to us. We hoped you might answer some questions."

Repton continued to stare at him for a long moment and I began to wonder if he wasn't even going to acknowledge that he was listening to Falshade. But then he emitted a rough, hacking sound, slithery and deep in his throat, a hollow, scathing laugh.

"Answer some questionsss?" he hissed then, his voice rough and scratchy from years of little use, but still formidable, an underlying growl lacing his words. He lowered his chin to stare Falshade directly in the face, something menacing cinching around his eyes. "Listen to me, boy. I've been asked questionsss by Sky Knightsss like you, interrogators, headsss of council, wardens and men with sharpened objects that'd make you sssqueal like a piglet. And I never answered any of them. So what in hell..." he advanced towards the bars in one quick motion, a predator's stalk, as if trying to intimidate Falshade. "Makes you think I'm going to talk to _you_?"

I was reminded of how brave Falshade could be, how he could summon his courage in times he most needed it. He held his ground, seeming unphased, and held Repton's venomous gaze calmly for a moment before answering him.

"Oh, I didn't expect you to talk to _me_." He assured him, his reasonable attitude slightly crumpled in light of that piglet comment. "But we think you'll talk to him."

That was my cue and by some force I wasn't possessing at the moment I stepped up beside Falshade to those bars and Repton finally noticed me. Whatever he'd been expecting, it hadn't been me, because something in his carefully constructed expression of sneering indifference collapsed and fell inward as his eyes stretched wide and the muscles in his jaw let go so that his lower jaw dropped downward just slightly and I could see some of his teeth, which had been filed flat as a human's.

Like I've mentioned before, I can never prepare myself for anything. I had no idea what I was going to say or how to even begin. So I just spewed out the first few words that tumbled down from my head and landed on my tongue: "Hey, Dad."

I didn't think he'd say anything right away, he looked too stunned and confused, so I was trying to formulate some way to tell him who I was when he took me by surprise and beat me to the punch.

"Varanus?" his voice came out in a gasping wheeze, his mouth barely moving.

It was my turn to feel a bolt of shock hit me in the gut and I felt my eye sockets stretch back slightly as my eyes widened. He knew... _he knew_???

"You... you know about m-me?" I stammered, my tail frozen for once, my heart pounding erratically.

"Of course I do!" he snapped. "You think I wouldn't have known about my own son?"

Son... I was his son. Flesh and blood _son_.

He was still talking and I tried to listen past the buzzing in my ears. "I knew about you, saw you once, and then they threw me in here and all thisss time I thought that... that you'd..."

"Died." I finished quietly and he gave a jerky nod. He'd seen me? Had he... my god had he really _cared_? All this time had he cared that he thought I was dead? Had he been heartbroken, out of his mind with sorrow? Had he cried?

"Your mother..." he muttered abruptly, something changing in his voice, taking on a low tone, something like a question turning up the corner of his words.

"She's dead." I reported stiffly. "She died, Dad. Just like the others." Dad. That word... what a frightening, foreign word that one was. I don't know why I kept saying it. Maybe just to remind myself who I was talking to.

His eyes moved away from mine, looking at the stone wall fixedly. Had they really not told him anything? Or had he been too proud, too afraid, to ask? "Chamelia..." his voice uttered, so quietly only I heard him and the urge rushed up on me all of a sudden. Her name triggered it and suddenly I felt so desperate to know I was angry.

"Did you love her?" I asked him suddenly, surprising even myself. I felt Falshade tense and turn to stare at me from where he'd been hovering silently at my side. There was a shuffling from the others behind me.

Repton's eyes snapped back to mine. "What?"

"Did. You. Love. Her." I asked again, putting enunciation on every word. I needed to know this, needed to see that she'd seen something good in him, that there was something capable of feeling in there, maybe even a fraction of myself.

He stared into my eyes for a very long time, his face tense and stricken. Maybe he saw her in my face for a second and that's what dragged it out of him at last. "Yesss."

Something jolted in my chest, like a tumbler falling into place. I had no idea what his answer meant to me at the moment, why it was important, but I'd obsess over that later. I could feel Falshade at my side and it reminded me of what we'd really came here for.

"Listen, Dad, we need your help. I dunno how much you know about what's going on out there, but it's not good, people are dying and it's only going to get worse. We're trying to put a stop to it, we think we've got a lead, and we need you to-"

Whatever had been brittle and open about his face was abruptly snatched away as he leaned in towards me, a growl circling in his throat. "We? You're helping thisss boy?" he seethed.

"Yes, this is my squadron, they're my friends." I explained, feeling something knocking in the walls of my stomach.

"Friendsss?" he demanded, incredulousness seeping into his voice. "_Friends_??? These people, these _humans_ and their little mongrel sidekicks, they're you're _friends_?"

That knocking turned to banging and I felt something hot like bile clawing up my throat. "We're just as much humanoids as they are." I growled, meaning Fraggle and Wasp. Mongrel was a derogatory term some of the nastier of humans hurled at us humanoids, thinking us half-breeds. "And as for the humans, they're two of the greatest people I know, and yes, they _are _my friends so watch what you say about them!"

"And why are they your friends? Why are you helping them? Do you know what their people have done to us? Do you not see these barsss, boy?" he roared at me and I felt Falshade flinch at my side. "Do you not know what treacherous, murdering, cheating, filthy humans have done and you want to help them? _Help them_??? This war is their fault and if you had any brains in your skull you'd let them die!"

Something went off like an explosion inside me, all the hurt and rage that I'd tucked away over the years suddenly bursting free so violently I actually felt a tug of pain in my belly. It hurt when people stared at me with disgust and fear and hatred, and it hurt even more when they hurled sharp words at me like knives. But this, hearing Repton say that about my friends, the very few people in the world who didn't treat me like I was scum, didn't make me beg for my right to exist, it just turned everything to poison.

"And we've done the same thing to them!" I shouted right back at him, louder even, my anger forcing back my compassion and skittishness. "You don't think I've heard the stories of what you and the others did to them? And I know exactly what they've done to us, I was there, I saw it! But that wasn't him, or him." I snapped, waving at Falshade and Angel. "It wasn't them and it wasn't their parents or anyone else they knew! Did they have a right to do it? Couldn't you say that what those people did to us was our fault? And that everyone else wanted to let us die? I was raised by people who hated what had happened on Bogaton, I was raised by a human because my mother was killed in the name of vengeance for what you and your kind did! So who's more in the wrong here, us or them? We've been killing each other all this time, Dad, you can't blame them anymore then they can blame you because there's blood on both sides. We have to let this go, don't you see, or nothing's ever going to change! We're just going to keep killing each other's children."

"Nothing can be changed!" Repton snapped at me. "You saw what happened when we tried, they betrayed us!"

"Not all of them. There was a group of them, just like there was a group of you." I pointed out sharply. "But there are other people too, who want it to change, and I'm one of them. It has to stop, we can't keep fighting each other because you know what, there are people out there right now who will kill both of us. Do you really think once the humans are gone they'll let the Terradons go unscathed? The hatred, the grudges, it all has to stop, we have to put it all down and start over. That's what I'm trying to do, I let it all go, and I was there, Dad, I saw it all, but I've let it go, and you know why? Because there are people, like the people right here, who are willing to change it, who are worth trying to change it for. If Chamelia were still here wouldn't it be worth changing for her? Why can't we be the ones to make the first move, to try and put it right?"

Repton still had anger snapping in his gaze but there was something else there now too, curious and willing to listen. "It's easy for you to sssay all that." He muttered.

I snapped him a deadly glare, thinking of all the times I'd watched Stork make people shrink back with one hateful look. "Easy for me? You really think so? You didn't have to see it, to smell it, to hold your own mother's _head_ because that was the only part of her you could find and watch your whole world burn. You were in here. You got off pretty easy, all things considered. She died for your mistakes, just like a bunch of humans did. You know what is easy is to blame others. Little harder to blame yourself, huh? So let's just... stop with the blame. I did."

Repton blinked at me and then let out a chuckle. "Jussst wipe the slate clean?" he asked me, some sort of mocking in his tone, but almost more like teasing disbelief then scorn. "You really think that'll fly?"

I shrugged, feeling all my hot, fierce energy fading. "It's worth trying for."

"Is it really?"

"Well, I'm out here, aren't I?" I pointed out and Repton snorted, his tail lashing as he glared at the stone around him. He paced away from the bars abruptly, stalking back and forth like a caged beast for a moment, seeming to mulling over all I had said. Then he stepped back towards us.

"This Sky Knight here." He jerked his head at Falshade. "You really care about him?"

"Of course I do. He's practically my brother." I said without missing a beat.

Repton turned to Falshade then. "And you, boy-"

"His name's Falshade." I interjected curtly. Repton seemed to grit his teeth.

"Falshade." He repeated grudgingly. "You trust him, a Raptor?"

"With my life." Falshade answered right away and I felt a smile tugging at my face. "He's saved it once already."

Repton seemed to consider both of us, thinking. After a lifetime he looked back at me.

"What is it you need to know?" he asked slowly, sounding reluctantly yet agreeable and I felt relief and excitement flare up in my chest, which was aching with all the stress I was putting it through today.

"We need to know if there were any other terras where Cyclonis had operations going on." I explained and something flickered in Repton's face.

"...And why do you need to know that?" he asked suspiciously.

"We think the people who are attacking us now are using equipment the Cyclonians left behind. We need to find where they are." Falshade elaborated and Repton eyed him up and down critically.

"Ravenscroft you said your name wasss?"

"Yes." Falshade said with a brief nod.

Repton's tail scuffed the floor but he didn't mention anything about Falco, for which I was slightly glad. I didn't want to hear anything about Falshade's father from someone who'd been on the other side. Instead he paced, brooding, reaching back into his memory.

"There were a few terras were the Cyclonians had posts, although I never knew what they were doing there." He said at last. "We got all our supplies from our scientists, we didn't need Talon equipment. I don't know if it'll be any ussse to you, but I can give you the coordinates to the ones I remember."

Hope bubbled up in my stomach and Falshade smothered an ecstatic noise. "Anything you can tell us is great." I assured him and he made a huffing sound.

"Anyone got any paper?" Falshade asked and Wasp's hands jumped to her coat.

"Dun da da da!" she crowed, producing an old paperback, which she tore the front cover from, and a stubby little pencil. She stepped up beside me and boldly passed it to Repton and prodded at my hipbone twice before scooting back again.

Repton moved over to the stone wall to scrawl out a few sets of coordinates. Suddenly, while he was doing so, he asked "You were raised by a human?"

I'd forgotten I'd mentioned that. "Yes. Her name's Marle." I explained and Repton glanced at me over his shoulder.

"And she wasss good to you?"

I nodded, not really knowing what else to say about her. Repton was finished anyways, passing the cover and pencil back through to me. I handed it to Falshade who jammed it into his pocket securely.

"Thank you." I said, staring into his face. It had taken me until then to realize he was taller than me. "Whether this helps us or not... it matters that you did it."

Again he made that snorting noise and looked away, glancing at the others behind me and then at Falshade again. "You keep odd friends." He said after awhile and I had to laugh. Angel made an irritated noise.

"Almost made it a full conversation without that coming up." He grumbled and Falshade moved away from the bars to grab him in a headlock.

"Well maybe if you got a hair cut you'd look a little more normal, huh?" he asked, dragging him towards the door and motioning for the others to follow. "C'mon, lets..." he trailed off, looking at me. "Let's go." He finished and for once there was no argument. However he was only half way out the door before he stopped, scratching his head awkwardly.

"Repton." He said. "I'll be honest with you, I've got no better standing in the Council's eyes then you do, but when this is all over if I... well, I won't forget that you helped us today. I don't know what I can promise or if it'll help you any, but I promise that when I get the chance I'll do whatever I can to set your people free."

I smiled proudly at him and Repton shifted, staring at him.

"I won't forget you either, Sky Knight." He said after a while. "You're definitely the ssstrangest one I've ever met."

Falshade laughed good naturedly. "Yeah, I get that a lot." With a final glance at me he pushed Angel the rest of the way out the door and stepped out himself, leaving me alone with my father.

I turned back to Repton, not exactly know what to say or how I felt about him. "Listen, I... I don't exactly know what's going to happen now. But if I get the chance I'd like to come back here, to talk to you." I strung out after a moment. I felt like there was much more that needed to be said, under better circumstances.

Repton nodded. "Yesss, I'd like to talk to you again too. You've... I'm glad to have met you again, Varanus. I'm glad you came here."

"It's just Varan, by the way." I said out of habit and he looked at me then chuckled.

"You and I are very different." He said suddenly.

"Well... yeah." I agreed. Suddenly his hand shot out and grabbed me by the wrist, pulling me in so close I almost got burned by the energy lines.

"In all the time I've been in here, all this time to think and rot, and it took my own son to make me question myself." He muttered as if ashamed to admit it. "I think... you must feel disgusted by me, don't you?"

His question, his vulnerability, caught me off guard. "I think you've done some bad things, if that's what you mean." I said. "And maybe that does disgust me. But you've shown me that's not all of who you are. So..." Suddenly I realized what he was implying, what he was getting at. "It never disgusted me that you were my father." I said in a low, honest voice. It had tortured me, frightened me, haunted me and confused me yes, but I could never bring myself to properly despise him for it (my mother had chosen him after all) and today I knew I never would be able to either.

He looked up at me, seeming in disbelief. Then his hand moved to grip my shoulder in a way that just seemed... right to me. "I don't know if I'd ever do what you're doing." He said earnestly. "But I admire you for it. Whether I agree with you or not... I'm proud of you."

Something was stinging behind my eyes and I only managed to nod. "Thanks... thanks Dad. Listen, I should probably get going."

He nodded too and let me go. "Yesss, go with your... friends. And look after yourself." He added as I turned towards the door. I smiled to myself over the fatherliness of that statement.

"I'll try. Goodbye, Dad."

"Good luck." He called after me in a strange sort of tone and then the door slammed shut again, the clang rattling all the strange, tumbling feelings in my chest.

The others were waiting for me, trying to look comforting but giving me space at the same time. Falshade clapped me on the shoulder briefly, the opposite one then Repton had, before following after the warden, who was still oblivious to all that was going on.

Ahead of me Wasp stopped in front Leugey's cell suddenly and I nearly bumped into her. She cocked her head and waved at him through the bars.

"Hi." She chirped and he looked up, cocking his head as well and I was struck then by the source of my mohawk gene. "It must get pretty boring in there, huh?" Wasp was chattering on, digging through one of her inside pockets. She produced something then and pushed her hand between the bars to offer it to him. "Here."

"What's that?" he asked hoarsely, moving to take the small multi-coloured cube from her.

"It's a Rubix Cube, I think." She explained. "It's like a puzzle. You have to align the colours." She made twisting motions with her fingers.

Leugey seemed fascinated by this concept. "Then what happens?"

"You win, I guess. I never figured it out, but maybe you'll have more time for it than me." Wasp suggested cheerily and Leugey grinned at her, twisting the small box this way and that and laughing to himself.

"C'mon." I said, giving her a small push when she turned to smile at me. "Let's make new friends some other time."


	20. The Leaving Song

**20**

**The Leaving Song**

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to ClairexStork, because I know how much she loves (green) Stork and because she's just such a sweetie ^^.**

_**What am I lying here for? We are lying here as though we had a chance of enjoying a quiet time… am I waiting until I become a little older?**_

_**- an excerpt from **_**The Anabasis **_**by Xenophon (don't ask, I found this quote in Richard Adam's **_**Watership Down)**

_**And now you'll lead the way**_

_**Show the light of day**_

_**Nice work you did**_

_**You're gonna go far, kid.**_

_**-You're Gonna go Far, Kid, the Offspring**_

**x.x.x Stork (Feonix) x.x.x**

"_That pin should be about ready to come out." Stork announced to me, leaning over the open hood of my Hornet to get my attention. I started and banged my head on the compartment cover. Rubbing my skull I looked up at him, irritated. _

"_You reckon?" I asked, swirling grease into my hair._

"_Well you've almost got full mobility of your arm back." He said, watching the wrench in my hand fixedly instead of looking me in the face. "And it's been nearly three weeks after all."_

_I peered at his face as he said that last bit, going over everything that had happened since our little pow-wow/angst fest in the _Condor_. Something had shifted in our relationship since then, bringing us closer together uncomfortably so, somehow, like two people who've survived some sort of tragedy. It almost seemed to me like we could have been two dating people, you know, in a relationship with fancy dinners and sharing secrets, and then had gone on to have sex a little too soon, maybe before they were completely ready for it. There was an awkward sort of tension between us, the weight of what I knew now too, and although we were still close and gravitated around the other, acting as the other's constant, there was something touchy between us now, like a boundary that we could press up against and feel give slightly, like a very thin membrane, and therefore tried to avoid all together._

_I set down my tools and snapped the compartment shut. "I'd have to go under the knife again that means, right?" I asked as if trying to divert attention from the uncomfortable, implied notion that once I was free of the pin I would, inevitably, be free to go also._

_Stork gave a jerky nod. "That's right. So maybe we'll wait until tomorrow, prep you a bit and everything."_

"_So tomorrow then." I agreed, holding out my good hand to be shook, my wrist all but healed by now, although I still supported a tensor bandage, more to remind me that it was still tender and to take it easy then for any real medical purpose._

_Stork shook lightly, not really wrapping his digits too tightly around mine and then wiped his hand on his pants neurotically like I was a Leper or something and an overwhelming urge to hit him rose up from my guts. I knew he was still paranoid as hell and his germophobia would never completely go away but fuck we'd come so far, why did he still have to act like I was carrying some rare, deadly sort of bacteria, like I was going to be the death of him?_

"_Tomorrow." He agreed in a distracted voice and I could see the calculation in his eyes; if I got the pin out tomorrow, I saw, that meant in two days time he'd be alone, again._

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"I don't want to be put under." I declared as I stretched out on the crinkly paper he had stretched over a stainless steel table, like a real operating theatre, and I was reminded of that waxy paper butchers wrap chunks of meat in.

He paused while disinfecting the shining, not very welcoming operating utensils on the tray next to my head and gave me an annoyed look I'd seen so often on Falshade's face.

"You couldn't have told me that thirty minutes ago?" he demanded.

I shrugged innocently, noting the motion didn't really hurt anymore, just sent itchy sort of tingles though the muscles around my rib cage, like fibreglass. "I'm kind of impulsive."

He blew out a sigh. "I don't think that's such a good idea. You'll freak out the moment a get those stitches undone."

I narrowed my eyes. "Will not."

Stork rubbed his temples. "Look, this procedure might not be spinal surgery, but it's not that easy, alright? And I do not need the added distraction of you nattering away in my ear."

"I don't _natter_." I objected, insulted. "Which by the way is the dumbest word I've ever heard."

"See, there you go again! Nattering!"

"There _you_ go again, uh... obsessifying!"

"...You could have just used _obsessing_." He pointed out.

"See, there you go again!" I shot back in that annoying nature of mine.

Stork wiped a hand over his face. "I have the urge to stitch your mouth closed." He informed me.

"Exactly why I want to stay awake." I declared, folding my arms in a final sort of way. "Last thing I need is for you to stick some sort of tracking device inside of _me_."

His eye twitched and then a look of inspiration came over his face, which he quickly smothered out before I could quirk an eyebrow at him.

"Alright, alright fine, stay awake, but you have to promise to keep quiet, alright?" He compromised, turning to insert the tip of a needle into a small bottle of some weird, clear liquid.

"Okay." I agreed, feeling smug. "Um... what's that?" I added as he rubbed an alcohol swab over my arm and pinched at my skin, looking for a vein.

"Local anaesthetic." He explained shortly. "Don't move." He ordered, sticking the needle into my skin.

"Ouch!" I griped, even though it only kinda stung a bit. "Well you could have given me more warning, jeez."

"Oh she wants to stay awake for minor _surgery_ but can't even handle a little tiny _needle_." He muttered to himself.

I scowled at him. "Oh shut up, you would have freaked if I stuck you with... uh... head feeling funny here... is that like a side effect?" I asked, feeling a small spike of panic when my head started to swim slightly, my eyelids feeling heavy all of a sudden. "Stork, I-" then I caught his smirk as he set the needle back down on the tray, which was fading and swaying in my vision and I realized I'd been had.

"Oh you jerkkkkkuhhh...." I slurred out as I fought to keep my eyelids from drooping closed.

The last thing I saw before I slipped from consciousness was Stork's haughty grin and his fingers waving at me. "Nightie night."

* * *

I don't know how many hours it was later before I felt my body stirring, like I was still slightly detached from it. I could feel my chest breathing in and out, my blood humming away and a slight throb in my right shoulder, but it was like I was disconnected from it too, still sort of numbed.

Pushing my thick tongue sluggishly around my dry, sour tasting mouth I blinked my eyes open slowly, trying to get all my fuzzy thoughts back in order. See, this was exactly why I didn't want him to put me under, that asshole...

I glanced around, finding I was back in my room, and noted my battle axe propped against the wall and sighed at the sight. With Stork and me sort of circling each other like two awkward pre-teens at a dance and the distance stretching longer and longer since I'd last seen them, I found myself aching a little more every day for my friends. Yes, pathetic I know; I mean hell people spent years without seeing each other, just look at Stork for example, and Fraggle had been away from his family for ages now. From that perspective three weeks was nothing. But for almost four years now they'd been the only people in my life, you know? I didn't go home to see dad in all that time and I didn't have anyone else outside those five besides him, and Stork now too I guess. It was hard to go from getting up every morning to the smell of Varan making bacon and pancakes and the sound of Falshade and Angel crashing around, laughing or, more often, swearing at each other, Fraggle jolting the _Merlin_ around so I could hear all the familiar hummings of her riggings pulling and changing gears and of course Wasp stalking about doing some strange thing or other, and then suddenly wake up to usually silence every day, silence and the dusty, coolness of Stork's underground lair (yes I'd started calling it that too). Not that I didn't like Stork's company or anything, even given the recent strangeness between us; I loved being around that guy and I felt like I relieved the lonely, stained layer that had settled over him too. But god damnit I just missed them, my boys and my Wasp. They were stuck in my mind like a constant stomach ache and I felt a little weepy sometimes, wishing I could hear them hollering at each other every time an awkward silence stretched between Stork and I and could feel the bruises blossoming every time Stork whipped away from the contact of my skin that their playful fists usually left imprinted on my arms. Occasionally I'd feel the hair on my neck stick up because I was certain I could feel Wasp creeping up behind me to pounce on me and ask if I wanted to go spar or play hide and seek or something and Stork had shaken me awake three nights ago because I'd been yelling in my sleep, crying out for Falshade (because I _missed_ him, thank you and not for any other X-rated reasons, you perverts). I never was able to remember my dreams but I knew it must have taken a lot to get me to scream like that, so I'd been on edge ever since then, worried that something bad had happened to him in my dream any maybe that was a sign that something bad had happened to him in real life. And hell I was even starting to miss fighting with Angel (Stork tried but he just didn't have the sharp, stubbornness that I was able to clash against like Angel did).

And here was the thing that was really bugging me; it would have been so simple to just miss the others and be really eager and desperate to go out and find them as soon as I could, and now that the pin was out of my arm that time was screeching towards me at last. But _noooo_, nothing in my life could ever be that god damn simple. And as much as I wanted to get back to the others I wanted more time here with Stork too, time I knew I could have had if I wanted but wasn't able to take because the others needed me and I needed them. I felt torn, as torn as I had the night I slipped out of my dad's house and left him behind in the pursuit of... god I don't even know what I'd been after anymore. It'd only been three weeks, but I felt something deep down in my heart for Stork now, like I'd been with him for years. Fuck, I _loved_ the guy and I didn't want to leave him alone again. I didn't want to leave him, period; I wanted him with me, wanted to be able to tease him and talk acceleration and tire rotation and rust spots with him whenever I wanted, wanted to see the twitch in his eye.

I sniffled and rubbed at my nose irkishly, sliding out of my bed and stumbling slightly, my legs feeling a little wobbly. I did a few short paces of my room so I could work out all the kinks and walk around without looking like I'd just had a lobotomy before I jammed my feet into my shoes, heading off to the hanger, feeling words push up the back of my throat like chewed fingernails. I could feel some sort of purpose driving my limbs even though I wasn't exactly sure what in hell I wanted to say or what I wanted Stork to say or even what I wanted from him in the first place. But I mean see my prior notes about junkie thought process, we don't think about that stuff, we just do what our gut tells us too, quite often to the annoyance of others.

Stork was standing next to my Hornet, which had been so tricked out with new parts she looked like she was fresh from some racer photo shoot. But I managed to keep a hold of my train of thought in spite of her gleaming, metallic beauty and instead halted a few feet from Stork, sucking in a deep breath loudly so he'd know I was there.

"I'm leaving tomorrow." I announced in one rushed, loud sentence and I saw the muscles around his spine tighten as he turned to look at me slowly.

"I figured that." He said, his voice the complete opposite of mine, hushed and slow.

"Well, yeah, I mean... well my arm's better now and my skimmer's fixed and I need to get back to my friends." I said like I was apologizing. He nodded.

"I know. I'm not going to stop you." He said in an accepting sort of tone.

The next things came out of my mouth in my typical fashion, before my brain could even get a proper look at them "Come with me." I blurted out and he snapped me a look, his eyes large and face vacant. We stared at each other for a long time, something passing between us, a probing of each other's brittle feelings.

"Come with me." I murmured again as if he hadn't heard me the first time, even though I knew he had.

"...I can't some with you, Feonix." He muttered, his hand twitching at his side as if he wanted to scratch at his neck uncomfortably.

"Why not?" I demanded childishly. "Come on, the others will love you, you'll get along fine and you can help me with mechanical repairs and you'll love working on an airship again, and you can help me with some projects I have going on, it'll be great, it'll-"

"No, Feonix."

"Well why not?" I snapped, trying to fight down the rising feeling of hysterical sorrow in my belly.

"Because it's your squadron, not mine. I will always be a Storm Hawk. I'm not a Gargoyle." He told me in a firm, hollow voice.

And that's when I did as I usually do and struck at a nerve without even having to think about it, went and was hurtful because I was angry. Hey, it's what I do best. "You're a Storm Hawk are you?" I snorted. "Some Storm Hawk if you ask me! Look at you, you're living in a bloody hobbit hole alone and you've been down here sixteen years because you're too afraid of your old life to go back to it! None of you are Storm Hawks anymore, you're ghosts, you living, breathing ghosts who used to have something important, something special and you dropped it like you dropped each other! The Storm Hawks I know never would have let this happen to them, so you can't call yourself a Storm Hawk anymore if you're not going to act like one!"

I saw the hurt flash in his eyes, his face crumple. I saw everything sort of snap like a dry twig in him. My words would have hurt him no matter who he was or how he felt, but I think they hurt even more because he knew, deep down, that I was right. And that was the one thing he couldn't avoid down here, no matter how effectively he cut himself away from everything else, and that was the truth.

And it sucked because for once in my life I was right for a change and it wasn't anywhere near as great feeling as it should have been.

I ran forward, feeling horrible, and wrapped him in a tight hug, ignoring the tugging feeling of my new stitches in my arm and I pulled him into my body, even though he was about a foot taller than me, trying to absorb his bright, throbbing pain that my words had torn in him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry." I murmured again and again and again. "I shouldn't have said that, that was awful of me to say, I'm sorry, Stork, I'm sorry..."

"No, it's... you're right." He muttered and I stepped back from him as he rubbed the back of his wrist under his nose. "You're right you know, Feonix, but... I dunno. I don't have any excuses anymore."

I studied him, thinking about all he had told me, thinking about the way Finn used to hold himself when he moved around our shabby little house, carefully and tensely like his muscles were the only thing keeping him from falling apart. I thought about the word broken and really, really thought about what it meant. Usually I only applied broken to busted skimmers and cracked bones. Now I really understood what it meant when applying to people.

And that's when it occurred to me. Stork and Finn and the others... they were broken. But if Aerrow had still been here, if it were anyone but him that they'd lost, he would have been the glue to stick all those shattered pieces back together, he would have pulled them along and fixed them, patched them up like Finn used to do to the cuts on my knees. But without him... there was nothing to hold the others together. Finn had thought it could be me but I hadn't been able to cut it.

And for the life of me I couldn't figure out why that was, why the others, such close friends, hadn't been able to pull together again, even without him. Shouldn't his absence have pulled them even closer?

"I just don't... I don't understand why." I said quietly and Stork snapped his attention back to the present, back to me.

"Understand what?" he asked carefully.

"Why you guys drifted apart without Aerrow. You all were friends, you all loved each other. You still love each other, I know it, it's what tore you all apart. So why couldn't you guys hold together, if for nothing else then knowing that's what Aerrow would have wanted?" I said in a slow, almost hurt tone. Stork let out a long sigh and moved a couple steps away from me like he needed more space to think and ache on his own. After a long time he moved back to me and looked me in the eye critically.

"Do you think you're squadron's still out there right now, fighting in all this mess that's been going on, even without you?" he asked me, not harshly or anything, but in an honest tone that wanted a truthful answer.

"Of course." I said without missing a beat. "They wouldn't just give up because I'd... because I wasn't there." That thought still gave me a pang, that they were out there thinking I was... dead.

Stork nodded. "Okay. And would you and your other squad-mates keep on fighting and stick together if it had been Falshade who'd gone down during that battle?"

"Yes." I said "We'd..." I trailed off because Stork was looking at me like he really wanted me to think about it. And so I thought about it. What _would_ we do without Falshade? Hell I wouldn't have ever met any of the others without him. I'd probably still be at Finch's, or back with my dad, living some mundane life or other if he hadn't come along. And after all wasn't it Falshade's nightmares that had started this whole mission anyways? I mean sure half the time he was pretty clueless about them and needed our help, our input, our skills, just us by his side in general. But he was our leader, he was the one who led us on in chase of our own shadows it seemed, and we followed him loyally anyways, no matter where we ended up or what sort of trouble we got in. Falshade held us all together really; we were friends all of us yes but without Shade... god I could just see Angel and I eventually losing it on each other, like Piper and Finn had, and our stupid, stubborn pride would keep us from apologizing to each other and fixing it. Varan had been Falshade's friend first and foremost and although he would have tried his hardest to look after us he wouldn't be able to hold us all together for long as we deteriorated. Fraggle would hate the morose, tense atmosphere and eventually leave, unable to stand witnessing us fall apart and Wasp... as the rest of us split apart she'd have to just find her way, like Junko, and just fade into the background of life again, disappear from all knowledge.

If it were anyone but Falshade that wouldn't happen. Sure it would be horrible, life would be unbearable, but we'd hold together. If it were anyone but Falshade.

I looked back up at Stork, feeling tears of understanding now what he meant prick like hot shards in my eyes and he nodded at our unspoken understanding.

"Exactly. The Sky Knight can go on without their squadron." He said in a raspy voice. "Look at Starling. But the squadron... and god damnit you reach a point when you think you're all the same, there isn't a difference between you and your captain, things like ranks don't count. But there is a difference and you only see it when it's gone. The squadron can't go on without their Sky Knight, Feonix. At least, not like they ever did before."

His last statement reminded me of the Beast Keepers, who disliked their new Sky Knight and had permanent scars on their hearts because of the loss of their old one. They were still out there but were they really the same sort of squadron anymore? Were they as close to each other as we Gargoyles were, as the Storm Hawks had been? Could you ever come back from that, losing your Sky Knight? "Why does it have to be that way though?" I croaked. "Why can't we carry on without them?"

"Because that's how things are." Stork said, using cold, hard fact to back him up. "In this world there are only things that are and things that could be. It's like a law of nature, you know, like gravity and death."

I looked at him then and I felt some sort of connection deeper than any physical contact I've given him before, something reaching between the two of us and striking off these solid, blocky things in our hearts, the stains on our souls from all the things we now knew and understood. And for a second I could almost feel it, push my fingers into the tear in his heart and it felt familiar, because I'd grown up along the same sort of broken soul. I could feel it like I always used to feel it and felt a surge like acid in my veins, a horrible, burning sense of hopelessness and bitter sorrow that there was nothing for all the world I could do to fix it.

But I had to ask anyways, maybe because I wanted some sort of external force to give me an answer so the feeling wouldn't overwhelm me completely:

"So if there are all these things that can be." I said in a hard and yet somehow very young and small tone "Why doesn't anybody ever change it?"

* * *

"_Oh, there's another one, look, look, there it goes!" I exclaimed, grasping Falshade by the arm and shaking him, pointing at the bluish-white streak my shooting star left in the sky as it dropped down below the horizon line._

"_I see it, I see it." He assured me._

"_So how old are you again, nine?" Angel asked me snidely from Falshade's other side. "Seriously, we should get you some of those sparkler things and juice boxes too."_

"_What's wrong with juice?" Falshade asked in an objective tone before I could start arguing and I snorted instead._

"_Yeah god Cupcake, what do you have against juice?"I taunted. Unfortunately in the dark I hadn't noticed that he'd just filled his mouth with soda until I felt it splash against my arm. _

_I let out a shriek, hopping to my feet. "CALL _ME _CHILDISH?" I demanded, wiping at my arm desperately. "Oh god that was in your _mouth_ and now it's all over me ew ew ew ewwwww!!! Boy germs!"_

"_Oh yeah you're real mature, you still believe in cooties for god's sake." Angel snorted as Falshade laughed at my antics. I lunged forward and grasped Angel by the collar of his jacket, taking him down from the ledge where we'd been perched and crushing him into the gritty asphalt of the roof on which we were sitting. Laughing he rolled me over and pinned me under his hip bone, leaning over me to pluck at my hair. We scuffled with each other for a moment, both of us getting chewed up by the bits of gravel that were scattered over the cement (and for the record I'd only been kidding about boy germs)._

"_Well the both of you have done well at proving how very unchildish you are." Falshade said after a moment and the both of us cracked identical, deviant little grins. _

"_Oh please like there's nothing more mature then wrestling with a member of the opposite sex." I choked out because Angel was sitting on my stomach and both of them quirked an eyebrow at me._

"_What's that supposed to mean?" Angel asked me with a suggestive look in his eyes and I reached out to tug at the hair on his leg and with a yelp he rolled off me. "God damnit that bloody hurts you know!"_

"_So does having all your organs rupture."I said, getting up before he could sit on me again. "And by the way I meant opposite sex by a very large stretch of the imagination."_

"_So I wanted to talk to you guys about something." Falshade's voice cut between the two of us and we stopped in the act of reaching out to grab each other by the hair and throats to look at him._

"_Oh, yeah?" I asked, sitting beside him again. "What's that?"_

_He cleared his throat awkwardly, because I don't think he expected to have both our attentions so quickly and looked up at the inky sky, pushing his fingers though his hair distractedly. "Well..." he started after a moment. "I've been thinking lately, you know, about what I'm going to do after I finish at the Academy. My goal was sort of to... well I told you guys about my dreams and everything and that's the whole reason I wanted to be a Sky Knight in the first place, you know? Because I don't care what anyone else says, I really... I really think there's something bad out there, coming for us."_

"_We believe you." I reminded him quietly just to assure him that not the _entire_ Atmos was against him. Angel nodded in agreement._

_Falshade's mouth twitched into a sad sort of smile. "I know." He said. "And it means a lot to me. Anyways that was always my plan, after I became a Sky Knight you know, to build a squadron I guess because... because I don't think I can take this on on my own."_

_Angel and I exchanged a glance here, figuring what was coming._

"_So... I don't really want to ask anyone to come with me though, that's the thing. But I was thinking... well you two are like my best friends and... you guys didn't seem to have any, um, plans or anything, you know, after Angel finishes at the Academy too and Stork.... actually I don't know what you planned on doing, but... I was wondering, if you guys wanted too, well... I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me. You know... be part of my squadron."_

_A silence stretched between the three of us for a long time until Falshade glanced at us uneasily out of the corner of his eye and opened his mouth to say something and that's when I decided to say something first._

_Holding out my hand in Angel's direction I curled my fingers inwards pointedly. "That'd be twenty bucks, mister, cough up."_

_Angel muttered something to himself under his breath and dug through his pockets. "I've got nothing, I'll get you later."_

_Falshade was watching the two of us with a confused expression on his face. "You two... what? You knew I'd ask?"_

"_Yeah you're kinda predictable buddy, sorry." Angel said with a grin. I rolled my eyes._

"_Apparently he's not _that _predictable." I said pointedly. "He bet you wouldn't ask until after you completed the Trials." I explained to Falshade and Angel scowled._

_He blinked at me. "So what does that mean then, if you knew already?" he asked slowly._

_I smiled widely and grabbed his shoulders. "It means of course I'm coming with you, dummy! What, you think I'd let you have all the adventure to yourself? You really think I want to work at that shit hole for the rest of my bloody life?"_

"_Well I... seriously?" he said hoarsely, something like excitement shining in his eyes._

_I shrugged as if it weren't a big deal. "Yeah. Well I can't speak for both of us though." I added, turning back to Angel, who folded his arms._

"_Not that I don't like you or anything, Shade, but you seem to be forgetting I'm going to be a Sky Knight too." He said, meeting Shade's eyes and something apologetic flickered across his face. "So, you know..."_

"_Well I thought about that." Falshade agreed. "But I don't really care. We'll have two Sky Knights, whatever. I mean you and Stork would be like my wingmen anyways, what's it matter who's the Sky Knight?"_

"_Wing_people_." I corrected._

"_Wing_person._" Angel reminded me. "I haven't said yes yet."_

_I glared at him while Falshade fidgeted. "Well?" he prodded hesitantly._

_Angel seemed to weigh his options for a while until I wanted to smack him. He took in Falshade's anxious face and a grin wormed its way over his face. "What the hell, yeah, I'm in."_

_Falshade smiled with such genuine happiness it really went to my heart. He may have been a year older than me but he just seemed like such a god damn little kid too, and frankly it was adorable (but you didn't hear that from me). "I, um... I don't actually know what to say" he said, still smiling like a maniac and rubbing at the back of his neck sheepishly._

"_What you didn't have a speech prepared or anything?" Angel asked in mock surprise._

_I held out my hand again. "That's another twenty, Bucko."_

_Falshade laughed and abruptly stood up and somehow managed to grab me and Angel at the same time, dragging us into a collective hug so quickly the three of us banged heads off one another. I didn't really mind though._

"_Get off me!" Angel struggled loose, although he permitted Falshade's moment all of three seconds. "Ugh, affection."_

_I laughed and gave Falshade a bit of an extra squeeze before breaking away from him and jumping back onto the ledge of the roof, pulling him up by his hand and looking over the city square sprawled beneath us, all the twinkling little lights mirroring the starry sky above us. The sun was starting to come up in the distance so that a pale, orange ridge rimmed out the horizon, a semi-circle stretched as far as the eye could see, the whole wide Atmos out there beyond our out of the way terra._

_The whole Atmos, just waiting for us._

_With a bit of a shiver I hauled Angel up too and he stood next to me, arms folded still but something open about his face for once. "So I guess this is monumental." he said as if it bored him._

_I nodded anyways and then ruffled Falshade's hair teasingly. "Don't cry, Shade."_

_He swatted at me, grinning good naturedly. "I'll try."_

_The three of us looked out for a moment, over the tiny microcosm of our lives on this smallish terra and then out at the great expanse just waiting at our feet and for a second I got the feeling like the three of us were the only people in the world, just for a moment, and it made something flicker in my belly._

_Still clutching Falshade's hand I leaned out slightly over the edge of our building as if I could stretch closer to the open sky. "Well boys." I said, because I felt like someone ought to say something, and that's what I'm good at. "Looks like we're going to save the world."_

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I was trying to pay the utmost attention to every little inane thing I happened to be doing to avoid paying attention to anything else, AKA the fact that I was leaving.

It was early, I knew that. I hadn't managed to get a wink of sleep the night before and I'd finally snapped, summoning up enough will power to roll out of bed and prepare to sneak off for the second time in my life on someone I loved. Well, why break with tradition, right?

I kept pacing my room looking for things I wanted to take with me, like I had last time, because I kept forgetting that aside from my axes, armour and skimmer I had nothing else with me. It was more a drive for my brain to do something to occupy itself I guess and when one thinks 'leaving' they generally think 'packing' and that's what I ended up doing for about half an hour. Then I sat down and laced up my shoes meticulously, extra tight so that they were bound to me nearly form fittingly. Then I realized it was too tight and I ended up unlacing them just as scrupulously. I did that three times with each foot before I finally grasped my own fingers and pushed them backwards the wrong way to get them to stop. Then I clipped on all my armour and my remaining weapons, trying not to think about all the ways Angel was going to be angry with me for losing one of the throwing axes he'd worked so hard on and then went to lengths to make the wrists braces for the exact purpose of not losing them.

Then not thinking about Angel made me think about, you know, Angel, and then the others, and then how I was going back to them after all this time and leaving Stork and that led to me, embarrassingly, collapsing into tears, naturally.

So in the end it was a good thing I got up early, because I didn't end up leaving my room until two hours after I intended to.

The silence of Stork's underground home pressed in on my ears the way Fraggle, teasingly, used to cover my ears when he brought up something suggestive because he knew I hated hearing about his little escapades and his sexist jokes. I'd always hated the silence down here the whole time I'd been here. I was used to noise, man. But for some reason today it got to me worse than ever. I was trying to be stealthy for one thing and it was hard enough for me to go about doing anything suspicious around Stork because he had like a sixth sense of impending, teenage mischief as well as sensitive ears. But I mean try sneaking around in an echoing hallway with clanging armour clinging to your person in dead silence and tell me it's a piece of cake. And if you did I'd probably deck you in the face for being a filthy liar.

But I think what really got it was I'd made it a point to challenge the silence this whole time, talking extra loudly and turning on the radio whenever possible, trying to get Stork to laugh and even stomping a little when I walked, like how Wasp did when she wanted to announce her presence. And now it was like the silence _knew_ I was leaving it behind to torment Stork again and it was rubbing it in like a real sore loser and it gave me the desire to scream. So strong was the desire that I actually crept the whole way down to the hanger with my hand clamped over my mouth, just in case.

However, even after all my precautions, I was reminded of just how well Stork knew me by now when I slipped into the hanger and groped for the light switch, only to flick it on to find him sitting on the seat of my Hornet waiting for me.

"Well that took you longer then I expected." He said when I gawked at him, although I can't say I was entirely surprised. "I've been down here for five hours wondering when you'd finally try and make a break for it."

I cleared my throat, scuffing my foot on the floor. "Yeah, well..." I couldn't think of a good excuse. He knew anyways.

He got up and lifted a small, worn old backpack from the floor, holding it out in my direction as I came over hesitantly. "Here, for you." He said, not meeting my gaze as I took the strap gingerly from his fingers. "Just so you have some decent tools."

I tested the weight of the backpack in my hand, listening to the jangling of metal and I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to keep it together. "Thank you." I muttered brokenly.

"Well if you've been using Farely's tools all this time it's a wonder you skimmer stayed together as long as it did." He chided, feigning arrogance in the way he'd began using to mock me to try and cheer me up.

I snorted as I slung the backpack over my shoulder. "I thought your parts were too precious to be giving away." I reminded him and he shrugged indifferently, looking around his cluttered hanger sombrely.

"Material goods restrict the soul." He muttered like he was a real Zen guy or something. And this was coming from the dude whose soul mate was a bloody airship.

"Right." I said distractedly, running my hand over the new leather seat of my Hornet. "So... can I expect a new tracking device in here or have you stitched one up in my arm after all?"

The corner of his mouth twitched. "There's a new one, just like last time, trigged during impact. But don't count on me coming to save you all the time. You... you look after yourself, Stork."

Aw, jeez.... it was something about how he said my name. Lately he'd been calling me Feonix and I hadn't had it in me to snap at him about it. It had just fit the way things had shifted between us for him to start calling me by that name. But then he went and threw my real name at me again, the one Finn gave me and not the people who'd found me in the Scar. Feonix because I was a baby they found in the ashes. Feonix because I was supposed to be the rebirth of the Storm Hawks and then Flea when I wasn't enough. And then Stork and that was the one that stuck and for the life of me I can't tell you why.

Maybe it was because if I couldn't be Aerrow, no matter how much my eyes were his, then I could at least be Stork, I could still be one of them.

And I felt the tension and hurt simply crack like an egg shell and the next thing I knew I had my face buried in Stork's hard, boney shoulder and my arms around his neck, hugging him tighter then I'd ever hugged him before. And then he was hugging me back, not the nervous way he'd done before, but really hugging me, arms wrapped around my back and fingers pushing into my hair, and although there was still an unsure hesitance in his muscles

I could feel his heart pounding away through his narrow chest and I knew he meant this hug, that this time it was just as important to him as it was to me. He wanted this one hug too.

And I felt a little less idiotic about bursting into tears when I felt him sniffle next to my ear too. At least we could be bawl babies together, we two Storks.

We stood there, squeezing and snuffling until my knees started to shake and I felt him slide away from me slowly, carefully. The moment I had my arms free I wiped roughly at my face, smearing the tears and snot away as if I still had something to salvage.

"Listen." I started and my voice was rough and weak so I coughed messily and tried again. "Do you think you could do me a favour?"

"I'll try." Stork assured me and for once he wasn't wiping neurotically at the large wet spot I'd left on his shirt.

"Do you think you could... go and see my Dad for me? I know he'd liked to see you, he misses you and... can you tell him I'm alright and that I'm sorry I haven't gone back to see him and that I love him?" I spewed out, feeling more hot shards behind my eyes and blinked irritably, commanding myself to stop being such a girl about all this.

Stork let out a long breath and finally looked me in the face, taking in my tear stained cheeks and the shining unhappiness in my eyes. I knew that's what I looked like because I saw the same expression on his face.

"I'll see what I can do." He vowed at last. "I might not go back to see him, but I'll tell him what you've said, that I can do."

I nodded stiffly and tried to swallow down the sour lump in my throat. Stork gave me a sympathetic look and abruptly brushed some of my feathery hair back from my face in a real sort of tender, fatherly way, cocking his head and I felt like I was seven years old again, falling out of a tree or catching the flu and Finn was there to try and soothe me and take my pain away.

"How long has it been since you've been home, kiddo?" he asked gently and I sighed, wiping at my nose.

'_Three weeks.' _I wanted to say but I knew that wasn't the home he was referring to and so I said "Three years. What about you?"

He seemed taken aback by my last statement as if he'd forgotten that I wasn't a little kid but I was sixteen and I knew all his toxic secrets and sore spots just as he knew mine. But then he gave a small, sad smile and said "Sixteen."

I nodded. "Sucks... maybe we ought to go back one of these days. Go home."

"Maybe." He agreed even though we both knew it was a really big maybe.

I moved forward and hugged him again, but this time only briefly, a short, leaving sort of hug, the ones you can't linger with because then it gets too hard. "I hate goodbyes." I said honestly and he actually laughed.

"Me too." He ruffled my hair briefly.

I stradled the seat of my skimmer, securing the straps on the backpack as it pressed heavily into my Gargoyles emblem on my back (and the parachute beneath it. See I learn from my mistakes thank you). "Thanks for everything Stork." I said and although I still felt weepy I also felt determination thrumming in my veins, the strength I needed to leave.

"Yeah, you too. Take care of yourself." He instructed, stepping back to give me space.

"I'll do what I can." I compromised and watched him make his way to the lever on the walls. Flipping it down I had to squint against the glare of sunlight that flooded into the hanger as bay doors yawned open from the side of the terra. I started my engine and took strength from the reassuring sound of my Hornet thrumming away beneath me, rattling up my repaired arms.

But just before I was ready to take off I turned back towards Stork, who was watching from the wall. "Hey, Stork!" I shouted over my engine, that wonderful sound, always there to comfort me.

His ears pricked to show he was listening. "Things can always change." I shouted at him. "The sky is never the limit!"

His face seemed to crumple as another wave of tears simultaneously threatened to take over us both but he smiled, geniuenly smiled, and gave me a brief nod to show he'd gotten the message. I smiled back, mouthed 'I love you' and then saluted him before throwing my throttles forward, my newly repaired, glistening, beautiful baby Hornet hurling herself forwards and tearing out of the hanger to punch into the open sky once again. Wings unfurling fluidly I never looked back as I opened my throttles wide and gunned it away from the black hole of Stork's hanger in the side of Saharr. Now I only looked forward, the wind stinging my leaking eyes as a few more tears were sucked back behind me and then I blinked and they were gone. I was ready to go home. My home with the Gargoyles.

"I'm on my way, guys." I muttered into the wind. "I'm on my way back to you."


	21. Decadence

**21**

**Decadence **

**A/N: Man I am _so_ sorry this took me so long to get out, I meant to have it done sooner... anyways, not to give anything away but I must warn you the first set of italics in this chapter, the first flashback, is rated M for implied sexual material. Not, you know, all out descriptive stuff but... anyways just thought I should let you know. If you'd like to skip it just jump to the second set of italics. There be a x.x.x Three Weeks Later x.x.x dividing them. That is all.**

_**BOOM**_

_**Do you want it?**_

_**BOOM**_

_**Do you need it?**_

_**BOOM**_

_**Let me hear it**_

_**LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!**_

_**-Ladies and Gentlemen, Saliva**_

**x.x.x Wasp x.x.x**

_Wickett discovered it years ago. It was a way of moving, of breathing, when her lungs were burning and her muscles were bursting and trembling like raindrops over the earth and her ankles would cave outwards with every foot fall. It got to a point where her legs swung loosely, almost uncontrollably under her, and her feet would slide under her and each time she pressed her naked foot to the jungle floor her knee threatened to collapse under her weight. And if she pushed it past that she was free and she was nothing and everything all at once. She was in the tiny threads of a leaf and in the tiny cracks between a python's smooth, dry scales, she was the moss that spread over the trees like a pelt and she was the dark wedge of the pupil of an eagle as it spread its wings for flight. She was the moisture in the air and the heavy clouds in the sky, the shafts of sunlight that sliced like blades through the thick jungle canopy and she was the soft, hot earth that bent slightly beneath her feet as she hurled her body over it, pushing, reaching for something just out of grasp._

_She was the jungle; her spine was the mighty trees that stretched towards the heavens, her skin the fanning ferns under which tree frogs clung and alien spores released themselves onto the backs of the wind and passing animals. Her eyes were butterflies that danced and skittered over the foliage, wings flashing bright colours and her mouth was the hungry soil that painted her feet black and sucked up all the rain that cascaded down from the sky. Her heart was the roar of the jaguar and the heavy, sweet fruits that nourished the large, vegetarian bats and her blood was the rain, the constant, pouring, life-giving rain._

_She was the jungle._

_Luka didn't understand this. She tried to understand Wickett, more than the others did; she waited silently when Wickett stopped to mulch flower petals in her mouth and try and pick a flavour that spoke to her best and climbed the highest trees with her in search of birds' nests and snake skins. She'd been stung by the ground-nesting hornets due to Wickett's curious inspecting of their hives and had gnawed on patches of sour skin peeled back from blisters on her feet, symbols of every new inch of jungle land she'd explored alongside her adopted sister. But this was something that was Wickett's alone and even Luka couldn't understand how desperately and deeply Wickett loved the pounding of her aching heart when it could go no faster and yet she kept ploughing forward anyways, testing its limits. No one would ever love the jungle like Wickett did and she accepted this agreeably, because sometimes she liked being alone, stretched and loping along the borderline between body and soul._

_And so today Wickett was alone in the jungle, not hunting but running and leaping through her beloved homeland, her breathing tearing her lungs with every breath and her sides ready to split from the constant tugging of her muscular abdomen as she continued to hurtle along, leaping over fallen trees and tangling herself in vines, fighting her way through the tendrils, laughing and gnawing at the thick cords and shaking a praying mantis from her hair when she accidentally dislodged it._

_Her feet hit icy cold water as she plunged down the side of a small, earthy rut in the ground and hit the clear stream that had carved the ditch in the first place and finally she was forcibly stopped in her mad rampage through the jungle. Her feet slipped on the slimy rocks and she crashed down, the water exploding around her and shattering into bright, shining shards of liquid silver. Laughing her body moulded around the curves of the smooth stones as the water, oddly cool despite the balmy jungle air, swirled over her lovingly like the tightening of a boa's muscles, wrapping around her aching muscles so that they twitched and smarted at the abrupt change in temperature._

_Wickett dragged herself to the bank and shook her matting hair, tugging the leech free from where it had suctioned itself to her ankle in the short time she'd been in the stream. Popping the wriggling creature into her mouth she ground her teeth backwards, feeling its elastic body pull tight and burst between her fangs, her own warm blood rushing over the back of her tongue._

_After crouching by the edge of the stream and filling her mouth with cool water, Wickett glanced around, scenting the air. There was a family of golden-pelted tamarins springing along in the supple boughs of a younger cluster of trees nearby, chattering to each other in their high voices, several of which were carrying young on their backs. Further along the stream Wickett could scent a soft-shelled turtle hauling herself to the softer earth where her eggs wouldn't be washed away to make her nest. The sweet nectar of hundreds of species of flowers curled tightly in her nostrils and she could scent the approach of a coming thunderstorm on the winds. The entire jungle seemed to be fertile and Wickett stretched her fingers out as if she could brush everything, become a small fleck in all the new life that was growing in the jungle._

_Then she caught the scent of her most treasured hunting equals, the sacred jaguars that stalked the undergrowth in a manner the Faerieshians mimicked, the favoured creatures of their Goddess. A female was the one Wickett could smell now and it was moving away from her, deeper into the jungle towards the roots of the mountains that raised the trees even closer to the source of the rain and sun. This particular female had recently given birth, she could tell by the thick scent of milk that permeated its otherwise subtle aura and Wickett was overwhelmed by the desire to follow it, just to glimpse its kits. She'd seen full grown jaguars before but never their babies, which she was told often had blue eyes instead of bright green or her own amber of the adults. She wanted to see those eyes._

_So she scrabbled up the bank and set off in pursuit of the mother jaguar, moving at a different sort of pace now, swiftly but silently, never brushing a leaf or cracking a twig, her feet whispering along the soft earth, friend to those who wished to remain silent and undetected in the undergrowth._

_A tangle of gnarled roots stuck up from the ground ahead of her, a large, fallen tree felled by lightening. Pressing her mouth to the mighty trunk Wickett inhaled the scent of the mother jaguar's paws that had padded over this tree not too long ago, as well the musky scent of urine, the female's marker of her territory. Wickett's long fingers found cracks in the bark as she pulled herself onto the trunk and it was then that her nose, clogged with the stench of feline urine and decaying wood, detected another scent that made her muscles freeze._

_It too was musky but also bitter and made bile burn the bottom of her throat. She knew what this scent meant, she'd been taught it since she was old enough to walk; this was a border marker left by her own tribe mates, as they too had marked the edges of their own territory, a warning to opposing tribes to stay on their side. The tree stretched right across the boundary._

_Wickett glanced about, still huffing in the scent of the jaguar, which hadn't been past this place long and hadn't gone very far it seemed. She was sure that there was a space on the other side of her tribe's borders that was unmarked territory. Perhaps the jaguar's den was in this area and not on the neighbouring tribe's land? She really did want to see those kits._

_Nodding to herself she stepped lightly, cautiously, across the trunk, following it along until the first of the branches and heavy vines began to clog her pathway. Dropping from the trunk, knees bending and bringing her close to the ground, Wickett scented the air again, her mouth open, her mind still too swirled by the scent markers to discern much other then the direction of the female jaguar._

_Straightening up from the shelter of the fern boughs Wickett turned to continue her search for her quarry and felt herself go ram-rod straight at the sight of the creature before her._

_A strange Faerieshian stared back at her from about twenty paces away, face streaked with wet earth that made it look like they were decorated in war paint. It wasn't one of her tribe, she knew that, and a moment later she realized it wasn't even one of her gender._

_It was a male that stared back at her now and she couldn't tear her eyes away from the strange specimen. He didn't look so much different then she, she deduced after a moment, although he seemed larger somehow. Not taller; Wickett was unusually tall even by Faerieshian standard. But while her muscles, which were strung tightly over her bones, hugging them affectionately, where leaner and compact, his seemed to bunch in layers over his limbs, thicker and less subtle. His jaw line was squared and slightly wider, although he still had a very sleek, predatory facial structure. His eyes were rounder, his ears hanging longer, although ear shape differed between individuals and wasn't necessarily a gender trait. His chest was flat and bare and his hands and feet splayed like wide leaves, not as narrow as Wickett's own. But it was his scent that was really the difference between them; Wickett was used to the sharp, tangy aroma of females, something that shifted and changed as their bodies did. This male's was heavy, musky, his sweat more pungent and yet something vaguely spicy about it too, more like herbs then the resemblance to fleshy fruit that females wafted. It was foreign and yet familiar, the same type of creature and yet different from what Wickett had become accustomed to._

_She'd never seen a male in her life and the first thing that occurred to her that this was horribly wrong of her. Unless in war or during the Arcane, or unless she was one of the Lunar, she wasn't supposed to be anywhere near a male. It was the law. _

_But then she felt a terrible sense of excitement, like a young pup meeting another dog for the first time. Had this male maybe been on the track of the same jaguar? Was he alone because he too loved to stretch his being across every inch and angle of the jungle? Did he climb trees just to feel himself freed from the constraints of gravity, did he collect snail shells and brightly coloured stones?_

_Chin titled upwards in non-threatening gesture, ears hanging loose and jaw muscles relaxed, Wickett took a small step forward. The male, body posture similarly lax, approached her as well until the two of them were close enough to circle each other, examining each other from a respectful distance. Their eyes connected for a brief second and Wickett felt something resonate in her mind, a click like a leaf parting company from a twig._

_But then that reverberation became a shift and just like that things changed._

_She never really knew how or when it happened; she'd been distracted, the scent of mother jaguar and border markers plugging her nose like mud, her barriers down due to curiosity, her god damn curiosity, confusion and desire to explore this new possible friendship taking over her common sense. But suddenly he was in her face, crushed up against her body, thrusting her back against a tree so that the bark cut into her back, his body pressed flush against hers._

_She stared at his face, her ears moving back against her head, a warning sign. But he ignored it and when she lifted her hands to shove against his chest, to force him away she felt brute strength like the large muscles of a rothe snapping into action shove back as his arm crushed up against her throat, airways tightening, and pinning her against the tree. Feeling slightly lightheaded and shocked by his ability to take over her body like this she snarled, stirring up leaves and earth as she clawed at the ground, legs pumping in hopes to tear her free from her captor, who she no longer wanted to befriend. Now she only felt a burning anger thrumming in her veins, inflating her muscles and she continued to struggle, snapping at his face and ramming her knee into his thigh repeatedly. He grabbed a handful of her hair and forced her head back into the tree trunk, hard, rattling her senses._

_And then his hand left her hair and came to the corded strap of woven hide that held her tanned hide garment around her chest and tore it aside and Wickett's body stiffened, stunned, as she felt her breast become exposed abruptly. She was used to being naked among her tribe, but in the presence of this male it startled her, her own nudity, and suddenly her own flesh seemed like a bad thing, the curve of her smallish breast, the points of her little brown nipples, her row of ribs and ridges of her sleek abdominal muscles... all these things she'd never been afraid to expose before were suddenly things she thought should be hidden._

_He stared at her, his nostrils flared as if her skin was giving off some sort of alluring scent. She realized his eyes were a burnt orange colour, like the dusty wings of a butterfly she'd chased after earlier that day and she wondered if that was an omen that she'd ignored. Those orange eyes prodded at every exposed inch of her flesh and his hand moved now to squeeze harshly at her left breast and she felt pain shoot through her chest as if he'd jabbed her with a spear. Something about this was very wrong, her instincts were telling her. She knew it was wrong, it felt that way, hot electricity just under her skin, warning her but at the same time zapping the power from her muscles, the power that allowed her to close off the airways of a fleet deer and tear away pythons and vines that wrapped around her, threatening to choke her. The muscles that dragged her haphazardously through the jungle and propelled her up trees and wrestled playfully in the arms of her adopted sister._

_When she hunted or was running like she was only a short while ago, sometimes her mind shut down and her muscles, her body, protected her and directed her with only the simplest and most subliminal of signals and then she was primal and fierce, only separated from being an animal because of her pale skin and bipedal limbs. But something horrible happened then and Wickett's body was the one to shut down and leave her completely alone with nothing but her thoughts, which blossomed with black stains like a fungus that grew over vegetation and destroyed the plant's leaves, their solar receptors. Her body left her as this male, this not-friend, leaned into her, her loincloth torn to the side and his pulled away completely. He leaned into her and she felt pain rip through her insides and she struggled, leg twitching in surprise but his arm clamped her down harder and she felt hot shame in her gut that this male had her overpowered, caught by surprise. But her body was gone now and as he thrusted and pushed himself further into her body she didn't understand _why _he was doing this to her and her confusion overwhelmed her as her head reeled, images of torn carcasses and this male's heavy, rank scent rushing up her nose like cold fingers, clawing at the lower places in her brain as some other part of him clawed at other lower places in her. And all the while she didn't understand what he was doing to her, she only knew it was wrong._

_His breath heaved and jerked erratically and he kept pushing into her until she felt like her insides were being burned back, folding away from him and she suddenly could smell her own blood in the air. And as he suddenly inhaled sharply as if he were trying to suck down her very aura her mind turned into a high, black wall and she didn't know anything anymore as she felt something foreign and sickly warm splash over her insides. And then he was gone and she was alone without even her mind anymore, just her shell of a body and something starting, already, to form in her lower body._

_She was aware of her legs coming back to her senses hours later as thunder began to roil in the clouds above her and cold rain hit her hard like the sting of wasps and she felt herself get up and start walking, no longer the silent, stalking predator she used to be, no longer the jungle but some confused, broken, empty thing pushing itself like a cancer through it, unwanted, leaves avoiding her touch and the rain cascading around her but never touching her._

_Like a cancer something started to grow inside of her._

**x.x.x Three Weeks Later x.x.x**

"_You have to go to the Lunar."_

_Wickett gave her sister a sour look. "It won't do any good. Arcana already thinks I'm an abomination, have you seen the way she looks at me?"_

"_You have to do something, Wickett!"Luka hissed at her, frustration in her eyes. "It's been over a Cycle and you haven't yet had your Blood! You know what that means!"_

"_It doesn't mean anything, I've been late before-"_

"_And I suppose the fact that you laid with a male has nothing to do with it." Luka's voice was cutting and Wickett inwardly winced before she crushed her sister into the earthen floor of their hut, a snarl on her face._

"_Keep your voice down!" she snapped. It hurt that Luka threw that comment at her the way she had, like a thorny tendril. After days of fretting over her, stroking her hair and cuddling her as Wickett stared off into nothingness, stone faced, Luka finally coaxed the truth from her and her reaction was not exactly the one Wickett wanted. She didn't seem to understand that Wickett hadn't actually lain down with him or anything of the sort. She hadn't even known what he'd been doing until she repeated everything to Luka and saw the realization dawn in her sister's brown eyes._

_Luka's hackles came up but her eyes were shining with tears. "I just don't know what to do!" she said helplessly, her voice remaining low but nonetheless piercing with anxiety._

_Wickett sighed and slid off her. "Neither do I." She whispered._

_Luka crawled over beside her and sucked on her ear gently, trying to convey comfort. "There are herbs you can take, they'll kill the babe inside you." She said and Wickett tore herself away from her, eyes stretched wide._

"_No."_

_Luka made an exasperated noise. "Wickett you can't keep trying to delude yourself! You're scent has changed, I can smell it, and you haven't had your Blood! You are with child and if the Lunar find out before you tell them they'll exile you!"_

"_You don't think they won't if I tell them?" Wickett snapped back. "They'll kill my child and I'll be lucky if they don't kill me too, Arcana's been looking for an excuse to get rid of me, I know it-"_

_Luka grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "You're insane!" she informed her. "You already met with a male, if don't tell them you'll definitely be killed! You can't hide this from them for long!"_

"_I didn't want to..." Wickett whispered to herself. "I didn't want him to..."_

_Luka snorted as if she didn't believe her. "That doesn't matter now does it? What matters is putting this right! I don't want you to be exiled, Wickett, what would I do without you?"_

_Wickett looked up at the fear and anxiety in her adopted sister's face. "I'm not going to Arcana." She said sternly. The Immortal would tear the child to shreds the moment it was born and then she'd tear Wickett's heart out and swallow it whole, no matter how many times Wickett told her she hadn't wanted it, hadn't meant to do what she'd done. What _he'd _done._

"_And yet you won't get rid of the thing yourself either! You always said you didn't want a child, why-"_

"_It wasn't the choice of the child to be conceived. Why should I pay for the mistake with its life?" Wickett asked quietly, clenching her toes into the dirt beneath her._

_Luka's slap stung like nettles and suddenly the two females were on top of each other, snarling and slinging drool over one another in slippery strings, teeth snapping shut next to ears and throats threateningly, blunt nails splitting the skin on arms and backs until Wickett finally slammed Luka down beneath her, her larger bones providing her with the weight she needed to keep the smaller Faerieshian pinned._

"_I'm frightened for you!" Luka wailed and Wickett clamped a bloody hand over her mouth._

"_Don't be. Listen, I've got an idea." She said, trying to squelch down the fighting instincts that had flared up in her belly. "The Arcane is two Cycles from now... I'll join the Arcane and pretend I conceived the child then."_

_Luka's eyes opened wide and Wickett released her grip on her mouth._

"_Wickett that's too long, the Lunar will find out what's going on long before then and even if you do get away with it how are going to explain giving birth to a fully developed child three Cycles early?"_

"_I'll worry about that then." Wickett said, who hadn't really thought of that yet. Sliding off Luka for a second time she hunched up on the floor, trying to ignore the tight feeling in her lower stomach, the presence of her growing baby already making itself known to her insides. "There are leaves I can eat that'll mask my scent..." she went on as Luka paced past her tightly, calf muscles flexing sharply._

"_I'll join the Arcane with you." She said suddenly and threw herself into her sister's longer arms. Wickett bit on the knobbly vertebrae at the back of her neck condolingly as if their positions were changed, as if Luka were the one with a child developing inside her, growing a little more every day, as if she were the one whose throat was exposed and the blade was pressed in tight, ready for the final slice._

"_What good will that do?" Wickett asked as Luka's hipbone pressed in against the third member of their little gathering and Wickett, for a second, imagined she could feel something stir._

"_At least then you won't be alone." Luka muttered as if this should have been obvious. She plucked at Wickett's baby toe. "What are you going to do about your Blood though?" _

_Wickett stood so suddenly Luka was sent splaying over the compacted earth of their floor. Grabbing one of her hunting fangs from where they were hanging among the hides that acted as their shelter, Wickett pinched at some of the flesh of her upper thigh, right before it curved in towards her pelvis and drew a long line along her flesh. Her thick, crimson blood, full of rich jungle air, rolled to the surface and made a slow crawl down her thigh like the trail of a slug._

_Then Wickett dropped her blade to the floor unceremoniously and strode out, ignoring her sister's yowl of complaint, demanding her to stay, and headed towards the jungle, deciding not to tell her that she was already alone._

* * *

_Her body crashed to the earth so hard and soundly, almost every part of her connecting at the same time, that she barely even felt the impact. The dark sky was lit up by a blazing streak of lightning followed by the mighty, hungry roar of thunder that shook the inside of Wickett's head hard enough to make her teeth go soft and she clenched her jaw muscles, pushing her face into the wet soil as rain hammered down all around her like pieces of the stars torn down and thrown towards the earth below, just as she'd thrown herself down._

_Stretching out her arms she wound her fingers around the stems of nearby plants and into the soft dirt, coolness seeping up from the floor and into her body as if she were devouring it. As her mouth filled with tears she heard the roaring of a jaguar off in the distance, calling out for her kits, the sound mixing with the wind and the rumblings of the trees and turning to liquid, hot and bright like pain or shooting stars, and it swelled, sloshing through her veins until it moved right to her womb and filled her up with something like heat, only it was too hard to be heat. The thunder shook the earth below her until all her bones shattered and her skin was torn apart by the vibrations and she sank into the earth itself and became feathers and decaying flesh and the sap in the limbs of the mighty trees, and she mixed into the very pulse of the jungle until she could taste everything that moved, breath for breath, she could see every smell painted loudly behind her eyes and she could feel every sound as it attached itself to the grooves along the edges of her fingernails and between her fangs._

_And as the jaguar's lonely, brave call echoed again in the top of her nose she prayed that her child would absorb some of this raw energy through her blood and love the jungle in the same starved, singular, throbbing way that she did._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My current pose: arms bent at the elbow, fleshy upper part of the arm that I can't recall the name of right now pressed flat to the cold, indifferent steel of the _Merlin_'s deck. Wrists pushing back against the solid railing as if my bones and the bones of the ship's structure are testing each other's strength. Fingers sort of tipped up like I was trying to make a shadow puppet or praying to whatever that guy's name is that people around our ship in particular pray to a lot, although not for anything good I assume from the way they use his name. Between my knobbly fingers I was cradling my Eight Ball so that the little circular spot, like a Cyclops's eye, was staring directly back at me. The rest of me was also stretched over the steel, suctioned down as if magnetized, so I can feel the vast expanse of space below me sucking a hollow spot, a slowly widening black hole, in my gut. It was weird to think that thousands of feet below me there was finally ground; it didn't seem all that far, even way up here. Must be an optical illusion sort of thing.

I was having a bit of a staring contest with my Eight Ball actually, which I had a sneaking suspicion was mad at me. I usually win at staring contests but I had a feeling I had my work cut out for me against the unyielding, unblinking eye of the Eight Ball. My eyes were stretched wide and it seemed my mind was following suit and was oozing itself over a multitude of planes at once and striking off anything within reach: as I fought to keep my eyes open I thought about how Varan had seemed somehow more stable lately, his spine long and straight and a peaceful sort of demeanour taken up residence inside his eyes, as opposed to the constant fret he usually carried. It made me happy inside to see him like that.

I also thought about, when thinking about Varan, how I'd freaked out on him the other day when he'd tried to clean my arm. It had seemed weird to me when I thought about it because I mean as much as I didn't like the acrid smell of that alcohol I'd never felt myself recoil like I had to it before. It was the way he'd been holding it I was sure; it reminded me of that bloody doctor coming at me with instruments of death gripped in his hand like his fingers were the scalpels and syringes he plunged into flesh, like they were a part of him. That had set off some sort of trigger, like a tumbler falling in place, and I got yanked back in time, or at least some subconscious part of my head did and it made me limbs and mouth start moving while the rest of me trembled, confused. And during that time I'd not only managed to convince the others I was exactly as much a psycho as they thought I was, I'd called Angel Rainer. I'd blipped him, the two of them moving over each other and meshing together like looking at an original copy of a sketch though tracing paper. Angel became Rainer, or Rainer became Angel, and I blipped them both, lost in the space/time continuum as I was. And now, looking back on that, I felt bile bubbling scoldingly in the back of my nose. I felt like I'd committed some sort of sin; I'd told Angel he'd reminded me of Rainer but I'd also told myself I wouldn't confuse the two. So what did this mean if there I was calling one the other and clinging to memories of one while the other was pressed in close to my side or showing me a rare flash of a smile, sun shining through his teeth?

_**It means you're only meant to walk among the dead, Eris. Surely you knew that?**_

_No, no, no! I... I'm not like that. I know the difference. I know my own heart. Leave me alone. Leave me alone, for the love of god, leave me alone..._

Shaking my head I thought about other things: the pictures Rainer used to draw of me, cartoon-ish and with large eyes, peering over the edge of a cupcake wrapper; '_You are my little piece of sunshine in a cupcake wrapper, you don't even need the sprinkles'_. That was from one of his favourite poems from his book of collective poetry. I thought about what I'd told Falshade, about the dead talking, and the dangerous implications that had caused, I thought about Chaos Theory and what is had to do with dragons who suddenly stop talking and the chances of thunderstorms, I thought about body language and secret messages that are only available if you look hard enough for them and I thought about all the different ways a person can die. The body is a fragile, complex thing if you really think about it, functioning at a balance somewhere between enough electrolytes and metabolic rate. Life is one of the most difficult things to give and there's only one way to do it, or two now if Angel's theory, which had sounded to me like something from one of Rainer's sci-fi novels and therefore had fascinated me, was right. But there are so many ways that life can be stolen away again, right from between your fingers; a hand around your throat or over your mouth and nose, a quick jerk of the neck to the side, the heel of a palm square in the right part of your nose, shoving splintered bone into your brain and fangs closing around your jugular so that the elastic vein expands slightly and then bursts like a water balloon, sling-shoting blood into the back of your mouth. That wasn't even considering weapons or accidents either. How strange that we push these delicate capsules around without even thinking at any moment we could die, that we force ourselves into deadly situations and the highest of places and somehow come back still breathing.

Well, sometimes...

"I guess I'm in a bit of a morbid mood." I explained to my sleeve. "Which is weird, right?"

_Right_.

I blinked by accident and let out a defeated sigh. Focusing on my Eight Ball I figured there must be a reason for my brittle state of mind today. I hadn't even woken up with it, but it had slowly crept up from the base of my spine, a chilly feeling like a spider nestled at the back of my neck subtly. I'd lived too long and crashed through too many barriers to ignore my gut instincts and I took this as an omen, even if I didn't understand it. So I was consulting the Eight Ball for clarity. In the old days it had a way of warning me of little things, like my own personal fortune cookie, telling me to watch out for cracks in the sidewalk and men with hats. Maybe this feeling was one of these smaller omens, more like friendly advice or points of guidance then a real warning. Shadowfax would have understood it but he didn't say anything anymore and I was didn't understand sign language.

However my Eight Ball was in a bad mood. I suppose being shaken all the time will do that to you. It wasn't being very clear and it was reminding me of the time Rainer had looked into the ink inside and said curiously "I demand a sacrifice?" before shrugging and clawing at my heart teasingly while I squealed with laughter.

I gave it a brief rattle in my cramping fingers, which were going a little tingling from lack of blood. "What's going on?" I asked as the little pyramid inside clanged against the glass with an answer.

"_Something's going to happen."_

"Things only happen to me when it's raining." I reminded it. "And besides, things are always happening."

"_You know the answer, you coward."_

Ouch. Well that was rude. "The answer to what?" I whispered.

"_That bullshit thing you've been working on with the Sky Knight."_

I wrinkled my nose. "I didn't ask about that! What's going on today? I feel something in the air, like tension, and I want to know why. It's bothering me." The last bit came out like a pleading for help, like a small child. Going with the flow was my usual style but this feeling made me think I had to act otherwise or something bad was going to happen.

_**Is this fear, Eris?**_

"Shut up! I'm not talking to you!" I snapped and twisted so fast something in my back made a popping noise and threw my Eight Ball against the wall of the _Merlin_, feeling betrayed. Arms now free I wrapped them around my head, grabbing the back of my collar and pulling it up over me like I was making a blanket fort, murmuring soothing things to myself.

"This sucks." I croaked.

"Wasp?" Falshade's voice startled me out of my moment of self pity and I struggled free of my coat, looking up at him where he was hanging out the door to the bridge. I pricked my ears in his direction to show I was listening.

"Come inside honey, okay?"

I issued a sigh and placed my palms flat on the deck, pushing myself to my feet and skulking my way onto the bridge obediently because there was nothing left for me out here anyways besides my irate Eight Ball, which was no doubt even more cranky since I'd bounced it off the wall.

"Thank you." Falshade said as the door slammed shut behind me. "It's just now that we're done breakfast we're heading out again and it gets cold out there... why are you soaking wet?"

I picked up a few strands of my ever-matting hair, which by now resembled baby dreadlocks, and sucked some of the remaining moisture out of them. "I was playing make-believe." I explained in a muffled voice. Well I had been until Varan found my sitting comfortably in the bottom of the tub with the water pouring down on me like warm rain and had told me I was going to get sick if I walked around with my clothes all wet. I responded by telling him my immune system was like a rock and then scooted out of there because I figured he hadn't gone in there to chat with me and wanted privacy. I'd only been in the shower because my skin was starting to ache for the rain and when the prickly, uneasy feeling had first started rolling dice in my stomach I thought maybe a bit of meditation would help. But the feeling had persisted, my inner organs tightening unhappily so I'd sought out my Eight Ball.

"... I'm confused." Falshade said and I remembered I was paying attention to him.

"I was pretending it was raining. Doesn't rain much out here, you see. It's sort of boring."

Angel, who was leaned up against the bookshelves in the corner, spoke up then. "We'll if memory serves me then... god damnit, hold on a second." He paused for a second to rub his back against the shelves which made me imagine him as a dark, tortoise-shell patterned tom cat for a second. After a moment he made a frustrated noise and spun around, reaching for a spot on his back. "Argh! I can't reach it... Shade help a brother out would you, I'm dying here."

Falshade rolled his eyes and tapped Angel's back to demonstrate his compliance. "Where?"

"Like right in the middle of my spine..." he trailed off and let out a sigh of relief when Falshade scratched the spot he'd motioned to. "Thanks man, that's been driving me crazy all morning, I think I got bit by a spider or something..."

"Yeah, no problem. So what were you going to say?" Falshade asked and grabbed four of my fingers in one hand playfully when a poked him in rapid succession.

"Right, what I was going to say was the area Repton gave us coordinates to is known for erratic weather, full of monster storm systems because of plasma flares from the Wastelands and conflicting air currents and shit like that. Which is probably why Cyclonis chose to have posts there, the area's mostly uninhabited and isn't good for shipping lanes..."

"Plus, you know, cyclones, storms, get it?" I added and Falshade laughed, ruffling my hair.

"You should do stand up girly, seriously." Angel told me sarcastically and I stuck my tongue out at him. "Anyways long story short that means we'll probably run into at least one storm system on our way through."

My ears pricked up in excitement, paranoid mood fractured for the moment, at the thought of impending thunderstorms. Oh man and we'd be right up in the clouds while they were making all that commotion, close enough to see a storm in action from the _inside_, like a body pumping blood and digesting... wow. I wonder if we'd be close enough that I could reach out and catch a bolt of lightning, smell the thunder, see the rain swelling in the black thunderheads...

Falshade seemed to have other thoughts on his mind though. "...Airships can't get hit by lightning can they?" he asked and I wrinkled my nose, not having thought of that. I'd learned from Rainer's sci-fi books that metal conducted electricity and I knew that the _Merlin_ itself was probably about eighty percent metal (Stork would have known the right percentage and I felt a stab of pain in my chest at the thought that I couldn't ask her) and therefore it didn't take much to put two and two together.

"Sure, happens all the time eh. But we're alright in here, electricity only flows over the outside of the _Merly_." Fraggle explained and Falshade nodded to show his understanding, looking relieved.

"I'm surprised you actually knew that." Angel decided to report and Fraggle gave Falshade a pointed look which Falshade responded to by leaning over to cuff Angel playfully around the head.

"All the same though, lightning's not what you gotta worry about eh. Wind sheers, turbulence and bad visibility are what you gotta watch for, but ya know I've flown in some pretty rough gales there eh, so no worries."

Angel snorted. "Well then we're no more concerned than we are when you're flying in regular conditions."

Fraggle gave Falshade the look again but Falshade, after a moment of consideration, said "I gotta give him that one, Fraggle."

Fraggle made a huffing sound and I patted his head sympathetically.

"Well it's probably best to avoid any big storm cells all the same, if we see any. Shit happens and what not." Falshade added after a moment of thought.

Angel made a noise of complaint. "That'll eat up time."

"Well knock on wood then, eh, and hope we get a clean shot through." Fraggle suggested and Angel nodded before reaching over to rap his knuckles on the side of Falshade's head, which of course caused the two of them to start tussling with each other. This made me smile inside, glad that their friendship hadn't seemed to suffer any damage after what Angel had done; I loved witnessing how much those two adored each other. Secretly though I was going to do one selfish little guilty thing and hope we _did_ end up going through at least one storm unavoidably; you wouldn't believe how good it is for your soul to pulse with the rhythm of a good thunderstorm once and awhile. It enjoys the chaos, the change of pace.

I watched Fraggle glance at the compass about three times like he was trying hard to remember something before he cleared his throat sheepishly. "...Did anyone give me any directions there eh?"

Angel struggled free of the half-nelson Falshade had him in with an eye roll. "Yes. _Twice_ actually. Do we have to speak slower or something? Or do you want a map with dotted lines and X's?"

Fraggle gave him a sour look. "Watch your mouth there, little man, or as soon as I have my hands free I'll put a nice big dent in your forehead."

While to two of them argued with each other and discussed the best course to the closest of the five terras Repton had given us the coordinates for, which were circled by bold, red marker on our map, I felt something near the back of my head and twirled around, hand in a Sky-Fu pose, thinking it was the gremlins again.

Falshade waved slightly, his other hand at a level that was about even with his nose next to him. "Didn't mean to spook you, sorry. How tall are you Wasp?"

I looked down at my boots, trying to judge the distance. "Hmm... tall-ish I guess." I reported and Falshade grinned.

"No like height wise. Like I was about six one last I checked and your almost as tall as me. Are all Faerieshians like you?"

_**Oh my now isn't that an interesting question. Why don't you explain to him exactly how you're unlike any of your kind?**_

I shrugged. "Nah. I'm just big." I had a theory that this was because I wasn't born in the traditional way; I hadn't been squished during birth, the usual entrance to the world, nor had I spent the same amount of time as the other Faerieshians had in my mother's womb. I figured this meant my bones had gotten bigger and harder without being constricted for as long by my mother's taught flesh.

"Huh. You're pretty tall for a girl. Like hell you could be a model." Falshade said and I snorted. I'd seen pictures of models in magazines, alien creatures of frailty and beauty, all sharp bones and spindly limbs, cheek bones jutting out exotically and dark make-up giving their faces the impression of skulls, tight-lipped, elegant skulls on long legs.

"Are you joking? I'm too wide." I said, curling my fingers into the indents next to my large hip bones. I liked my thick skeleton to be honest, it made me feel heavier and less breakable. Then again I'd loved the soft, flowing figures of Fli and Stork, with their delicate, feminine hips curved out like the sleek muscles of a jaguar, a natural angle that your eyes glided down like their skin was shining, golden liquid. But there tinier, more fragile skeletons had also frightened me and made me feel I had to protect them from the heavier forces and sharp corners of the world that I seemed so immune too.

"Oh god I can't even picture you trying to walk in a pair of stilettos either." Angel added and I nodded gratefully. Fli had been able to walk in a sexy sort of slink in dangerously tall heels like it was nothing, but I knew my knees would be too wobbly and I'd break my ankles in any sort of shoe that's only support were thin fabric straps. Plus how were you suppose to run or deliver a good roundhouse in those sort of shoes?

"Nah I think you pull it off. Go on Wasp, do a model walk." Falshade instructed teasingly and I straightened up so my back cracked loudly, arms out to the side and did a weird sort of strut across the bridge, placing one foot in front of the other with exaggerated effort so I clomped along like I had a terrible limp, as if one leg were shorted then the other. I went a few feet before I spun back around and bowed. "Tah da!"

Falshade laughed and Angel flashed me a smile. I grinned crookedly in return and realized I felt very happy that I was laughing and joking around like this. It had been a long time since I'd done had that sort of relationship, where all present could be serious and sober at one point in time and then completely ridiculous and at peace at another. I'd missed it I realized now, and although before I hadn't minded simply drifting in that way of mine through life with the Gargoyles, on the fringes, simply revelling in their presence, I liked this new acceptance too, the tightening of our bond like a string tied around each of our fingers, connecting us.

"Hey, you lazy toads! If you're gonna eat the food I'm gracious enough to make you you should at least help me with the dishes you used!" Varan hollered from the kitchen and Falshade went off down the hallway to help him out. Angel checked to make sure Fraggle was on course and then approached me.

"So are you okay? Saw you kinda freak out on that Eight Ball out there." He said and I worried my teeth against my lip ring, sucking on the taste of metal, which always reminded me of blood.

"I've got a prickly feeling today. Like I swallowed bottle caps. A whole bunch." I explained and Angel cocked his head.

"Like uneasy?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that. My Eight Ball wouldn't tell me why though."

"Well inanimate objects can be jerks that way." He said and I flicked my ear in agreement.

"It's just too bad Shadowfax doesn't talk to me anymore. He'd understand. Hey do you know sign language?"

Something flashed in Angel's eye. "Who's Shadowfax?" he asked slowly.

"He's my friend. You met him, the silver dragon, you know? On the shelf in my room." I reminded him, although maybe he hadn't noticed him when he'd been in there; he'd been rather distraught after all.

"And he talks to you." Angel clarified and I shook my head sadly.

"Not anymore. His voice went away." I elaborated like I was speaking at a funeral for someone. I took in the look Angel was giving me and at first thought he might have been trying to share in my grief. But then I recognized the hesitation, the downward tilt in the corner of his mouth, the sort of unsure look of empathetic fright that Rainer had given me the day I'd told him I could hear someone telling me nasty things when I wasn't looking. I knew what that look meant.

_**Of course you do. You should be used to it by now, you abomination, you freak of nature**_

"I'm not a freak..." I whispered, although that never had really hurt my feelings before. It only got to me when that upstairs voice said it, but then, it got to me when it said anything. It was at home up there, stretching out over my space of living and poking sharp little holes into all the private things I wanted to keep to myself and it wore down my patience, day after day, like tide on a shard of glass. So sometimes, the words just got to me, tapping away at the sorest inner places of my bones or shredding the careful moth wings of my thoughts to pieces between its blunt teeth.

Angel gave me an apologetic look. "I didn't say you were." He assured me softly, even though it hadn't been his fault.

I shook my head and took a step back from him and he looked genuinely upset. His mouth moved as if he were going to say something and I was suddenly desperate to hear it, to know what he was going to tell me, if he had some sort of magic words that'd make everything make sense.

But then the radio made a crackling noise, like the sky heavy with impending lightning.

Angel and Fraggle turned towards it and I tilted my ears in its direction as well, curious. After a moment of silence Fraggle turned to Angel.

"Was that someone trying to get through you think? Should we try and pick up the signal, eh?"

Angel shook his head. "No. They're tracking us somehow, remember? It might be them."

_Them._ That one little word made a jolt of ice jab at the base of my spine, my stomach turning over like an uneasy watchdog. Suddenly my own mind was an Eight Ball, inky black except for one white blotch with those four simple letters etched into the back of my eyeballs.

_Them. _

The radio made an angry snapping sound again and this time, on the very edge of the static, I caught the sound of a voice making some sort of sound, a flutter of outside contact before it was gone again.

Fraggle's ears seemed to leap from the sides of his head. "Did anyone else here a voice in that?"

"Falshade!" Angel shouted down the hall before approaching the radio hesitantly, although he made no move to pick up the mic.

"What?" he asked as he and Varan appeared on the bridge. By way of answer the radio emitted another annoyed hiss of sound and this time we actually heard something tangible:

"...fzzztguys?ktcht..."

All four of them seemed to go ram rod straight and froze as if turned to stone. My heart was whirring too fast for me to hold still though. I turned on my heel and made my way to the hanger just as I heard Falshade utter in a very brittle voice behind me: "...Did... did that sound like Stork to any of you?"

"Wasp?" I heard Angel call after me but then the doors were clanging shut and I was striding with a very stiff-legged and demanding purpose, approaching my Gremlin after snapping the door control upwards.

"Something is going to happen." I repeated to myself, understanding now, my blood pounding around all my organs hard enough I could feel it in five places at once, muscles snapping tight and absorbing extra oxygen, survival instincts clicking in like the flash in the eye of a predator. My engine roared hungrily and I twisted my wrists so hard it hurt, pushing the throttles forward and my front tire banged against the lower bay door which was still in the process as yawning open as I sped out onto the runway and hauled myself upwards, shooting into the sky like some deformed bird, wings snapping out with a groan of the gears, wind tangling affectionately in my hair and blasting scent into my nose.

"Wasp!" Falshade's voice was coming from under my wrist but I barely heard him as I climbed into the air above the _Merlin_, inhaling deeply, mouth parted to absorb more molecules, eyes focusing and then unfocusing on every little patch around me. The hair at the back of my neck was standing up and I could feel my hackles twitching around my fangs, metallic, salty blood in the back of my mouth, adrenaline howling like a guitar solo or a hurricane in my veins, wrapping around me, my ally, my friend.

"What are you doing? What's going on?" Falshade was saying as I twisted around, still looking, still searching.

"Something's out there." I growled softly, like I was hunting again back in the deep, secret places of the jungle, the scent of prey on the air, the feel of bloodlust in my gut.

"Where? Do you see anything? We have nothing on the scopes..." I heard him talking to the others as my spine started to quiver, my muscles throbbing, my heart banging against my ribs in a way that seemed too fast and yet very slow at the same time so that it was like it wasn't there at all, it was just me, just me and my hunting fangs, Throatknotch and Carnivore, just me and all my feral, violent energy rearing and snapping like caged dogs.

And that's when I made the mistake that I should have learned from after making it a few times before. There were times when I could trust nothing but my legs or my fangs, others when I could trust nothing but my nose. But today, with the scent of so many things on the wind, I forgot to trust my ears until I heard the air shift below, a rapid changing in dynamics as something large thrust itself through the careful pattern of the sky.

And I looked to the only place I hadn't been searching, down, and saw a dark shape loom up under the _Merlin_ like a fish taking a fly from the surface of the water.

"LOOK OUT!!!" I screeched but I was miles too late.

There was a horrible, wrenching sound of steel meeting steel as the bottom of our airship was pounded and thrust upward by the nose of a much larger battle cruiser, sparks flying, screeches erupting from every point of contact. And the _Merlin_, so much the smaller of the two, was nearly flipped right over on her back like a turtle. I could hear the boys yelling from here before the engines came to life and sent the _Merlin_ shooting forward, away from the larger ship as it made a slow arc to right itself and come back for round two.

My ear, as if in control of itself, flicked back and alerted me to a buzzing sound in the nick of time and I threw myself right over the front of my skimmer, flinging myself free of the seat and flipping right over, hands wrapped in a death grip around the handles so that my Gremlin flipped over in a similar fashion I did and by some law of physics that I'll never understand went right side up again and I came back down in the seat just as a bolt or red energy rushed by where my head had been two seconds earlier.

And then my mind broke apart, unconscious shifting like the circles of a Venn diagram over the conscious part and all my warrior instincts bubbled to the surface, a snake shedding its skin to reveal a creature much more deadly.

Machete in each hand, controls now in the power of my lower body, I turned my Gremlin around and pounded into the first skimmer that was close enough, a jolt of impact rattling me as the two machines collided and then the swift, slick feel of my blades slicing through metal first and flesh after. My second eyelids slid over my eyes just in time as a splatter of red climbed into my face and the smell of blood hit me like a punch of ecstasy directly to the brain, insides on fire, limbs demanding more movement, more action, more more more.

I was drowning in my own saliva as a blade swung towards me, humming with energy and I saw it in slow motion. I could have caught it with my teeth if I wanted to and I felt my face break into a snarl, finally, like laughing for the first time in ages, as Carnivore blocked and Throatknotch drove between two ribs and then there was the scream, that juicy, reverberating scream that pulled the fibres of my heart in every different direction, expanding it, an extra rush of blood to the head, more oxygen, like some sort of life-enhancing drug, shooting like stars to my hungry muscles and I'm not Wasp anymore, I am the huntress and the warrior, I am the bloody killer and my soul is on fire, laughing and screaming like it is in the middle of the very matrix of every heavy metal song I love, being shaken to the very core.

More of them on those skimmers, I know these skimmers, these are the bad guys, they killed Stork and tried to kill Falshade, tried to kill all of us, wish us harm and I have to stop them, that's who I am, that's what I do, the guardian, the survivor, the fighter. And in this moment I am free of everything, of voice in my head and the boundaries of mortality and gravity. I can move anywhere, I can do anything as long as I am still breathing, this is life, this is life, this is my life.

And I was in the thick of them, hacking at anything I can get close enough to, wings, handle bars, arms, engines, torsos, blades and I am untouchable. Nothing ever gets close, my reflexes are fast and I am the stronger one, I can hear swords coming and smell the intentions in the heads of these men, these strange men with strange smells, auras that have shifted and blackened, something unnatural and toxic. I don't want it near me so I lash out and gnash my teeth at any who get too close.

Then something blue barrelled though my vision and the engine of one of my victims went out and he plummeted down into the depth below us. I looked up to see Angel speed by on his skimmer, picking off Nightflyers left right and center as hordes of them came towards us. And Falshade was suddenly at my side, hilt of his scimitar smashing into the face of one bastard who came in from the side, attempting to smash into both of us with his ride.

"You alright?" Falshade yells in my ear as if he thought I might not hear him and I turn to him, eyes stretched to their max to take in as much as I can at once.

"Peachy!" I shriek excitedly. "What about you guys?"

"Got knocked around a bit, but we're okay. Listen we need to fall back to the _Merlin_ for a second and think of a plan, there's too many of them!" he said and I felt everything drop in me like a cold, heavy stone and I glared at him for a second before sending a bolt at a group of oncoming skimmers and then turning with him back towards the _Merlin_, which for the moment at least was safe, higher than the other cruiser and facing its enemy now like a true soldier and I saluted her proudly.

See that's the difference between Falshade and I. I can't turn it off completely, not right away like that. But I can tone it done to a low buzz, a pilot light, in my chest and gut, I can tap into the well when I need strength or wrath on my side, I can plough through bodies and turn them to corpses and I can be invincible when I need to, but I can always come back too. That was what set me apart before, back in the jungle, where anarchy rules and you fight for your right to survive. And that's why I survive, because of my shred of control even when I am free of all else.

"Angel, get over here for a moment!" Falshade shouted as Varan joined us above the _Merlin_ so we could look down on the swarm of black, deadly hornets that were spread like the Armageddon before us, in ranks around that battle cruiser, the most massive so far, a bloated raven, an agent of destruction. Angel swung in beside us, firing at a few groups of skimmers that broke from the main horde and came towards us tauntingly. I felt my ears close back against my head and a growl rumbled in my throat.

"Anybody got a good idea?" Falshade asked and I noted a different feel in the air this time then when we'd huddled together last time before battle. There was no desperation, no anxiety or apprehension. There was no fear on the faces of those three, maybe a grim sort of acceptance but hey, we _were _pretty badly outnumbered. But there was determination etched in their features as well and I could sense their anger, their energy, their will to get through this, to get away without anymore death among us, or die fucking trying. They weren't going down without a fight and I suddenly wanted to scream at them how much I fucking loved that about them, their fortitude and undying, unfaltering courage, how much I was really like them deep down and how I was with them to the end.

Falshade looked over all of us and smiled grimly. "Guess that's a no. Okay then, here's the best plan I can come up with. Fraggle, you listening?"

"You betcha, Chief."

"Right. We're going to give them all we've got. We could run but I mean they'll just come back. So we're going to show them they better think twice before messing with us. I am _sick_ of these fuckers springing on us like they think they can take us out whenever they want. So we're going to give them something to think about if they wanna keep following us. Fraggle, you give that battle cruiser bloody _hell,_ they might have more guns but our bird is smaller, faster. Got that?"

"I got ya alright."

"Okay. Rest of you, take out those Nightflyers, and remember, they've got those crystals. Watch out for Halo and the Berserkers. Wasp, tell us right away if they've got any new psychos, okay?"

I nodded.

"Good girl. Varan, if you can get in range you hurl whatever you've got at that cruiser. Angel, keep an eye out for Carrion and Zodiac, they might be able to heal fast, but they're nothing without a sky ride. Wasp... do whatever it is you do. Okay?"

There was a collection of nods from the rest of us and Falshade set his face in a strange expression I hadn't seen before and right then he really looked like a hero to me, like the kind people make statues of and where legends come from.

"... This one's for Stork. And to show them they aren't taking any more of us." He said in a low voice and something tightened in me, something that wanted to pour everything into this, an intoxicating dose of feeling immortal, all powerful and ready to go down laughing.

As one the four of us turned and prepared to make that stretch between us and them, to rush right up into their faces with spikes in our fists and fury in a blood, ready to make the clash between life and death, ready to see what everything was really made of.

"Bangerang?" Falshade called out like it was a question to see if we were all ready, if we all were behind him, and of course we fucking were so it came out like the war cries of the jungle and the roar of a speaker next to your ear, blaring the best of songs:

"BANGERANG!" Came the howl from all of us and then I was away from them but next to them in my heart, like for a moment we all shared the same pulse and could feel the love and strength of each other right there in the hottest of fires, burning away all thoughts of turning to run.

The Nightflyers broke into packs, six each, and came screaming towards us like dark pieces of the abyss come to life. I saw watched side of the _Merlin_'s hull smash into three skimmers, which exploded in a firework display of released crystal energy and mechanical guts and all my destructive desire and energy came racing back so fast it was like fire in my throat and I let out a scream of laughter as I ploughed right into one of the packs head on, not even bothering to slow down and relishing the crunch of metal as if it were my own bones making all those breaking sounds.

And then things were moving fast and slow, reflectively, fluidly, nonstop and I see everything and remember nothing of the moment before: Blade. Blocked. Carnivore. Chest. Bolt. Dodge. Engine. Screams. Fist. Nose. Neck. Snap. Throatknotch. Thigh. Boot. Caught. Twist. Fall. Smoke. Carnivore again. Wings. Jab. Kick. Slash. Hack. Bone. Forehead. Another nose. Splatter. Gremlin. Smash. More screams. Ribs. Broken. Fangs. Hand. Wrist. Break. Duck. Blood. Blood. Blood. BloodbloodbloodbloodbloodBLOODBLOODBLOODBLOODBLOOD_MYGODTHISIS WHATI_LIVE_FORBABY!!!!_

Laughter was in my throat, hilts under my fingers and I am walking a line somewhere between this life and some higher plane of existence because here, here is where I hold my own life like an orb in my hand or under my tongue and nothing can do anything to hurt me anymore and I am so far past being alive it's like I am not even of this world anymore and the only thing that anchors me here is the feel of my sutured, engorged, jungle heart thrashing like the very center of the earth itself.

Varan was beside me suddenly, and I lifted my arm high to avoid catching any of Carnivore's snares on his snout. He looked like he was going to say something then abruptly grimaced and fired a few bolts from his broadsword at a cluster of skimmers. Then he grabbed my shoulder as I leaned forward to take off again, thinking maybe he'd just paused to say hey.

"Need your help for a second!" He said loudly and I lifted one ear in his direction to show I was listening while I fired a bolt of my own at a skimmer that had dodged when of Angel's crossbolts. The pilot wasn't able to avoid the second shot though and was sent spinning down, down, down, caught in the maw of gravity now.

Angel flew over head "That one was mine!" he hollered at me before speeding off to join Falshade, who was in a thick of Nightflyers; more skimmers just kept coming at him like flies to a carcass, or at least until Angel bowled through them, both sabres out and flashing like the blades of ancient spirits.

Varan tugged at my shoulder and I looked back to him. "I'm going to go in and try and get a shot at that cruiser!" he said, holding up one of his explosive devices in demonstration. "Think you can cover me?"

I smiled and gnashed my teeth enthusiastically. "Heck yes I can!"

"Okay, let's go! Just watch out for the _Merlin_, Fraggle might not see you, and mind the blasters!" Varan instructed before taking off, me right behind him, picking off any nearby skimmers I could. My aim wasn't very good though, so I just hurled as many charges as I could in one direction, figuring at least one should hit my target.

The _Merlin_ was diving and swooping all around the large battle cruiser like the birds of the jungle used to do to larger vultures to keep them away from their nests. We didn't seem to have suffered much damage yet, which I took as a good sign, but I kinda liked watching Varan's explosives go off and what was the harm in evening up the odds anyways?

Ahead of me Varan caught the oncoming sword of one of our enemies with his and shoved back, flinging the man's arms out wide, his defences wide open and I paused for a moment to marvel at Varan's strength. His muscles stood out under his scales as he slashed down and tore the wings from the side of his opponent's skimmer and then he turned to me.

"Okay, going in! Cover me from the top side, alright? And if I say go then you gun it like all hell is after you, got it?"

I saluted him and he pushed down the little red intercom button to get a hold of Fraggle.

"Hey, I'm going to try and get them with one of my Raptures, fall back a bit, savvy? I dunno how big of a blast range we're working with here."

"Aye aye brother, but let me just get one more pass on 'em yeah?" Without waiting for an answer Fraggle threw the _Merlin _into a sharp turn, tipping almost vertical to go in for a close pass around the engines on the port side of the monster cruiser with a loud, resounding "YEEEE HAW!"

Varan let out a low chuckle and then turned to me and I flashed him a thumbs up. The moment the _Merlin _was clear Varan went into a dive, heading under the belly of the ship to go for the starboard flank, to take out as many guns on that side as he could I assumed. I arched back around, keeping him in my sights while I flew past the front of the ship, crossing my machetes for impact as I crashed into an oncoming Nightflyer and caught his blade between mine. I grinned at him wickedly from the X between are blades before thrusting mine out wide, knocking his sword back, only to cross my machetes over each other again, hacking into both his shoulders so that he let out a curdling shriek before I stood on my seat and whipped my left leg out in a snap kick that caught him right in the chest, blasting him over the back of his seat. Dropping back down the my Gremlin I picked up my speed to keep up with Varan, who was on the other side of the ship now and circling, looking for a target area to throw his explosive and avoiding the blasts from the energy cannons.

"I can't get in close enough!" he shouted at me, frustrated, and, as if he'd been asking for my help, which in hindsight I don't think he was, I nodded and dove down, making as much noise as I could as I swung in close enough to the hull of that hulking machine that I could have kicked it if I wanted and ignored Varan's yowl of protest:

"I'MMMMMM BRINGIN' HOME MY BABY BUMBLEBEE, WON'T MY MOMMY BE SO PROUD OF ME!!!!!" I screamed out, laughing and dragging Throatknotch along the hull like a cat dragging its claws over the bark of a tree. I heard a grinding noise as the cannons trained on me, going off so close behind me I could feel the heat but I was too close to the hull of their ship, just outside the arch of their range. Man was this ever a huge ship; the hull stretched back three times as long as the _Merlin_'s and bulged outward like an overfed Sky Shark. I swerved left and right as if I was mapping out the exterior, banging my machete against cannon hatches and shouting out whichever of the childish songs Fli and I used to sing to when we were sad or giddy that came into my head, hoping Varan was taking advantage of the distraction I'd caused for him.

In all my wild recklessness and careful planning I hadn't taken into consideration the giant fins that jutted out like the spines of a fish from the back end of the ship, around where the outboard engines perched. But no matter right, I just thrusted my hips to the side, flipping my Gremlin around the large wedges and reaching out to slap a sky five on the very tip of one before turning back to look and see what Varan was doing.

"Go, now, I'm alright!" I shouted at him and he deaked in close to the hull, having heard me and probably trying to wedge his Rapture into one of the murder holes, which made sense to me.

However a second later I realized I was not alright at all, because I'd forgotten that moving past the giant fins had put me back within blaster range and for once my reflexes failed me. I blamed the fact that I had to not only move myself but my bloody Gremlin; on my own I probably could have dodged it.

But I didn't dodge it but rather I felt it move right through my Gremlin, a mighty, jolting, tugging sort of feeling before there was smoke and the choking of my engine, the sudden loss of proper control as my Gremlin dropped slightly, flailing.

"WASP!" Someone's voice rang out as my ride spluttered and started to tilt wildly. Hmm, not good...

Whipping around I spied my chance at salvaging my ride, because I would have felt bad for it if it crunched in the Wasteland, as it was a faithful thing and besides, it used to be Rainer's.

The _Merlin_ was hanging back, exchanging fire with the enemy ship from a distance like Varan had instructed and I wrenched my whole body around, leaning on my throttles, which gasped slightly but worked for a second, giving me some propulsion before abruptly giving out and I was gliding, losing altitude fast, gaining speed as my ride started to whine like Stork's had, sucked downward by the clutches of gravity, which had sensed its prey and had struck, capturing me at last.

"WASP YOU FUCKING IDIOT-FRAGGLE OPEN THE BAY DOORS!" I heard Angel shout over the radios and just as I levelled with them, my ride abandoning me and fully out of any sort of control now, the doors yawned open like a mouth taking me in to be crushed and I roared into the hanger with way too much speed, wing clipping the wall because I'd been a little too far starboard and then, with a bit of a half-hearted spin, my Gremlin crashed down on the floor of the hanger with a horrendously loud series of clangs and screeching of metal on metal.

I blinked, finding myself in a crumpled heap, my vision a little shaky, head churning slightly. My body told me I must have been flung free of my ride and met the floor after something of a bad summersault. Wish I could have seen that...

"Wasp! Wasp are you okay???" Falshade was yelling at me from my intercom. I heaved myself to my feet, quickly testing both legs to make sure they were in working order before approaching the crumpled mess of my Gremlin.

"I'm fine! Get back to work!" I said before collecting my machetes and heading for the bridge.

Fraggle jumped when I joined him at the helm, peering out at the battle that was still raging outside that I was now no longer a part of.

"You alright there girly?" He asked and I nodded, looking for Varan among the mess of colours and pilots.

"Did it work?" I asked before Varan's frustrated voice flowed in over the intercom.

"I don't get it, it should have gone off by now..."

"Maybe it was a dud, eh?" Fraggle called out before wrenching the steering to avoid a barrage of cannon fire and I skidded across the floor slightly. I felt the rumble the _Merlin_ emitted in complaint as one of the shots clipped her flank and Fraggle cursed under his breath.

"Shit this isn't good, I dunno if I can get another pass that close, they've got a crystal shield up, I have to be closer to-"

"Well then no offense dude but go help Chief and Cupcake and get outta my way, eh, I'm getting hammered out here!" Fraggle snapped impatiently as another blast rattled the _Merlin_. "EAT IT HOSERS!" He shouted as he swung the other ship by and I watched everything with fascination through the windshield, the charges from the _Merlin_ crashing into the enemy ship, the large black shape rushing by next to us like trains passing each other on parallel tracks, the spew and dissipation of energy from the crystal shield, the returning volley of fire...

"God damnit Angel, some shield repair you did!" Fraggle shouted at the radio. "Bloody thing's conked out on me already and these guys are acting like they eat charges for breakfast!"

"Oh fuck you, you think we got it any easier out here? It's your damn ship, maybe you should look after your own stupid defences!"

"Knock it off you two! Varan can your explosives take out that shield?" Falshade's voice now joined in, sounding rushed and like he was trying to keep his cool.

"Theoretically yes, if I can get one in around the crystal shield, but that'll be nearly impossible, I can't get in close enough."

I watched the larger cruiser whip by under us as Fraggle brought the _Merlin_ around out of harm's way and sudden inspiration struck me like a swift blow to the nose.

"I've got a cunning plan!" I shouted at them, not exactly sure how the radio worked and how loud I had to be for them to hear me before grabbing Fraggle's shoulder. "How do I get topside?"

"Huh? To the gunner's seat you mean? I dunno how much help that'll be girly, these guys-"

I shook my head and covered his mouth to stop him. "Just tell me how!" I demanded, releasing him.

"Uh, go round the corner there, up the little ladder in the wall, I'll open the hatch eh." He instructed, motioning to the corridor and, making sure my machetes were properly sheathed and secured, I dashed towards the little ladder set into the wall, which I'd climbed up once my first week aboard the _Merlin_ to find it was closed up top. Today however a cold blast of air circled around me and tugged me down like it wanted to play as the hatch up top whooshed open and the revolving blaster lifted up like a guide leading me to heaven.

Scrambling up and clinging to the seat for support against the wind I squinted towards the other battle ship, judging the distance, the trajectory.

"Fraggle can you make a pass over top of those guys?" I called down the narrow chute leading back down into the _Merlin_ like a passage to another world.

"Why, what are you- oh no. No Wasp, bad idea eh! That's crazy, you hear me, like suicidal eh!"

"You kidding me, I've played riskier games as a kidlet! Just do it, they need our help!" I shouted back. I mean honestly, how many times had I flung myself from my ride and pretended I could fly before?

I heard him mutter something that could have been prayer before the _Merlin _rocketed back towards the other ship, swinging low and tilting slightly to the left so that I had to grip tightly to the seat for balance, bunching my legs, preparing myself for the exact moment-

And then I sprung as the dark shape of the enemy ship spread beneath me like the waking of some giant beast some twenty feet below. The slipstream of the _Merlin_ was even more powerful then I'd thought and it hooked me around the middle and flung me back away from the ship like I was a piece of trash it was discarding. I tumbled over myself once, limbs being whipped in different directions by the mighty pull of the wind and then I saw solid black metal rushing up to greet me and I tucked into a roll, shoulders taking a brunt of the force as I crashed down onto the roof of the ship, which was hot under the heat of the sun. Rolling to my feet I had to fling my arms out for balance momentarily before dropping them and glancing around, finding myself utterly alone atop enemy territory.

"Boldly going where no man has gone before!" I cheered before ducking the blast of a nearby Nightflyer. I straightened, machetes flashing out, ready to return fire before the pilot was abruptly struck from his seat by a bolt of blue energy and I turned to see Angel hovering nearby.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing??? Get back to the _Merlin_!" he shouted at me, picking off another couple of Nightflyers that started to come in our direction, sensing an easy target.

"How?" I asked curiously. He made an annoyed spluttering noise and pulled in closer, holding his hand out to me.

"I'll take you back, hurry it up, we're sitting ducks out here!"

I shook my head. "No, no I'm helping! Tell Varan to throw me one of his explosive thingies, I can get it in under the shield, see?"

Angel gawked at me. "And then what happens when it goes off?"

I shrugged. "It's more like a make it up as you go thing, you know?"

Angel made a growling noise and fired at yet another oncoming Nightflyer before looking back at me, seeming torn. "...How can you be sure you'll get out of the way of the blast?"

"Can't I guess." I said nonchalantly. "But that's Fate for you. Don't worry, I'll think of something. Just go, hurry and tell him and then help Falshade. Trust me, I'll be fine."

He glanced out at the others, looked back at me then took off, muttering something about female insanity. I turned back around and, spotting another Nightflyer coming in low to take a shot at me, ran along the ship before jumping high and slashing with both blades, catching the underbelly of his ride and tearing the innards from it, sending it spiralling down below my line of sight. I grinned to myself; this was where I needed to be, in the action, in the fight, not trapped on the _Merlin_. Out here I could control what happened to me at least.

I could see Varan coming my way and I waved at him. He lifted his arm in demonstration that he was going to throw and then hurled a dark object in my direction, vaguely grapefruit sized I decided. He had a good arm; his throw came directly to me and I caught the bomb between my fingers and pulled it in tight to my chest. And it was that exact moment that her smell flooded up my nose and sparked like the lighting of a fuse in my brain.

The next second I felt her hands close around the shoulders of my jacket sleeve and I allowed myself to be bowled over backward, kicking both feet upwards and landing them in the hard muscles of her stomach, flinging her up and over me and then finishing the roll, on my feet in an instant, tucking Varan's explosive device into my chest pocket and then rounding to face my new opponent.

Cackling like a magpie Carrion hefted her mighty war hammer high above her head like it was nothing, preparing to deliver a one-way ticket to oblivion. "Hi dearie! Long time no choke!"

Her smell, her awful, mutated, unnatural smell was assaulting me like bees stinging the sensitive membrane of my nostrils. I tightened the grip on the hilts of Carnivore and Throatknotch, my trusted hunting fangs, and nodded. "Yeah really." I agreed before stepping forward, trusting the weight to my front leg as I caught the shaft of her hammer between my machetes. My back leg came forward a second later, foot slamming right into her guts, bending her in the middle so I could spin free to the side, lashing out with both machetes, which she blocked with an impossibly quick swing of her hammer, bringing it to the side so the metal shaft deflected my blows. Again my foot whipped out, catching her right in the inside of her elbow, knocking her hammer out of the way so I could dart right into her personal space and smash the hilt of Carnivore hard into her collar bone and I felt the bone, brittle and underdeveloped, snap right in two. She let out a shriek that momentarily deafened me and I felt her knuckles collide with my jaw bone. I went with the force of her punch, moving to the side as she swung her hammer at me again, the head crashing down to the roof of the battle ship and knocking in a large dent like the soft part of a baby's skull. I skipped back a step before coming in fast with a series of quick slashes. She couldn't properly block my attacks with that heavy hammer of hers and she had to back away and dodge for a second, giving me the chance to launch another kick, this time directed at her right knee. She moved at the last moment and I caught her thigh instead and I saw a mad flash of fury flare up in those off colour eyes before she darted in, forgetting weapons, and grabbed a handful of my hair and my left ear, bringing her forehead into mine with enough force to momentarily stagger me. As I backed up slightly, shaking my head she lifted her hammer high to crush me and I rolled to the side as it slammed down, shaking the exoskeleton of the ship.

Coming to my feet I threw my right foot out behind me in a backwards roundhouse, only to have Carrion catch me by the ankle and twist my leg in an attempt to break it at the knee. However I caught her off guard when I kicked my other leg out and, twisting in the air, slammed the heel of my boot into her elbow, which she'd been holding straight. I felt it resist for a split second before bending inwards the wrong way and snapping clean at the joint. Her scream made a blood vessel burst in my nose but she let go of me and I fell flat on my side, knee slightly wrenched from the way I'd twisted myself with her holding me like that.

I heard her screech of rage and rolled onto my back just in time to see the flat of that massive hammer coming down to break my skull open like a snail shell. I forced both legs up straight, catching the shaft just barely and feeling my knees jar in effort to halt the downward force of the hammer, so that the head just barely stopped above my jaw. She could only hold it with one hand right now and so I kicked upwards, pushing the hammer back slightly so I could roll to the side and get to my feet before I whipped back around with Throatknotch in hand, diving in for her exposed ribs.

This time I caught her boot, that heavy, steel plated boot, right in the ribs, sending me reeling backwards, gasping for breath. I forced myself into a crouch, trying to breath in deeply, ribs probably cracked but not broken. She too had paused, pulling her arm out straight as the bones started to knit, nerve pathways reconnecting even as I crouched there struggling to suck enough air into my lungs.

She turned to me after a moment, curling and then relaxing her fist to show me her arm was back to full use and I straightened painfully, machetes at my side, ready for another go.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty..." she taunted in that strangled, high voice and I grit my teeth so my ears wouldn't ache. My muscles bunched, ready for the strike, when a bolt of purple energy soared over my head and Carrion was forced to jump to the side to avoid it.

I whipped around to shout at Falshade "LEAVE HER! THIS ONE'S MINE!"

He pulled a strange face but did as I asked, taking off back into the aerial battle and I threw myself flat to the roof of the battle cruiser as Carrion flung herself at my exposed back. She skidded to a halt and whipped back around like an angry bull, swinging a sideswipe with her hammer, aimed for my soft, squishable organs. Instead of backing out of range though I leapt up and then brought my foot down onto the head of her hammer, ramming it down to the metal underfoot. My other foot balanced on the shaft as I propelled myself forward into her space again and saliva spilled down from the corner of my mouth as my jaws snapped open and then closed down around the crook of her neck, shredding the fragile flesh beneath my needle-sharp fangs, her sour, curdled blood bursting free of her paper thin, malformed skin and getting caught up under my tongue, making me gag at the toxic taste. But I clung on, sinking in deeper and shaking my head, tearing flesh apart with a satisfying ripping sound as she shrieked and pounded the side of my head with her fist, her knee meeting my gut and still I clung on, fingers finding her face, blunt, jagged nails tearing at her waxy skin, jabbing at her eye. I hated her, the one who'd sent Stork to her death and had come after me on numerous occasions, I hated and pitied her, her defective, traitorous body that caved and split and broke apart too easily, the little pockets missing from her brain. I wanted her dead, I wanted to rip her hair right out by the roots and smash every bone in her body open so acrid marrow would leak free.

Her teeth, sharpened like a cat's, closed around my neck, sinking in because I hadn't thought to grab my protective neck guard and I craned my arm backwards so I could slam the heel of my palm into her nose. Her scream was gargled by my blood but after a moment she was forced to let go as the blood that flowed from her broken nose blocked the only available airway she had and she released me and jerked her head back, snorting, and this was when I chose to release her too, so I could deliver a thunderous blow with the hilt of Carnivore right to her temple. She crumpled, not unconscious but stunned, blinking furiously.

Just then the ship below my feet trembled and shook violently and I glanced over my shoulder to see the _Merlin_ making another pass, low and close to the enemy's hull this time and I realized Fraggle must have been trying to make sure he didn't clip me on the roof by accident. I was about to turn back to finish my fight with Carrion when the enemy ship jerked and a squealing noise of metal grinding together erupted from over the other side.

"FRAGGLE!" I heard Varan yell out and, worry taking over my bloodlust for the moment, I hurried over to peer down over the side to see what had happened. If something happened to the _Merlin_ we were in serious trouble, even I knew that.

Throwing myself to my belly and crawling over the rounded edge of the roof I looked down to see the _Merlin_'s port side engine wedge firmly between the hull of the battle ship and one of the fins as if Fraggle had tried to make a very sharp turn and failed miserably. Even now I watched the engines reverse and belch out energy, revving furiously to try and back to the _Merlin_ out but to no avail.

"Oh shit! Oh shit eh, I'm stuck! I'm stuck!" I heard Fraggle yelping from Varan's radio, who was nearby, trying to keep any Nightflyers away from the _Merlin_ in its compromised position. "Tell Wasp not to set off that Rapture eh!!!"

"I heard him!" I yelled out to Varan when he looked in my direction. I could hear Falshade saying something to Fraggle over the radios when suddenly the enemy gunmen must have gotten word of the _Merlin_'s whereabouts and one of the blasters went off, blasting into our poor ship like a thunderbolt and panic swelled like a black wave in my belly, rising up fast, consuming me with fear for my friend. How on Atmos where we going to-

I heard it at the last moment, the whistling of that hammer coming down like an avalanche, her mad-hatter laughter tearing like a bullet through my brain and the fear turned to rage, rising up like a demon in my body and I rolled over and stood in one swift motion, Throatknotch flicking to the side to divert the blow of her weapon while Carnivore flashed like the snap of a switchblade and bit deep into flesh right through to bone and then clean through again.

Carrion's blood-curdling, piercing shriek nearly blew my eardrums and I almost missed the dull thud of her severed arm hitting the metal like a slab of meat coming down on a butcher's table.

"YOU LITTLE _BITCH_!!!" she howled like a banshee, clutching the stump of her shoulder and I bared my teeth in response.

And then she did something that made my stomach clench in disgust and horror; she reached down and picked up her arm and brought it to the bleeding stub that remained of her arm and held it an inch away from where it had been severed.

And then the muscles came alive, sprouting little fibres like tentacles, wiggling for a moment before shooting back to the arm like reverse fragmentation reproduction, suturing the two pieces together. Veins and arteries shifted like snakes and reconnected, the blood inside returning to blue as oxygen flowed down to the reanimated flesh and finally grey skin stretched over the seam, leaving only a faint, pale scar like a circular arm band.

Carrion stared at her fingers for a second, flexing them experimentally before looking up at me with venomous, undeterred hatred burning in her eyes and I straightened my chin, swallowing my unnerve and snarled at her, teeth still glistening with her hybrid blood.

"You. Dirty. Little. Jungle. _Freak_." She hissed at me and I ground my boots in, eyes narrowed, teeth exposed, ears back, chin down, every sign of aggression and utter contempt. Maybe if she hadn't been the second person today to say that to me I might not have been so annoyed by it but...

Then below me I heard Fraggle, though the walls of the _Merlin_, cry out in fear as another barrage of cannon fire blasted his ship and I got sick of her wasting my time, of not dying and of her people hurting my friends.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones..." I growled, stepping to the side so she circled my movements like we were playing a mirror game. I stepped again, making her think I was doing some sort of predatory thing, preparing for a strike. "But names..." two more steps now and we'd come half-circle, I standing where she had been and she in my place, at the edge of the ship. My hands tightened on my machetes and I lifted my arms, distracting her. "Will never HURT ME!!!"

And I launched myself, shoulder blasting into her abdomen, a low attack she wasn't expecting and with her hammer unbalancing her it didn't take much to drive her back over the edge of the cruiser, especially with all my body weight forcing her back as we both tumbled over the edge and I twisted, punching in with Carnivore so that I was abruptly jerked to a halt and I flinched as her hammer pounded against the hull next to me. I tucked my legs in tight as she clawed at me for a hold and her mad grasping fell short and she dropped like a stone below me, past the cruiser and down into the clouds.

I coughed and spat a wad of blood from my mouth in self-satisfaction before placing Throatknotch between my knees and putting my free hand into one of my pockets, fingers closing around the Blazer crystal I'd taken from Varan's room. Originally I'd just wanted to examine it, but I'd sort of forgotten it until now and luckily it had remained comfortably in my pocket all the time. Plucking the Striker from the Inductor Cradle of my machete I popped the Blazer in instead and the usual bright green of my blade was replaced with lapping, red-orange flames.

About five feet below me was the muzzle of a cannon and I yanked Carnivore free of the hull so that I dropped, knees bending with the impact as I barely balanced on the tip of the blaster. Only long enough to sheath Carnivore though; I needed both hands for this.

And then I jumped.

Both hands wrapped tight around Throatknotch's hilt, held out straight in front of me I dropped so fast my stomach suctioned to the bottom of my skull, left side pressed to the hull of the ship as I sped closer and closer to that fin, feeling like a meteor crashing to the surface of some strange planet.

My knee was almost popped from its socket when my left leg caught in the wedge between the fin and the hull, the _Merlin_'s engine so close I my skin tightened with the heat. My leg crumpled, stunned and momentarily numb and I twisted, ramming my blazing machete into the wedge and the metal of the fin, only about five inches thick, suddenly started to bubble and glow orange.

I rolled from the side of the fin, my weight dragging my blade slowly though the melting metal, down, down. I clung on, open expanse below my boots. I yelped in surprise when a bubble of hot metal burst and splattered my fingers with drops of liquid agony but I held on, slicing the fin from the rest of the ship like I'd sliced Carrion's arm from her body.

Five feet from the bottom of the fin Fraggle suddenly revved the engines again and the _Merlin_, after a moment of struggling and groaning, suddenly lurched backwards, nearly squashing me like an insect against the hull of the other ship. With a long, grating moan the fin abruptly shifted, bent, crumpled and snapped, parting company from the rest of the ship as Fraggle wrenched the _Merlin_ around and sped off away from the cannons that had been beating the shit out of his ship for the past ten minutes now.

I found myself plummeting again when the fin gave way and I stabbed out with Throatknotch, catching a lower part of the hull and then started to slowly slide down again as the Blazer continued to consume more metal, leaving a long scar of melted metal. Until I stabbed out with Carnivore, which stuck and held and I wrenched Throatknotch free, yanking the Blazer out, swapping it for my Striker again, punching a second hole into the hull of this ship, which I was also sick of, like I had so many weeks ago when we got into the fight outside the Scar.

Sheathing Throatknotch now I reached into my chest pocket as my arm muscles started to complain about me just hanging there and pulled out Varan's explosive. I lifted it to my mouth and closed my lips around the pin and then noticed the _Merlin_ coming in again, heading my way... really close to the hull...

And suddenly I didn't have to jump and to be honest that was pretty okay with me. I'd had my share of jumping today.

I yanked the pin out with my teeth and shoved it into the hole I'd made and then grasped Throatknotch again, tearing it from its scabbard and plunged it into the hull of the _Merlin _as it roared past me like the spirit of the wind itself. However I hadn't thought about what I was going to do about Carnivore and my hand tightened around its hilt instinctively, thinking I could pull it free but the _Merlin_ was too fast and I knew I needed to be going in the same direction it was, so my hand was tighter on Throatknotch. A horrible pain shot through my other hand as Carnivore was torn from my grasp and then I looped my arm over Throatknotch's handle, clinging on tight as the _Merlin_'s slipstream pummelled me and threatened to throw me off her hide like I was a troublesome fly stinging her.

And then behind us I heard the blast go off, enough to batter my already bruised eardrums. I would have turned to look if I wasn't certain my head would be ripped off by the immense wind pressure, because Fraggle was going full throttle, not even bothering to fire any charges this time around. I could hear the others whooping and hurling insults in that cocky manner I so love about them and I smiled to myself, taking it that meant it was a pretty awesome spectacle.

I felt the _Merlin_ slow down slightly a few moments later and I finally risked a look behind me and let out a crow of laughter at the sight of that huge battle ship now listing to one side, smoking and almost completely gutted on the port side.

"You have got to be the bravest, luckiest, _stupidest _Faerie I've ever met!" Angel was shouting to me all of a sudden and I looked over to see him keeping pace with the _Merlin_ on his Slip Wing. I waved causally, grinning from ear to ear and he sidled in closer so I could fling myself onto his skimmer, nearly sending us both toppling over the back end as I wrapped my arms around him tightly. After a moment he hugged me back and shifted so I could sit behind him.

"Angel, do you have Wasp? I don't see her!" Falshade was saying over his radio while I sat backwards on Angel's skimmer, taking in the sheer destructive force that had been trumped by _our_ destructive forces.

"Yeah I got her, she's alright." Angel told him. "So now what? Those guys aren't falling back!"

Falshade must have been thinking. "Their shields are done now. Fraggle can take care of that cruiser. Fraggle, I want you on their heels if they try a retreat, got it?"

"Gotcha."

"Right. Varan and Angel, we've still got the rest of these bastards to take care of. Watch yourselves, I saw Zodiac a little while ago but lost him, so be careful."

"Hey, what about me?" I demanded.

"Do whatever you can."

I tapped Angel's shoulder. "Can we get Throatknotch quick?"

Angel turned about and chased after the _Merlin_, bringing me in close so I could yank Throatknotch free before falling back again. I let out a sigh behind him.

"What?"

"Oh it's just... I lost Carnivore." I said, my right hand feeling empty.

"Well you're still _alive_ so I guess that evens out." Angel said sarcastically and I had to duck when he swung his arm to fire his cross bow at a group of Nightflyers. "Hey, do me a favour would you, in my side compartment there's another magazine of bolts, I'm out, wanna pass it to me?"

I did as he asked, feeling like his co-pilot. He popped the empty canister out and tossed it back to me and then had to pull us into a barrel roll to avoid a stream of charges and I nearly tumbled from his seat.

"Ugh, this isn't good." He muttered between his teeth as he snapped the new magazine into the barrel of his crossbow and returned fire. "You're going to fall off or something... I'm brining you back to the _Merlin_. Think you can handle the topside blaster?"

I nodded then said "Yes." Because I remembered he had his back to me.

"It's pretty simple, aim and squeeze, turn where you wanna aim and it'll spin... it's got about fifty rounds, so don't go too crazy alright? No offence but I've seen you're aim and... well anyways, just do what you can."

We were buffeted by the shockwave of another, smaller explosion which I assume was one of Varan's Bug's and Angel snorted as we watched about a dozen different pilots plummet among the remains of their skimmers.

"Hey, Wasp?" Angel said suddenly as we closed in on the _Merlin_.

"Yessum?"

"You did pretty fucking awesome today, you know." He said and I grinned, nuzzling the side of his head affectionately. He cleared his throat and pressed the button for his radio. "Hey, Fraggle, I'm dropping Wasp off with you, wanna hold tight for a- WASP!" he shouted at me when, with the _Merlin_'s roof stretching wide and inviting below me, I simply jumped from his skimmer and landed next to the Blaster. I waved at him up at him and heard him sigh. "Never mind." He told Fraggle before rolling his skimmer back around to go and help Varan and Falshade.

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

I watched Angel drop Wasp off on the _Merlin_ (quite literally _drop_ and _on_) and I let out a long sigh. That girl was going to give me a god damn heart attack, honestly.

Twisting in my seat I fired a bolt at a Nightflyer that was rushing over to tag-team Varan, who was already dealing with one guy. Then I pulled my skimmer a little higher, looking for any sign of Halo or Zodiac. I didn't like not knowing where those two were.

My search was interrupted as I was forced into a duck and clashed blades with a particularly grungy looking pilot of a Nightflyer. I blocked his attack and was about to make a counter-attack when suddenly he pulled back away from me. Confused I was rattled when a second pilot smashed into me from the other side, not even bothering to attack me with his sword. I hacked at his wings and went into a barrel roll to get away from him, righting myself only to be crashed into again by the first pilot.

"You guys not know how to fight properly or something?" I snapped at him, slashing at him with Sliver, but suddenly his hand shot out and grabbed me by the wrist. In retaliation I landed a punch on his jaw, snapping his head to the side. I was about to launch a kick into his chest when once again I was rammed into from the other side and glanced over, seeing the other pilot sandwiching me between their Nightflyers.

"Okay, this is getting old fast. Fuck off!" I snarled at him and earned myself a punch in the gut. I lashed out with my free hand, struggling to free my left wrist from that other guy's grasp but he abruptly corkscrewed my arm behind my back so hard I felt Sliver slid from my grasp. Laughing he snatched it from my fingers and stabbed it into his opposite wing, far out of my reach. I managed to get him with a second punch (guys weren't too bright, just 'cause I didn't have a sword didn't mean I couldn't do any damage) and the second guy clipped me in the jaw, snatching my free arm and twisting it until my fingers went numb.

Just then a blue charge whizzed past, just barely missing the guy on my right's shoulder.

"Oh you've got to be shitting me." I heard Angel seethe somewhere behind me and I twisted to see where he was, struggling against the two bastards who had me pinned. I caught sight of him in time to see Zodiac, revealing himself at last, ram into Angel's Slip Wing, his dagger/claws coming in for a swipe that would have torn Angel's chest open if he would have moved a second later. The two of them started slashing and stabbing at each other, snarling like a couple of wolves.

"You should pay attention you your own fight, Falshade." Halo's smooth voice made my jaw clench instinctively as I turned around to face him, hovering there in front of me on his Nightflyer, smug smile on his blocky face.

"Oh, I wasn't aware I was in one." I said snidely, shrugging my shoulders to demonstrate my current state of incapacity and got my arm twisted even harder.

Halo snorted. "You children don't know enough fear yet. You don't take this seriously. Have you forgotten already what happened to your little friend?"

I tried to lunge forward, hot rage rising in my stomach, and nearly had my shoulder wrenched out of socket. "I wouldn't joke about her if I were you!" I snarled. "She'll be the reason you end up dead!"

He laughed. "Right, and I suppose you are the one going to take me up on that, Sky Knight?"

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I heard Varan roar then and a bolt of yellow energy came careening towards Halo, who batted it away with his halberd and scowled. "I'm getting sick and tired of your little friends fucking up my plans. Carrion, take care of the damn Raptor!"

And there was the other sociopath, her laughter sounding like a small animal being strangled, and she swung her massive hammer at Varan's Bone Wing so he was forced to back up, lashing out at her with his broadsword.

"As for my previous statement Falshade, I'm afraid you _won't _be the one to take me up on that heartfelt vow; you're no longer of use to us you see and this time _I_ am going to finish you off, since you somehow pulled through from your last encounter with Zodiac." Halo informed me and for some strange reason I felt fear flicker then die in my chest.

"Wow you're a courageous fellow aren't you?" I asked. "Executing someone with their hands bound who has no escape or anything..." I'd learned a thing or two from Angel over the years.

He scowled at me and then let out a sigh, hefting his halberd high above his head to split me in two, right down the middle. "Frankly, I don't really give a damn about chivalry." He told me tiredly. 'Goodbye, Falshade Ravenscroft."

"FALSHADE!" Three different voices cried out behind me as I swallowed, sitting there as straight as I could while facing my own death. It wasn't like last time, that I hadn't cared; but Halo was staring right at me with a hungry look in his eye like he expected me to start screaming and crying and begging to be spared and I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. I wasn't even going to show him fear. If this was how I was going out then fine, I was going to do it like a Sky Knight would, like my father had, no fear in his heart or on his face. Only regret; regret that I hadn't been able to finish my mission after all and regret that I was leaving the others behind without even getting to say goodbye.

"_I'm sorry, guys." _I thought, sending out one final, silent message and hoping that they'd somehow hear it.

Then something silver flashed through the air so quickly I barely even saw it moving. Apparently Halo hadn't either, because whatever it was smashed solidly right into his right temple.

Blood was immediate and I swear his eyes crossed before he slumped forward against his handle bars, unconscious, and his body weight dragged them to the side. His ride tilted and he fell, silently, right over the side of his skimmer.

"Was that a fucking _wrench_?" The guy on my left asked allowed, sounding as stunned as I felt.

"FALSHADE DUCK!" A voice hollered from behind and sheer instinct alone made me flatten myself to my seat, my arms suddenly released because those two pilots were so surprised by seeing their leader get taken out by some sort of miscellaneous flying object. If I would have stopped to consider _whose_ voice that was I never would have reacted so quickly.

Two resounding clangs of bone meeting metal sounded on either side of me and the two pilots who'd wedged me between them also keeled from their rides as someone flew their skimmer right down overtop of us, catching the backs of their heads with the wings of their sky ride. I sat up and stared after said skimmer as whoever was piloting it started bellowing and swearing in a way I knew only one person could bellow and swear:

"I SEE ANY OF YOU SONS OF BITCHES TOUCH THAT BOY AGAIN AND I'LL CHOP YOUR FUCKING HEADS OFF!!!! NOBODY MESSES WITH MY GOD DAMN SKY KNIGHT BUT ME!!!"

My heart stopped. I couldn't believe it. It wasn't her. It _was_ her. No, it couldn't be-

"Stork?" I croaked and as if she'd heard me she spun around, came back towards me and tossed me Sliver, which I barely managed to catch.

"Oi, smart guy, still in the middle of a bloody _battle_ here, get your shit in gear!" she snapped before taking off and smashing her axe into the grill of an oncoming Nightflyer.

I blinked and rubbed my eyes hard, my heart pounding so fast it heart. This... no. That wasn't Stork. Stork was dead, Stork... Stork wasn't here, I was hallucinating, freaking out...

"Falshade! Falshade!" Fraggle was desperately trying to get a hold of me via my radio. "Are you alright?"

My hand brushed over my console until I found the button for my radio. "Fraggle... don't be alarmed but... I think I'm going crazy." I wheezed.

"... Dude you weren't before eh?"

I wasn't in the mood for jokes though. This wasn't good; here I was still in the middle of a freaking battle and I was possibly losing my mind. I shook my head a couple times and remembered that Halo might have been down but Zodiac and Carrion were still about and I spun my skimmer around, looking to see what had happened to the others.

And nearly got bowled over by Varan, who must have either gotten rid of Carrion or she'd left in order to catch Halo (I sort of hoped it was because of a former; I wouldn't really care at all if he ended up splattering in the Wastelands). Before I could even form the thought to ask him if he was alright he seized me with both hands by the front of my shirt and pulled me up for examination, bodily lifting me from my seat.

"God damnit Shade, would you stop almost getting killed on me?" He demanded, looking me over. "You're alright? How's your chest?"

"I'm fine, Varan, seriously." I said, although I was pretty sure I was hallucinating, which wasn't a good sign. And my chest was aching from the strain on my healing muscles, but I didn't plan on telling Varan that; he'd almost made me stay behind when we first got attacked. _Me_, the guy who was supposed to be leading them in all of this, and hell this was about four days after the whole incident anyways. "What about you, are you okay? What happened to Carrion?"

He grimaced although he didn't look entirely displeased with himself. "Kinda threw her off me... after I snapped her arm."

"_Nice_." I commented "Now look, could you put me down so I can-"

"Hey, love birds!" There it was again, that voice, _her _voice, and my heart got shoved up right to the back of my mouth. She swung by the two of us, her skimmer flashing black and yellow, shouting: "Break it up, this ain't over yet or have you gotten stupider since I left???"

Varan's eyes widened to frightening proportions, his jaw dropped open and he promptly released his hold on me so that I fell back to my seat and ended up crushing my own... well, never mind.

"Fal...Falshade do you... you see..._her_?" He stammered and was apparently blind to the sour look I was giving him.

"Yeah, I do. Don't worry you're just as insane as me." I muttered. God, he was lucky I knew he hadn't done that on purpose...

"I... that's can't be... she... shit, DUCK!" his change of tone startled me and I only just managed to roll my Ultra to the side as a bolt of energy tore past us. That seemed to snap Varan out of it anyways and he took off, leaving me to test how well I could move before I also steered back towards the fray. The Nightflyers had stopped bothering us after they'd seen their commander go down, and now they were circling the _Merlin_, trying to drive it from their limping battle cruiser which by the looks of it was retreating. Wasp was taking out a few of them from the topside blaster but her aim was nothing like Angel's and the _Merlin_ was getting overwhelmed by skimmers which were taking little bits out of her like wild dogs snapping at larger prey.

I leaned forward on my throttles, coming up behind three Nightflyers on their way to join their comrades and took one out with a blast from Sliver. As the other two turned I flipped my skimmer vertical to squeeze between them, slicing the wings from the one on the left's ride in passing. I circled back around to take on the last of them when suddenly something large and thrashing plummeted down from above and landed on my wings with a thud, tipping my skimmer to the side.

I saw the flash of silver and my scimitar was up to block the oncoming attack before I even had time to think about it and I flung the daggers back and away just as I recognized Zodiac's nightshade eyes boring into me like black points of rage. Blood was oozing down from several spots on his chest and from his mouth, but even as I shifted my weight I saw one of the gashes on his arm start to close like I was watching everything in fast-forward. I didn't have time to dwell on it though because before he could get another chance to attack me I snapped my leg out and caught him right in the face with the hardest part of my boot, the blow so powerful I felt his nose crunch under the force as he reeled back and fell from his precarious perch on my wings.

I breathed in deeply, startled by his sudden appearance, and then remembered the other skimmer I'd been moving in one and raised Sliver to defend myself from the oncoming attack, the pilot taking advantage of my distraction. But he never got the chance; only two feet from where he would have crashed into the front of my Ultra his skimmer was struck down by a bolt of blue energy and I wrenched my ride out of the way of his now plummeting skimmer. I watched him drop, smoke trailing behind his damaged Nightflyer, before looking back up and jumping at the sudden appearance of Angel.

"You alright? Sorry, I didn't mean to drop him on you like that." He called and then frowned because I was gawking at him. "What?"

"You're asking me if _I'm_ alright? Are _you_ alright?" I demanded, moving in closer to his skimmer and tearing a strip from the sleeve of my shirt, tying it tight around the four gashes on his arm that were leaking blood all the way down to his fingertips.

"They're not deep, Shade, don't worry about it." He said gruffly to cover up the fact that I must have put a little too much pressure on his wounds. I looked him up and down and winced; he looked like he'd gotten into a fight with a bloody weed hacker. He had rips all through his clothing, some of which revealed more gashes underneath. Even his face was shredded; three thin slashes ran horizontally over the bridge of his nose and across his right cheek, trickle dark blood down his chin and neck.

"You're sure?" I demanded, feeling slightly panicked, worried that he might have been gouged as deeply as I had.

"Yeah dude, calm down. These are just from when I blocked him, he came in really close... he didn't get me like he got you." He explained, swatting my hands away. "Knock it off, I'll worry about it later." He added snappishly and I glanced at his face again, catching the look of deep, cold fury still dissipating from his cloudy grey eyes and realized his match with Zodiac must have been something of a grudge match. I'd known Angel to get downright vicious whenever it came to someone messing with any of the rest of us; once he'd come back to our room at the Academy with a black eye and a bloody nose because he'd taken on three guys who'd been harassing Stork down at Finch's (which of course Stork had shown no gratitude to, explaining she could look after herself).

"Look if you're gonna be working out some issues then just don't get yourself killed, alright?" I told him and he grabbed the front of my shirt to pull me down and out of his way so he could fired his crossbow at a couple of lone Nightflyers. Then he looked at me and laughed.

"Well look who's become the hypocrite." He teased, punching my arm. "C'mon, I've got about twelve rounds left, let's go wrap this hell-giving up shall we?"

"Right." I said, chasing after him and then abruptly losing sight of him as soon as we crashed into the thick of the Nightflyers that were still swarming the _Merlin_ like angry hornets. I slashed out, tearing through an engine as I passed and then rolled to the side to avoid one of Fraggle's shots as it came barrelling towards me.

"Hey Fraggle, we're in pretty close to you, keep a look out for us huh?" I told him before blocking the sword of one bastard who came up on me when I wasn't looking and driving my elbow hard into the bridge of his nose.

Fraggle uttered a noise of irritation. "Or maybe you guys could keep back a bit eh? I can't fucking tell you guys from them, it's friggin' mayhem out there!"

"Well then, here's a better idea. Get the _Merlin_ out of here, I'll take care of the last of these bastards, what say you?" Varan asked over the airwaves.

Fraggle fired two more blasts at the retreating wreck of the enemy ship before saying "I say all yours big guy! Give 'er!!!" and wrenched the Merlin around so abruptly she let out a groaning noise of complaint, speeding off out of blast range.

"Right, Angel, Shade, get out of here!" Varan ordered before I saw him shoot up above the mob of Nightflyers which were still clustered around us, undecided whether to fall back as well or keep coming after the _Merlin_. I didn't need telling twice and after chopping my way past one guy who refused to let me past him I gunned it back after the Merlin, hoping Angel wasn't being stubborn for once.

Five seconds later a sound like thunder went off behind me and I whirled around, my ride thrashing in the resulting shockwave as a rolling cloud of red flames expanded outwards, engulfing pieces of Nightflyer and their pilots alike, charred chunks of metal raining down into the sky below and sending any who'd escaped the blast range speeding away with their tails between their legs, some of the surviving Nightflyers belching smoke out behind them.

I grinned, feeling my insides slowly unknot, my muscles starting to ache after all the work I'd demanded of them. God that had been rough... until Wasp had managed to take down that monster ship's crystal shield (and a good chunk of the ship itself) I'd thought we were going to be in over our heads, that we'd have to fight like hell if we wanted to get out of this alive. I'd thought for a second this might even be the end of us, my optimism slipping for a moment in the face of all that destructive intent, those sheer numbers. We were in this deep now, deep enough to drown and die and fuck I was beginning to wish I'd never dragged the others into this in the first place, never put them in the way of such ultimate harm.

Someone's wing's clanged against mine and, thinking it was Angel, I turned to make sure he was alright and my heart froze in my chest like it had been forcibly stopped, like I'd just dropped dead inside.

She gave me a hesitant smile, her left cheek bearing a slight cut, dirt and soot smudged over her skin. Her hair was being whipped about by the breeze and she had a row of stitches running under the strap of her tank-top. But it was her eyes that got me, stabbed right through my chest, those sea green eyes which were dancing with joy and glittering with something else, something like tears.

And my brain was telling me it couldn't be her, it just couldn't be, but my heart didn't care and my arms must have been listening to my heart just then because they wrapped around her as if to stop her from vanishing, from going away ever again and I had her crushed in against my chest so tightly I could feel her heart hammering against mine, even with the amount of metal between us. And she was squeezing me just as tightly.

"Stork?" I whispered because I still didn't trust this, couldn't believe this moment even though hell, if it was an illusion or some part of my brain inflicted with serious damage I couldn't care less, I never wanted it to stop, never wanted to let her go.

"Yeah..." her voice was small and muffled, much quieter and softer then it had been when she'd been shouting and hollering like an Amazonian warrior earlier. "Yeah, it's me, I'm back..."

I pushed my face into her hair, torn between laughing out loud and bursting into tears, drawing in her smell, her warmth; she was really there, she was back, she wasn't dead but she was right there in my arms. And it felt so damn good to have her there, breathing and hugging me like she hadn't seen me in years, like something that had been holding all the terrible, painful things inside me since losing her just burst open and it all dissipated, just like that, and left nothing but the feeling of being perfectly and completely happy, at peace and whole again inside.

After a while I realized she was shaking and sobbing into my chest and I squeezed her a little harder as if to comfort her.

And then she was speaking, her voice broken and hoarse and I was startled; never, in the three years I'd known her, had I ever seen Stork cry.

"I'm sorry Falshade..." she choked. "I'm so _so_ sorry, I tried... I wanted to come back, I tried to get a hold of you but I couldn't, I felt so bad, I've missed you all so much and I couldn't... I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's alright." I murmured into her ear and she broke away from me, looking into my face with wide, childish eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"What... what did you think had happened to me?" she sniffled and I didn't want to tell her when she was looking like that but there was no point in lying to her; hell what would she have thought if I told her we'd thought she was just missing and we hadn't come looking for her?

"We thought you were dead." I muttered, my throat clogged and she let out another sob, covering her face with her hands.

"Oh _god_... I'm _so_ sorry... the others... the others are all okay?" she asked, her voice muted.

"Yeah, everyone's alright." I assured her and she took her hands away from her face to look at me again. "Come, on lets go back to the _Merlin_, they'll want to see you."

"...Okay." she said in a very defeated voice and trailed after me. The trip back to the hanger seemed to take forever and it pained me to have her away from me, out of my sight. My heart started to pound uneasily, wondering if she'd disappear on me again while I couldn't see her.

But when I touched down in the hanger she was still there behind me and the moment we were off our sky rides we had each other in a death grip of a hug again, sort of laughing and crying at the same time, holding each other so tightly it was like we were trying to absorb each other, never let the other one go too far away again.

"God I missed you." She said, breaking away a little to rub at her nose. "I was worried about you guys all this time and I wanted to be with you but I couldn't and... god I'm just happy to be back." She said, hugging me again as the sound of another skimmer entering the hanger filled our ears before I could tell her I'd missed her so much I thought I'd never really live properly again.

Angel was cursing to himself when he abruptly fell silent, his Slip Wing falling with a clang to the floor behind him as he took in Stork, who I'd let go of reluctantly and was watching him. The two of them just stared at each other for a moment, Angel's face the picture of disbelief and at some other time I might have laughed at him had my own face not held a similar expression a few minutes ago.

Stork took a hesitant step towards him as if she was worried the bane of her existence and yet her best friend at the same time might shy away from her, that he'd think she was a fiction of his imagination. "Hey, Angel." She said, making a small, uncertain waving motion. "I'm, um... I'm back..."

He blinked at her once and then suddenly held his arms out wide. "Well bloody get over here!" he said, incredulity and exasperation in his voice and Stork flung herself into the open expanse of his arms, hugging him as tightly as she hugged me while he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. The two of them managed to bask in each other's affection for all of five seconds before Angel breathed in deeply and then let her go abruptly, back of his hand pressed to his nose. "Jeez, it really is you isn't it?" he asked and she backed away from him slightly, scowling.

"You need a haircut." She informed him sharply and I sighed.

"And the honeymoon is over." I said and Angel grinned slightly before anger contorted his features and he glared back at Stork like he wanted to shake her.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" he demanded and Stork seemed to flinch back from him. She turned to look at me and must have seen the same question on my face because her expression changed to one of deep guilt and she frowned.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I've been gone all this time and I'll explain everything, I promise." She said apologetically, squeezing Angel's hand briefly and taking us both by surprise; it wasn't like her not to argue back when shouted at like that. "But let me just go and see the other's first, please. I'll explain after, I swear."

She moved past me towards the doors, Angel's blood staining her white tank top and I followed after her, legs wobbly, heart throbbing from way too much exertion and excitement.

Fraggle was waiting for us on the bridge, but he, like Angel, must not have noticed Stork earlier and certainly didn't expect to see her enter the bridge. He jumped back as if electrocuted and gawked at her, eyes bulging from his head.

"Oh shit..." he muttered... "I'm seeing ghosts eh..."

"No, Fraggle, it's me, I'm not dead." Stork told him gently but he shook his head.

"_Exactly_ what a ghost Stork would say, eh."

"Fraggle, we can see her too." I assured him, even though I was still having a hard time getting over seeing her too. _What if this was all a dream_? I thought suddenly. Well then it was a good dream among all my bad ones, so let's not wake up yet. Besides, people didn't think they're having a dream when they're in one, did they?

Stork made an irritated noise at the further distrust on Fraggle's face and approached him to swiftly tug the rim of his toque down over his eyes. "There, now could a ghost do that?" she asked pointedly.

"Ghost can do whatever it wants." He said, managing to fix his toque before Stork flung her arms around him with an exasperated laugh and after a second he hugged her back, swinging her around and laughing like a maniac.

"This is crazy eh! You're really back? You're really not dead?" he demanded and Stork moved back, shaking her head.

"I'm really back." She promised and he laughed, mussing up her hair.

"My god girly, you put us through right hell you know that? Where in the Atmos have you been hiding?"

"I know, I feel god awful about it, and I'll explain everything in a moment." Stork vowed and I saw tears spring back to the corner of her eyes. She wiped at them roughly, saying "Where the hell are the other two bastards?"

"Well _one_ of them just heard you say that." Varan said from behind me and I shuffled to the side as he moved past me, the only one of us who didn't seem to be paralyzed by shock, which sort of surprised me, actually. "So it really is you huh?" he asked, stopping in front of her, his arms folded as if trying to look scolding but his voice cracked and his entire body was shaking so he didn't get away with it, not by a long shot.

Stork threw herself at him, standing on tip toe so she could reach his shoulders. "You better believe it's me!" she said and Varan actually lifted her from the ground he hugged her so tightly. Stork's smile turned into a grimace and she made a gagging noise. "Ack, Varan, the ribs, the ribs!"

"Sorry!" he let her go so suddenly she staggered, breathing in deeply a few times before hugging him again anyways.

"Nah, I'm happy to see you too!" she assured him, beaming.

Just then Wasp hopped down from the ladder leading to the topside blaster. She didn't appear to notice anything was going on at first. Rather she brushed herself off, cracked her neck to the side and then caught sight of Stork and stiffened like an alarmed cat.

Stork moved around Varan to approach her carefully. "Hey Waspy." She said carefully, smiling. "These boys been looking after you?"

Wasp blinked then moved forward to lean over Stork and sniff at her hair curiously. "You're alive." She stated bluntly.

Stork nodded. "Yeah I am."

Wasp seemed to consider this. "...Well that makes sense." She concluded after a moment, nodding to herself and Stork laughed.

"I'm going to hug you now, okay?" she said before wrapping the taller girl in her arms. Wasp looked unsure of this display of affection but then patted Stork's back gently as if to return the gesture.

"Holy shit Wasp what did you do to your hand?" Varan demanded then, making a jabbing motion at Wasp's left hand. Stork broke away from her and made strangled sound at the sight of Wasp's fingers, which were all bent at the wrong angles, skewed to the sides, joints bulging out in the wrong directions under her pale skin.

Wasp lifted her hand casually and turned it over in examination. "Oh, they're just dislocated. Must of happened when I jumped ship." She said nonchalantly. "It's okay, I know how to fix 'em." And before any of us could stop her she grabbed her pinkie finger and twisted it to the side. There was a loud wrenching sound and all of us flinched while Wasp's eyes shot open wide and she bit her lip.

"Ah... maybe you better do it." She whimpered, holding her hand out in Varan's direction and hanging her head, ashamed.

"Yeah, smart girl..." he muttered, looking a little queasy. Wasp sat at the table and barely winced when as he snapped all the joints back into place and then flexed her hand experimentally before she looked up at Stork owlishly. "So where've you been at, Stork-y?"

Stork swallowed and glanced at the rest of us, her eyes resting lastly on me. She took in a deep breath and let it out, making a gesture with her hand at the table, telling us to sit. "It's sort of a long story." She warned.

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x **

I don't think it's fair that so many good feelings can make your knees feel so weak. Seriously. It really puts a damper on the moment when you're standing there fighting to keep from falling to the floor and breaking down into explosive, snot-riddled tears, which would be epically embarrassing.

But that's how I was feeling, standing there looking at the five of them; I felt light-headed and shaky like I was on a serious caffeine buzz, happiness filling me up right to the back of my teeth so that I couldn't stop smiling. God _damnit_ it was good to see them again, even if they all looked a little haggard; maybe it came from not seeing them in ages but something had changed about all of them. They looked leaner, tougher, their faces harder and more adult, as if they'd all suddenly aged a few years while I'd been gone. But it was them alright, my crazy-ass friends, my family, and I wanted to be closer to all of them, to be swarmed in one big group hug so that could feel all of them there beside me at once.

"Hold on a second." Fraggle said suddenly, holding the flat of his hand out to me and I was sort of glad because I didn't know how I was going to explain where I'd been. I didn't really want to; in fact, fuck talking. I just wanted to sit and be with them for awhile, no complications, no long stories to tell. "Before anybody does anything else, Angel, you're bleeding all over my floor, eh."

"Yeah, sorry about that." He muttered with an eye roll and Falshade rounded on him.

"Shit, I'm sorry Ange, I forgot... Christ, go sit on the table." He said, pushing him in the direction of the table insistently. Wasp shuffled over to make space for him and snuffled at one of the gashes on his arm when he settled next to her.

"Shirt off, let's get a look at these." Varan instructed and we all let out a sympathetic hiss when Angel pulled his shirt off over his head and revealed a collection slashes all over his torso; jeez he looked like he'd gotten in a scrap with a jungle cat or something.

"Aw, Angel... well at least they're not too deep.... still, I think I'm going to have to stitch a few of these. I don't know what we're going to do about your face though." Varan commented, prodding at some of the gashes carefully.

"Don't worry, he was born with it." I said and Angel, to my surprise, laughed.

"Yeah right, you've always been jealous of my good looks. Still, there goes my modeling career I guess." He said and Varan snorted.

"Think you're a wee bit short for that anyways, buddy."

"Who did that to you? You look like you took on a wolverine on crack." I commented.

"Zodiac. New guy of theirs." Falshade explained, passing Varan the first aid kit but Angel held up his hand to cut him off.

"Shhh, Shade, don't let her change the subject like that." He looked at me pointedly. "You owe us an explanation Baby Girl. And it better be a good one."

I felt my stomach shrink and I glanced at the others, all of whom had the same question in their eyes: _Where have you been? We thought you were dead, Stork, so where for the love of god have you been instead?_

Lastly I looked to Falshade, who cocked his head, waiting for me to start, something almost like hurt mixing in his eyes. I blew out a sigh and tried to think of where to start.

"Well... what did you guys think had happened to me? Like when I went down like that?" I needed to know this even if it pained me right in the center of my chest to ask; the disbelief that had been on their faces, the wear and tear they all bore, the stress and tattered emotions that just seemed to be oozing from them... that was all my fault. And it killed me that I'd done that to them.

"We thought you crashed into a lava pool." Falshade explained, his voice sort of hoarse. "We found one of your throwing axes in the Wastelands next to this big, open pit of lava and thought you went down into that... we looked for you and couldn't find you."

I winced at the thought of them staring down into the orange glow of lava. "I did crash. I thought I was done for, actually, but I didn't crash anywhere near a lava pit. Oh but hey, you found my throwing axe? Awesome, I thought I'd lost it for sure!" Leave it to me to start thinking about my stuff at a time like this.

"Sticking to the details here." Angel quipped. "If you didn't go down there then what happened to you? We searched for you for ages."

"Yeah... well I went down into this cluster of those cliff things, the lava formations, you know? And I guess that's what saved me... my Hornet took the brunt of the hit and then I kinda feel off down into those clefts... broke my arm in two places actually." I reported.

"Why didn't you eject?" Falshade asked suddenly. "I was yelling at you to bail out, why didn't you?" there was the hurt again and I felt awful inside for having put them all through so much grief.

"I um... I forgot my parachute." I explained sheepishly and Falshade smacked a hand to his face while Angel snorted.

"Woooow, that's a new low even for you... seriously, how dumb to you have to be to-ouch! Varan, easy with that stuff!"

"I did that on purpose." Varan retorted, continuing with the disinfection of Angel's cuts. "Be nice, she's not even been back an hour yet."

"Oh come on, she's been making fun of me since she got here!"

"_Ahem_." I said. "Who's the one who implied I stunk within the first five minutes? You started it. And be quiet, do you want to hear my story or not?"

Angel rolled his eyes. "Carry on. How come we didn't find you?"

"Someone else found me first." I explained, kinda hesitant about this part for some reason and they all seemed to stiffen.

"Was it them? Did they take you hostage?" Falshade demanded.

"Who found you eh? No one else was done there that we saw." Fraggle asked at the same time.

I waved my hands, feeling overwhelmed. Hell I'd been unconscious at the time, what did they want me to say? "No, no it wasn't them, it's fine, I'm fine..." I trailed off, and fidgeted, trying to think of how I was going to be able to explain this bit; hell it was still a bit confusing to me when I thought about it. But then I just did what I did best and just sort of ploughed right in. "Stork found me down there before you did. He saved me."

Stunned, confused silence greeted me as the others blinked and exchanged baffled looks. Finally Wasp piped up. "But _you're _Stork."

Damnit it, I knew that was coming; with an irritated sigh I elaborated. "You all know my real name's not Stork, right? It's... well it doesn't matter what it really is. I'm not repeating it and if you know what's good for you-" here I had to round on Angel, who'd opened his mouth to make some insightful comment I'm sure. "Neither will you. Anyways. The person I was named after, this other Stork, that's who found me down there. He-"

"Stork who?" Falshade asked, still sounding confused.

"Uh... Stork of the, um... Storm Hawks?" I strung out awkwardly and, as I predicted, was met with widened eyes and shocked expressions from everyone but Wasp, who raised an eyebrow at the others and then looked at me quizzically.

"The carrier pilot of the Storm Hawks... _that_ Stork?" Angel repeated like he didn't believe me.

"Yeah."

"That's who you were named after? _That_ Stork? A Storm Hawk???" Falshade was gawking at me like as if I was trying to convince him that flying unicorns were real.

"Yes that Stork. How many others do you know of?" I asked, feeling a little annoyed.

"Well... fuck all this time I've known you and I never thought of _that_ Stork. He... he's a fucking legend."

"Yeah, actually don't feel too bad, I didn't know that's who I was named after until I was about thirteen either, and I'd never met him before." I said to make him feel better.

"Wait... you'd never met him but you were named after him? And he saved you, eh? How?" Fraggle asked slowly.

"Apparently there was a tracking device in the seat of my skimmer." I explained. "I didn't know, but it went off when I crashed and he had the receiver for it so he found me before you guys did and then he-"

"Whoa whoa whoa." Angel interrupted me this time and I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't give me that look. How come _Stork_, of the _Storm Hawks_, you know, like only the greatest squadron Atmos has ever heard of and has pretty much never been heard from again since the old war, had the receiver for a tracking device in _your_ skimmer, you know, _you_, Stork of Who Gives a Shit?"

I scowled at him. "Well, Angel of My Ego is Seriously Compensating for Something, it wasn't in mine originally; it was in my dad's, he moved it into mine when I left home, like in case something happened to me."

"Well okay, why did your dad have a tracking device that Stork had a receiver for then?" Falshade asked in a more reasonable tone and I shuffled awkwardly. I'd never mentioned my dad before, although I wasn't sure why; it wasn't that I was embarrassed of him or anything. But everyone knew him as Finn of the Storm Hawks, a hero and a legend, not like how I knew him, as my daddy who was broken hearted and yet still managed to love and raise me like his own, even though I was a child of unknown origin and had his dead best friend's eyes.

I cleared my throat a bit and looked at the floor. "Because my dad was a Storm Hawk too, although I didn't know for the longest time. Finn. He's my dad."

There was that stunned silence again and man was I getting sick of it. I looked up again, almost in a challenging sort of way, preparing myself for the bombardment.

"Finn. Only the greatest sharpshooter Atmos ever knew, and he's you _dad_?" Angel finally strung out and I fidgeted again.

"Well, he's not my real dad. Like not biologically I mean, I was adopted, but he was always my dad to me, he raised me and everything, so yeah, he's my dad." I said awkwardly.

"That's... pretty... awesome, eh." Fraggle said. "Why didn't you ever say anything before, eh? I mean we didn't know if you had parents or anything at all..."

I shrugged as if it weren't a big deal. "I dunno, I just never thought about bringing it up. It's not like he was a Storm Hawk to me, he was just my dad."

"...He was the one in the photo, wasn't he?" Falshade spoke up then and I snapped him a look.

"What?"

"Er, um... we found a photo in your room, Angel and I-"

"Hey, dude, don't bring me down with you!"

I glared at the two of them, outraged. "You guys went through my _room_???" I demanded.

Falshade shifted, seeming guilty, but Angel met my glare with one of his own. "Hey, don't you start hacking us out, we fucking thought you were _dead_, Stork, and Falshade wanted to know if you had family out there so we could go and tell them, so we had to look because you never bothered to tell us."

My insides froze and the sting of guilty I felt got shoved to the side by my sudden rush of panic. "Oh no... no no _no_, you guys didn't go to Finn did you? You didn't tell him I was dead did you?" Oh god what would he do if he thought I was dead? He'd lose it, he'd kill himself, feeling he'd lost everything in his life that had once made it worth living and now he'd lost me too... oh god oh god oh god. I wanted to see him so badly right then and the fear was so intense I almost broke down into tears right there in front of all of them.

"No, no we didn't, it's okay Stork." Falshade assured me quickly. "We only found the photo, we didn't know who he was or anything so... it's okay."

Relief made my insides watery and I breathed in and out deeply, trying to calm myself after my little anxiety attack. "Okay... good..." I coughed slightly. I totally didn't just freak out there. "It's just... that would have been bad. Don't scare me like that."

Angel made a coughing sound and opened his mouth to say something but Varan smacked him gently. "Can it." He advised and Angel rolled his eyes but kept his mouth shut. "Okay, this will probably sting, sorry."

"Ewww." I said, watching Varan stick a needle in under Angel's skin and pull the thread through carefully. He seemed a little too good at it, which made me frightened inside for some reason. When had he gotten the practice?

"So then what happened to you?" Falshade prodded and I had to think back for a second, remembering where I'd left off.

"Oh. Well then I woke up, about three days afterwards, in this weird room and at first I sort of freaked out, I didn't know what was going on or where you guys were. As soon as Stork told me what had happened I wanted to come back to you, I would have, but my skimmer was totalled and I had about four broken ribs, busted wrist and a pin in my arm. I only just got it out about a week ago." I explained, poking my collar bone to show the stitches. Varan let out a low whistle.

"Well I think that pretty much takes the top of the worst injury chart. Glad I didn't have to be the one to look after that, no offence."

"None taken; I'm glad I was out the whole time and didn't have to see it." I agreed.

"I dunno Var, Falshade could probably give her a run for her money." Angel mused then caught the glare Falshade shot at him and went quiet, but the damage had already been done.

I turned to stare at him, eyes wide. "Why, what happened?"

"Nothing." He said too quickly. I looked at Varan for an explanation because he couldn't lie to save his life.

"He went a little crazy in the last battle we got into." He relented at last and Falshade scowled at him for his disloyalty.

"And?" I pressed.

"...And he got ripped open by Zodiac. Fucking scared the rest of us to death, we thought he was going to bleed out on us." Varan elaborated.

"Varan!" Falshade said indignantly.

"Well we did eh!" Fraggle added in Varan's defensive. I gawked at Falshade, horrified.

"Show me." I demanded and he took a step away, shaking his head.

"No, Stork, it's not that big of a deal-"

"Oh yeah, neither is crashing into the Wastelands." I snapped and he let out a bit of a sigh before pulling up the hem of his shirt, not very high, but enough so that I could see the wide, ragged, angry red scar that stretched over his torso. Holy _shit_.

I didn't even realize I'd done it but a moment later I had my arms wrapped around his chest so tightly his breath was knocked out of him, face pushed into his collar bone. God what was wrong with me today? I had the urge to start bawling all over again, and why? I should be happy, I was back with my friends and they were all safe. I guess it was just thinking of what could have happened to Falshade while I was gone, what had happened to all of them while they thought I was dead, and it made tears rise and clog in my throat.

"You are a bloody idiot." I growled into his chest, not caring that the others were there witnessing my unglorifying display of affection. Fuck it, I'd go back to being a crabby little touch-me-and-die girl tomorrow.

Falshade hugged me back and sort of ruffled my hair slightly. "Yeah but I'm okay, right? So don't freak about it so much, it's done with now."

"Well not really, eh." Fraggle piped up. "I mean you got Cupcake blood in you forever now."

I back away from him slightly. "You've got Angel's _blood_ in you?" I repeated incredulously.

"Apparently."

I blinked at him and then broke into manic laughter. How's that for mood swings huh? "EWWWW!!!! Man do I ever feel sorry for you! That's so _creepy_!"

"That's what I said!" Fraggle agreed and I jumped on him, laughing the hardest I had in a good long while as Falshade and Angel exchanged an eye roll.

"Oh knock it off you two." Varan scolded Fraggle and I. "Falshade might have died if he hadn't of done it."

"_Exactly_, see, nobody appreciates me around here." Angel huffed.

I calmed myself down, sliding off Fraggle's back. "Still. That's weird. What if Falshade starts acting like Angel now? The last thing we need is two of them."

"Well if they start finishing each other's sentences we'll tie 'em to a stake and burn 'em, what say you?" Fraggle suggested.

"Sounds like a plan."

"So Stork rescued you and everything." Falshade was back on the original topic pointedly and once again I had to remind myself of what we were talking about; it was intoxicating and distracting to be back in the thick of Gargoyles' love and mayhem again and I was having a hard time keeping focused. "So then what? You stayed with him all this time?"

"Until a week ago yeah." I said with a nod. "I had to let my arm and ribs heal. Stork gave me this stuff to encourage my cells to repair faster, otherwise it would have taken even longer. And I swear I tried to get a hold of you guys the moment I woke up but that god damn radio is a piece of shit!" I declared, jabbing a finger at it. "Seriously, we need a new one, that one's next to useless!"

Fraggle crossed his arms, insulted. "Well where we you trying to call from eh? Even a super radio couldn't pick up a signal if it was too far away, and we've been all over the place lately." He argued defensively.

"Saharr. Stork had an underground base their where he's been hiding out all these years." I explained, my heart sinking at the thought of that poor Merb on his own once again.

Angel perked up with interest. "Saharr? You serious? Hell I never heard anything about underground bases and I lived out there 'til I was fourteen."

"Well he's kind of a hermit these days, doesn't talk to a lot of people. Oh, but you'll never guess what! He's Green Spark! Like he makes all those pieces by hand by himself, that's why they're so gosh darn expensive!" I gushed. "Maybe you have heard of him, Angel, the racers apparently call him the Speed Guru out there."

Angel raised his eyebrows. "_He's_ the Speed Guru? Huh, no fucking way, my skimmer was supped up with his parts. Small Atmos."

"Oh that reminds me, I saw your Slip Wing, why didn't you tell me you knew about mechanics?" I asked, seeing him in a whole new light suddenly as I remembered; after all last I'd seen of his ride it was in about five or six pieces on the _Merlin_'s runway.

"'Cause I don't, all she needed was body work and that's about all I can do. Maybe you could take a look at it later though, she's not running properly."

"Not that not I'm glad to see you too getting along for once." Falshade interrupted. "But I really want to hear the end of Stork's story, if you don't mind."

"Well I'm almost done. I hung out with Stork while he fixed my Hornet and my arm healed and then last week I set off looking for you guys. And jeez are you ever hard people to get a hold of." I went on. "I had no idea where to start looking for you guys so I went to Vatican to see if you'd stopped by there."

"You did? Did you see my mom? How is she?" Falshade asked suddenly and I held up my hands for mercy.

"Yeah, I did, she's fine, although she was pretty surprised to see me." Of course, it had been the middle of the night by the time I'd made it there and Caspia had ushered me into her house, concerned and shocked to see me alone. I felt bad because I must have frightened her, showing up without her son; I think at first she must have thought I'd come to report Falshade was dead, like his father, because something about her face had fallen when she saw me, some deep, helpless sorrow consuming her for a few moments until I explained why I was alone. "She said she hadn't heard from you since we dropped Pippa off, but she told me Nimbus was at there and that maybe he'd heard from you." Of course I hadn't been able to go and see him until the next morning and Shade's mother had put me up in his old bedroom, which still had the lingering feel of his presence in the corners; there were posters of squadrons and sports teams on his walls, curling with age, old comic books stacked on shelves and an notched-up practice sword made of two pieces of wood taped together leaning against his bed as if his eight year old self had only just left it there and it really just got to me. Yeah, sure, might have just been typical guy stuff, but I mean that was Falshade's typical guy stuff and with his typical guy smell still permeating his old blanket and his typical guy room assaulting me with memories of my friends it was all I could do not to break down and cry right there on his floor.

Falshade seemed surprised. "Why was Nimbus there by himself?"

"He um... he took a piece of shrapnel to the face during one of the fights. He was okay, don't worry, but um... the doctors couldn't save his eye. They had to remove it, too much damage so..." I cleared my throat. "He was on Vatican, recovering, when I saw him, had an eye patch and everything and was already making pirate jokes and stuff so I assume he's alright. Anyways he told me Ozprey had heard from you guys when they were out on Nord, but that would have been about three weeks ago by then. Oh Fraggle!" I turned to him, remembering suddenly. "I'm so sorry, I heard Nord got attacked, is your family alright?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah eh, everyone's fine, no worries."

I felt my chest loosen in relief. "Well that's good. I thought maybe you guys were out there but Nimbus said you hadn't stopped by. He had no idea where'd you'd gone but he told me he'd tell the rest of the Keeper's to keep an eye out for you guys and give me any updates if they heard anything. So I left after that and just kinda tried to think of where you guys might be, listening to the reports coming in but nobody friggin' talks about us, which is annoying as hell... so I was starting to get pretty pissed off with you guys for being so damn elusive after five days. But then the other night I got lucky for once; I was at this wayside terra refuelling when a couple of guys on Nightflyers pull up. Apparently they're familiar with the guy who owned the place, jerk, and they refuelled and whatever and then left again. So I tailed them, had to kinda hang back a bit, so it was slow going, but I've been tracking them for the last day now. Then this morning I picked up something over my radio, sounded like they were coordinating an attack and I heard them mention Ravenscroft, so I followed the source of the signal and low and behold I stumbled upon you guys. I tried to radio you but I must have been too far out range still." I said. "But hey, point was I showed up in the nick of time and pulled off the most dramatic entrance ever so, you know, no harm no foul. And here we are. The end." I concluded and Wasp clapped a bit, smiling.

"Good story! Although there wasn't enough action." She decided and I laughed, coming over to sit next to her on the table, plucking at her hair, which was considerably more matted then when I'd left, resembling dreadlocks by now.

"So yeah, there's my story. And seriously guys, I really am sorry for all of this." I said with probably the most sincerity I'd ever used in my life. Wasp nuzzled my shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't apologize. I don't really think you have anything to be sorry about. Shit happens." She said and I sort of sniffled.

"Yeah, besides, it doesn't matter anymore. You're back with us, that's what counts." Falshade added and I blinked back my tears.

"God I missed you guys." I muttered, pulling my knees into my chest and smiling weakly. "So what about you though? What happened after... after I left? Where've you been, what's been going on? Fill me in here people, you guys seem to have been busy."

"Well we had a couple of down days after what happened to you. Or what we thought happened to you anyways." Angel said and then hissed slightly. "You know this actually hurts more than they do, why don't you just leave 'em?"

"Oh quit being a baby, I'm being as careful as I can. And if I leave them they'll get infected and trust me, _that_ will hurt." Varan muttered.

"Yeah without you around we had to stop and get the _Merlin_ patched up after that fight." Fraggle added on. "Then Varan had the idea that we should go to Delphi, eh."

"Delphi? _Why_?" I asked.

"See, that's what _I_ said." Angel agreed.

"Well look who turned out to be right about that one, huh smart guy? Turned out to be a good idea didn't it?" Varan said indignantly. "We went to Delphi to try and get something concrete figured out about Falshade's dreams." He explained to me and I had to admit that seemed like a plausible idea, but even I knew the Oracle rarely spoke to anyone these days, so it had been a bit of a long shot. Then again they'd been grieving and lost and they must have pounced on the first reasonable idea that had come to them, poor guys.

"So did you actually see the Oracle?" I asked, kind of curious.

"Yeah, we did. She told us a bunch of stuff." Falshade said, brightening, and I perked up.

"Really? That's great! Did she have any answers, did you learn anything about your dreams?" I demanded.

"Well she gave us some answers alright, although they weren't exactly what we were expecting." Falshade carried on and I furrowed my brow.

"Well like how do you mean? What she say?"

"Aw it was cool, eh. Like that was the day Nord was under attack right? And she knew, Stork, she knew my family was okay, she knew their names and everything and I didn't even tell her about them!" Fraggle gushed excitedly and I felt my eyes widen in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah she knew all this stuff about all of us, our names and about my dreams and she knew about my dad too, said he like watched over me sometimes and stuff." Falshade said and I could see the boyish smile in the corners of the mouth which of course made my heart fill with joy. Falshade has a way of making your day seem brighter just by smiling at you; his childish excitement is infectious that way.

"Yeah and she knew about my dad and Starla and Pippa too eh... said that she's going to grow up to be brilliant." Fraggle said proudly and I felt slightly envious.

"Man I kinda wish I'd have been there for that." I said and Wasp patted my head sympathetically.

Suddenly Angel straightened up so fast Varan nearly stabbed him with the needle. And then he started laughing, this low, humourless, exasperated laugh and I edged away from him slightly.

"Oh my god... she knew." He said, holding his forehead in his hand, still laughing. "That old witch fucking _knew_ the whole time..."

"Knew what?" Falshade asked uncertainly.

"About Stork! Think about it, when she talked to us about her she said 'I'm sorry for your _loss_', 'One of you is no longer _with_ you'. She never once said anything about Stork being _dead_, we just took it that way."

I felt my face heat up. "She mentioned me? Seriously? Why?"

The others weren't listening to me though. "That's why she didn't say anything to us, from Stork." Falshade said slowly and then let out a bark of laughter. "Holy shit all that time she knew and..." he trailed off and suddenly looked angry, upset, and turned to Angel as if he could provide the answer. "Why though... why wouldn't she tell us?"

"Maybe it would mess up Stork's destiny." Wasp suggested simply, combing her fingers through my hair, which was pretty gunky by now, even by my standards.

I had no idea what she was talking about but the boys all turned to her like they'd come to expect random bouts of wisdom from her. "Explain please?" Angel prodded and Wasp nibbled on her fingernail as if she were choosing her words carefully.

"Okay well you know how she said she couldn't tell us where the Prophecy was coming from because it'd mess up someone else's destiny?" she said at last. "Well maybe this is like that. Maybe Stork had to spend some time away from us."

"Okay seriously, what?" I asked again and was once again ignored (and like what the hell gives with that, I just bloody got back, I should have been the centre of attention damnit! And _no,_ I don't care how much of a brat I just sounded like).

Falshade snapped his fingers. "Yeah because think about, it if we'd have known we would have gone right away to get her and then we might never have gotten into that fight and figured out what we did, or we might not even have gone to Bogaton..."

"And maybe Stork needed to be with...other... Stork too." Varan added thoughtfully.

"HELLO!" I shouted, waving my arms like a mad man. "Hi, feeling pretty lost over here! Mind explaining what the hell you guys are talking about?"

"It's more of a 'you had to be there' thing." Angel said and I smacked him, annoyed.

"Okay, well basically, the gist of it is everyone has some sort of destiny, you know, a role to play, and we're thinking that the Oracle didn't tell us you were alive and where you were because it might change how yours was supposed to play out, get it? Like maybe you were meant to be there with Stork all this time." Falshade eaxplained, finally filling me in. "Did you learn something from him or anything?"

I wrinkled my nose, thinking. Oh did I ever learn things, but I wasn't exactly sure if I wanted to divulge some of the more messy of details just yet; I was still pretty confused and hung up on them myself, last thing I needed was to get the others involved in the whole sticky thing too. "Well some stuff about the old war and what not... but I think I needed to be there with him, you're right. I mean hell he'd been alone out there for sixteen years."

Fraggle whistled. "Wow, yeah, poor guy probably could have used the company eh."

"Stork's company though?" Angel pointed out and I smacked him again.

"I'm excellent company you jerk." I said, which was really only half a lie. I wouldn't go as far to say _excellent_ I mean, but hey I'm better than _some _people I know. "So did she have anything to say about your dreams though? Or was that a bust?"

"Well she couldn't tell us anything exactly, but she said that there's answers coming to us, we've called it a Prophecy, from a source outside my dreams." Falshade explained and I frowned.

"Why couldn't she tell you?" I asked.

"It wasn't her place."

"...That's the biggest load of shit I've ever heard." I stated bluntly.

"_Thank_ you." Angel muttered.

"Oh Angel shut it." Varan said tiredly. "You had to be there, Stork, to really get it. She told us that someone else's destiny is all mixed up in this and we have to figure it out on our own so as not to mess that up."

I tried to understand this concept because I usually take what Varan says to heart faster then I will from someone else. He just is too much of a sweetheart to mock. "Well how are you supposed to figure it out then? Did she at least give you a hint?"

"Yeah. She said the source of this Prophecy thing is right under our nose, we just don't see it yet. And it'll be coming from 'Mouthless Voices given Voice by the Stolen'." Falshade elaborated and I tried to digest this.

"So it's like a riddle?"

"Yeah, kinda. Like my dreams; there's a message there, you just have to look for it."

"Hmm..." I thought about this. "...What in hell is a Stolen?"

"Welcome to our headache, eh." Fraggle said tiredly.

"If you ask me I find it pretty stupid that we're trying to figure out a damn riddle to get answers that might make or break what's going on in the war, destiny bullshit or not." Angel decided to inform us.

"Did the Oracle talk to _you_ about anything?" I asked, wondering if he was being pessimistic about all of this to cover up that fact that he was sore he hadn't been spoken to like Shade and Fraggle said they'd been. Angel had always been a sulker that way.

"Nothing I really cared about." He said shortly and I caught Falshade's eye questioningly. He pulled his finger across his neck and shook his head slightly, a clear 'don't pour gas on this particular fire' and despite the curiosity that bubbled up in my stomach I changed the subject.

"So then what did you guys do?" I asked.

"Well we sort of just did what we could to help out the other squadrons for the longest time, running all over the place and trying to figure out where the Prophecy was coming from in our spare time. Then we ran into those bastards again in the middle of the Crossroads, they ambushed us. They had that new guy with them, Zodiac." Falshade went on.

"That's how Shade got ripped up." Varan added and Falshade sighed.

"Yeah I was gonna avoid that detail but you know... anyways though after that we got down to thinking about who the hell these guys are and we think we've figured some stuff out."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"Well first of all Wasp says that Halo and the other guys all have crystal implanted in them, and it makes them stronger, they can heal faster. And Carrion and Zodiac are somehow bonded to this crystal, like they were created by it." Falshade explained and I felt a wallop of confusion bowl me over like a freighter carrier.

"Um...what?"

"_Please_ let's not go through that whole thing again." Fraggle groaned.

"This is what our current theory looks like." Angel said to me, ignoring Fraggle's protest. "Halo and his merry little band of psychopaths are like a really primal sort of army; yeah they've got crystals implanted in them but compared to what we've seen Zodiac and Carrion do it's just not top notch technology, with me so far?"

"...Sort of. How can someone have a crystal implanted in them?"

"We're not sure. But however they did it, it makes them like Shade said, it makes their cells regenerate faster thus enabling them to be stronger, heal faster, what have you, dig?"

"...I think so. So it's like having an extra engine on an airship, right?"

Angel stared at me as if he'd just noticed something incredibly desirable about me for the first time. "Never thought I'd say this, but my _god_ I love you." He said and I gave him the weirdest look I've probably ever given him (which is quite an achievement let me assure you).

"...Before I blow my brains out may I ask why?"

He waved a hand wildly at the others. "I used the _exact_ same example on these boneheads and they looked at me like they just came back from getting a lobotomy!" He said exasperatedly.

"Once again, we're not boneheads." Falshade huffed. "You explained is more clearly this time around."

"Sticking to the point." Varan reminded the three of us.

"Right, anyways, so we figure that Carrion, going on our observations and what Wasp has said, was actually bonded to this crystal by being created by it, synthesizing synthetic and natural energy together. She heals faster, is wicked strong, etcetera, you get the picture by now."

"I cut her arm off today." Wasp reported suddenly. "I cut it right off and it grew back on again. Like stitching an arm back onto a dolly." She shuddered next to me and I rubbed her back. "It was sort of creepy."

Varan pulled a face. "Please don't say things like that when I'm trying to sew this dummy back together."

"_Sticking to the point_." Angel said curtly. "Carrion might be strong and whatever but she's defective. Like she's missing parts of her mind and stuff."

"She's breakable too." Wasp added for my benefit. "I've taken harder hits then that and walked it off, but I _crushed_ her collar bone man." She seemed a little too pleased with this fact for my liking and I patted her head in a wary sort of congratulations.

"Yeah, but you're like a freaking Amazon warrior though. You could like get hit by an air truck and walk it off." Angel said and Wasp grinned as if this were a compliment. "Anyways that being said, Zodiac seems more... put together, like they've perfected whatever it is their doing to create them. We think they used Carrion as a prototype to make better ones. And... we think they're making more, while the rest of us are distracted by their lesser soldiers that have been attacking us left right and centre, and I mean _they're_ already giving us a hard time as it is."

I swallowed, thinking about all the implications if this new theory had if it was true. "Well _shit_."

"Yeah, our thoughts exactly."

"What I want to know is how were the able to do all this? They can't have just done it all overnight, it must have taken years..."

"Yeah, we thought of that too." Falshade agreed. "We think that this is how Cyclonia is connected to everything this time around. The Cyclonians must have figured out how to do it and left all the equipment for it behind. I mean it matches up to a lot of things in my dreams. So Angel suggested we start looking anywhere the Cyclonians had posts outside Cyclonia, in case they were doing research there or something. And I mean say our theory is wrong, these guys are still obviously getting supplies and what not from somewhere anyways, so we might as well start looking for their base. And then Varan had another good idea and suggested that we go talk to someone who'd been on the inside, who might have known where the Cyclonians had secret bases."

An idea dawned on me and I turned to look at Varan "You... you didn't go talk to Repton did you?" I asked in disbelief, my voice muted.

"Yeah, actually, we did." He said and I gasped.

"Oh my god! Did they actually let you see him? What did he say? Did he give you any information?" I asked in rapid succession, feeling overwhelmed again; man first the Oracle and now Repton? They really had been busy.

"...He knew about me." Varan said after a moment and my eyes stretched so wide it hurt.

"He did? No way..."

"Yep. Surprised me too. And yeah, he gave us some coordinates to five terras he said had Cyclonian activity on them. That's where we're headed now, to check them out." Varan went on, cutting the thread from another row of neat little stitches on Angel's belly, who really was sort of looking like a roughed up old rag doll by now.

"So, um... did he say anything else?" I asked carefully because I knew how sensitive Varan was about the whole subject. Hell he was a sensitive guy in general.

Varan glanced up at me and a small, almost guilty smile spread over his face. "He said he was proud of me." He said in a low, tentative voice like he was undecided still on how he felt on the matter.

I smiled widely and, after making sure he didn't have anything sharp in his hands, threw my arms around his shoulders (I was declaring today National Gargoyles Hugging Day for the record). "I'm happy for you, Var." I said earnestly and he patted my back briefly before I pulled away from him so he could finish patching up Angel.

"All this affection is making me feel ill." Angel reported and I rolled my eyes before, just to be a jerk, I leaned over and hugged him tight, even going as far as to plant a kiss on his cheek (strictly to be annoying, mind you).

"Argh, it burns!" he said, but he was grinning as he pushed me away.

"So yeah, you're pretty much brought up to speed now." Falshade said, stretching slightly.

"So what now though?" I asked. "Sounds like we've got a hell of a lot to do... where are we headed and how long until we get there?"

"Few days, give or take if we run into any weather systems or not, or anymore fights or anything... like Varan said we're checking out these terras Repton gave us coordinates to. We could go a little further today if the _Merlin_'s in good shape I guess and maybe you could give us a hand with the Prophecy riddle, it might help to have fresh-"

"No!" Fraggle suddenly burst out and we all turned to stare at him.

"...Sorry?" Falshade said after a moment.

"Okay, hear me out for a second, alright?" Fraggle said and Falshade nodded to show he was indeed listening. "I'm just thinking... we just got out of one hell of a battle, eh, and it's not even noon yet. And hell, Angel's all chewed up, Falshade almost got killed _again_, we just got Stork back after we thought she was _dead_ for god's sake and we've been working like mad on the Prophecy here and something or other there, eh, and to be bloody honest I'm just tired of it. Like honestly, we just got Stork back and we got through that battle by the skin of our teeth and I might not be an Oracle or anything fancy like that there, but I take that as a sign from the Cosmos that we should just take the fucking day off, eh." Fraggle reeled off. When he reached the end of his little rant he looked at all of us then sat on the arm rest of the couch as if drained of all energy suddenly. "Or, you know, never mind eh."

We exchanged looks and Falshade spoke up. "Actually, you know, a day off doesn't sound half bad."

Fraggle perked up. "Really? Wow I was kinda going out on a limb there, eh."

"Yeah, actually I like the idea too, I'm beat after flying around half the Atmos trying to find you guys." I said honestly. "And... I'm kinda just glad to be home."

"Ugh, the Affection Parade rolls on." Angel said in a mock-pained voice and I punched him lightly.

"Alright then, all for taking the fucking day off , up your fist." Falshade said with a grin and of course was met by five fists thrown into the air and a collection of yells and whoops from the rest of us.

And then I _did_ break into tears again, much to my own mortification, because this, this really was home.

* * *

So take one hell of a battle and the return of your thought-to-be-dead friend. Bet you're feeling pretty euphoric right? Well then add in a day off, five boxes of pizza, a flat of soda, loud punk music and six teenagers who can't remember a time they've felt happier to be so close to their other five, slightly whiffy, hyperactive and victorious friends?

Well you've got us Gargoyles, who are shoving pizza and life down their throats like it's going out of style, all buzzed on sugar and music and, as usual, a little subpar on the hygiene.

Sounds like fun, don't it?

"_THEY SAID NOW 'TEENAGERS SCARE THE LIVING SHIT OUTTA ME'_!!!" Fraggle and I were baying out the lyrics alongside Laundromat Angels between mouthfuls of mulched pizza, pulling some serious air guitar in the middle of the bridge like the moronic fans we were, much to the amusement of the others. But I mean hey, I've never let the risk of looking like an idiot get in the way of having fun so I could care less. Hell right about then the only thing I could care about was trying not to do deep tissue damage with some of the moves I was doing. I was back with my friends, the five people in the world I'd learned I can't stand being away from. I mean it hurt to leave Stork and being away from my dad... that sucked. But who had I gone back to when I'd left Stork? Who had I been with instead of my dad all this time? That's right, the Gargoyles. They were my constant, my security, my life and I needed to be with them. As long as I was with them... I dunno. I was okay, I was whole, I could handle all that other shitty stuff. End of the world prophecies, crystal engineered maniacs, lonely Merbs and broken fathers... I could deal with all that as long as I had to others there, beside me, holding my hand, at my back, knocking me around the head a bit. It made the rest of life more tolerable, less frightening, more of an adventure, ours for the taking as long as I was with them.

"One more time!" Fraggle hollered, pouncing on me so that I nearly collapsed under his weight.

"NO!" Angel yowled. "God I hate that song!"

"LIAR LIAR!" Falshade, Fraggle and I shouted at him.

"You lo-ve it, ad-mit it, you're totally Laundromat's number one fa-an." I said in an annoying sing-song voice, pulling at his hair, which I'd trimmed for him earlier because it had grown to about shoulder length while I was gone and he'd been looking like quite the little wild boy. He and I now had matching little patches of bandages on our faces covering up our hard won battle scars, our trophies of achievement in the field of kick-assery.

"Ha ha, no, I don't think so. Come on, these guys suck. At least Spontaneous Combustion Mentality has variety."

"Aw, you just have no taste, eh." Fraggle told him while I rolled onto the couch next to Wasp, jabbing one heel into her hip and the other into her ribs, kicking her softly.

"You're supposed to eat the toppings, it's what makes it good." I explained to her, nodding to her slice of pizza, which she'd all but plucked of toppings, dropping them onto Falshade's plate because hell, that kid will eat anything. I didn't know how those boys could just keep _eating_; I'd shovelled down five slices and I was stuffed to the gills. I could tell I was going to have a pizza hangover the next day. But the guys just kept attacking those pizzas like they expected them to get up and make a run for it.

"They look weird though. Like little eyeballs staring at me." Wasp said, staring down at her pizza like she was having a staring contest with it.

"They're not eyeballs. Well, maybe on these guys." I pointed at one of the anchovies from Fraggle's personalized pizza and Wasp laughed, poking at the little fish with disgust. I sat up and reached towards what remained of our flat of soda. It had been my idea that, since we were indeed taking the fucking day off, this should include Varan having to cook for us (I mean seriously, who _else_ could have thought of such a brilliant idea?). Of course the others eagerly agreed and we went a little hog wild, what with all those pizzas (I suppose we only might have needed three but man I've seen Fraggle, Angel and Falshade devour a whole pizza in under twenty minutes between the three of them, so you know, better safe than sorry) and soda. We'd be paying for it tomorrow, but tonight nothing really seemed to matter to us other then the fact that we were together and alive and safe and happy.

After a minute of hunting through the different cans of soda I frowned. "Okay, what the fuck, one of you jerks took my-" I stopped and turned to glare at Angel, who was sucking on the end of a green bendy straw, feigning innocence. I checked the label on his can of pop and narrowed my eyes at him. "You drank the last can of _cherry_???"

He made that annoying rattling sound in the bottom of his can, sucking up the last of his soda casually before lifting his can to shake it next to his ear experimentally. "Apparently." He commented as if this weren't a big deal.

Oh but it _was_ a big deal!

"God damnit, Angel, you know I don't like the other kinds!" I snapped at him, which he thought was incredibly funny and laughed. "I wouldn't laugh if I were you! Seriously, they're going to have to come up with a new word for what I'm going to do to you! We're talking serious cranial damage here, pal!" I declared, trying to look as formidable as possible. Nobody messes with me and my cherry soda.

Angel leaned over next to Falshade. "I missed this." He reported with a grin and Falshade laughed into his sleeve as he wiped strings of cheese from his lips, which had been hanging there like tentacles spewing from his mouth.

I narrowed my eyes. "You think this is _funny_??? I swear, the hospital's not going to know whether to check you in under skull fracture or burn victim!"

"Oooh, burn victim." Angel tilted his hand in some sort of six-gun salute at me. "That's a new one." He took in my sour expression and rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, I've been so bored for weeks, cut me some slack."

I had to grin; yeah Angel and I annoyed each other to no end but without each other to piss off we went right round the bend. I had a theory that we had to expel a certain amount of our obnoxiousness every day, like a meet a certain quota, or we'd go pretty batty. Like dogs who get left in their kennels all day, ya know?

"Yeah, I can tell. You guys have been spoiling him." I scolded the others, leaning over to give him a ferocious nougie. "You gotta beat him a little or he gets like this on ya."

"We _have_ been beating him." Varan objected.

"Well obviously not enough. You know, we should have like a stand in for the job, like in case I can't do it." I mused thoughtfully. "Like if I get carpel tunnel in both my wrists or lost in a mall..."

"You _would_ get lost in a mall." Angel quipped and I smacked him around his arrogant, dumb-lookin' head.

"Like have a Deputy Angel Beater to smack him around a bit." I went on, ignoring his comment. "Just so his ego doesn't get so big that his head explodes."

"I _would_ prefer to keep my head unexploded." Angel agreed.

"Sounds like a sweet job." Fraggle said. "I'd be up for that, eh."

"Oh no you don't." Falshade said indignantly. "If anyone gets to beat him it's me. That kid puts me through right hell."

Angel rolled his eyes again. "Thanks man, love you too. And you beat me plenty." He turned to me. "You would have got a kick out of the black eye he gave me."

I grinned wickedly and laughed, looking to Shade for conformation. "You finally gave him a shiner? Seriously? Man I'm sorry I missed that!"

Falshade didn't look so pleased about it though. Rather he looked pretty ashamed about something. "I didn't _mean_ to." He muttered objectively.

"Oh I know." Angel said quickly. "Sorry, I thought we were at a point where we could laugh about that."

I gave them a curious look and Falshade waved his hand dismissively. "It's not important." He assured me. I frowned; the others had said they'd filled me in but I dunno. Since I'd got back I'd been noticing little quirks and shifts in the Gargoyle's dynamic. It almost was like I was still viewing how they'd been while I'd been away, as if they were having a difficult time reaccepting me back into the workings of our crew just yet. I couldn't really blame them I guess; I mean they'd been working so damn hard to try and move past the fact that (they thought) I was dead it must have been weird as all get out to suddenly have me back and trying to fit into my old gap again. I didn't expect it to happen overnight.

But still, I was noticing these things and it made me tense, a little concerned about them and more than a little curious. There was some gaps missing from their trip to the Oracle for one thing; Angel and Wasp hadn't reported anything that she'd said about them and I could tell there was tension and anxiety from the others about that. There was also the period in time, the 'down time' they'd had as Angel had called it, after that battle when I'd been separated from them, that nobody wanted to go near at all. They all clammed up and looked shifty when I asked about it. I'd wanted to teasingly ask if they'd cried or anything but I realized before speaking (yep, I do think before I speak sometimes thanks) that they probably _had_ cried and while it was easy for me to joke about it (and it wasn't _that_ easy may I add) they'd honestly thought they'd lost me forever and that wasn't something they could ever joke about. That must have been some pretty heavy emotional shit they'd had to fight through and I don't think they wanted to think back on it and divulge too much to me. It must have seemed weird to them, telling their thought-dead friend what they'd gone through.

I'd also noticed changes about them as individuals in general: Varan seemed to have filled out some since I'd left, much less the scrawny newt we knew and loved and more like a full grown, Raptor brute. In appearance only, mind you. He was still the biggest sweetheart I'd ever met. And he seemed more confident and even a little distant now too, like the age difference between him and the rest of us was starting to make a difference. I remembered that technically he was an adult now and he seemed to be acting more like it then someone like oh, say, Fraggle. I figured his confrontation with Repton must have changed something in him, like maybe some kind of spiritual realization kind of thing.

Fraggle seemed to have changed the least, still a happy-go-lucky son of a bitch who laughed at any bad joke you told him. But his smile seemed a little harder to use, like he wasn't as familiar with it anymore. And he'd kinda aged too, I thought. At least, he seemed a little more mature and concerned about things, not exactly as carefree as he was. The incident on Nord must have startled him, given him a bit of a reality jolt.

Something had definitely shifted between Angel and Falshade, that I could tell right away. Maybe it was easier because I'd known them both the longest and because they were a little closer to home, age and species wise I mean. Angel seemed somehow more... god what was the word... dare I say kind? No, that wasn't it. He was still sharp and nasty. But he seemed a little more protective of Falshade especially I'd noted, in a really weird sense of the word. Like he'd taken some of his cold facade away, not enough to be real open and caring, but enough that he seemed... concerned about the others, like he thought he had to look out for them. He'd been touchy with me the closer I'd gotten to Falshade, like we were doing some sort of territory thing like we had way back in the beginning. Which, in a way, I found sweet of him, in a warped, kind of annoyed sort of way. But I mean he still seemed pleased to have me around; we were joking around and bugging each other like we had before, and we even seemed a little closer, somehow. He looked a little haggard, a little more sickly then I recalled but he was Angel alright, despite his new, sort of strange attitude.

Falshade, on the other hand, seemed a little more distant, not in a cold, snarky way like Angel, but in a brooding, sort of cautiously alert kind of way, like an alpha wolf or something. He was more serious, a little detached. The childish demeanour which was usually so easy to see on his face had been shaded over by realization and a change in perspective it seemed. It was still there, sparking in his eyes, in the way his bangs flopped into his face and in his roguish smile, but it was a little more difficult to see, you know? It seemed like he'd become a little more like a Sky Knight while I'd been gone and a little less like the playful, optimistic and easy-going guy I'd known all this time. And to be honest it sort of scared me. I mean Shade being serious must have been one of the signs of the Apocalypse, right? What was next, Wasp acting civilized? Fraggle driving like he wasn't on speed?

No I kid. But seriously. Change was something I didn't really like and I hated to think that maybe my friends had all changed and grown up some and left me behind.

Speaking of Wasp, that had been one of the really big things I'd noticed since getting back. Almost immediately, actually, and with steadily growing disbelief; something had definitely changed in the Wasp/Angel dynamics. I dunno if the guys were ignoring it or just oblivious to it, but I have some feminine attributes, however much I try to hide them, and one of those is that inbred female ability to pick up on exchanges of the affectionate kind (and ya'll know what kind of affectionate I mean. Not the typical Gargoyles 'dude you're practically my brother, I love you and now I'm going to beat your head in for bleaching my favourite pair of underwear' -true story that one- but the other kind, the dangerous sort of 'Um, yeah, you... you're pretty, uh, amazing' sort of affection. Yeah that kind). I mean I guess with us all being together so much I'd kinda thought that wouldn't happen between any of us, no awkward flings and questionable activity behind closed doors. But man I've seen enough of it in terra squares and movies to know it when I see it. Like for one thing, they talked differently than they used to; Angel didn't snap or snarl at her like he used to, treating her like she was an unwanted, flea ridden puppy that wouldn't stop following us. He actually teased her and laughed at what she said, but not like he did with us. And she... she talked back. Actually spoke to him in like, attempted proper sentences. And they looked at each other when they talked. Like yeah I tend to do that too but this was different.

And they kept _touching_ each other. And Angel was harping on _me _about affection; fuck I'd seen him grazing her hand or knee on a few occasions now, and after I'd trimmed his hair Wasp had run her fingers all through it like she was mapping his scalp, messing it up and laughing and telling him he looked like a guy with an office job. It was just _weird_, man. And the really annoying thing was the others didn't seem to notice, or if they did they didn't care. Call me a teenage girl but I was all like OH MY GAWD WHAT IS UP WITH THEM??? inside and they were totally _not_ sharing in on my incredulous enthusiasm.

Anyways I digress.

Wasp slithered into my lap, sort of, half sprawled over me so her boney hip was digging into my stomach and her upper body was slouched against the armrest of the couch. "Hi."

"Hey. Havin' fun?"

"Meh. Punk is overrated."

"Is not!" I said, pretending to be offended. "Come on, these guys are pretty hardcore, admit it."

"Want to play a game with me?" she asked, changing the subject and snapping the tab of her can of Buzz Juice, sticking it in her pocket.

"Sure. What kind of game?"

"Like Twenty Questions, only not, really. Like I Never without the liquor."

"Aw but that's no fun, eh!" Fraggle interjected.

"So what you ask a question and I answer it?" I clarified and Wasp nodded.

"Yeah. It took until you left for me to realize I don't know you that well, even though you were the one who adopted me." She said with a grin and I frowned at her.

"I didn't really _adopt_ you, Wasp." I argued "That makes you sound like a stray cat or something."

"Well what else would you call me?" she asked reasonably and I faltered on that one.

"Well... I dunno." I said after a while and she nodded as if this was an acceptable answer.

"Anyways, you wanna play?"

"Sure. You can go first."

"Oh, I don't have a question yet. You go." She invited.

"Hmm..." I glanced about. "Uh... what's your favourite colour?" I asked lamely but Wasp seemed to take it pretty seriously.

"Green." She decided at last. "What about you?"

"Yellow." I said. Yellow like my axes and my Hornet, yellow like Finn's hair and Stork's eyes.

"Yellow is so bland." Angel decided to comment and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Oh yeah, then what's your favourite, pink?" I shot back and he rolled his eyes for a third time.

"We're resorting to gay jokes? Seriously?"

"I'm wait-ting." I sang out.

"I don't have one."

"You don't?" Wasp looked appalled by this. "So if I asked you what colour you had to paint your room you wouldn't know? Or if you had to die your hair?"

"I like my hair the way it is, thanks. People kill for my kinda hair."

I snorted. "Right. Just pick one."

"Why?"

"I always kinda liked yellow too." Varan said thoughtfully as I made an exasperated noise. "It's calming and bright, you know?"

"I thought it was kinda sharp and snazzy." I argued evenly. "Like vibrant."

"Well yeah, in some shades. Makes me think of the sun." Varan agreed. Varan, as a typical Terradon, loved the sun. Sometimes, on off days, he'd pull an old lawn chair onto the deck and just fall asleep in a sun beam like a cat. And of course he'd love peaceful colours, something easy on the eyes and not brain-assaulting or anything, like lime green or hot pink or those sorts of colours. He was a serene, calm sort of guy after all.

"What about you Shade?" I called over to him over the music and he seemed to think about it.

"Blue, I guess." He said.

"Aw, why not purple?" I asked teasingly.

"I dunno. 'Cause my dad had purple eyes and he's dead. My mom's got blue and she's still around, so... I dunno." He said thoughtfully and I guess he had a sort of point there.

"Orange all the way for me, eh." Fraggle said.

"Like a danger warning sign kinda orange?" I asked playfully and he nodded.

"Exactly."

"This is fun." Wasp declared with a grin. "Who wants to go next?"

"We're actually gonna make a whole game of this?" Angel asked, bored. I smacked him lightly.

"Yeah, 'cause it's fun and I wanna spend time with you guys, and what I say goes tonight because I just got back. You have to treat me like it's my birthday."

"We tend to beat you on your birthday." Falshade reminded me and I scowled at the memories of all those bruises; my seventeenth birthday was going to be hell.

"Plus I think if I do anything that requires more activity I'm gonna hurl." I added and I got a better agreement for that reason.

"Uh, yeah, let's avoid that, please." Varan agreed.

"Oooh, got one eh!" Fraggle declared.

"Nothing raunchy." I insisted and he gave me look of being mockingly affronted.

"Nah eh, no worries. So, if there wasn't... us. This. That Gargoyles, eh, what would you wanna do with your life? What would you be, eh?" he asked and there was a collection of surprised and perplexed looks from the rest of them. "Tough one, eh?"

"Yeah really..." Falshade agreed, scratching his scalp. "I... I dunno. Like if I didn't have my dreams or anything... I guess I'd try to be in the military somehow, like part of a squadron or something. I just can't picture doing anything else. Hell, I couldn't. I can't really read or write well and I don't have very many other skills."

"You don't have a lot right now really either." Angel said nonchalantly and Falshade threw an empty can of pop at him.

"Oh shut it. What would you do then, genius?"

"Me? Probably be back to the desert, achieving nothing. Or, actually maybe I'd be kinda like a mercenary. No, wait, I hate those guys... so like a vigilante. No, wait, I hate them too. Rogue, that's it."

"Well you got some mighty big dreams there, don't ya?" I said snidely. "That's like saying you'd wanna be a writer or in the circus or something."

"Well what would you do, princess?"

"Be a grease monkey, duh." I said. "Get into like the big leagues, like in a real pit crew or something, maybe for Farley Throttle or something. Oh man that'd be sweet..."

"No gushing!" Falshade and Angel quipped at the same time and I scowled.

"Wasp, what about you?" I asked to deflect the way the conversation was going. I didn't _gush_, thanks. Those jerks just didn't understand that Farley freaking Throttle was like, a racing _god_. Jeez, the ignorance of some people.

"I'd be dead." Wasp said simply and we all stared at her.

"...What?" I asked after a moment.

"If I weren't with you guys I'd probably be dead by now." She said simply, picking at a scab on her knee. "I kinda had a bounty on my head back on Macabre. And I mean what else would I have done?"

"Aw, Wasp..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say. Jeez maybe I really had sort of adopted her.

"You'd have found something I'm sure." Angel insisted. See, see, that's what I mean! I mean before I left he would have said something like 'shame we didn't leave you there then' or something assholish like that! "Hey, maybe _you_ could have joined a circus."

Wasp seemed to find this incredibly funny. "Oooh, yeah, I could have been like... a fire eater or something."

"Why don't we think of a new question?" Varan asked. "Like unless you had something, Fraggle. I don't really have anything."

Fraggle waved a hand. "Nah, not really eh. Maybe still sky fishing, maybe something else. Just kinda drifting. Oooh, that or join a rock band, eh."

I snorted. "You can't play anything!"

"Could learn if I wanted too. Like... the tambourine or something eh." He said with a laugh.

"Oh, hey, I got one." Angel said, sitting up from where he'd been slouching back, feet on the table as usual. "If you had a choice whether or not to be playing this game... kidding!" he said when I narrowed my eyes at him. "I seriously have on. If you could go back and change one thing about your life, what would it be?"

Silence. That was a tough one.

"I dunno, eh." Fraggle said after a long while. "Wouldn't that change how you are now? How your life is now?"

"Well yeah, that's kinda the point, isn't it?"

"Then I wouldn't change anything." Varan said. "You can't change your past or your mistakes. You have to learn from them. That's how you grow as people, you know? That's how you become who you are, how you function. If you could change it, we'd never learn anything, never change who were are. You are what has happened to you."

"Well, that's a nice, fortune cookie theory there, Var, and I respect it." Angel assured him. "But say something bad happened to you, outside your control. Changing that might change you for the better."

"Yeah, but remember what the Oracle said about destiny and stuff. Like, example, say I said I'd change it so the Bogaton massacre had never happened. Then I wouldn't know any of you guys. Hell I might even be a totally different person."

"Well true." Angel agreed, seeming a little thrown off by his honesty and logic. I was anyways. "But then at least you wouldn't have to cook for us."

Varan laughed at this.

"I think I'd change it so my dad hadn't of died." Falshade said in a low voice. "I don't think that would have changed much about me or anything and it just... my mom would still have him and everything, you know? It seems like a good thing to me."

The tone of his voice and look on his face kinda made me want to go over and hug him again. "Way to pick such a heart-wrenching question there, Cupcake." I said, swatting at Angel, who shrugged.

"It wouldn't be any good if it wasn't personal." He said simply.

"I like Varan's thought there, eh. Makes a lot of sense. But then I think Falshade's got the right idea too. Like it would only change things for the better for him." Fraggle said thoughtfully. "I'd like it if my old man were still around too but if he was I guess I wouldn't have Starla, and I like having her. Plus Hail's alright. Never knew my real dad anyways so I guess it doesn't make much of a difference not having him around. Mom's happy, I got Starla and kinda a proper family. Kinda different from your situation there, Chief."

"Yeah, I see what you mean." Falshade agreed. "So you wouldn't change anything?"

"Nah. I'm pretty alright with what I've got."

"What about you, Ange? You're the one who asked." Falshade asked.

"Would you change the fact that you're such an asshole?" I asked casually.

"You kidding? Life would be so boring." He said and I rolled my eyes. Then he was quiet for a long time. "I... I dunno, actually. I think I know something I'd change, but I don't really wanna say it."

"Well that's not fair!" I said. "It was your question after all, and the others were all honest!"

"Can't help but notice that _you_ haven't gone yet."

"Oh come on is it really that personal? We're all friends here man, you can tell us eh." Fraggle prodded, taking my side and Angel made a growling noise.

"Shouldn't have bloody said anything... alright fine. I'd... I'd have gone with this one woman who was supposed to adopt me. After... after my mom died."

Stunned silence. I tumbled back into Wasp in shock. Never had Angel ever divulged anything about his past, his parents, anything. Hell I hadn't even been aware he'd had a mother of any sort. And she'd died? That was awful... god was I the only one who hadn't lost a parent?

"...Someone was supposed to adopt you? Why... why didn't you go with her then?" Falshade asked quietly and Angel shrugged as if it weren't a big deal.

"I dunno... I just didn't want to go... I didn't want to be with anyone. Looking back on it though I think if I could I'd have sucked it up and gone. It's one of those change you for the better things I guess."

"How old were you?" Varan asked carefully.

"Eight."

Something flashed over Falshade's face but he didn't say anything. Angel glanced up from where he was staring fixatedly at his boot, took in our faces and scowled.

"Oh come on, I didn't want that to turn into a sympathy intervention. Falshade said something depressing too!"

"Bit of a difference there though, Ange." Varan said.

"Okay, I got a better one. I'd change having said that last thing I would have changed. Happy? This game is stupid."

"It was your bloody question!" I reminded him.

"Right, then _I'm_ stupid, is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Yes." I said, nodding. "Yes it is."

"I agree with Varan. I don't think I'd change anything." Wasp said then. "Although... well there are some things I'd like to change, but then like Varan said, I wouldn't be with you guys. And I like you guys."

"Daww, thanks, we like you too." I said, hugging her and she squirmed a little, snorting as my hair tickled her nose.

"What about you, Baby Girl?" Angel asked and I scowled at him.

"Is meeting you an option?"

"Ouch, that _really_ hurt." He said sarcastically. "I think we'd both have been better off for that, actually..."

"Oh shut up, I was kidding, calm down. I..." god that was tricky. I could say I'd wish Aerrow hadn't died, but then, that was before my life started and plus would I even have been adopted by Finn then, or rescued by Stork, or even be who I was? Would I even be alive? And was it selfish of me to say I still wouldn't change it anyways? "I dunno if there's anything I could change." I admitted at last.

"How about altering your face a bit? You must have had an accident or something." Angel suggested and I pounced on him, beating him around the head and shoulders and nearly toppling the both of us from his chair.

"I'm not the one who looks like he escaped a serial killer wielding a butter knife." I pointed out, picking at his bandages.

"I dunno, chicks dig scars eh." Fraggle said in Angel's defence.

"Yeah but chicks aren't exactly the type Angel wants digging him." I teased, yanking at his hair and he whipped his elbow out to catch me in the ribs, which caught me by surprise.

"Enough with the fag jibes, alright?" he snapped and that sort of caught me off guard. I mean yeah he hated when I got the better of him like that but it usually took a little more than that to set him off.

"Leave him alone, Stork." Falshade told me in a sort of stern voice and I sat down. He was only taking Angel's side because he didn't think those sorts of jokes were funny. If it were anything else he'd have left me alone; god, conflict of interests huh?

I cleared my throat, avoiding Angel's glare. "So game's getting a little heated. That's not what you intended, is it Wasp?"

Wasp shook her head then flicked her ears. "No. But personal stuff gets emotional." She said bluntly.

"Shall we quit then?"

"I got one, it's not so bad." Falshade said and I shrugged. So we weren't quitting, whatever.

"Okay so say you could like take a vacation. From this. Where would you go, if you had a choice. Like I mean where would you want to be if not here?" he asked and I felt torn; would I go see my dad or go back to Stork? God damnit why couldn't the two of them be in the same place? And what was with these tough questions? Mine had been nice and simple damnit!

"Oh that's easy, eh. Home, Nord. See my mom and sis. Go have a good romp in the snow, eh. I miss the snow. You guys ever seen snow?"

"Never." Wasp said with wide eyes. "But I bet its nice and tickly."

"Maybe I ought to take ya'll with me then, if we ever get the chance there, eh." Fraggle said thoughtfully.

"I wouldn't mind that." Falshade said with a grin. "I'd kinda like to meet this sister of yours by now."

"How 'bout you there, Var?" Fraggle asked and Varan seemed to think about it.

"I think I'd go back and spend some time with Repton. When we have more time and under different circumstances. There's some stuff I'd like to talk to him about." He said softly after a while and I reached out to squeeze his hand on an impulse. He grinned at me gratefully and turned to Wasp. "What about you?"

"Oh... I'd love to go to the jungle." Wasp said dreamily.

"Maybe we could do that too one day." Falshade said evenly and Wasp shook her head.

"Can't." She said with a sad little smile. "But it's a nice thought."

"What about you, Stork?" Falshade asked me and I thought hard about it. Stork or Finn?

"I, um... I'd go see my dad I think." I said after a while. "I'd like to go back and hang out with Stork too but I've seen him recently, and I've been away from my dad for a long time. So I'd go chill with him for a bit."

"We can always do that sometime too." Falshade assured me in a low, gentle voice. "Hell maybe we should just have a total family thing sometime. I think everyone misses home a bit from the sounds of it..."

"I don't!" Angel declared cheerfully just to be an asshole.

"Thanks for ruining that, by the way. You could come with me and see my mom then. Us being brothers and all." Falshade said and Angel made a coughing noise.

"...No, that's not a good idea."

Falshade cocked an eyebrow but left it at that. "That's what I'd do anyways, go see my mom for a bit, and the Beast Keepers, just have some down time at home. That leaves you, Angel. Where'd you go, since you don't miss home and all."

Angel snorted. "You serious? I wouldn't go anywhere, man. I'd rather be here than anywhere else, pathetic as that sounds."

We all blinked at him and he scowled.

"What have I gone and said now?"

We all exchanged a quick look and then, just because Angel never says anything so warm n' fuzzy like that and we love driving him crazy, we all cracked evil grins and shouted: "AWWWWW!!!"

"Oh, shut up."

But you know, deep down, when I think about it, he had a point; because I'd rather be here than anywhere else too.

* * *

I don't know why I did it. But I happened to be stepping out of the bathroom after giving my teeth the brushing they hadn't had in ages (yeah, yeah I know, gross, shut up) just as Falshade was heading towards his room and the urge came over me and I practically tackled him in another fierce hug. God I was disgusted with myself. But then again, I hadn't seen him in ever and I'd missed him so badly, so you know what, to hell with keeping up appearances.

He seemed a little surprised but then hugged me back. "Well someone's rather affectionate today." He teased and I head butted his collar bone with my forehead (bad idea, note to self, don't do again).

"Oh be quiet." I huffed and he laughed and squeezed extra hard.

"I was kidding, I don't mind. I... I really missed you, you know." He said quietly and I felt something start to prickle behind my eyes. Damnit, not _again_.

"Yeah, I missed you too, man." I muttered. It was just so good to be back among all the chaos and love and laughter... I'd never be able to live without this I realized. I was addicted, hooked on my life with the Gargoyles. It was really going to complicate my social life, I realized.

I broke away from him and smiled. "Well, uh, goodnight. I'm going to leave now."

He nodded. "Yeah. I'm gonna try and sleep off some of that pizza. We're going to be eating that all week you know."

"Yes, yes, I'm a genius aren't I?" I said with a grin and he laughed, mussing up my hair before pushing me off down the hallway.

"Get going."

I took exaggerated, long, slow steps, arms out in front like I was a zombie until he moved closer and pushed me along, foot jammed gently into the small of my back. I flipped him the finger over my shoulder and trotted off down to the hanger.

Once I was down there though I felt a little lonely; it sucked being this far from the others. Which was kind of pathetic when I thought about it. I used to sleep down here just fine, happy to be away from them, because Varan, Falshade and Fraggle all snored and Angel had a habit of stalking to corridors, kicking doors and muttering to himself when he couldn't sleep. That and he'd do nasty stuff to you while you were sleeping when he got really bored, like catching huge, hairy spiders and letting them go under your sheets (he was still going to pay for that one, let me assure you). It was just that I was finally back with them and down here in the hanger seemed a little too far away.

I was considering sleeping on the couch when I felt something struggling away in the back of my mind. Sitting down on one of my crates of tools I snaked my fingers through my unwashed hair and tried to figure out what it was, because I knew I'd never catch a wink of sleep if there was something on my mind like that.

I thought back on all the events that had gone on today, dissecting them one by one to try and find the one that was bothering me. I landed on Falshade's whole Prophecy thing, which he really hadn't paid much attention to at the time and a light lit up in my head. Bingo. Something about that was waving a little red flag, crying out for attention. Something was ready to fall into place here.

I took in a deep breath, trying to recall the hint Falshade said the Oracle had given them: '_Mouthless Voices given Voice by the Stolen'._

Again, what the bloody hell was a Stolen?

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't focus on that bit. It seemed too complicated. First bit was a little simpler. Mouthless voices...

That little thing waving a flag started jumping up and down. '_You know this, you know this!' _it insisted.

"Oh, do I really?" I asked sarcastically. God damnit nothing was ever just easy for us! It was always 'okay, go do this blindfolded then slay a dragon with your right arm behind your back, survive a crash landing in the Wastelands and then fly to Jupiter, all while you have emotional baggage to complicate things and growing up to do'.

Mouthless fucking voices, really. What in hell talked without a mouth?

'_Your stomach' _Was my first answer and I snorted. Falshade had the right idea, I should just go and try and sleep off the copious amount of pizza I'd ingested.

Still... fuck. This really wasn't leaving me alone. Like trying to remember the name of a song you'd heard on the radio or someone's name at some social gig. Only worse.

I tried thinking about it like how I'd fix a busted skimmer; to find the problem and fix it, I had to take apart all the little outside pieces, dissect the whole engine. So maybe this thing had to be broken up a little more. Voices, voices... something about that part made that little flag waving guy in my head really lose it, battering at my lobes insistently.

'_You're so close, come on, keep going!!!'_

Voices...

Something suddenly hit me like a nail on the end of a two-by-four and I was tugged back to a conversation I'd had with Stork, before the whole mess on the Condor, when we were way more chatty:

"_Hey." I called, looking up from his different schematics for constructing a more fuel-efficient engine. I figured, him being the little pharmaceutical maniac he was, that maybe he'd have a straight-forward answer for me. "Any idea what Clozapine is?"_

"_Clozapine?" he repeated, his voice a little tinny because he was lying under my Hornet, adjusting something._

"_Yeah."_

"_It's an anti-psychotic. A pretty heavy one too, if memory serves me."_

_I knew that much so far. Chewing on my tongue I pressed on. "So like what kind of people would they have to give that to?"_

_He pulled himself out from under my skimmer, eyebrow quirked. "Why, you considering taking it?"_

"_Well no, I'm just curious." I said and he gave me a critical look before sliding back under my Hornet._

"_Depends. What kind of pharmaceutical name is it under? It's used for a few different mental disorders."_

"_Uh, Fazaclo." I said, something sort of wary flaring in my stomach._

"_Fazaclo?" again he repeated me, pronouncing the word differently then I had, properly I assumed and I nodded before I remembered he couldn't see me._

"_Yeah, that's it." I said. "Who do they prescribe it to?"_

_I saw him shrug his shoulders slightly as if this were boring him. "Generally? Schizophrenics."_

...Schizophrenia.

Voices in your head. Voices without mouths.

...Oh my god...

The Oracle told them it was right under their nose, that she couldn't mess up that person's destiny. And that person was the person who'd leant me her jacket that night I'd almost drowned in the bath tub, where I'd found, by accident, that little bottle of pills.

Given voice by...

"_Wasp_."

**Those lyrics at the end there are from like the only other My Chemical Romance song I like, Teenagers. And that was a joke about writers, as I'm feeling a little insecure at my future career lately XD. Oh and there's a link on my profile that'll take you to my deviantart page for some mediocre fan art, if anyone is interested.**


	22. Twisted Transistor

**22**

**Twisted Transistor**

**A/N: I am so incredibly, wretchedly sorry it took me this fucking long to update. I have tons of excuse, I really do, but I don't wanna waste your time. So, long story short, this is one long-ass, FUBAR chapter indeed to make up for being so god damn slow to update. Oh yeah and I finally made a playlist with all the songs I wanted in compensation for taking so long, if you want the link it be on my profile.**

**Oh and I'm dedicating this chappie to my little sister; Happy Belated Birthday, girl, this is 'cause I didn't make you a card :3.**

**A can of Buzz Juice to whoever can spot the line from Invader Zim I've dropped in this mess of a chapter!**

_**But you did everything you could, like any decent person would/ **__**But I might be catching/ **__**So don't touch/ **__**You'll start believing/ **__**You're immune to gravity n' stuff/ **__**Don't get me wet/ **_'_**Cause the bandages will all come off**_

-_**Girl Anachronism, the Dresden Dolls**_

_**So unscrew my head**_

_**And rinse it out**_

_**-This is How it Goes, Billy Talent**_

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

"Falshade! Falshade get up! I figured it out!" I shouted, hammering on his door like mad. He stumbled out a moment later in just his jeans and I got a good, gory look at the long, red scar on his chest and winced. I didn't really care that he was bare chested for any other reason though; yeah, _heaven forbid_ my virgin eyes should rest on the naked chest of my Sky Knight! Psh, please.

"Wha? Stork it's late, what are you doing?"

"I figured out where the Prophecy is coming from!" I practically exploded and his eyes widened.

"You're serious?" he demanded and I nodded furiously.

"Yes, just now, I figured it out! Get the others!" I said in that rapid-fire way of mine and then jumped down the hallway to bang on Angel's door. "Angel, I know you're not sleeping, get up!"

No answer. Jerk.

"Hey! I said get your scrawny ass out here! This is important, come on!"

Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I whirled around to face Angel, who must have been in the bathroom all this time; he had a smudge of tooth paste on his chin. He flicked his fingers at me irritably.

"Move it, your cutting into my me time."

I pulled a face. "You'll have to put a rain-cheque on that then. I figured out where the Prophecy's coming from!"

He raised his eyebrows. "You did?"

Varan poked his head out his door. "What's with all the noise?" he asked irritably.

"Stork figured out where the Prophecy's coming from!" Falshade reported, hauling Fraggle out of his room despite his complaining. "C'mon Fraggle, wake up already!"

"You're pulling my fur!" Fraggle whined thickly. "Let me go, eh."

Falshade released him and then caught him again when he made a break back for his bedroom door. "Fraggle this is serious! Stork figured it out, come on, get up!"

Fraggle pricked up his ears and looked at me. "You did?"

Why the heck was it so hard for everyone to believe I solved that riddle? Jeez.

"Yeah I did, so get up, lazy bones." I ordered.

"I'll get Wasp up then." Varan said and moved towards her door and that's when a realization sort of struck me and I felt a jolt of something like cold panic.

"No, don't get Wasp!" I hissed at him and the others all stared at me blankly.

"What? Why not?" Falshade asked, surprised.

I glanced down at Wasp's door and realized how loud I'd been. I desperately hoped she had her earphones on. "I'll explain in a second." I whispered. "Come on, bridge."

The others gave me perplexed looks and when I turned back to look at Angel I was startled by the look of hostile reproach on his face. I turned my back on him and marched to the bridge before he could start hurling accusations at me and motioned for the others to follow, which they did, thankfully, although they seemed rather confused.

A trickle of guilty dread was sliding like a cold snake in my stomach as I stood in the center of the bridge and motioned for them to sit. Now that I thought about it, my theory was pretty harebrained and I was worried a sticky situation might ensue. That's why it was better to do this without Wasp at first I told myself; the others knew more about this Prophecy stuff then I did, I needed their input.

The others sat, staring at me expectantly, still looking confused and uncertain. Angel had a hard look on his face so I avoided his gaze. I paced a few steps, cleared my throat a couple times and then just came out with it.

"The Prophecy is coming from Wasp." I spat out and they all did a bit of a double take.

"What?" Falshade said after a long pause. "How? That's... how?"

I let out a sigh and paced again because my muscles were tense with anxiety. Then I looked to Fraggle and Varan. "You remember that day I asked you about Clozapine?"

"...Yes." Varan said slowly. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"I found out what kind of people they give it to." I explained in a strained voice, my throat feeling thick. The others waited impatiently while I swallowed a few times. I felt really bad about this suddenly, my euphoria dissipated.

"...Wasp is a schizo." I spewed out at last, feeling wretched and again was greeted by a double take from the others.

"...She... what? How do you know?" Falshade asked, stunned.

"I found pills in her jacket that night I almost drowned." I explained miserably. "Clozapine, Fazaclo, whatever... Stork said it's what they give to schizophrenics. Think of it, mouthless voices? The Oracle said it was right under our noses. Wasp has voices in her head."

"...Jeez eh." Fraggle muttered. "Like, I always knew she was a little off her rocker but... schizophrenia... that's..." He didn't have to say it. We all were thinking it. _Psychotic_. She really had been a psycho all along. Our psycho.

"Hang on though." Varan said. "This... this is big. If Wasp is on pills for this thing of hers then she must not have voices in her head, not anymore. Not all schizophrenics have auditory hallucinations either."

"And how in hell is she a Stolen? What's that mean?" Falshade added, still seeming very lost in all of this new, horrid information.

"I... I don't know. But you guys think of it, that's why the Oracle wouldn't say anything right away, because it... it means, because she is on those pills she'd have to stop taking them in order for us to-"

Angel cut me off, a hollow, nasty laugh creeping up from his throat. He fixed me with a cold glare and it took a lot of my willpower to hold it.

"You are _unbelievable_." He said to me and I scowled. "How long have you been back, five hours? And you've already beat your own record at being stupid. You can't just _ask_ someone to stop taking their _medication_, Stork. I know a little something about Clozapine too, enough to know that it's a seriously heavy duty anti-psychotic. They only give it to the really bad cases, usually ones with more than one mental disorder. There's probably a very good reason they put her on those pills and if she stops taking them it might not only be dangerous to her but us too."

"I know that okay?" I snapped at him, hating that he was attacking me and making me feel worse. "I know! But if this is where our answers are coming from... she'd understand don't you think? This is serious."

"...You are so ignorant it astounds me." He reported and Falshade intervened before I could snarl something nasty at him.

"Listen, yes, this is a really messy situation. What we need to do is talk to Wasp. She might not even be the Stolen, or schizophrenic for that matter. She might have those pills for some other reason."

"She didn't ever mention it. I think if she would have thought of what Stork has she would have brought it up, you know?" Varan added. "She's a smart girl. But it seems like she went out of her way not to tell us, which must mean it's personal to her. We shouldn't be discussing this."

"Did she ever tell you what they were for, Stork? Does she even know you found them?" Falshade asked me reasonably. And suddenly my throat seemed to collapse on itself, my stomach churning horribly. Oh god she knew alright... she'd held me up by my throat afterwards and made me promise...

"Yes... she knows I know." I whispered. "She... she asked me not to tell you."

Angel's bark of laughter scraped like nails over my spinal column.

"Some friend you are!" he shot at me. "Not only are you suggesting we make her stop taking them but you broke a _promise_ to her? Well guess who just took my place at the top of the worst friend ever chart?"

His words stung me, shredding up my guilt so it spilled hot, burning acid through my insides. I felt awful and his words only made it worse. So this of course naturally made me angry. Who the hell did he think he was??? Fuck, he was the one who used to tell her to drop dead whenever opportunity struck!

Biting back tears of self-disgust I snarled at him "Who the fuck are _you_ to lecture me about people's feelings, huh? Huh Angel? You don't give a bloody fuck about anybody but yourself, you arrogant, selfish bastard!"

"_I_ don't give a fuck about people's feelings?" He shouted back, on his feet, master of quick responses and harsh words. "Who's the one who we all thought was _dead_ for a month, huh Stork? How do you think we all felt about that? And you think you can just come waltzing back here and start hacking _me_ out for being insensitive, you spoiled little _brat_? You think you can just come back here and we'll all get over it? I might be selfish but at least I never broke a promise to someone I called my _friend_. So now who's the bastard, huh? Did it mean anything to you that maybe she didn't want us to know??? Are you really that ignorant or are you just fucking retarded?"

My chest felt like it was imploding. Why was this happening? I hadn't wanted it to be like this, I hadn't meant to break a promise, I hadn't thought... and why was he being such an asshole? God, half an hour ago we were getting along like, like... like best friends should and now... god it hurt, man, it just fucking hurt, all of this. Because he was right.

And I fucking hate it when he's right.

Tears sprayed down my cheeks as I made a lunging movement at him. "FUCK YOU, ANGEL! Since when did you give a fuck about her anyways??? At least I _am_ her friend, at least I wanted her to come along! But you treated her like _dirt_ and you think you can just call me a brat and that makes you the saint??? I'm fucking bawling here 'cause I _care_ about her, you know? Don't act like you fucking care!"

"You wanna fight with me Stork? You think you care, you think you're the golden girl?"

"I didn't say that!" I screeched at him. "And yeah I do wanna fight you! Right here, right now, you pathetic, lying piece of shit! Feel tough hitting a girl? Feel like a big man? Fucking punch me then Angel, let's go, let's see what you're really made of!"

"ENOUGH!!!" Falshade bellowed over the both of us as Angel and I made moves towards each other, fists clenched. I'd never honestly gotten in an all out fight with Angel before, not like this, nothing ever came down to blows. But I knew he'd hit me too, if he was pissed enough, and fuck I'd hit him back and beat all the bullshit out of him.

"_Enough_, both of you! Stork, leave Angel alone! Angel, leave _Stork_ alone, for fucks sake, what's wrong with you two??? Huh? This isn't about you two, it's about Wasp! Someone has to go and get her so we can talk to her, this is serious, so smarten the fuck up or I'll beat some sense into both of you!"

"Don't bother..." someone's quiet voice floated between us and we all wheeled about to face Wasp, who was hovering in the shadows of the corridor, her yellow eye gleaming eerily. As usual we hadn't even heard her arrive. "I'm already here..."

"Wasp..." I choked out, wave after wave of self-loathing rolling over me; Angel, that fucking bastard, was right, I had broken my promise, the only thing Wasp had ever asked of me. After saving my life, training with me, trying to understand me when I ranted about dented fenders and teenage males to her, after all of that I'd gone and broken that promise. And I'd felt that desperation in her finger tips, on her face, when she'd held me five inches from the ground by my throat in the corridor and made me swear not to tell after my little accidental discovery, the cause of the bruises the others had seen the next day and teased me about. She hadn't wanted them to know and she hadn't trusted me, I realized it then. That was why she'd held me in that strangle hold, as if she had to resort to violence to get my word. And how had I gone and shown her she could trust me? I'd been an idiot, hadn't thought, caught up in my own discovery and spilled it to the others, her secret, her personal, dark secret that I wasn't supposed to know about. And I'd gone and blown it to a thousand little pieces, burning the fuse of her promise.

I'd fucked up. Epically. Catastrophically.

"Wasp." Falshade stood up and sort of half reached out towards but her ears went back and he took the hint. "How... how much of all that did you hear?" he asked, quiet and ashamed.

"I've been here the whole time." She said flatly. Then she turned her wide, unblinking eyes on me, accusing and hurt. "You told them." She said simply, her voice brittle. "I asked you not to tell and you did."

I let out a sob, feeling as terrible as I had when I couldn't get a hold of the others back at Stork's base. Worse, because guilt and shame were pummelling me over and over with hard, stone fists. "I'm sorry..." I croaked, voice gurgled. "Wasp, I am so sorry, I... I didn't think, I was stupid, I thought I figured it out and I just... I'm so sorry..." I was full out crying by the end, harder then I had in a long time and for once I didn't care that the guys could see it. I wanted Wasp to see my tears, so she'd know I really was sorry.

She blinked at me slowly then looked to the others. Fraggle and Varan looked away in guilt and Falshade stared at his boots like a five year old who'd been caught doing something wrong. Angel just looked back at her and something passed briefly between the two of them before Wasp tore her gaze away and looked at the windshield. "So..." she said slowly.

Falshade looked at her warily. "Wasp... you heard what we think then? That... you might be the Stolen?"

She flicked on ear at him and just stared.

"Listen... about those pills... we don't really know anything about them, so..."

"Stork is right." She said suddenly, her voice uncharacteristically clear and sharp. "I am a schizo. I'm your fucking psycho after all, happy fucking birthday to you all. Is that what you wanted to know?"

Falshade was trying to seem comforting and show his remorse at the same time. "So... do you think that... you're the one who's going to be getting these answers?"

Wasp stared at him like he was an idiot for a whole five seconds and then let out a horrible shriek of laughter. "Are you joking? I've known for ages it was supposed to be me! How could I not with her whispering away up there! The Eight Ball was right! I am the fucking Stolen, I hold the key to the fucking world!"

Falshade was looking disarmed now. Something was coming over her, she seemed possessed, unlike herself, back to the frightening creature that had torn apart the men who would have raped and probably killed me back on Macabre, an untamed, wild thing, a psycho, our god damn psycho.

"Wasp... listen I know this must be just.... horrible. I know how you must-"

"No, you don't!" she snapped, jaws gnashing wildly, strings of saliva pooling from her mouth like eels.

Falshade backtracked desperately while Fraggle cowered behind Varan and I stood there, tears streaming like lava down my face. What had I done, what had I _done_???

"No, I'm sorry, you're right, I don't know, I can't even imagine-"

"THAT'S RIGHT, YOU CAN'T!" Wasp screamed at him like the screeching of an enraged cat. "You can't understand anything, Falshade Ravenscroft, with your perfect, pretty face and your unscarred heart and you head that isn't FUCKING BROKEN!"

Falshade lost his nerve and took a step away from her. Wasp's hands curled into fists in her hair, yanking hard and she screamed bloody murder at her boots.

"I know what you want me to do." She said, her voice suddenly calm and at a lower decibel. But then she straightened up again and her gaze shot right through all of us like a hot piece of shrapnel. "But I can't! You think I like taking those horrible things??? They shred my insides apart, they're cyanide and all the putrid filth of the outside world, I hate it, I hate them, fuck I _hate them! _But I swore, I made a promise, and they mean something to me!" This bit jabbed like a knife in my heart and I sobbed again. "I made a fucking promise that I'd never ever stop and and and and and I can't break a promise to him! I CAN'T!" She continued to shriek and started tearing at her throat with her fingers before her hands went to her chest, clutching it tight. "...Ow." she whispered. Then suddenly she reeled back against the wall, looking around as if she'd just woken up and her eyes landed on me in all my oozing glory, shame and sorrow etched onto every inch of my face.

"I... I have to go away now." She said, sounding lost, and with that she turned unevenly and stumbled back down the hallway.

"Wasp!" Angel called after her but Varan held out a shaking hand.

"Leave her alone for a bit, Angel. She's upset. She probably wants to be alone." He said, his voice feeble and trembling. "Shade, are you alright?"

"Y-yeah." He stammered shakily. "Well... no. God that was... awful. I feel like shit. I didn't want her to freak like that..."

"It wasn't _your_ fault." Angel assured him in a harsh tone and his eyes fell on me, full of disgust. "Good going, Stork."

"Shut _UP_!" I shrieked at him. Falshade turned around and hit him hard in the shoulder.

"Leave her alone Angel, she already feels bad enough!" he snapped and Angel narrowed his eyes.

"_She's_ upset? Did you not see Wasp have a fucking conniption right there?" he snapped back. "And you hit me one more time and I swear I'll knock your jaw loose!"

"Try it, see how far you get." Falshade growled at him. "We saw Wasp freak as much as you did, so our concern now is damage control, not fighting with each other, alright?"

Angel smothered a noise that sounded like a string of swear words and stalked past me, across the bridge and then back again. "So what do you propose we do then? You heard what she said, she made a promise about taking those pills."

"I think we should just leave her alone." Varan said again, his voice a little more steady. "She must feel pretty distraught right about now. Think about it, she probably, deep down, even if she's mad at us right now, wants to help with all of this and she feels pressured to do so because... of us. But she made that promise. That's gotta feel awful, being torn like that. She has to think everything over by herself, without us interfering."

"What if she hurts herself, eh?" Fraggle spoke up in a muted, frightened tone. "She looked pretty... bad just now."

Understatement of the year.

"I... I don't know what to do. I don't think she'll do anything, but..." Falshade looked at us helplessly.

"Let her calm down a bit for now." Varan said. "Later one of us should go and see if we can talk to her. But right now just leave her be."

"...Yeah, okay." Falshade muttered. In times of emotional trauma like these we all turned to Varan for advice, him generally being the wisest and most compassionate of us all in that sort of territory. No wonder we seemed to look to him as a motherly sort of figure.

Fraggle let out a long sigh. "Man, things just... kinda blew up there."

"I feel horrible." I croaked, sinking to my knees on the floor and sobbing all over again uncontrollably. I hated having any of my friends seriously mad at me, even Angel, and I just felt like such a god damn traitor for what I'd done to Wasp, for causing her to freak out like that, for causing her that much distress. Everything from the past month had been weighing heavier and heavier on me and this... this was just the final straw that broke my back. I was afraid Wasp would never forgive me, even though I knew I deserved nothing less; I'd held awful grudges for lesser crimes after all. I felt ashamed, wretchedly ashamed for breaking her trust, hurt by what Angel had said because it was rare we out and out screamed at each other like that and it had rattled me. Plus I knew all his acidic accusations were true as well and that only made them worse. I was just a bloody mess, fraying emotions spilling out like innards from a split animal carcass.

I felt Varan scoop me off the floor and wished he wasn't being so gentle and kind to me. He deposited me in a chair carefully and squeezed my shoulders while Falshade took my hand.

"Please don't cry, Stork." He murmured.

"I can't help it!" I wanted to snap at him but my snot and strangled throat made it come out like a messy hacking sound. "I fucked up a million times over!"

"Well... yeah, you fucked up a little." Varan said soothingly. "You made a mistake. It happens to all of us. But once Wasp has calmed down I'm sure she'll hear you out and... things will be okay."

I snorted messily and wiped at my face roughly. "I dunno Varan, she seemed pretty upset... like really upset."

"I wonder why that is." Angel muttered and Falshade rounded on him.

"Angel, I swear to god, if I hear one more thing out of you like that I'll-"

"I should have figured you'd take her side."

"What?"

"You taking her side." He waved a hand at me. "I don't hear her catching it for the things she said to me. Maybe I ought to try the crying thing too."

Falshade's hand curled into a fist at his side. "Don't start pulling that bullshit on me, Angel. You both were nasty to each other, I'm not taking sides on that. But you're the one who keeps slipping in little comments when Stork already feels bad and knows she messed up, she doesn't need you to keep kicking her when she's down."

I hated that Falshade was standing there fighting for me. I hated that Angel was being such a douche about this. And I hated myself the most. So I stood up and stepped in between them, swallowing the last of my tears.

"Look, don't you two start fighting too." I interrupted them as Angel opened his mouth to retaliate. "Angel, you know what, you be pissed at me. Go ahead, I don't care right now about you at all. I care about Wasp. So I'm going to go and try and talk to her. But let me tell you something." I stepped forward so I was staring him face-to-face (thank god we were still around the same height). He regarded me with a look that was both impassive, like nothing I could say would phase him, and at the same time fierce, like if I made any sort of motion to attack him he'd decapitate me. "You go and do something horrible that makes you want to puke with self-disgust, makes you want to tear your own guts out. You go and do that and you try the crying thing then. And you tell me with a straight face you're doing it on purpose. Alright?"

He blinked at me. "I'll remember that. Go fix the mess you made."

God I wanted to punch him. Instead I gave him the finger and turned my back on all of them, heading down the dark hallway on shaky legs, ignoring Varan's call, warning me that I should let Wasp calm down for a bit. Varan knew how things worked with teenage emotion, he knew the proper protocol about these sorts of situations. But then, I'd never been one to follow protocol, for one thing, and Wasp wasn't like any regular pissed off teenager for another. And if I had to wait any longer before trying to apologize again my guilt was going to consume me like a ravenous, poisoned-fanged monster from the inside out. And if I ended up getting ripped to shreds by a distraught Faerieshian psycho in the process then so be it.

I stopped in front of Wasp's door and drew in a few deep, trembling breaths, trying to steady myself, hugging my arms to myself, feeling frozen inside. I had to haul my hand out from where it was wedged against my chest, arm shaking like I was coming down from a mad caffeine crash as I knocked three times, very softly, on Wasp's door.

"Wasp?" I called out after a moment so she'd know who it was, so if she didn't want to see me she wouldn't have to open the door. "It's me." I continued, clearing my throat. "Look I know... I know you probably don't want to talk to me at all right now... so you don't have to even listen to me... but... I just want to say how sorry I am, for everything. I'm sorry I broke my promise and told the others, I'm sorry I called you a schizo and made all those assumptions..." here I trailed off, throat glued shut again. Fresh tears squeezed from the corners of my eyes as slammed them shut, trying to hold them back. And then I leaned forward until my head banged against Wasp's door and I unwound my arms, stretching my fingertips over her door like I was trying to reach out to her through the metal, casting some sort of spell of remorse that would assure no further broken promises, that would insure I would be the best of friends and to protect her from further hardship somehow. And I cried, huge, wracking sobs, for Wasp who I'd cut deep to the heart, for Finn and Stork, alone and broken into tiny, sharp pieces, for Falshade and his scar, for Fraggle who missed his family, for Varan who wouldn't change any of the horrible things that had happened to him just so he could be with us. And even for Angel, for the barbed wire I'd wrapped around his chest with my harsh words. I just cried for all the shit and the blood that seemed to be coating over everything that made my world golden and bright, I cried because from now on we could only grab moments of sanctuary and even those moments didn't last long before the next wave of chronic pain and death washed over us again. And I cried because the others had thought I was dead and maybe one day soon I'd have to know exactly how they'd felt.

"I'm just sorry." I breathed out in a broken, hoarse whisper. And then I curled into a small, fetal ball outside her door like I was protecting her from evil spirits and bad friends like myself.

And that's where Falshade found me, huddled and shivering, about an hour later.

**x.x.x Wasp x.x.x**

_I would risk it all for those I loved._

_Taking one last gasp, like a fish flopping pointlessly and dying on a splintering wharf, I sucked in as much of the outside air as I could before stepping through the menacing glass hospital doors. I'd been pacing back and forth past these doors like they were the gateway to the Underworld for the past half hour, torn between loyalty and fear. Isn't that how it always is?_

_Finally though the warrior in me clamped down on the tendrils of my fear, pulling them back from where they'd set root in my major arteries and the hollow tunnels of my lungs, turning my oxygen to spiking black anxiety. I pulled it all back out and threw it into my belly for my stomach acid to take care of and strode onto the white tiled floor, which was sticky with the bleach that had coated over the stains of blood and shit. And I waded through the invisible clouds of toxic gas, instant death to cellular life, dissolving, slowly, everything it touched. _

_I reached the little prison box, another universe with Plexiglas borders. Finger marks were streaked over the surface as if victims had been dragged off to their own demise, death by the sluicing, sheering jaws of sterilized instruments, cold and as bright as the maws of the dead, flashing in this mutilated light. _

_The nurse in a starchy uniform looked up at me and flashed me a smile, all teeth, glaring as white as the scrubbed walls, as the radioactive sheen of anaesthetic cleanliness that coated this god forsake place like an aura of smirking tragedy. "How can I help you honey?"_

_I recalled all the times I've been called honey or sweetheart or baby by the men I beat down in the brawl cage or on street corners, by the prostitutes that want to offer me a good time, either mistaking me for a man or not caring what gender I am, by the people that offer me drinks and other toxic substances in the shadows. These names bounce off me like the ones from the other end of the spectrum do. They only ever mean something when they come from the people I love, one of whom, who calls me babes or sweetie, is somewhere in this block of disease and novocaine and I need to see her and stop thinking all these scatterbrained things. Stop, damnit._

_I drew in a deep breath to speak and felt the membranes of my cranial lobes and throat being stripped of nutrition and friendly organisms. "I need to see someone." I reported in a wheeze. _

"_Okay." She smiled at me again as if to reassure me that I wasn't doing anything wrong. "I'll direct you to where you can find them as soon as I have their name."_

"_Fli." I said hoarsely. "My friend Fli."_

"_Do you have her last name honey?"_

_I don't even know what last names are. "I... I only know that one. She's had it as long as I've known her." I whisper, my stomach clenching, wishing Rainer was here. But he was back at his apartment trying to console Sketcher, who, last I saw him, had four different messy pinhole in his arm from where he'd shot up something mind-numbing or other and his eyes had been as wide and broken and full of bloody rage as his knuckles, which were busted open like an egg's shell. He'd been screaming and cursing and had punched a hole in my favourite sitting window before collapsing to the floor where Rainer cradled him like they were brother soldiers in some gruesome war, trying not to die. _

"_Okay honey, it's okay..." the nurse was calming me, smiling gently. "Do you know what happened to her? Can you describe her to me?"_

"_She has magenta hair." I always described it as magenta because I thought it was such a beautiful word, and in this place of fading brown stains and carcinogenic air, colour was desperately required. "And pink eyes. And pink sort of freckles. She's older than me, but not that old, and she's pretty and cute, even... even if she's all banged up." I was rambling and so I bit my tongue because I knew I wasn't supposed to ramble here, not know._

"_Okay, good. They brought a girl into emergency a few hours ago who I'm sure is the one you described..." something shifted on the nurse's face, something morphed from comfort to pity and my muscles recoiled. "She should be up in recovery right now, on the third floor, east wing. Ask one of the staff up there, I'm sure they'll let you see her."_

_I nodded and turned to go before I remembered what Rainer would have done and turned back to her. "Thank you." I said quickly and she smiled at me, her sweet sympathy rubbing against me like a scouring pad._

"_No problem, honey."_

"_Thank you." I muttered again into the collar of Rainer's jacket as I turned and tripped down the hall, legs locking at the knees and swinging out to the sides wildly like they were on strings, jerking about in some darkly comic puppet show. _

_Clinging to the walls, palms and ribs pressed to the spongy surface, which seemed to cave slightly as if it had gone soft after years of sucking up splatters of vomit, blood and cleaning poisons, I felt like I was crawling like some subterranean beast down the hallway. Like some creature terrified of the light and the soft background noises of machinery labouring to keep people's blood sloshing lethargically and the scraping of hopeless feet across the slimy floor. Like some terrified baby animal that thought clinging to corners would somehow keep it alive, unharmed, for at least another minute. _

_I bit through my tongue and had to fight the urge to turn and flee when a set of glaring elevator doors whooshed open next to me. I froze, staring with eyes that were stinging from the noxious air, into that little metal box, which was whispering of ghosts and reeked of nervous sweat like that of trapped lab animals, warning others of the horrors that awaited them if they took a trip in that mobile prison._

_A doctor with a face mask and green, thin clothes stared at me curiously. "Are you going up?" he asked politely and I shook my head so hard something popped at the base of my skull._

"_No!" I practically shouted at him and took off, running with a limp until I slammed into the doors that lead to a shining, metallic staircase, the kind that let you see through the gaps so you could see just how far you would fall if you slipped. I crashed through those doors and hit the stairs running, half loping like mad upwards and half of the time having to haul myself up by the handrail as if my motor functions where failing steadily._

_I tripped on the second flight and my body weaved itself among the stairs, bones and flesh carving out around the metal slates. I stared down at the levels below and swallowed my own bile as it pushed up my throat. I exhaled slowly and reached up with my shaking, knobbly fingers, gripping a stair above me and hauling my body up, over the crevasses between steps and up higher towards poor damaged Fli, who might be even more frightened then I was in this stained, fevered place of fake smiles and bad news. She needed me._

_I scrabbled until my legs fit under me and pushed my muscles up and up, slow as I dared, up the stairs, teeth wearing at each other, trying to find comfort in the cracks between them. I chanted Fli's name over and over like it was some sort of incantation to keep me moving._

_Finally I pulled myself over the summit of the third floor and clattered back into the hallway, neck craning like some sort of desperate prey animal. What way was east? My internal compass was all messed up like my spinal column had turned into bite-size little magnets, spinning my insides in magnetic circles._

"_Excuse me, can I help you?" Someone asked from behind me and my entire skeleton seemed to stand up straight like an abrupt growth spurt. I breathed in and out a few times and turned slowly, holding my hands together to keep them from forming formidable fists, to keep from lashing and screeching like and animal in cage, shredded by chain link and ready to fight right to the bone._

_Another doctor was behind me, a Dr. Jeckell minus the face mask. He had eyes that sparked with too much friendliness like he was trying to lure me in with promises of candy and security. My hands twitched for my machetes desperately, but of course I'd left them back with Rainer because I knew they'd never let me in here with those things on my hips. _

"_I... think maybe you can." I said uncertainly, voice gone hoarse from all the putrid air I'd sucked down my throat, curdling the lining of my esophogus until it was sloughing away in curtains of sludge. "I'm... looking for a friend of mine."_

_His expression was soft, a warm smile curling his mouth and at any second I expected his lips to spilt open and for black, rotten organs to start spilling in slithering ropes from his jaws, creamy, fat maggots stirred into the mix. "Alright. What's your friend's name?"_

"_Fli." I squeezed out._

_Something faltered in his face, like a glitch in a film strip. "Pink hair?" he asked, his tone weighted with sorrow now and I wanted to hit him around the head with the back of my fist._

"_Magenta." I corrected and he gave me a look of sympathy mixed with pity. My hackles quivered uneasily._

"_She might not be awake yet... follow me." He said, twitching his fingers and turning down a side hall way. I stalked after him, limbs shaking hard as if vibrating from the blast of standing too close to a loud speaker. I heard moans and gentle sobbing trickling through the cracks of some open doors and I grabbed for my ears, twisting them tight, wanting nothing more than to start screaming and howling and to throw myself out the nearest window, into the fresh, pure air, escape, escape._

_But I couldn't. Fli was here. She needed me. And I loved Fli. I wouldn't abandon her._

_The doctor had stopped outside a door near the end of the hall and pushed it inwards slowly to peek inside. "She's awake, but she's probably very groggy. I'll give you ten minutes with her and then you should probably let her sleep, okay?"_

_I nodded, feeling like my neck was caught in a noose and he moved aside, allowing me to step into the room, my body a quivering mass of taught muscles, shaking with a sickness that reached right into the core of my heart._

_And there she was, like a broken angel, her body small and vulnerable and ruined upon the stark white hospital bed. Her hair stuck out like a flame among all the blankness but under it her face looked like death. She was as white as the walls of quarantine around her and there were dark splotches under her beautiful eyes, staining her porcelain skin like some sort of oil spill that was seeping under her very skin, killing her slowly. I wanted to carve those dark patches out of her face. Her nose was bruised and swollen, her freckles hidden by the damage that had been inflicted on my dear, sweet golden girl. And her beautiful mouth, always filled with silky words, bubbly laughter and smoke, was torn and butchered, her lips cracked and split and puffy, her fine jaw line riddled with brown and blue bruising._

_My fear of this god forsaken place, with disease clinging like spiders to the walls, was left behind me as I lunged forward, overwhelmed with concern, sorrow, ache and desperation. "Fli!" I choked out, tears springing in the corners of my eyes, hot and sharp like shards of molten glass. "Fli, oh Fli, our beautiful girl!" My teeth clenched down on my sob as it hacked through my throat and I sank to my knees besides her thin hospitable bed, clinging to the sheets tightly, fingernails fraying the fabric._

"_Wasp?" her voice was thin, fragile, distant, like it was being carried to me by a sweet, gentle Spring breeze._

_I clambered upwards slightly, hand tenderly brushing her neck soothingly. I wanted to crawl into that sarcophagus of a bed with her but she had so many wires and tubes and sharp objects strung to her I was afraid to get too close less she be torn to shreds by those cruel looking machines. "Yes. It's me. Hi." I breathed out, trying to force back my tears for her sake. I was here to look after her after all, not the other way around. _

_Fli's thin, graceful lips curled into a tiny smile. "Hey. I'm glad you're here." She said and I had to prick my ears to pick up the soft, low-thrumming volume of her voice. It sounded lost in her body, like she was unsure where it had gone. _

_Her hand had something strange attached to the top of it, some sort of needle inserted between the bones and I had the urge to tear it from her like it was some giant stinging insect, poisoning her. Instead I wrapped her delicate fingers in mine to try and give her some comfort, some assurance, from the physical world. "Yeah. I'm glad too." I said. "We didn't want you to be alone."_

"_Rainer and Sketcher... where are they?" she asked softly and I stood up, perching uncertainly at the edge of her mattress and stroking her arm, being careful of that needle._

"_At home." I said, voice scratchy and muted. "They... they wanted me to say hi for them." I couldn't tell her about poor Sketcher, who was prepared to do any measure of destruction at this point, to others and himself. His fury and immense pain over what had happened was consuming him from the inside like a horde of parasites. "They're worried about you. They love you. They'll send flowers and chocolates and everything else you love until you get better. I can try and bring you some smokes."_

_She made a wheezy laughing sound. "That's really nice of you all. I love you guys too." She said, smiling bravely at me and a small trail of blood seeped from a crack in her lips and onto her chin. I rubbed it away with a finger and stuck it in my mouth, sucking and pulling a face at the sour taste of the drugs that had been injected into her system. Something to zap the pain from her nerves I assumed, and some other synthetic nourishment._

_I could feel her stare reflecting gently from my skin and turned to look into her eyes, still just as pink but dulled by whatever procedure the doctors had done. She looked like she was commuting from another galaxy. _

"_Wasp." She said and I pricked my ears to show I was listening. "Listen honey, I don't want to bring you down, but I need to talk to someone."_

_I nodded. "Okay. I can listen." I promised._

_Something crinkled sadly in her face. "I... I can't feel anything below my waist, Wasp."_

_I blinked at her, not understanding what that was supposed to mean, although a cold trail of dread was carving a path into the center of my spinal column. "Why? Did the people here give you something weird?"_

_Fli gave me a miserable look. "No, babes, no... my back. It's broken. The doctors said the nerves have been damaged too severely. They said... I'll never walk again."_

_I backed away from her and finally her strong facade slipped and a tear slipped like a chunk of silver from the corner of her eye. _

"_Why not?" I demanded, voice high and distraught. "What happened?"_

"_Oh sweetie... please don't get upset. Stay here." She whispered desperately and I came back over, ashamed of myself for leaping away like that. I crawled up next to her pillow and clutched her hand again with one hand, combing my fingers through her hair with the other, my skin tingling and zapping as if I'd been electrocuted._

"_What happened?" I asked again, my voice shrunken and weak._

"_He... he was really drunk." Fli coughed out after a long time. "And he started beating me again, but it was different this time. There was some sort of rage in him and... it scared me. So I told him fuck if he was paying me, I was leaving. And he... he chased after me, caught me... it was my damn boots. I know you're always telling me about the heels and they finally did me in." She made a hollowing laughing sound like a cat getting sick. "And... he was just so angry, Wasp, I can't even describe it. And he picked me up by my throat and... he threw me. Three flights of stairs. It snapped my spine just above my waist."_

_I swallowed down my bile, something stretching widely in my stomach, too wide, because it made me feel tight and sore and it crushed up against my lungs. My blood was pounding hard in my temples and in my joints and my ears and my heart felt way too big for my chest. "...So that means..." I trailed off, my throat too full of my own singing blood and a consuming, over-powering fury and sorrow. It was ripping my flesh apart, my insides raw and mind numb._

"_It's means I'll be paralyzed." Fli explained and I heard her sob half-heartedly. I squeezed tight around her shoulders, nuzzling her neck, afraid to see her cry. Fli was too beautiful and awe-inspiring to cry. _

"_But they can fix that, can't they?" I asked desperately, feeling young and immature, a child desperately clinging to something older and wiser then myself. _

"_No, honey... they can't fix the damaged nerves." Fli explained to me. "I'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life."_

_I swallowed hard but still my tears got pushed up and out. A wheelchair. That thought was overwhelming. Fli would be stuck, permanently, in a chair, never able to do anything she enjoyed again; no more reckless, rampaging dancing in all our favourite clubs, no more running with me like two lunatics through the dark, alcohol spattered streets, screeching and signing like we were some sort of strange, feline creature. No more climbing up and down the fire escapes, the cold bars stinging our hands, no more prancing across roof tops, hands held together like a couple of little school girls, no more of her girlish skipping and her elegant way of slinking along in her high heeled boots or alluring stilettos, that sexy, bold sashay she was so famous for. Our daring, shining, beautiful, powerful Fli, confined to a chair for the rest of her life. It was unfathomable. Worse than death, in my mind._

_She glanced up at me and wiped some of the snot and grit from my tear-streaked face with her trembling, clumsy hand. "Don't cry, Wasp." She said soothingly. "It's not that bad..."_

"_Are you serious?" I gasped out, raspy with my rage and tears. _

"_Yes. Listen." She squeezed my fingers this time and I did listen, looking right into her gorgeous, desecrated face. "Don't you see? Buzzard can use me anymore. If I'm paralyzed I'm worthless to him. And he can't go after my sister either. This wasn't my fault. Don't you see, Wasp?" her eyes where shining, sparking with desperation that I understand this. Because maybe if I understood it she could really believe this was a good thing. "This is like a blessing in disguise. I can get out now and Buzzard can't do a thing about it. I'm free, Wasp. I'm free."_

_I stared back at her for a long time before my mouth formed the word 'okay' and I lied to her, agreeing with her and trying not to show on my face just how god awful it was, how unfair and wrong and sick and twisted that her idea was freedom was the most horrible sort of imprisonment I could ever imagine. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Music is my only escape.

I've always trusted my music to hold my hand when my ribs and lungs seemed to be collapsing inwards, smothering me. I still remember the first time I heard music, standing beside Rainer and feeling something inside me kick to life that I thought might have been dead and buried since I left the jungle. But the music... the music awoke that inside me. It was like all the loudest, best thunderstorms I'd ever lived through. It was heavy but not oppressive. No, it was quite the opposite; it was like a cage door springing open, it was like rain crashing down over my head and cleaning me right to the soul, shaking my heart into a dangerously sporadic rhythm, the volume moving my blood under is sheer, bone rattling strength. It clamoured right up into my belly and pounded against my chest cavity, blocking out all impure thoughts from my brain, leaving only pure ecstasy, a form of raw, untainted living I'd only ever know when I was crashing through the jungle, a howling, rushing, all consuming feeling of strength and bliss, spiking adrenalin in my veins, my heart peeling free of its calloused outer shell and hammering for all it was worth in the back of my mouth, the feeling of my own lovely screaming in the bottom of my throat, my teeth gnashing, my senses being pummelled and sent into over-drive, eyes stretched wide so I could see the vibrations of the sound, feel the noise pulsing in the base of my spine and in my haemorrhaging brain, sweetness and darkness pouring down behind my eyes, my breathing fast and hard but undeterred, my fears and disappointments and losses all being sucked out and away, leaving me with nothing but the singular, driving feeling of being alive and loving the hell out of every sugary, blood-soaked moment.

Music was the feel of the jungle, a creature of metal and razor-sharp strings, a howling, bleeding creature born of both joy and rage, love and sorrow, life and death, full to the brim of too many things to contain and offering it to all within proximity to soak up and live inside. Music was the earth and soul and unbending trees and ever-bleeding skies of my jungle home to me. The two somehow seemed one in the same and I found salvation in those destructive, bitter-sweet melodies, the promise that there was still life in that industrial, toxic world, that I could still find my own roots somewhere. And I clung to it, sank my fingers into the heaving flank of the noise itself, tasting it, breathing it, never letting it go.

So now I had my music, my beautiful salvation, my oxygen-mask and the time capsule of my dreams, roaring hard and soothing into my ears and straight into my brain like an injection of something like glaring sunlight. Trying to turn the volume up more when the dial was jammed, as far as it would go. Trying to drown out the laughter that was ripping through all the soft meat of my brain, all the sharpest things in the world, broken bones, razor wire, thorns, needles and splinters of glass, inhaling deeply so it forced its way further and further into my tissue.

And there I was, trying to thrash and mosh all by myself, kicking outwards at anything that got in my way, cans, books and nasty hallucinations. Crashing my head up and down, to my collar bone and then right back to my spine, to my shoulders, shaking and blending all the bad, black, oozing things up there like some sort of slushie of nuclear waste, spraying the blood from my nose everywhere, over everything, painting my world into something I could see.

And in every little fleck and sliver of nose-blood, all these little pieces of solidified lava that crashed and exploded like beetles against windshields against the solid objects in my head, I saw white powder congeal and burst in bubbles into the air, spores of my favourite word, turning to noxious little clouds shaped like the mouth of a leech, all rings of teeth ready to tear in and hold on, sucking out everything good until you're nothing but a hollow thing to be smashed to pieces against sidewalks and the chests of others.

_Don't scream, mouth, don't you scream._

I felt it coming up like the vomit that has already splattered over my floor in acidic little piles and I grabbed my pillow and held it to my face like I was killing myself and I do scream, long and hard, almost a war cry if I wasn't so scared, almost a howl of heartbreak if I wasn't already all sutured up. Almost a pleading screech if I hadn't promised myself to never, ever scream for rescue again. I feel my throat turn into a volcano and hot blood came rushing up in dancing strings. And I could taste it even there, the powder, the white particles of death and failed miracles, they grab on with minute claws to the bumpy parts of my tongue, cackling 'No place like home!' to my little spindly chemical receptors.

_No! This is not your home!_

_**Oh but it is, Eris! The irony! It's their home and mine too! Pick the lesser of two evils and break your promise! The most brilliant of all riddles!**_

My hand finds my forehead and nails scrape, scrape, scrape, trying to get in. If I get in I can grab her by the tendrils and by the tongue and pull her out through my nose like they used to do with people's brains during mummification. I can pull her out from where her roots have dug deep into my fleshy lobes and my inner ears and pull her out once and for all and I then I won't need the pills anyways, no harm, no foul, HA!

_**Ah ah ah, Eris. Aren't you forgetting? You NEED me. You and your little friends NEED ME! YOU FUCKING NEED ME!!!**_

And then the laughter starts again and I blow the volume on my speakers at the same time that the knob snaps from my record player and I screamed out loud this time, a howl befitting the most hurting and unrequited creatures, right from the pits in the lining of my stomach and the vacant, ragged place between my hips, empty and scooped hollow now. Stolen of everything it should have had, everything that should have been and then filled with all that happened instead, a huge bowl of proverbial shit.

Stolen.

Hollow.

Like a fruit scooped of its insides, the goopy flesh and hard little seeds.

Hard little seeds like the little tiny pieces of my promise that live in their little tiny coffin of a jar.

The promise that Stork broke to me and the promise I made, never to break.

To someone who

Is no longer

_Alive_.

Just like what

Was Stolen

From

_Wasp is a schizo._

Is that really it? Is it really that fucking simple?

_No._

My music is dead and now the panic sets in. There is no retreat and no reinforcements and that laughter is pushing my eyes forward until they feel like they'll pop from their sockets. I closed my second eyelid just in case and stumbled to my shelves, my legs tangling in each other's knee joints and I fell to my knee caps but not before my hand managed to close around Shadowfax and drag him down with me.

Somehow his eyes find mine in the haze as one of my hands supported me against the floor and I remember this pose very well, one hand grasping at my inside-out innards, the other bracing me so I don't fall into the yawning black hole that is stretching wide before me, looking inviting, so inviting. Shadowfax's eyes are black too and the reached right through my pupils and gave me a moment of clarity and security, enough to get three words through to my trembling head.

_Go find Angel._

Yes. In this moment, his presence is a necessity.

I forced my usually loyal legs under my shaking torso, bouncing on the soles of my feet a few times to test their strength before I staggered towards my door and out into the hallway. Stork was here, but isn't now, my nose tells me. I can still smell the stinging, salty scent of her shining, baby-girl tears and it closes my throat from the inside. I shoved all four of my fingers to the very back of my mouth and curled them around my tongue, trying to open my airways and then ended up dry-heaving in the middle of the corridor, falling to my knees and then my left hip and then all the way down like I've been struck by some greater force. And in a way, I must have been.

I found where solid objects begin again under me and pushed upwards. The only time it's safe to be on the floor is if there's smoke, or if someone is hunting for you. Now the proximity to the floor is bad I know, because it just might suck me into its rank bowels like a giant python, whole and still kicking. So my palms held my weight until my legs could and then I'm was up and felt like I was on stilts, each step unsteady and surreal.

Somehow, in the labyrinth of my head, I found Angel's door. I meant to knock but something caves out in my spinal column and I sort of stumbled against it instead, hoping that's enough. I put my arms out for balance and then waited, hoping he was there. I don't know where else he might be, but he might not be _there_ and that would be not good at all. If he's not there I don't know where I'll be and I might not come back this time and I don't have any thread to guide me, not like Theseus in the labyrinth of the Minotaur and I don't have any paper wings or shining lights to catch me and lead me back so I really need Angel to be there and if he's not-

And then he was there. Oh. Good.

"_Wasp_." He breathed out as if he was surprised to see me. I wanted to wave in greeting but my hand felt so very heavy so instead I sort of half-stepped, half-tripped forward so that I was pressed up against him and dropped my screaming, buzzing head onto his shoulder. He seemed even more stunned for a second and then awkwardly but with honest intent wrapped his arms around me comfortingly. I realized I had smears of vomit-slime clinging to the front of my jacket and now it's probably clinging to him too and that my nose was still bleeding and now it was dripping at a staccato pace onto his collar bone. But he doesn't seem to notice or care and I feel like maybe I'm five years old and he's an older brother figure all of a sudden, scraping my sorry form from where I've fallen on the pavement.

Or he could be Rainer.

Except Angel is not Rainer, I tell myself over and over again.

After what seemed like a very long time and too short of a time as well he backed away from me and gave me a worried look. "Are you going to be alright?" He asked quietly.

I felt like nodding, because usually I always turned out alright, but then I remembered that right now I don't feel very alright at all and I'm not sure if I will be alright because I don't even really understand what is going on so I shrug because it seemed like a suitable answer.

Angel made an irritable noise in his throat and took my hand, pulling me into his room. "Don't mind the mess." He said, letting me go once the door slammed shut behind us and looking around. "Uh... you can sit there I guess." He waved a hand at his unmade bed and I sat to be polite. The moment his mattress was under me my body felt very heavy and my skeleton just too brittle to hold it up against the force of gravity so I flopped down and curled into a fetal ball on my side, holding my bruised knees to my chest, protecting them under my strong chin. You never know when you'll need your legs to kick and to run so I figure they should be protected when they aren't being used.

"I don't think your room is messy." I commented, glancing around through the gloom at his bedroom, and I wondered if it was as much a hidey-hole to him as mine was too me.

Angel shrugged and sat on the edge of his bed, his hand coming over to grasp the heel of my boot and I felt something soothing shoot right up my calf muscle and into my uneasy stomach. I inhaled the smell of his room, so much different than mine; male sweat, some sort of sexual scent that put my nerves on edge, and the smell of his Mackenzie brand cigarettes. I was reminded of Rainer's room, of the shelf above his bed where Shadowfax used to live and how I used to stand next to his bed long into the night sometimes before he'd finally sense me there and pull me in on top of him by the wrist, letting me snuggle in beside him like a pleased kitten.

But Angel and Rainer don't smell exactly the same, this I know. Rainer had something subtle, sharp and minty about him, something that cut a clear path to my head and put the tangles up there to ease whenever I breathed it in. Angel has a smell like fire about him, the smell of wind, dry, dusty earth and heat. I imagine this must be what the desert smells like, as if he carries a bit of it with him in his skin. And something scorched too, like burnt cinnamon.

And I liked it. I liked Angel's scent; it made me think of something I didn't understand, but it was familiar, a long forgotten song, a stranger you somehow know, like from a past life maybe.

Angel stretched out on his back and put his hands behind his head beside me and just stared at the ceiling. I stared at the wall and we were both silent and yet I didn't feel very far from him at all. I could feel him breathing next to me and I concentrated on it, his long, slow inhale and exhale, the expanding of his rib cage on every breath in that let his side brush against my back and the longer I listened to it the more it became like a new form of music, echoing in my head and shaking the large, venomous spiders loose from their webs. It let a breeze in and suddenly my head didn't feel so tight and stifling and the laughter started to subside, as did the shaking of my vision and the knots in my back. The blood seemed to be flowing easier up there and the ringing that was trapped in my inner ears like the ocean in a sea-shell quieted down to a low, comforting hum, soothing me to the core. And then when I started inhaling with his exhale I breathe in his scent and my heart makes a purring noise, feeling at home once again at its proper resting place in my chest.

When Angel spoke again his voice seemed much clearer to me. "So... I'll be honest with you, Wasp, I am god awful at trying to be, you know, comforting to people. But I'll do what I can, if you want to say anything."

I grinned a little bit, my teeth making edgy little noises against my lip ring, _ticktickclick, ticktickclick. _"I dunno." I said after awhile.

"Alright, that's fine too." Angel assured me.

"Well..." I said after a long moment stretched between us. "I meant 'I dunno' like I don't know, you know?"

"...Generally that's what 'I dunno' means." He pointed out.

"Oh I know that." I said. "I didn't mean 'I dunno' like I don't know if I want to talk. I meant 'I dunno' like I don't know what I'm upset about. I feel lost."

"Oh, okay. I understand now." He said. "I feel that way sometimes. So you know, if you can think of anything just spill it, I'm listening."

I grinned again and rolled over to look at him. "See? I told you." I said, pressing the pad of my finger to his fourth rib. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye.

"Told me what?"

"That you'd listen, when I had something to say." I reminded him. I watched as he thought back on it then smiled slowly.

"Oh, right. Well, of course I would." He assured me. I nodded to show the message was received. Then I relapsed into my own head for a bit, now that things weren't as stuck together and reeling about like puppets on strings. I tried to pull some things out of clogged drains, fingers brushing over the coils of my brain like they had got a message for me in Braille. And then I stumbled on something and felt myself shrink back into the pocket I've made in Angel's mattress.

"I didn't mean to make Stork cry." I whispered and Angel flinched as if I'd bitten him. I swiped my tongue around the inside of my mouth quickly, just to make sure I didn't.

"Oh, Wasp, look... that wasn't your fault." He told me softly, rolling over so he could look me right in the eyes and so I could find the truth to believe him. "She was upset that she'd hurt you, that she broke that promise of hers... and I guess I didn't help." His face looked guilty here but he continued on. "Anyways, she'll be alright. Whenever you're ready if you go and talk to her I'm sure things will be fine."

I nodded. After all Angel had known Stork a lot longer than I had so I have to hope that he knows her better than I do. Although I take pride in myself for a moment; at least now I can say I know what her favourite colour is.

"I don't even know why I made her make that promise, when I really think about it." I said after awhile, my teeth making ticking noises against my lip ring again. If I really reach back into my head I can't think of a good answer to cough up, no explanation for holding her five inches from the ground by her slender neck and making her promise, all fangs, never to tell what she found. I couldn't understand this about myself. And it bothered me.

"Well it's sort of personal." Angel said evenly. "I wouldn't want her shooting her mouth off about it if it were me either."

"Hmm..." I roll this against the roof of my mouth with my tongue like it's an ice cube, considering it. "Maybe. There are some things I wouldn't want you guys to know about."

"I hear you." Angel nodded in agreement. "Fuck, look at the things I don't tell the others. If Stork were to have found out about some of _my_ stuff I would have broken her jaw to keep her quiet."

I looked at him contemplatively. "How come you didn't break my jaw?" I asked curiously and Angel gave me a look.

"First of all, could you picture me getting very far trying to break your jaw?" he asked me seriously and I thought about it for a moment.

"No." I replied honestly with a bit of a grin and Angel grinned back.

"Exactly. I would have had my arm broken before I even got close." He said and I feel something in my chest go whoosh. That was a compliment I'm pretty sure and it's strange to hear it from Angel because, well... I'm not sure. But I didn't think he gave himself enough credit; I've seen him fight. He could take me on, if I didn't catch him off guard.

"So, why'd you tell me, what with my unbreakable jaw and all?" I asked and he thought about it long and hard.

"I still don't even know." He admitted after a long time.

"Maybe there are just some things that have to come out eventually." I mused. Secrets grow with time, as well as the things you try to shove to the back of your mind. They rattle their cage doors when you're trying to sleep, the drag sharp fingernails over your back and nip at your ears and fingertips during an exchange of friendly words or an embrace. When allowed to become too bloated and toxic they can ruin everything, make your eyes go black and your teeth sore and your heart almost too small to keep the blood pumping properly and then you get skittish and start seeing second shadows coming after you. Holding on was important, but I know, I've always known, that sometimes, when you have enough warm, good things clenched in your hand, you have to let go sometimes too.

"Yeah, maybe." Angel agreed. "That being said... these pills just weren't something you wanted to have come out, were they?"

My spine turned to a rigid spike of cold steel, stabbing at the base of my skull. I heard the chuckling start up low like a tremor ripping a great, dirty crack in the earth, scabs that had only just begun forming splitting open so infected flesh and fat, wriggling maggots come spilling out in thick globs and started filling the inside of my head up until I felt like I was drowning.

Then I felt, through the blindness that had come over me, Angel's arm wrap around me and pull me in tight to his chest so that his heart was beating against my nose. His free hand stroked at my matted mane of hair and he sat his chin atop my forehead gently.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." He whispered and I shut my eyes tight, even though I couldn't see anything by now except a harsh, pulsing whiteness, like those wretched, god forsaken capsules have invaded my retinas now too and are spreading an infection in my head, never doing the right thing, as useless as my own appendix and just as deadly too. They are in there and it makes me sick, every inch of me, just plain sick. I feel dry from those pills in too many places, the inner parts of my bones, sucking up all the marrow so my skeleton becomes brittle and there are less and less white blood cells in my veins to protect me. It makes my mucous membranes dry too in my mouth and nose and that's why I'm always cracking capillaries and losing more and more of my precious life blood, all I have left of the jungle. And they dry out my eyes, no more tears and my vision going dimmer and dimmer. And yet they fill me with phlegm and bile and arsenic and great bulging tumours too, trying to fill up all my empty places with all the wrong things and I am sick, sick, sick of it all.

"I hate them..." I hear myself say and Angel's muscles tightened around me and I felt like I was in a cocoon of some sort, stuck in a nightmare while waiting for transformation, begging for it.

"The medication?" He asked carefully, his voice soft, so soft, and I want to curl up under his tongue and sleep there, safe in his rough-yet-smooth, syrupy, accented desert voice.

I nodded very slowly. "Yes. I hate them. I hate them, fuck do I hate them. But Rainer... he asked me to keep taking them. How can I say no? How can I say no now?" I reel out, sounding pitiful and defeated and hating it. This is because of those pills. And those pills are because of that voice, because of _her_.

Angel was quiet for a long time. Then I heard him speaking into my ear and I listened very hard, wanting to soak up every syllable.

"You remember what the Oracle told you, Wasp? What she said about Rainer? She said that as long as you do what you think is the right thing, what's in your heart, that he'd be okay with it. Remember?" I feel his hand cupped between my shoulder blades, cradling me and I want to sink into him so we could share each other's hurts and fears and then maybe feel comforted inside each other, stretch out and be happy and warm.

"I remember." I whispered. How could I not? Those words were the most precious things to be delivered to me in ages. I practically engulfed them, shoving them eagerly right down my throat so that I'd nearly choked.

"Rainer loved you ,Wasp, he still does and I know he wouldn't want you to be miserable like this, to hate those pills so much. He'd understand if you broke your promise." Angel said, his voice tender yet stern, like he knew exactly what he was talking about, like maybe Rainer was speaking into his ear and he was translating it for me. I felt something wrack in my insides, as close to a sob as I'd gotten in years and I pushed my face deep into Angel's narrow chest, breathing in deep and trying to wrap myself in his aura like it was a blanket.

"You think so?" I croaked.

"I know so."

I felt a deep sigh get punched out of me, like I'd been holding it back for years and it just spilled out, leaving a space that didn't feel scraped empty but relieved, closing in around me securely. Rainer wanted me to be happy; I in turn wanted him to be happy even if he only thought I was happy. I'd never told him I hated those god damn things and that they didn't even help, that the voice still hung around up there and like a banshee came out to haunt me as often as possible.

"This isn't me trying to convince you to stop taking them." Angel said suddenly as if that thought had only just occurred to him. "I'm just... I don't like hearing you so upset is all."

I have to grin and butted his shoulder with my forehead. "I know." I assured him.

He held his breath for a second before saying "Jeez, Wasp, you gave me that look earlier and... fuck, it got me, right to the chest." He muttered, sounding ashamed and unsure and I glanced up at him.

"I'm sorry." I said, not knowing what else to say and he shook his head furiously.

"No, don't be, I just... I couldn't stand seeing you that upset, that's all."

I nuzzled in closer to him sympathetically. "You know when you came into my room the other night, all sort of upset and screwed up over what happened with Fal-shade?"

"...Yeah."

"I didn't like seeing you like that either." I said quietly. "It was like it hurt my feelings, but it wasn't my feelings that got hurt, you know?"

"Yeah." Angel blew out a long sigh. "... I feel bad for what I said to Stork, believe it or not."

My ears shrank down against my head, remembering the way they had screamed at each other and how it had stabbed at me; in all honesty I thought the way they goaded each other and smacked each other around like young kittens was funny, cute almost. But when they'd shrieked and snarled at each other like two dominant animals crossing into the other's territory, looking right into the other's eyes and fighting for supremacy, inflicting deep wounds with scissors and razors in their mouths... that wasn't funny, not cute. It stung me and I'd blinked in wild, stunned pain with every harsh word they threw at each other.

"You should talk to her, say sorry." I recommended. "Then she will too, and you'll both feel better."

"Yeah, that's probably what has to be done." Angel said with distaste as if this were a Herculean chore. "And Lord knows she won't be the first one to say it."

"I should probably say sorry too." I said thoughtfully. "I didn't like the way her face crumpled like that."

"Wasp... look, she wasn't crying because of what you said, she was crying because she knew she hurt your feelings. She'll be the one who feels like she has to apologize." Angel told me, stroking at my ear and if felt nice so I shifted it closer to him, thinking.

"It did sort of hurt." I muttered after a while. "But not that badly. Stork's my friend. And sometimes friends make mistakes, but that doesn't stop them being your friend."

"Thankfully for me." Angel muttered and I pushed my hand into his stomach carefully, comfortingly.

"Yes, but you always try to fix them." I reminded him. He made an uncertain humming noise and said nothing. I walked my fingers along his collar bone, thinking.

"Maybe it's a good thing she broke it." I said suddenly, surprising myself, my thoughts having struck off something that felt deep, heavy, important and intimidating at the same time.

"How'd you figure?" Angel asked curiously.

"Well... I might never have said anything myself." I said, feeling like I was on the trail of some golden prey, flashing ahead of me through thick branches, just out of sight, but it was mine and I had to catch it. This was moment of understanding, some sort of spiritual realization and I had to seize it, nownownow.

"About the pills?" Angel asked tentatively.

"About anything." I said. "About the source, the voice." I drilled a finger into my temple, tapping away a Morse code message I didn't understand into the roots of my teeth.

Angel's muscles went tense and hard nervously, his arm twitching around me a little tighter. "Even if you knew? I think you would have told us if you knew it was you. You're... you're brave that way."

I heard her start laughing again, like a pin dropping back down on a spinning record, picking up again in some blurred fashion. _**Oh does he ever think highly of you. If only he could see right into your filthy insides. Well are you going to tell him you knew? You knew all along? And you were too-**_

"No!" I snapped and Angel started. I pushed my head into his chest again, trying to block it out, to get away, escape my own head. I've been trying that for years.

_**And it never works, does it?**_

_No, it doesn't. And it's not fair._

_**Haven't you learned yet that life isn't fair?**_

_Oh, yes. Very, very well did I ever learn that one._

"Wasp?" Angel's voice broke into my splintering thoughts. "Are you okay?"

I was shaking against him I realized. "Yes. No. Yeah." I spewed out, clamping down on my tongue, something building, spreading wide inside of me, too tight, too tight, it crawled right up my throat to the back of my mouth and I felt like I might puke again but it wasn't bile that came up, it was something scorching and seething, words that I hadn't wanted to look at. But now I was getting it, I'd caught my prey and it was forming a bright, glaring picture in my inner mind that I couldn't for the life of me look away from.

_**So you know for yourself now. Well, are you going to admit it or will I have to force it out of you?**_

"Don't you dare." I ground out. But I couldn't escape the laughter because it was in _my_ head, my god damn broken head and short of tearing it off or ripping the top of my skull off to scoop her out with my fingers it wouldn't stop, a splinter too deep and infected to pull out. And it was the worst thing in the world, a torture, a private Hell I couldn't run from or burn away because it was there, always, part of me, haunting me, calling me all the names that ever got to me, reminding me of things I just wanted to leave untouched, what kept me questioning my own heart, my actions, my own existence, what woke me up and kept me from sleep, what made my heart run cold and my mouth go sour, what permeated everything I tried to say or be, that ruined every golden moment, every time I felt like smiling or was curled into Angel's side, trying to soak up his warmth. Nothing was safe from her, every one of my thoughts and secrets and desires and fears were uprooted and devoured by her, torn to shreds, warped, perverted until I was running circles in my own skull, choking for breath, trying not to scream, ready to explode, bashing my head into solid objects, desperate for silence, for relief. Just go away, leave me in peace, leave me in peace, go away FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GO AWAY, PLEASE!

I was choking and gagging on my own breathing and Angel was shaking too, rubbing my back, asking me again and again what was wrong and I could barely hear him or feel him there, my insides melting and bursting against my ribs, the light filling up my head and burning everything, scorching memories and good feelings, shaking to the volume of her voice.

_**Well? Aren't you going to tell him?**_

"I...knew." I felt myself force up past the oozing, swelling lumps that were lodged in my throat.

"What?" Angel sounds completely exasperated, confused, frightened possibly.

"I knew but I couldn't... so..."

_**So it was a good thing that little bitch betrayed you, isn't it?**_

"So it was good that Stork told because I..."

_**Because you were-**_

"_Afraid_."

_**-Of me! You were afraid of me! And you NEED ME!!!**_

The laughter started up again and I made a noise that was something like a wheeze but might have sounded like a sob too, but there were no tears, only blood from the corner of my eye where something had broken, again, as usual, same old, same old.

I felt Angel pull me in tight, so tight, almost crushing both of us with this force of compassion. I felt something pop in one of us, maybe my spine, maybe his shoulder and I breathed and choked unevenly into his chest, absorbing more of him with every inhale as he stroked my hair and ear and back and made a soothing noise in my ear, a mother's heartbeat to a jaguar kit and my eyes closed as the violent wracks kept rattling my fangs together and choking me and then letting me breathe again sporadically.

"I was afraid." I hacked out again, needing to hear it again, for myself, to know. "Of what she'll say. Of what you guys would think. I _am_ afraid because she never says anything good and she won't leave me alone, all the time, I hate it, _hate_ it, but I can't get _away_ from it, I can't get away, Angel."

"Oh, Wasp." Angel murmured, sounding like he too would be crying if he could sum up the tears; something about him sounded hurt and broken anyways, his tone hoarse and weak. "I'm so, so sorry... Jesus Christ I can't even imagine..."

"It sucks." I informed him so he won't have to and I felt him nod.

"Yeah, no doubt..." he held me close as if he was trying to take my bad feelings into his body, some sort of transmutation I didn't understand. "God, you poor little thing... look I know you hate them, but these pills-"

"They don't work." I interrupted. "I hear her, all the time, no matter what."

I heard Angel's heart pick up. "...Like just now?"

"Yeah." I muttered and I felt him press his lips to my forehead, his hand running up my back to the nape of my neck as if to support my skull and I felt grateful for it.

"Listen to me for a second, okay?" he asked of me, even though I have been listening this entire time but I nodded anyways to show him I am. "You don't have to deal with this anymore, Wasp, and you don't have to be scared. The others are here for you and so am I, as cheesy as that sounds, alright? And we'd never think anything bad of you, okay? Just please know that. All those times we called you a psycho... I'm sorry. We were kidding, but it wasn't a good joke."

I felt something like a warm, brightly-painted flower unfurl in my chest, a sort of heavy comfort sinking like a shiny pebble in my stomach. "I dunno, I liked being the psycho." I said with small grin.

"Well... you're not really one, okay? I'll admit, you're... you're downright bat-shit crazy, but you aren't a psycho."

I laughed. "Batty!"

"Anyways, I'm sorry you had to go through that because of us." Angel told me softly. "Things will be different now, I promise."

At this point in time I've run out of things to say. I consider the word smitten; smitten, kitten, mitten... something about Angel's tenderness and loyalty have made me feel something close to this, or so I think. I feel touched by it anyways, because I understand it's weird and difficult for him to try and be tender to anyone; he explained that to me on the first night he and I got to talking, that he can't wield that sort of thing. I'm not very good at it either and I'm not sure exactly how to show him I appreciate him making my insides calm again, for drowning out the voice for now with his warm, promising words, his exotic voice that makes my teeth buzz when I hear it.

So I pressed my thumb into his chin and tilted it downwards and he blinked at me enquiringly before I pressed my lips up against his, my lip ring mashing into his lower lip. And after a moment he kisses me back and my heart both speeds up and slows down at the same time, doing this strange fluttery jig and I feel some great feeling flood through me, not exactly relief and not exactly joy but something smattered an off-colour between the two. I feel I've now shared with Angel like he has with me, putting some of my darkest, ugliest fears and secrets into his hands for safe-keeping, a shared, mutual thing to be whispered about just between the two of us and our merged lips.

In this moment I felt good and whole, even though I was still coming down from my fit of trembling and dry-heaving and I didn't want to break away from Angel because his closeness made me feel a strength slowly seeping into me that I feel like I must have misplaced and there is an excited, flying feeling rising in my stomach and I don't want that to go away, not yet.

And so we stayed like that, holding and kissing each other, until it is the last thing I remember before I fell asleep.

* * *

I find myself staring at the stack of books that were piled helter-skelter on Angel's desk, next to a collection of very fiddley looking tools and some gears and mechanisms that made my fingers itchy with curiosity. His desk was the first thing I saw when I woke up and, as it were, I was seeing it from upside down too. Lying on my back I tried to read the titles on the spines to find out what they were about: something about physics, another about mechanical technical stuff, a small handbook on converting crystal energy, something about weapon technology and a book all about the human brain. All chock full of facts and IQ spawning information I was sure. Rainer had a few of these kinds of books too; his interests, born from things he read about in his science-fiction novels, drove him to research things like human biology, kinetics and dream interpretation. I had this small collection of informational texts mixed in with his other books for my own reference now.

Rolling onto my stomach I found myself face to face with Angel, whose arm I only just realized I was lying on; I hoped I wasn't crushing him. He was still sleeping, his face peaceful and I thought about just getting up and leaving but that seemed rude to me so after a few moments of watching him I poked him a few times in the sternum before I remembered the others always saying that Angel didn't sleep much and I thought maybe I should have left him be. Then again he seemed to sleep whenever I was with him, so maybe they'd been exaggerating (the Gargoyles seemed to do that a lot I'd noticed).

Angel's eyes snapped open and for a second he looked confused, maybe even panicked. Then he saw me waving at him and relaxed, shutting his eyes again.

"Should have known that was you poking me." He muttered and I grinned.

"I'm your wake-up call!" I said brightly.

"Oh, alright." He opened his eyes again and blinked, looking confused again. "I... I fell asleep didn't I?"

"I assume so. You were asleep just now, so you must have." I reasoned.

"Huh. Go figure." He sat up and stretched and I heard his muscles pull and pop a bit. "Maybe you ought to stay with me more often. I seem to be able to sleep when you're around." He mused as I sat up too, snuffling at his hair with interest.

"I wouldn't mind that." I agreed. Then I thought about my reason from coming in here the night before while running my tongue over my lower lip absently; it felt different, smoother, warmer, and it kept wanting to curve into a smile. Maybe I really would have to stay with Angel more often; somehow I felt the better for it, inside and out.

"I woke you up for a reason..." I remembered, tapping my knuckles against the inside of my knee, thinking. Then I reached out carefully to cup the back of his neck and carefully pulled him towards me until our foreheads were resting together, noses touching. I stared into his eyes and felt myself go cross-eyed and felt him grin against my lips. This touching of his mouth to mine seemed to remind me, my mind rewinding through kissing and then the bad stuff that came before that and I nodded to myself.

"Right, I remember. I have to go. There's something I have to do." I told him and he nodded to show he understood. Then I lowered my voice a little as if I were on the trail of something, or if I were to speak too loudly I might lose something I needed, like maybe my nerve. "And this thing I have to do, I don't know if it's a good idea. But I know it's the right thing to do."

"Well, three years living with Falshade has taught me those are the kinds of things everybody thinks are incredibly stupid, but they're also the kinda things that have to be done." Angel informed me and that was all the conviction I needed. I sprang off his bed but then skidded to a halt before his door and went back to him quickly.

"Thank you." I said earnestly, leaning forward to kiss him swiftly, lip ring nudging at his lower lip, a passage of feeling in which I was able to convey more emotion then I had time to talk about; in this contact I could tell him how much I appreciated him being there when I couldn't handle being alone with just my head for once, that staying with him had let me sleep too, even on a night when on my own I know I never would have fallen asleep and that yeah, I did want to come back and stay with him more often and that maybe sometime I could show him some of my books and we could share happier stories for once.

All of that in one simple kiss. Actions speak louder than words, I understood this now. Gentle contact, heartfelt music and simple exchanges of glances, these all could pour out millions of things I could never collect into enough pretty words.

"Anyways I have to go now." I said, stepping back from him as he slid off his bed, pushing his feet into his boots.

"Yeah, yeah, get going." He said and then grinned. "And you're welcome. Anytime. Now go do what you have to do."

Smiling I ducked out his door and took off down the corridor, feeling refreshed and cleansed somehow, despite the nervous energy that was pulsing away in my stomach. I knew this thing that had to be done was the right thing and that spurred me forward, no room for doubt or negative energy to weigh me down. It was like a weird sort of jaw-setting conviction and I was in a hurry to set into it. I repeated the Oracle's words in my head as I made my way down to the hanger and it felt freeing, like a wash of comfort in pretty colours; I could feel the contented hum of Shadowfax in my inner breast pocket. Rainer was okay with this, he understood and there were no hard feelings. If Rainer was okay with me breaking a promise... I could handle the other stuff. With my new friends.

Jumping down from a crate I landed in front of Stork's door and knocked three times quickly before clasping my hand behind my back, understanding this was a time for me to display how serious I was. I scuffed my feet anxiously, trying to think of the right words to say here; the image of Stork's face the night before came back to me and I felt my intestines contract. Yes, this was definitely a time for the right words and seriousness.

After a few moments Stork's door whooshed open and there she stood before me and I immediately wanted to reach out and steady her like she was a crooked portrait. She seemed lopsided to me, worn out and desperately miserable; she had dark stains under her eyes, clashing with her freckles. She was slouching as if she didn't have much reason to be standing up straight and she really just wanted to lie down again. She was only clad in her tank top and a pair of light blue undies, which were like a boy's boxers only shorter and they stuck to her skin in a friendly manner. I stared at them for a moment, thinking that if I ever got into the whole underwear thing that I'd get some like those before I stared into her face and gave her a small smile and a little wave, my planning having failed me and I had no words after all.

Stork's eye widened when she saw that it was me before her. "Wasp!" she exclaimed, her voice squeaky and hoarse at the same time.

"Stork." I greeted in return. "Hi. I'm here to-"

"No, hang on." She interrupted, holding up her hand for me to halt and I halted. "I have to say this right now, okay?" I flicked my ears; okay. "And you don't have to believe me and you don't ever have to forgive me, but I just have to say it, okay?" Another ear flick; okay. Stork drew in a deep breath unsteadily. "Wasp, I am so sorry. I did an awful thing without even thinking about it and I can't tell you how sorry I am, but I am. I'm sorry. I just want you to know that, okay?"

Okay.

"Okay." I said. "Now I have something to say. Okay?"

Stork nodded, swallowing, and I could see her entire throat move with the motion.

"You don't have to be sorry." I started, as this seemed like a good place to begin. I didn't want her to feel bad after all. "Because I'm not mad at you. And _I'm_ sorry I made you cry."

Stork's eyes were big and shiny, disbelief and shame glinting like little pieces of diamonds stuck in her corneas. "Oh, Wasp, no, you didn't-"

"No, no, I'm not done!" I explained and she clapped her hand over her mouth the stop herself; I heard some of her words continue on into her palm anyways. "Look, I realize something now, and that thing is that that promise was a stupid one. I don't know why I made you make it. Well, no, I do. It's just hard to explain. But I think it's because deep down I'm sort of afraid. Of this thing that I have. And so... just... knowing you found those... things... made me more scared, somehow. Anyways, it doesn't matter. I know now that it was one of those promises that are made to be broken. They have to be. For the greater good. Of me and everyone else." I nodded. I liked that. The Greater Good. Yes. "So, in conclusion, meaning this is me ending this spiel of mine, it's a good thing that you told and everything, because the Oracle even told us, my destiny is somehow mixed up in this and it needs to be un-mixed, you know? And that we'd all have to make choices and do big things and now it's my turn to make a choice and do something big. And I might not be doing that if it weren't for you and then I'd just be a miserable little coward-thing. So Stork, I am not mad at you, babes, and I don't ever want to make you cry again. And that this is a good thing. This is good."

Babes. I had been Babes to Fli, when she wanted to explain something to me I didn't understand or when I was upset about something. Now I in turn had found myself a little girl who I could call Babes and it was my duty to look out for this girl and explain things to her and make her feel better when she was upset.

Stork uttered a choking noise. "Wasp... are you sure?"

I nodded. "Oh yes."

Stork made a peeping noise like a little fluffy chick. "...I still feel like utter shit." She said, the diamonds in her eyes breaking on the red-rimmed edges and spilling onto her cheeks.

"Don't." I said. "Don't, you don't have to. I'm okay, see? I... I just wasn't okay right away, that's all." I scratched at my throat awkwardly, worried. This didn't seem to be going well if Stork was crying again. "Are... are we still friends?"

Stork looked up at me like she'd been expecting anything but that; a slap, a kick in the gut, a handful of bad names, anything. But not that. She sobbed a bit and tried to fight for her voice. "I want to be your friend still." She whispered. "Do you still want to be mine?"

"Well, yeah." I said, smudging some of the tears from her cheek and sucking them off my thumb. Stork smiled although she still looked distrustful, totally blown away and I wondered if she really believed me. "I do." I said again just to make sure she heard me.

She uttered another squelched sobbing noise. "Can... can I hug you?" she asked after a minute, shifting awkwardly.

"Um... sure." I said and she flung her arms around me, sniffling. Contact was a communication I'd long been out of practice with and I was clumsy with it now and a little uncertain, trying to understand the Gargoyle's language. But I had missed it, and I patted her back and mussed up her hair in return until she backed away, rubbing at her nose.

"God I'm such a baby." She cursed herself. "And Wasp, I promise, I'm going to make this up to you, okay?"

"Okay. But you don't have to." I said with a reassuring grin. She smiled weakly and coughed a bit. Then she looked down at herself and laughed at herself.

"Wow, here I am in my underwear. I'm going to go get dressed, okay? And Wasp, I am sorry and I just... thank you so much for being such a better person then me." She told me seriously and I wrinkled my nose, confused.

"Um... you're welcome?" I tried and Stork laughed and turned to leave. "Oh, wait!" I shouted after her even though she was only a few feet in front of me and she turned back around.

I shoved my hand into my pockets, digging around. "Listen, as my friend, can you do something for me?" I asked and her eyes went a bit wide again as if she was shocked by me. I thought she looked like a little owlet when she did that and it made me want to stroke her nose and make cooing noises to her.

"Of course!" she said. "If you ever need me to do anything, bam, I'm there, okay?"

"Oh, okay. Great. Same with me. To you." I clarified and my fingers closed around what I'd been looking for. Pulling it out I thrust the bottle towards her and left it in my open hand for us both to stare at, some unwanted and worthless thing that needed to be disposed of. "Well right now I need you to take care of these for me." I explained to her. "Dump them in the toilet, throw them off the ship, I don't care. But I'm not ever taking them again, ever, and I'd like you to get rid of them for me." I glared down at them with utter hatred. It seemed fitting in some spiritual, symbolic way that because I was breaking a promise to my old beloved friend in order to help my new ones that I should ask my new friend to help me get rid of these tokens of that promise and help me start something new, a second life without them. It seemed like a destiny thing to me.

"Wasp are you sure?" Stork asked me, not sharing in my fervour. "Like is this a good idea? Don't you need them?"

"No." I said, voice steady and sure. "No I don't. So can you do that for me?"

Stork looked into my eyes and I saw something like a sister in her; it seemed I had a sister for every one of my lives, Luka from the jungle, my adopted sister, and then Fli on Macabre, to help me learn things a girl should know and maybe shouldn't know but needs to hear anyways. And now I had Stork in this new chapter of mine and I desperately hoped that this one would stick.

And Stork, my new Babes and little sister, took the bottle from my hand determinedly. "You bet I can." She said and I smiled, feeling things kick into motion, a change in gears, the first move on a chess board. Come what may now; I was ready for it.

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

We all were sitting around the table, staring at the little bottle of pills that I'd placed carefully on the center of the tabletop like some sort of ugly centerpiece. There was a definite unease rippling among us all, tension in muscles all around. I don't think any of us had totally gotten over last night's episode.

Finally Falshade broke the edgy silence that had settled between us. "Well... Wasp. I don't know anything about this sort of thing so... how long do you think it'll take before... um... these things wear off?"

Wasp had her chin on the table edge, glaring at the bottle as if she could make it feel ashamed of itself. She shrugged. "I don't know much about them either." She said honestly.

"Well Clozapine is heavy duty stuff." Angel said and I rolled my eyes; of course Mr. I Know Everything About Everything would have something to say. He and I had been avoiding eye contact and pretty much each other all morning. Although there had almost been a moment of to-Angel-love-Stork fist contact when he _walked over my foot in his boots_ (which I can almost guarantee was certainly not an accident). I'd made a very displeased snarling noise that definitely had a swear word laced in there somewhere to which his brilliant retort was "Well, wear some god damn shoes!". Shoes! Do you know how big boys' _feet_ are? They ought to watch where they walk is what they should do, those jerks!

Ahem, anyways...

"It's made so that if you miss a dosage you'll still be okay for a couple days." Angel was going on. "So it could take awhile to fully be out of your system."

"Yeah but this has been prescribed in human dosages." Varan said, picking up the bottle to examine it after a quick, permissive glance at Wasp. "Wasp is a Faerieshian, she might metabolise it faster."

"Hmm..." Angel said. "Well still, I think we'll be looking at a couple days at least before it wears off."

Wasp sighed unhappily and I rubbed her back comfortingly.

"Well in any case I think we should keep a close eye on you for the next little while, Wasp." Falshade said. "First of all if this stuff is really heavy duty I can't imagine your body will take too kindly to you suddenly going off of it."

Wasp shrugged. "Meh. Just as long as it's not like what Sketcher used to go through. He was a heroine junkie."

There was a collection of uncertain faces from the rest of us. "Uh... I don't think it'll be anything like that." Angel said, trying to sound encouraging.

"Also, we don't want you to have to be alone through this." Falshade went on in his best kindly voice. "Plus when it actually happens well... at least one of us should be there to write it down. So you don't have to do it twice, you know?"

Wasp perked up. "So, like, you'll be babysitting me?" she asked excitedly.

"Erm... no. You're not a baby, Wasp." Falshade said. "Think of it more like... a Wasp Watch."

Wasp rolled this around in her mind. "Okay. That sounds fun." She concluded at last. Then she seemed to remember something. "Oh, that's right. I'd just like to take this moment to say I'm sorry I freaked out on all of you last night. I shouldn't have shouted or anything. And sorry I got angry with you, Falshade."

The rest of us did a double-take. After all that bullshit we dealt her, here was _Wasp_ apologizing to _us_? "...Wasp, girl, you had every reason to freak out, eh." Fraggle stammered out after a few moments.

"Yeah, really. At least once a month somebody has an epic freak out around here, at least you had a good excuse." Varan added. "If anyone ever had a reason to shout and be upset it was you."

"You think so?" Wasp asked, puzzled. "I dunno, you all looked pretty scared."

Falshade cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yeah, well... we deserved that. So _we're_ sorry that we made you freak out like that. And Wasp, I really appreciate you doing this for us, I know it must be... well, actually, I don't know. But it's gotta epically suck."

Wasp shrugged. "Maybe not so much. I get to spend all kinds of time with you guys now!" she grinned enthusiastically and something tugged painfully in my chest. "Anyways, the Oracle told us we all had to make sacrifices and do something big for the team; Varan went and saw Repton and now it's my turn." She said simply. Jeez was that girl ever humble; you wouldn't have heard the end of it from me.

"We should make you a both badges or something, eh." Fraggle suggested and Varan pulled the rim of his toque down over his eyes with a crocodile grin.

"How about you all just pitch in a bit with the dishes instead?" He suggested and was greeted by a collection unpleasant faces, from sour to downright horrified. He rolled his eyes with a good-natured chuckle. "That's what I thought. Speaking of kitchen duties though I guess we're all just having warmed-up pizza for breakfast."

The rest of us groaned and pulled faces. "Dude, I'm still digesting my pizza from yesterday." Angel complained. "I don't want to force down anymore."

"Yeah, eh. You gotta mix things up a bit or bad things happen to you." Fraggle added and Varan pinched the top of his muzzle.

"You were the ones who wanted to get _five_ pizzas." He pointed out.

"Hey, that's not our fault!" I objected. "You're the one who needed an entire vegetarian pizza all to himself!"

"Yes Stork, it's my fault, with my _one_ pizza, that we ended up with so many leftovers." Varan said sarcastically and I nodded.

"Yes, yes it is."

Varan rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever. So I'm making breakfast. This is the end of our day off then." He seemed to think about something before turning to Wasp, who was picking idly at a hangnail. "Tell you what, Wasp, you decide what we have for breakfast."

Wasp looked up, surprised. "Huh? Me?"

"Yeah, you pick something and I'll make it." Varan told her kindly, to which the rest of us were extremely jealous. Fuck we had to be sick or _dying_ to get Varan to make us something special (and I mean it's not like we're _constantly_ taking advantage of the guy or anything either, like come on). Then again I think Wasp was owed a little special treatment. I mean if it had been any of the rest of us that we'd pissed off and upset we'd all be kissing ass for weeks (like if it were me there would be mucho evil eye giving and demanding of attention). You wouldn't have believed the amount of babying Fraggle received when he busted all the toes on one foot aiming a badly miscalculated kick at Angel.

Wasp seemed to take Varan's request very seriously. Finally though she brightened with inspiration. "I want Sky Charms." She said. "Please." She added on an afterthought.

Varan blinked at her. "Anything in the Atmos and you want empty calorie _cereal_?" he repeated, as if he was making sure he hadn't misheard her.

Wasp nodded eagerly. "Yes yes yes."

Varan mulled this over then clapped her on the shoulder. "Thank god at least one of you is this easy to please." He said with a grin and the rest of us scowled at him. True if it were one of us we would have demanded something like, I dunno, a triple-decker cake, fully frosted and with all the fixin's, or some sort of really nit-picky request, like a club sandwich without any gross stuff like tomatoes or pickles, real mayo, not the fat-free junk that most certainly _isn't _real mayonnaise and doesn't taste a _thing_ like real mayonnaise thank you advertising company, and with like perfectly toasted toast and what not, but come on, it's not like we're that high-maintenance (well we could be worse is all I'm saying).

"The rest of you can fend for yourselves." Varan told the rest of us.

"Oh, not fair!" Angel said. "You're the one who lectured us on how unhealthy and innutritious pizza is!"

"Yeah, exactly!" Fraggle agreed. "As the only one around here who knows anything about good eating habits it's your _duty_ to make sure we get all out vitamins and minerals and all that junk, eh."

"Oh _really_." Varan said, folding his arms. "Well then how come whenever I try to get you guys to eat properly I get a whole bunch of nasty words hurled at me?"

I decided to try a new tactic (Varan's logic is overpowering). "Var-an I just got back, come on, I haven't had anything of your cooking in ages!" I wheedled.

"Oh no you don't." He said to me. "Your 'I just got back' card expired yesterday. Now you're just Stork again. And if I recall you tend to complain about my cooking."

Well, time to pull out the big guns. Pulling my best, cutesy, puppy-dog face I pouted and dragged out a long, desperate "Pweeeeeeeaaaaseeeee?????"

Varan looked away from me quickly, but the damage had been done. "Damnit!" he said. "Damn you and your feminine wiles! What do you want and then leave me alone!"

I grinned. "I'm thinking pancakes, right guys?" I looked at the others for consent to find they'd all inched back from me.

"It is just _scary_ when you do that." Falshade said and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Well be scared all you want, I just scored us a pancake breakfast. You're welcome."

Varan let out a defeated sigh. "It sucks how much I care about all of you, you know that?" he said. "Right, well if I'm being forced to feed you while that pizza rots in the fridge I expect some help, come on."

We all got up and I reached out quickly to pocket Wasp's bottle of pills. I was still really iffy about her giving them to me and I wasn't yet sure how I was gonna get rid of them, but I'd told her I'd make it up to her and if this was one of the ways she wanted me to prove I could be a better friend then you bet your ass I was going to do it.

I was almost in the corridor to the kitchen when I felt someone grab my wrist and halted, turning, thinking it was maybe Shade or Wasp. I almost decked him in the face when I discovered it was Angel, but the bastard knew me too well and he caught my punch simply and grinned at me haughtily.

"You're too predictable." He informed me like he was a real big-shot. I narrowed my eyes dangerously.

"You have three seconds to let me go and tell me what you want or I'll break your nose with my forehead." I vowed. He wouldn't be able to catch that so easily now would he? Especially if I just so happened to knee him in the crotch first.

He cocked an eyebrow at me like he didn't believe me at all and released me, leaning back against the wall. "So I wanted to do something." He said, examining his fingernails. "Damn, what's the word... starts with an 'A'..."

"Is it being an asshole?" I asked snidely. "Because if it is you've already got a pretty good start on that."

"Nope, that's not it." He said with mock-thoughtfulness, shaking his head exaggeratedly and I wanted to hit him. "No, it's that thing decent people do, you know, after doing something they feel bad about?"

I frowned at him. "Apologize?" I tried dryly, just on a whim.

He snapped his fingers. "Yep! That's the one! I want to apologize." He said and if you were taken aback then believe me I was right struck-dumb, like a bunny in the headlights.

"Uh... you do?" I asked, trying to regain my composure. This _was_ Angel, right?

"Uh-huh." He nodded, but without the mockery this time. "Yeah, I do. Look... shit I'm no good at this..." he rolled his eyes upwards, thinking. I waited. "Okay, how's this: I'm sorry I shouted at you and said what I did. I know you care about Wasp. And... well I'm not taking back the brat part, but you're not spoiled. I can't think of anything else specific, so let's just say I'm sorry in general about last night. Okay?"

I had to resist the immense urge to gawk at him. Instead, just so I didn't seem like a complete idiot, I said. "Anything else you'd like to apologize for?" I stuck out my bruised foot for inspiration and he rolled his eyes.

"Again, put some god damn shoes on before you come up here!" He insisted and gave me a meaningful look. "C'mon Stork, meet me halfway here, this is actually painful."

I sighed and dropped my difficult routine, just for now. "Yeah, alright. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have shouted either. I know you care about all of us. And... well then if I'm a brat I'm keeping the bastard part, but you're not selfish. So, sorry. Are we good?" I asked, sticking out my hand in an offering of truce. Which, surprisingly, he took.

"We're good." He stared at my wrist for a second before letting out a pained sigh. "This is the part where we have to hug, isn't it?"

I rolled my eyes but grinned. "I think so." And I came forward and hugged him. Hey, the guy's like my annoying older brother, and we were a little over-due for this sort of thing, we had to do it right. He hugged me back a bit and then we both broke away, brushing ourselves off and glancing around suspiciously. Nobody saw that.

"I am glad you're back you know." He said to me after a moment and I smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'm glad too. Missed you, man." I said, punching his arm playfully. "Nobody to bug the shit out of all day long."

He grinned and, suddenly inspired by the fact that we were alone, I decided to pounce on him. Grinning deviously I said. "So... you and Wasp, huh?"

His mouth went from a grin to an annoyed frown extremely quickly and he rubbed his temples. "I _knew_ one of you was going to spring that on me eventually." He sighed.

"Hey, you're the one advertising the whole thing." I smiled mischievously. Ah man, feels good to be back in familiar territory; I live for making people's days that much more annoying, you know. "Quite a jump you made there... what changed?"

He gave me an irritable look. "I had a change in perspective, that's all." He informed me curtly and I snorted.

"Oh yeah, and how'd that happen?"

"I can't see how it's any of your business." He said snidely. And _there's_ my boy Angel.

"So..." Here I gave him my best don'tcha-just-wanna-strangle-me grin. "Have you kissed her?"

"You honestly think I'm going to tell you?" he demanded "I am going to make your life _hell_ if you ever manage to get a boyfriend!"

"Oooh so you two are an item?" I asked all gush-gush like, although I was feeling a little intrigued by now. Were they? What _were_ they, exactly?"

"_No_." Angel stressed. "Can you see _me_ keeping a girlfriend?" He paused and then glared at me. "Don't answer that."

I smirked. "I didn't have to, did I?"

"Whatever. Just keep your nose outta my business or it might end up getting busted." He threatened me to which I just snorted.

"Oh, _pshaw_. What_ever_. C'mon, I'm just curious. And I think it's kinda sweet."

"Greeeaaat word choice there." he commented and I nodded.

"Ew, yeah, I know. Plus you, being sweet? Puh-lease." Then I gave him a serious look. "Honestly. It's cool, whatever you guys are. I'm on your side." Then I leaned in dangerously. "But just so you know; if you hurt that girl I'm personally going to castrate you." Hey, we girls gotta stick together man!

Angel finally loosened up a bit and laughed. "Duly noted. And if she hurts me?"

I snorted. "Well, if she breaks your arm it's probably because you deserved it."

"Nobody's ever on my side around here." He grumbled, although he was grinning. And then, as if to prove his point, we heard Varan holler from the kitchen, not sounding very pleased at all:

"ANGEL YOU THEIVING LITTLE BASTARD, WHERE ARE YOU?"

I turned to him. "Well you're in trouble. What's that all about?"

"_That_ would be because I ate both of the packages of chocolate chips he just bought." He said with a guilty little grin. "I'm going to disappear now for a little while, if you'll excuse me."

"Yeah, go." I told him, shooing him away with my hands. Just as he turned the corner I yelled out "DON'T HIDE UNDER THE SINK, HE KNOWS ABOUT THAT ONE!"

"THANKS MAN!"

"STORK DON'T YOU HELP HIM!" Varan yelled at me as I ducked into the hallway, laughing under my breath. Oh fuck was it ever good to be home.

* * *

"Alright, so, we clear on this?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, eh. Winner gets the last slice of bacon and onion."

You know how the other day we all were so opposed to eating leftover pizza we made Varan make us pancakes? Well, things like that come back around. Like one day you don't want pizza, the next day, you do. And now there were our two favourite examples of the male species ready to come to an agreement by the only form of diplomacy guys seem to know to see who got the last slice of 'good' pizza, since Fraggle had finished his personalized one and sure he can eat olives, anchovies and pineapple all on the same damn pizza but won't touch green peppers, and because Angel had a rather vehement loathing of mushrooms, neither of them wanted any of the pizza Falshade had left over.

This form of diplomacy, naturally, was by way of arm wrestling.

"Right, ready?" Angel said, putting his elbow on the table.

"Yep. Prepare to lose, little man. That slice is as good as mine, eh."

"Uh-huh. Right. I happen to be undefeated champion, thank you. I _own_ this sport." Angel drawled haughtily.

Falshade made an obvious coughing noise from where he was sitting and Angel rolled his eyes.

"Fine, undefeated except to Falshade. Anyways, I'm starving, let's get this over with."

"Sure. Go, eh."

"I got five bucks on the blonde." I said from where I was sitting on the couch, Wasp sprawled over me, her concave stomach warming my lap and her hip bones digging into my thighs slightly.

I guess things had been fine with her at first. All day yesterday she just followed me around like a happy little puppy, keeping me company in the hanger and playing all sorts of games with me, from chess to hangman (I ever got around to teaching her the word game, which she got a huge kick out of). And things had just sort of gone back to normal, ya know? It was nice.

But then, around dinner time, she'd started doing something strange; she kept reeling and jolting as if electrocuted, clutching at her head occasionally and looking completely lost. She assured me it didn't hurt or anything, but I was still worried about it. And unfortunately her twitching episodes yesterday hadn't been the worst of them yet, and by lunchtime today it had seemed like she was almost constantly shivering, her body going through sporadic, wracking fits of tremors, muscles pulled tight as a bowstring. It was actually upsetting me to see her like that and so I'd finally wrangled her into letting me rub her back for her to try and soothe her. At first she'd been very tense and awkward but by now she was melting into me, completely relaxed, even making a contented purring noise now and then like a pleased cat.

"Gee, thanks for the support." Angel said sarcastically.

"Well don't take offense to this or anything, dude, but you've got arms like noodles." I explained and he flipped me the finger with his free hand.

"I dunno." Falshade said, frowning down as he tried to read the same page for about the fifth time now; he had an even harder time concentrating when the rest of us were making noise it seemed. "Fraggle's bigger yeah, but Angel gets this scary kinda determination when it comes to food."

"Thanks for that, Shade."

"So does this mean you'll take me on?" I asked Falshade and he snorted.

"Oh, hell no, I'm rooting for Fraggle." he insisted and I laughed.

"Nobody's ever on my side around here." Angel griped. "Oh well, you call can suck it when I win."

"Big words from someone who's already breaking a sweat, eh." Fraggle said.

"Oh oh oh! I got it! Five safety pins!" Wasp exclaimed suddenly, pointing out the last of the elusive safety pins on the page. A little earlier Varan had produced for her a book full of pictures and little couplets underneath telling the reader what they had to try and find in the photo. Kinda like Where's Waldo I guess but with objects and what not. The three of us had been trying to find that damn safety pin for like twenty minutes now.

"Sweet." I said. "Are we done on this page?"

"Nope, we still gotta find a white rabbit and a golf club." Wasp said, tapping the page. Then her body shook with another spasm of twitches and I wrapped my hands around her waist comfortingly. This morning she'd come out of her room for breakfast and given us all a nasty shock by her appearance; her eyes had dark circles rimming them like Angel's always got and they stood out horrifically against her pale skin. Under her nose was red and so dry her skin had cracked, as if she had a bad head cold and had wiped her nose too much. The veins around her temples and neck were standing out dramatically, vibrant blue under her sickly white complexion and her eyes were bloodshot. To be honest I was worried about her, the way she kept shaking like that and blinking like she was in pain, touching her forehead now and again and looking lost. She'd said her head felt strange, that it kept doing these strange dry-shock things and like it was sloshing, full of heavy liquid.

"Jeez Wasp... maybe you should just go lie down in your room or something, huh?" I suggested and she shook her head.

"No, no, I'm fine. Besides I'm having fun. Where'd you get this, Varan?" She asked, swinging her legs up and down at the knee like a little girl and almost kicking me in the chin by accident.

"Oh, it's been lying under my bed for ages. I don't even know why it was with all my stuff actually. But I've had it since I was a kid, anyways. I had a whole bunch of these books." He said distractedly. "Seriously though, if those twitchy things get any worse... I dunno. I know you don't like them, Wasp, but maybe-"

"No!" She interrupted. "No no no. No. I don't want them."

"It's because you're brain's not being provided with the chemicals that it was before." Angel explained. "So it's like withdrawal, sort of. It'll go away."

Wasp nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. Exactly."

"How do you know about all this crap anyways?" I asked him.

"It's simple biology. That's what that kind of medication does; it's all chemical. Everything in your body. When certain chemicals are out of whack shit happens. Medication just helps your body stabilize it." He explained as if this should have been the most obvious thing in the world.

"Really? Even, like, mental stuff eh? No offence there, Wasp."

"Yeah. That's what happens. It can be psychological too, but like with Wasp, you're... schizophrenic because your brain is lacking a certain chemical. I think. Might be it makes too much, not sure."

"My chemicals are fine though." Wasp interjected. "You people out here all are the ones with chemical issues; all the synthetic garbage you pump into your bodies, all the time. I'm surprised it doesn't ooze out of you. Ugh it's so awful what you guys do, all that junk, just building up like toxic waste, yuck!" she shuddered.

"This is coming from the girl who drinks her own weight in energy drinks every day." Angel pointed out, but he didn't do it in the sort of tone he would of used with oh, say, me, for instance. He had this really odd teasing edge to his voice that was just like... playful, dare I say?

"All natural ingredients." Wasp said simply. "That's different. I'm just saying I never had chemical problems until I left the jungle. So, using my detective skills and putting evidence A and evidence B together..."

"Yes, we're all going to die and when they autopsy us they're going to find huge globs of synthetic, toxic sludge stuck to our insides. Is that what you want to hear?" I asked and Varan pulled a face.

"Can't we talk about something that isn't disgusting, just once? _Just once_?" He asked in a long-suffering tone. "Oh, hey, white rabbit, right there." He pointed at the page, brightening a bit. How's that for mood swings?

"_All my friends are white rabbits and Cheshire cats, tea for you and tea for me, off with her head, off with her head, off with her head!_" Wasp warbled and Varan quirked his brow at her.

"It's a song by Self Destruct Selected. You know, about Wonderland?" Wasp said.

"Uh-huh."

Falshade made a frustrated noise and dropped his forehead to the tabletop. "I hate this." He moaned.

"What, the table or your weird looking forehead?" Angel asked and Falshade punched him in the arm.

"I was referring to the fact that I can't bloody read to save my life and it sucks. Because I know what the damn words are, they just keep getting all fucking smushed together!" He vented.

"Aw, don't feel bad Falshade." Wasp said. "I used to be like that too. I'm still really slow at reading."

"What do you have there anyways, Shade?" I asked as he folded his arms under his chin, moping.

"It's a book on symbolism. It's Wasp's, actually. I figure I've been looking at things the wrong way, trying to take some of the things I see in my dreams literally. Some of it I think means something else. Symbolism stuff, you know?"

Wasp nodded. "Yeah. Like did you know when you dream of teeth it represents death?"

"Huh." I said. "Why?"

"And who decides all that crap?" Angel added. "Teeth for death, that's dumb."

"Speaking of things that don't have anything to do with what they are, what's it have to say about angels in there?" I asked Shade casually.

"Oh probably that they're actually egotistical assholes who don't know when to keep their mouths shut." Falshade said.

"I hate both of you."

"Oh and that they have bad hygiene." Falshade added on an afterthought.

"Bwa ha ha. Don't quit your day job, Shade." Angel said stonily.

"So what sort of things were you trying to look up?" Varan asked pointedly, changing the subject. "Anything in particular?"

"Well green seems to be a reoccurring theme in my dreams. I'm not sure what that means."

"It means rebirth, the cycle of life and death. And things that grow. Living things." Wasp said.

"Does it really?" Shade asked curiously.

"I think so. All the colours have their own meaning and stuff. Like an interpretation? Like yellow means health I think. They should be in there." Wasp said helpfully. "People's auras are different colours. It says something about them."

"Hmm. I also see this pile of ashes a lot, and there's always something in it. I was trying to read the thing about ashes, but..." Falshade trailed off.

"Ashes are easy. Something born from something old and passed away." Wasp said simply. "Phoenixes die and burn into a pile of ashes, and then from that they are born again as little wee chickie phoenixes again."

Something cold went right down my spine and I froze. Wasp rolled over slightly to look at me.

"Sorry, did you want to field that one?" She asked.

"No, I... it's just weird is all." I said, throat feeling thick.

"Why 'cause your real name happens to be Feonix?" Angel suggested and my eyes narrowed, moment of shock gone.

"Falshade, if you would be a dear, please hit him for me." I said and Falshade nodded and smacked Angel around the head.

"Ow! Quit fucking up my concentration!"

"Well concentrate a little harder and keep your mouth shut next time you think of something clever." Falshade suggested.

"Anything else?" Wasp asked. "This game is fun."

Falshade seemed to think about it. "...The last two times there's been this monster thing. Creepy as all get-out." I caught him flash me a look and I quirked an eyebrow.

"What? Did it look like me or something?" I asked teasingly. I mean hey, I am pretty scary.

"...No. But... the first time I saw it, it like... crushed your head. With its teeth."

Cold silence struck all of us and I think even Fraggle and Angel stopped in their little match for a second. Falshade and I just stared at each other for a few moments before I broke eye contact, feeling that coldness seep back in and spread in my belly.

"Oh." I said at last. "Well... jeez, sorry I asked huh?"

"It's weird... because then a little bit after that..." Falshade trailed off and rubbed his temples. "Ugh, this is bugging me. Maybe I should just leave it alone."

"Well no, I think we were getting somewhere with all of this." I said. I didn't want to be the reason we stopped making any headway here. Although in the back of my mind something was telling me I should bring up the whole thing about being found in the Scar as a baby. But then again, Falshade had just said he'd had a dream about me getting my head bitten off. Maybe I should leave that alone for now.

"The whole beastie thing is probably meant to be an infestation of the evil that is coming. This bad thing." Wasp suggested.

"You mean _manifestation_." Angel corrected.

"What did I say?"

"And I mean I could have told you that one." Angel continued. "Monsters are bad. Five year olds can tell you that."

"Sometimes monsters are just creatures that are misunderstood." Varan interjected and Angel shifted him a guilty look.

"Well, sure. But monsters that eat Stork's head, and I'm just going out on a limb here, I'm gonna peg as the bad kind." Then he seemed to think about it. "On the other hand..."

"Oh shut up." I snapped.

Falshade sighed. "See, this is why I try to read these things on my own."

"It's okay Shade, you can keep that book as long as you need it." Wasp said, missing his point. "Oh, golf club!"

"God damn I suck at this." I said. I think I'd found a grand total of three things since we'd opened the book.

"I thought we'd agreed you pretty much just sucked at life?" Angel asked, feigning thoughtfulness and I glowered at him.

"Oh yes, that reminds me. Wanna know why your engine wasn't running properly?" I asked snidely.

"Well I assume you're about to enlighten me anyways, _so_..."

"You used an _intake_ valve in your exhaust system. You were re-using burnt fuel, dumbass. You're lucky you're whole engine didn't blow." I informed him haughtily. "Although, _on the other hand_..."

"Gee how clever of you, I only used that same joke about two minutes ago."

I rolled my eyes, flopping back and Wasp curled up against me with a contented sigh. I rolled my eyes over towards Fraggle and Angel, who were still locked in their wrestling match like the winner would be crowned supreme ruler of the Atmos instead of just for a god damn slice of pizza. Then I looked to Shade, who looked like he could be cheered up; he seemed pretty miserable about all his symbolism stuff, which had sort of crashed and burned on him.

"Hey, Falshade, do you want to declare this a stalemate? I get the feeling they might be like that all day if you don't." I said.

Falshade perked up a bit. "You've got a point. And it's just boring now anyways."

"Why don't we make it more interesting?" I suggested with an evil grin and he tapped his nose, standing up and strolling over behind Angel.

"Don't touch me." Angel threatened him, swatting at him with his free hand. Falshade of course ignored him and swooped in, tickling his exposed ribs and Angel snorted with laughter.

"Falshade, fuck off!" He tried to snap but he was fighting back laughter and he totally lost the affect of it. Fraggle had to look away so he wouldn't start laughing all over the place too.

"I'm dead serious, leave me alone or so help me I will-haha-SHADE! GO AWAY!" Angel shouted, beating Shade in the hip bone with his free hand and turning red he was laughing so hard and trying to keep his arm up at the same time. "I-fucking-hate-you!" he choked out and then succumbed to his laughter for about five seconds until he lost his concentration and Fraggle thunked his hand down onto the table top.

"Ha! Fraggle for the win, eh!" Fraggle cheered.

"_God damnit_!" Angel snapped, laughter evaporated, and pounced on Falshade, hitting every inch of him he could get while Shade just laughed the whole time.

"You owe me big for this!" Angel shouted at him as Falshade shook him off and tried to hold off his blows.

"Thanks for that, Chief. I was starting to have to piss pretty badly there, eh." Fraggle saluted Falshade and took off down the hall while Shade and Angel crashed into the couch and nearly crushed me and Wasp they were so absorbed in wrestling by then. Jeez, _boys_, am I right?

"Get outta my bubble!" I said irritably, kicking at them in rapid succession (I wasn't wearing my boots, chill). That of course caused them to both round on me and the next thing I know I've got the two of them squashing the life out of me, Falshade sitting on my legs and Angel comfortably seated on my back.

"This doesn't mean I forgive you." Angel added to Falshade snarkily, who shrugged in response.

"Wasp, help me out!" I wheezed, clawing at the cushions desperately; leave it to one of the two of them to fart on me or something, I wasn't about to just hang out until they decided to get off (the sad thing is I've learned they'd do that kinda thing from experience. Yeah, guys are fucking disgusting).

Wasp got to her feet from where she'd rolled to safety on the floor and grabbed Angel in a choke hold before he knew what she was doing and hauled him off me. I sat up quick before Shade could pin me again and hammered my fists into his shoulder and, when he caught one of my hands to try and stop me, I grabbed a fist full of his hair.

"Ouch, Stork!" he whined, trying to pry my fingers out of his hair. "That's just playing dirty! I don't pull your hair!"

Suddenly Wasp stiffened, her ears standing straight up off her head as if she was trying to hear something. She turned towards the windshield and promptly released Angel so quickly he couldn't get his legs under himself and dropped heavily to the floor.

"Thanks for the warning there, Wasp." He griped but she wasn't listening. She ran over to the windshield and I let go of Falshade's silky hair, getting up.

"Wasp? You okay?"

"_IT'S RAINING_!!!" Wasp screamed so suddenly I jumped. And with that she took off towards the hanger so fast you would have thought she was on fire or something. We heard her making some sort of weird battle-cry down in the hanger and then the bay doors crank open.

I exchanged a look with the others before following after her, a little concerned; I wouldn't put it past Wasp to fall off the run way by accident or something.

When I got down there I was met by what was indeed a blast of rain being whipped into the hanger by the wind. And there was Wasp, spinning and leaping about on the runway, hands thrown upwards, fingers stretched up towards the falling rain, mouth wide open so she could catch as many fat raindrops as possible.

Then there was a blinding flash of lightning, followed by a blast of thunder and Wasp turned to the sky, fist punched in the air, cackling like mad.

"BANGERANG!" I heard her howl and I might have smiled if I wasn't so worried about her getting struck by lightning.

"Wasp!" I shouted over the wind. "Get back in here!"

She turned to me and waved. "Watch this!" she shouted, ignoring my request completely. She held up three fingers and counted down. As the third one went down lightning lit up the sky like a flare and then she screeched "KA-BOOM!" as the resulting thunder roared around her like cannon fire.

Okay, admittedly, that was kinda cool.

"Wasp, come on, you're getting soaked!" I tried again as she stomped in the puddles that were forming on the runway, splashing water around her and twirling about like she was listening to some sort of music the rest of us couldn't hear. She leapt up high when the next flash of lightning went off and crashed back down with the sound of the thunder, laughing as she rolled onto her back and pushed the palms of her hands as high as she could towards the clouds.

Then she glanced at me, got to her feet and ran over, her hair spraying me with water.

"C'mon!" she shouted in my face and before I realized what she was doing she had me by the wrist and dragged me into the now pounding rain.

"WASP!" I shrieked. Fuck, that was _cold_!

"STORK!" She shouted back with a laugh, grabbing me by the hands and spinning me around with her. "YE-HAW! Come on, dance with me!"

"I don't dance." I told her sternly and she blinked at me before she laughed like she thought I was joking and grabbed me with one arm around the waist, snaking her fingers though mine with her other hand and pushing our arms in the sky, practically lifting me from the ground as she spun us both around in some demented waltz. Then she dipped me, like guys do to girls in fancy dresses and I got rain water_ up my nose_.

Coughing I looked at her and she grinned mischievously. And, I dunno, maybe Wasp's enthusiasm was infectious, especially after she'd been so shaky and down all day, so I decided what the hell, I'd play too.

Tearing away from her I jumped into a nearby puddle and sent a wave of rain water rushing over her boots. She shrieked and laughed and kicked water back at me and then we both were jumping and splashing all across the runway trying to soak each other. Even though, you know we were already pretty drenched as it was without all the splashing. I shook my dripping hair like a dog and pulled some of my classic air-guitar moves and Wasp leapt up on me from behind, laughing loudly into my ear and then both of us let out fierce, Amazon war cries as another wave of thunder rumbled in my chest cavity.

Then something bounced off my back and fell on the run way and I bent down to look at it while Wasp continued to dance and crash about all over the place, doing rolls through the puddles and catching raindrops in her mouth again, singing in her off-key, jungle voice:

"_IF ALL THE RAINDROPS WERE LEMON DROPS AND GUMDROPS!!!"_

I picked up the old spark plug that had hit me and turned towards the hanger where Falshade was standing with his arms crossed against the wind, Angel next to him with another spark plug cocked and ready in hand.

"GET IN HERE!!!" They both shouted at us.

"YOU COME OUT HERE!!!" Wasp shouted back, doing a cartwheel past me and losing her balance halfway through, falling onto her back in a puddle and shrieking with laughter.

Just then the fine hairs on my arms stood straight up and I felt something crawling over me like I'd rubbed a balloon against my skin. I stared down at myself curiously before a bolt of lightning lit up the sky like a freaking supernova, so close I actually felt some of the heat through all that rain.

Okay, and that is our cue to get the hell inside.

"Alright Wasp, enough insanity for one day, come on!" I yelped, grabbing her by the hand to lead her back into the hanger. She of course didn't like that idea and promptly collapsed on the runway, sprawled in a puddle and refusing to budge.

And I'm not like a weakling or anything, but _damn_ that girl weighed more then I would have given her credit for soaking wet.

"I fucking hate both of you!" Angel snapped next to me as he and Falshade bolted out into the driving rain to help me drag Wasp into the hanger. Once inside Falshade flipped the controls back down and then the two of them glared down at us pointedly, over long hair dripping onto the floor.

In my usual manner I shook my sopping hair briskly in response to their sour looks, spraying them with thousands of tiny raindrops. "That's for sitting on me." I informed them, striding past them towards my room in search for some dry clothes.

Varan threw a towel at me when I came back to the bridge. "The both of you are bloody lunatics." He scolded. "Don't come crying to me when you get sick either."

"Duly noted." I said, sitting in a chair and ruffling the towel over my hair while Wasp, towel draped over her head like a kid hiding under a blanket, pressed herself against the windshield, staring fixatedly out at the pouring rain.

"Look at it." She said breathlessly. "Look at it! This is theatre, people! Crash, boom, bang! The world is on fire!"

"Yeah, really, look at it, eh." Fraggle grumbled. "I can barely see. Hey, girly, you mind not leaning on the glass, you're fogging up my window there, eh."

Wasp took a slight step back and kept staring.

"Here, Stork." Varan said next to me and I glanced over and then practically (ahem) squealed in delight when I realized what he was offering me.

"Oh god, Varan, you brilliant lizard-man!" I gushed, taking my mug from his hand and hugging it too me. Bloody amazing guy he is had gone and made me a cup of hot chocolate, complete with mini-fucking-marshmallows! "Have I told you today that I love you?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He said, only pretending to be indifferent.

"Hey!" Angel said indignantly. "Not fair! Shade and I got soaked trying to get those two inside too you know!"

Varan rolled his eyes. "Sharp-shooter indeed. Maybe you should look before you open your mouth, huh smart guy?" he suggested, jabbing a finger pointedly at Angel's mug, which was sitting on the table. Angel practically fell on that thing with a barely muffled whimper. Jeez and the kid calls _me_ pathetic.

"Aw, thanks Var." Falshade said, always the grateful one. "Hey, Wasp, hot chocolate!"

Wasp was still fixated with the thunderstorm outside. "Wanna know something weird?" she said as if she hadn't heard him.

"Sure." Varan said to humour her. "As long as it's not something gross, please."

"Nah." Wasp pressed her hands against the glass, long fingers spread wide. "It's just funny. Whenever there's like a big thunderstorm or whatever, something happens to me."

"Hey, weird, same here." Angel said. "I tend to get soaked."

I gave him a look but Wasp seemed to think he was funny. "Yeah, that happens to me too. But usually something else goes down too, like something kinda... monumental."

"Oh yeah?" Falshade said. "Like what?"

"Hmm..." Wasp thought about it. "Well the day I met all of you it was raining, remember?"

"Yeah, that's monumental alright." Varan said dryly. Wasp put her forehead to the glass now to, clawing at the window with her fingertips like she could dig her way through.

"It's just funny, 'cause I'm a Scorpio and everything." She went on and when none of us said anything she turned to look at us. "You know, Scorpio? Water's my element."

"_Oh_." I said, nodding. "I get ya now."

"Hey that's freaky, eh!" Fraggle said suddenly. "The night I met these hosers it was raining too!"

For the record I still don't even know what hoser means.

"That was monumental alright." Falshade muttered, touching the scar above his brow absently.

"Anything else there, Wasp?" Fraggle asked conversationally but Wasp seemed to have zoned out, eyes wide and unblinking and after a moment of no answer Fraggle shrugged unperturbedly and carried on. "So, since it be storming like mad out there, eh, and I'm getting blinded by lightning, I say we call it quits for today and pick it up tomorrow, what say you there, Chief?"

As if to accentuate his point a mighty clap of thunder went off outside and seemed to rattle the _Merlin_'s skinwith its tremendous force.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to me." Falshade agreed. "No point trying to plough through this, we'll probably end up off course by accident. Just find somewhere to dock her for the night."

"Right... how, exactly?" Fraggle pointed out, waving a hand at the thick, dark storm clouds. I felt the others staring at me for a second and gave them a curious look before jumping to my feet.

"Oooh, _right_, navigation is _my_ job, isn't it?" I remembered and Angel rolled his eyes and muttered something into his mug. I ignored him and pulled out the map for our general area, trying to figure out where exactly we were.

"Uhhh... oh, okay, little nothing terra about forty clicks that-a-way." I said, jabbing a finger off to the port side and Fraggle twiddled the steering accordingly. "Ha, not a day out of practice." I added haughtily.

"Congratulations, you know how to figure out where you are. I'm pretty good at that too, actually." Angel droned sarcastically and I pulled the spark plug he'd thrown at me from my pocket and chucked it at him.

"So, I've got a question." Varan said casually to interrupt Angel and I before things escalated. "Say when we get to the first of these terras, it _is_ occupied. What exactly are we going to do about it then?

"Uh..." Falshade scratched at the back of his head distractedly. "Huh, good thing you brought that up, Varan, I actually haven't thought of that yet."

"That's our Sky Knight." Angel muttered and Falshade glared at him.

"Well then, tactical advisor, let's hear _your_ clever plan then."

"We blow the place sky high." Angel said simply. "Time delay some of Varan's Raptures and light the place up like a fucking Christmas tree."

"Now that's my kinda plan!" I agreed. "Give them a bit of a message about messing with us. Like, Merry Christmas, love from Stork."

Angel laughed but Falshade didn't seem so in on our whole explosion pitch. "Okay, I'm not gonna lie, I love the idea of blasting those guys to kingdom come, but first of all, if we do find a base of theirs, it might just be an outpost. If we blow the place the rest of them are definitely going to know we're on to them and either go further into hiding or come and find us with a whole armada or something; I mean they're already tracking us as it is, right? And second of all, we need to know about this crystal technology they're using to be able to create their Berserkers if we're ever going to have a shot at finding some sort of default about them we can use against them."

Nothing spoils the mood like cold, hard logic.

"Hmmm, you unfortunately have a good point, for once." Angel mused while my shoulders sagged.

"Well that's why _I'm_ the Sky Knight." Falshade huffed.

"Yeah yeah, and I'm just your little underling, how _could_ I have overstepped my place? Not like I went through the Academy with better grades then you or anything..."

Falshade leaned over and smacked him upside the head. "Oh hush up, I always hear you out."

"So it'll be like a recon thing." Varan interrupted again. "Find out what's going on there, what sort of technology their using, shit like that."

"Yeah, sounds about right." Falshade nodded.

"So that means we'll have to infiltrate the place though." Angel pointed out. "And it's not like we're exactly strangers to them either. That might be a problem, especially if they're still monitoring us. They'll know we're coming, they could set up an ambush."

Again with the fucking logic! I decided a girl's opinion was sorely needed here. "So, what, we should just avoid it all together, hide like cowards? That's stupid. Who cares if they know we're coming, we can be stealthy, they wouldn't even know we're there. I mean come on, they keep coming after us, I think it's high time we changed the status quo!"

"Here here, eh." Fraggle took my side and I saluted him appreciatively. "I'm sick of getting fucked in the ass every time they decide to drop by for a visit, eh. About time we gave them a taste of their own medicine. Plus Shade had a point, we need some information like, really badly, eh."

"Oh, fine, just team up on me then." Angel said stonily and went back to his hot chocolate.

"Yeah, you two are right." Falshade agreed, ignoring Angel. "Even if they know we're coming, we can't just turn a blind eye to them. We'll have to do something of a stealth operation , that's all."

"Like ninjas!" I agreed, doing some half-assed Sky Fu moves.

"But it also means we're going to have to take this really _seriously_." Falshade added to me pointedly. "Like use extreme caution for once. I mean yeah we can give them a hard time any day of the week in battle, but we're going to be on their turf and in unfamiliar territory. I mean at least in the air we can always make a fast retreat if we have to, but it we get trapped by them on some terra..."

"Yeah, yeah, it'll be seriously bad news for us, blah blah blah what else is new? Falshade this is the kinda stuff we signed up to do, remember? There's a reason this is called a high risk occupation and we all knew it." I said and he gave me a look, somewhere between appreciation and apprehension.

"Yeah, we ought to have our funeral expenses covered in our contract or something." Angel added sarcastically.

"That's not funny!" Falshade snapped at him. "Don't say things like that! Halo was right, you guys aren't scared enough yet. Look at what we though happened to Stork! These guys have the upper hand here, let's admit it, and trying to infiltrate their base is like playing hot potato with a fucking active grenade. Would it _kill_ you guys to take _something_ seriously?"

Angel looked guilty for all of three seconds while Varan looked at the floor and I scuffed my foot awkwardly before he thought of something to fight back with.

"Look who's telling who to act serious! I seem to recall you pulling some pretty stupid moves lately!" he shot back and Falshade winced.

"Yeah, and you already gave me hell about that! But you know it works both ways, you guys need me and I need you too. It was bad enough thinking we lost Stork... if I lose any of the rest of you for good I don't know what I'm going to do." He muttered and Angel averted his eyes, glaring at his kneecap.

Shame was clogging up my throat and I didn't have anything to say for all the world. I mean I may have worried about them like mad while I was with Stork, wondering if they were alright or not, but I hadn't had to ever try and swallow the fact that one of them was dead (I wasn't after all, but they'd honestly thought I was). I hadn't even been here when Falshade had nearly bled to death, the incident Angel was referring to I assumed. I'd seen what death of beloved friends did to the ones who got left behind and I... man I didn't know if I'd be able to handle that. I understood Falshade's fears so painfully clearly right then it made my chest feel like it was being torn apart.

"Sorry to kill the conversation." Falshade muttered after awhile. "It just... I dunno, sometimes I wish I hadn't dragged you all into this."

"I guess that's one of those things that seem good if you change them." Varan spoke up then. "But then... if you had of known that way back before meeting us, we never would have known each other, or got so close like this. It's kinda a double-edged sword I guess, but that being the case, I'd rather be on this side of the blade. You didn't drag us into this, Shade; we wanted to come along."

"Yeah." Wasp piped up from the windshield, who'd apparently been listening all this time after all. "It was our destinies, remember?"

"Damn you both and your sentimentality." Falshade muttered, wiping at his nose.

"Yeah, makes me feel all warm n' fuzzy inside." Angel added, although there was no sarcasm in his voice now. "I think I'll go throw up for awhile... anyways Shade, you promised me you weren't going anywhere if you could help it, so, you know, right back at you. Shit happens and whatever, but none of us are going anywhere. Not without a fight, anyways."

Falshade coughed awkwardly. "...Thanks you guys. It's just something that freaks me out now and again is all."

"Yeah, I'm sure it does the rest of us too." Varan assured him condolingly. "The five of you are going to give me an ulcer the size of a grapefruit one of these days."

Fraggle suddenly snorted and started giggling hysterically to himself, clinging to the controls for support. "Oh fuck, that reminds me of the whole hemroids thing, eh!" He wheezed.

"_What_?" Angel and Falshade demanded at the same time while I cracked up at the memory and the looks on their faces.

"It's a bit of an inside joke." Varan said tiredly.

**x.x.x Wasp x.x.x**

It crept up on me.

It was the rain I think. I'd been watching that storm for so long, long after the others ate dinner and then went to bed, long after my limbs got achy from sitting like that. Because, god damn, I just love storms. They take me home again, fresh air and cleansing rain, all the fury and beauty of our good Mother Earth smattered in an awesome display, a laser show and cosmic ballet dancing together among the clouds.

But the longer I stared and watched it just tumble down like tears from the heavens the more my memory got pulled backwards like it was caught in a fishing reel, and suddenly I was thinking back to one particular storm that seemed to set all others in motion. Well, not really. There was an event prior to that that set it all off, the fuse that was later lit by the memory I'm now trapped in, sinking like I was stuck in a tar pit.

Or maybe it was just Stork and I earlier, yelling like we were wild things, dancing and crashing about in the rain. It reminded me of the warrior cries that echoed like the groaning of the trees in the jungle, those echoing yowls and fierce snarls, blood painted in battle decoration upon our savage faces.

It also reminded me of being trapped and utterly defenceless, stripped naked in the pouring, pitiless rain with the burning eyes of my own kind scorching into me, waiting to witness the purging of evil that lay trapped in Faerieshian form before them. No mercy, no compassion, no remorse. Just the same look that filled my own eyes during the hunt, when my prey was struggling for life beneath my fingers; a deep, smouldering demand for death, for juicy, flowing blood.

Or maybe it was just my cracked head playing tricks on me, whispers in the dark, a second set of footsteps, a shadow that moves on its own. All the kinds of mind-tricks that scare small children while they're trying to sleep, a scratching on the floor, a knocking in your ear, you own heart beating out of sync, thump thump clunk, thump thump clunk, thump thump thump thump- stop.

My legs were twitching as if they felt they had to run. Even a predator has to flee sometimes and they knew this reaction so well, my fight-or-flight gut instinct. They tasted my fear in their muscles, felt the throb in my lower belly as if the wound was new again, gaping and spilling maggots and organs to the muddy earth. I pulled them in tight, feeling the muscles tremor spastically, my knee joints grinding and clicking. I nibbled at my thigh, trying to convey some other message to them, stop it, now. My insides were wracked and wound tight, threatening to snap and tear under the strain, trying to get the nasty images out of my head, trying to shut it all off.

I heard something approaching from behind me and turned sharply from my position on the floor, my lips twisted in a formidable snarl, thinking maybe the ghosts had come crashing out of my skull and are after my flesh now, coming at me with pale fingers to shred my eyes blind.

It was only Angel behind me and I rearranged my face quickly, glad to see him, glad he was still awake at this hour, even though I did feel a bit bad for him, since there were hollows under his eyes and he looked like he could use some sleep again.

"Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He said quietly.

I flicked my ears. "Nah, it's alright."

He glanced out the window as a flash of lightning lit up the bridge, flaring against his sharp features and for a second he looks like a creature from the underworld, a fallen angel of some kind. "Jeez, still storming huh? Well, what did I say, this whole area's a breeding ground for these kinds of systems."

I nodded absently, biting into my knee as my left leg started jumping uncontrollably, like it was trying to make a break for it all on its own, a chicken without a head.

I felt Angel sit next to me in front of the windshield and then slip his index finger into the corner of my mouth and pull until I dragged my fangs out of my skin.

"Don't do that to yourself." He said and I wrinkled my nose.

"What was it you said that one time? We've all got our little coping mechanisms?" I asked and he furrowed his brow, thinking.

"...Something along those lines, yeah."

"Well... I dunno, maybe this is mine." Or, it used to be, until my blood got all curdled and stewed in with those powdery snowflakes of bleach and rat poison.

Angel made an uncertain humming noise. "Well I guess it's healthier than smoking." He said after awhile and I took it this was him agreeing with me, sort of. "So... how're you doing?"

"I dunno." I said honestly, although right now I knew I wasn't doing well at all; my head was a fishbowl and the water kept splashing out, twirling and drowning my little fishies up there with a mad rush of air, making me feel sick in the pit of my stomach and lost in my own skin. And then of course there were the memories that kept tumbling free with every little bit less of that toxic medication sticking to my cell membranes. It was like things that had been caught under tight wraps, devoured and held somewhere deep in the infected tissue, were finally being released and this gave me hope, and yet at the same time it plagued the inside of my rib cage with gasping, gluttonous dread. "Everyone's being really nice to me." I added on an afterthought. "It's kinda strange."

Angel laughed. "Well I guess we just feel like we have something to make up for, that's all." He said with a bit of a grin, but I didn't find much humour in it; I didn't think the other's had any dept to make up to me.

"That reminds me though, sorry I haven't been around much. Like to hang out I mean. It's not that I don't want to." Angel went on and I cocked my head inquisitively. "I'm just working on something." He explained and I nodded.

"Like something top secret?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. But I'll show you when I'm done, if you want."

I grinned a bit and nodded. "Okay."

Then the two of us were silent and in the absence of Angel's distracting voice I found myself struggling, fighting against something bigger then myself. It was just everything, the rain and the ache and the voice and it was all crashing down around me, threatening to crush the life out of my bones. And I began to wonder vaguely, is this how Angel feels, all the time? This fear and this slowly tightening noose around your neck, closing in around you until you can see your own face going blue as your eyes roll back into your head, your death penned in on the vein-laced, white side for all to see; this is who I am, this is why you should hate me.

I remembered back to what I told him, about how sometimes things just need to come out, sometimes we just have to vomit up all our dark secrets and insecurities so we can just get some god damn peace, empty your insides of all the parasites and pollutants.

So maybe that's why I wanted to tell him, because I've kept it inside so long and it's not like it kills me or anything but it's just something I want to turn over with my tongue and have someone else tell me about, to tell me maybe, after all that happened, something good came out of it, or at least, I wasn't totally in the wrong.

Maybe I just want to share something warped and sick about me with Angel, so we can take each other's hand through all the mess that is strung up in our lives and walk out of it with a new sense of bravery and hope.

Or maybe I just want to wash some of the blood from my filthy hands.

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, watching him look out at the storm and seem millions of miles away. I felt something slowly give out in my left side and I sort of caved into him sideways, leaning on him he looked over at me as I pushed my face into the crook between his neck and shoulder, feeling the comforting thrum of his pulse.

"Can I tell you about something?" I asked, and I felt torn between a strange, numbing steadiness and a pulsing black wave of anxiety. I never really wanted to turn back to this. And I don't know what he'll think; I'm not afraid of him thinking any less of me or anything, but it's just something so... I dunno. It makes me feel separated from him, like somehow I'm older or from a different planet. I don't know how he'll accept it, or understand it.

But then Angel is smart and I've seen him be mature and emotional too, so I have faith he'll be able to handle this. And I trust him. That's important.

"Of course." He said as if this should have been obvious.

I nodded to myself, steeling myself. "Okay... I want to tell you why I was exiled." I said slowly and something tensed in Angel's chest. "But only if you want to hear about it." I added, worried for a moment that maybe this wasn't something he wanted to know about, that he didn't want to see the darker side of me.

"I only want to hear about it if you feel okay telling me about it." He assured me after a moment and I felt a hot glow of relief and security nestle in my stomach, somewhere. I understood his reaction now; he just didn't want me to have to go back into any territory the threatened to consume me and leave me to stagger back with a head full of poison needles and leeches. To be honest I didn't exactly like making treks into that sort of territory either. But tonight, I felt like it was important that I did. Maybe, somehow, that was how my destiny was being untangled.

"I do want to tell you... but it's a bit of a long story. And it doesn't really have a pretty ending."

Angel snorted. "Thanks for the spoiler." Then he looked at me seriously and reached out the tuck my ear back a little, a sort of stroking motion. "Besides, what else is new, right?"

I had to grin. "Right." Then I tucked my lower lip into my mouth, tugging at my lip ring with me teeth until it started to taste like blood, thinking. Where was the beginning of this big, messy knot?

"Well, okay, I think I know how it all begins." I said after awhile, letting my lip ring go like a little silver sunfish from the hook. "You humans don't really know a lot about Faerûn, do you?"

Angel shook his head. "Nope, not really."

"Oh well, that's alright. I still don't know too much about this world either." I said. "Well, back there, on Faerûn, there's a whole bunch of Faerieshians. And they all live in different tribes, you see." I don't know why I referred to them like I wasn't one of them. Then again, when I really thought about it, I wasn't so much like them, really. I'd never really been like the rest of them, ever. "And the males and females, they don't live in the same tribes."

Angel's angular eyebrow lifted in surprise. "Really? That's kinda weird."

"Well, looking at it from an out-here perspective, yeah." I agreed. "But when I lived there it made sense to me. Actually I didn't even know what a male was." Then I giggled for some reason, thinking back to the stories the younger Faerieshians used to tell around our little fires by night, ghost stories of the jungle. "I used to think they were something so totally different from us, like some sort of monster thing. Half animal, like a Minotaur or something."

Angel laughed a bit. "Well, looking at some of us, that's not really so far off."

"Luka used to say they were made from the mud, that Artemis just kinda scooped them all out of the earth and moulded them all out for us." I said with a grin.

"Luka?"

"Yeah, she was my sister. Well, her mother was my surrogate I mean. So she was sort of my adopted sister." I explained and Angel nodded.

"Right, right. And Artemis... you brought her up before... what's that all about?"

"Oh, shoot, I always forget you guys don't know about her. She was everything back in the jungle. She was our goddess, I guess. She was the jungle and life and everything like that, the Devine mistress of the hunt and virginity." I explained. Angel's face did something strange and I cocked my head at him. "What?"

"Nothing. So you kinda lived in a matriarchal society then, huh?"

"Uh..."

"Sorry, it just means like when you've got a group of people who look at women as the dominant sex, you know? Like around here, I dunno, I've seen you and Stork pull of some pretty awesome feats, as far as the whole 'females are the weaker sex' thing goes, so I dunno what the big deal is, but people still give girls a hard time about trying to be Sky Knights and all the kinda stuff. "

I felt my hackles twitch a bit. Did I ever know about that; back on Macabre girls had been objects, currency, passed between different men like stray dogs passing from owner to owner. It was rare to see a girl in the Brawl Cage and if they did get the guts to join they were chastised as if they'd broken some ancient law. It just struck me strange at what a huge jump had taken place in the outside world, where everyone co-existed in the same places and yet no one was ever equal among each other, someone was always more powerful, had more money, had more guys who'd hunt you down and beat you to a bloody pulp for the rats to nibble on. Looking at it that way, I guess there wasn't much of difference between the sexes; if you went into the wrong alley you could still end up raped or killed, it didn't matter what sort of anatomy you had.

But then, around here, with the Gargoyles, things were different. The guys didn't treat Stork like she was any weaker or of lesser quality then they were; sometimes Varan would pick something up if it was too heavy for her, and that was just him being courteous. Actually there were times when I was convinced the boys were downright afraid of her; this was generally when her scent started to shift in her cycle, I'd noted.

"Yeah, I guess that's how it was." I agreed with a nod. "There were more of us females, anyways. And we were the only ones allowed to have the Lunar." Angel gave me a confused look so I elaborated. "I guess you could call them priestesses. They were like Artemis' order, her servants on earth. And the oldest one was called the Immortal. She was supposed to be able to talk to Artemis in the other-world... our Immortal was named Arcana. And she hated me." I said, my muscles bunching uneasily as if they could sense those blind eyes boring into them, burning the name of abomination into my skin.

"Why?" Angel sounded surprised by this. Then he made a weird noise in his throat. "Hey... you know, back when I used to say I hated you and shit... well, I'm sorry. I know better now, and I fucking hate myself for it."

I frowned at him as he stared at his knee cap distractedly, shame dancing in the little spirals of his irises. I reached out carefully and gently tapped his chin until he turned to look at me.

"You already said you were sorry for that." I reminded him quietly.

"Well, still."

"It never really hurt my feelings or anything you know." I assured him honestly. Then I leaned in close so I could peer right into his eyes, eyes like the edge of a blade in the dark. "I can see past words, you know. You were just sort of messed up about it."

"Hmm..." he muttered and I backed out of his space a bit. "I keep interrupting you, don't I?"

"Yeah." I agreed. "But I don't mind. It makes the story easier."

"So, why'd this Immortal whatever woman hate you?"

"Well... you remember how I told you I'm supposedly this reincarnation of Eris? The Wicked Witch of the Underworld?"

"...I take it that wasn't hypothetical either, right?"

"Right." I said with a nod. "I'm a Scorpio, I was born in November, a month early, see. And November is sort of like the bad month in the eyes of the Lunar, because it's supposed to be the month Eris was born in too. So they thought, because my mother died and everything, that I was like some sort of vessel of evil or something."

"...That's retarded."

"Yeah, really. I mean look at what the Oracle said, we can't be judged by when we were born right?"

"Well yeah, and I'm just a bit of a sceptical bastard about that kinda shit too." He added shamelessly and I admired his honesty.

"Anyways, that's why Arcana hated me. I think she was afraid to kill me in case it brought on some sort of curse of something, so she couldn't get rid of me, but..." I trailed off. "Anyways that didn't always bug me so much. I didn't really think I was any sort of reincarnation. I always just felt like me."

_**And who are you, when you really think about it?**_

I slid the clear membrane over my eyes and pressed my thumb and forefinger against my cornea, pushing hard. Damn it, _damn it_! Why now? Why when I just needed things to stay quiet so I could think, so I could get this all out and open up some new places, little pots where new things could grow, prettier things with less thorns and wilting flowers?

"Hey!" Angel's voice was loud in my ear as he pulled my hand back and for a second I growled at him and he clenched hard on my wrist bone and we both looked at each other fiercely before I came back to myself and brought my other hand up to where he had my wrist captured securely in his desert fingers. I brought my hand up and pushed my palms together like I was capturing a firefly, a gesture I'd seen time and time again on the little statue Fli used to have in her room, some woman in a pose of mercy.

Angel looked at my hands and let me go with a sigh. "Look, don't do things like that to yourself, what are you going to do if you wreck your eyes?"

"I've got good hearing." I said with a shrug. And I'd tear my own ears out if it meant I could get a finger into the blistered part of my brain where that voice nestled in deep, using my meat as a blanket, so I could crush her like a sharp-shelled beetle. And if that didn't work I could always go in through my nose...

"Yeah, well, I like your eyes, so don't go jabbing your fingers into them." He said snarkily and then his face turned color and he pinched the bridge of his nose and for a second I wondered if maybe a vein had blown somewhere in his head. "I _totally_ didn't just say that." He muttered.

I twitched my ear, confused. "What's wrong with what you said? I like your eyes too. They make me think of rainclouds and window panes."

He glanced at me and then cleared his throat. "Look, I'm interrupting you again."

"Okay. But I do, you know." I said, in case maybe he didn't understand the first time. "Well, now at least you know the background. Like the prologue."

Angel nodded. "Yeah. It's actually... weird, kinda. Thinking of you in the jungle I mean. I try picturing you there and all I see is you like you are now. It's like you had a whole other life, before us. You weren't even Wasp, back then, were you?"

It took me a moment to understand what he meant; had I been Wasp back then, or was that some other identity I'd spun for myself, like a super hero with a double life? Then I understood and shook my head. "No, I was Wickett."

"Wickett." Angel repeated and something clattered down my spine, almost a shiver if it hadn't been so warm. Wickett... what had happened to her? Was she still there, the warrior in me that came up to defend herself, and now her friends too, from all the things that would harm them? From skeletons in the closet and the monsters that came to life from Falshade's nightmares, from the blood and murder that was spinning tighter around us even now. Maybe, somehow, Wickett had become my own guardian angel, had laid down for a very long sleep in me, there when I needed her to guide my hands and legs, the sleeping gargoyle that clutched my hand in her sleep, never very far away, the most loyal of friends and the fiercest of the creatures and spirits, home in a deep pocket of my jungle heart. Maybe she was like Peter Pan's shadow, something slightly different and detached from me but not completely a separate being either; maybe just another shade in the shadows of my features, one of the two colours of my eyes. I'd give her the brown one, I decided.

And suddenly I realized she was shaking down inside there, trapped in a nightmare and that's what's been making my legs shake like frightened horses and what's got my heart thumping in a staccato rhythm between my ribs, that it's Wickett that's driving me to get this splinter out, to show Angel who she was too, because she's part of me and Angel needs to see her. He needs to see the blackness that swept up under her fingernails, painting her with rage and he needs to see the gaping hole that was torn into her, just above her hips where occasionally the nerves still spring to life and make her so, so sore.

He needs to see this broken, filthy creature in all her jungle glory, my darker eye.

I coughed a bit, lost in the words that had been tumbling out and now where cluttered around my head like cold, confused bees, looking for the way back to the hive. "Well... yes, so... we didn't live with the males." I went on and I could feel him listening, no more interruptions this time and I felt a twinge in my throat, as if it weren't sure it could go that long without pausing for Angel's questions. "And... well, when I was old enough, I was allowed to hunt on my own, you see? And... the way you look when you talk about the desert sometimes, that's how I felt about the jungle, that curve on your lips, that's me, or it was me, in the jungle. God I loved the jungle... it was just so much fresher and greener then it is out here. I felt like I could breathe deeper when I was there, and that my bones didn't have to be so hard, like I could fall down and it wouldn't be as bad as hitting the pavement out here. And so I was out one day, on my own, sort of playing this game with myself. Have you ever just started running for no reason and you just go fast, fast, fast and soon you don't even know you have legs anymore but you're just flying anyways? Like you don't even need wings, you're just flying along with the speed of the world and you're everything you touch and everything you'll ever want to be? Have you ever run like that?"

Angel shook his head just slightly. "But I kinda know what you mean." He said, his voice gone hoarse and quiet. "When I used to race, it was sort of like that."

I nodded slightly to show I understood. "That's what I used to do. Because if I did I felt like I wasn't even in the jungle anymore, I was part of it, I melted into everything, the rain and the trees and the little tiny poison dart frogs... just everything. And I was doing this one day, without Luka, because she didn't get it and I was always able to run faster than her anyways. And I came to this one spot eventually, and I could smell a jaguar nearby, a she-cat, with kits. I always loved the jaguars; the dappled one was always supposed to represent Artemis, but that wasn't why I loved them. I just thought they were like me, somehow, or I was like them. And... did you know that when jaguars are born they have blue eyes?"

Again Angel shook his head.

"I always heard they did. And... I kinda just wanted to see that, you know? I just wanted to see. So I was trailing this jaguar mother back to her den, following her scent. And... well... then I guess I did something stupid." I swallowed here before continuing, my mouth dry and sour tasting. "There... there were these borders, between the different tribal territories. Kinda like how you guys all have these little territories you take with you all over the place, what are they called... your bubbles. Personal space. Well these tribes had them too, big ones, and they all had scent markers so you wouldn't have an excuse to cross them by accident. And... I knew I shouldn't have done it. I knew it, so maybe deep down it was my fault too. But I just... I really wanted to see the baby jaguars. I wanted to see their blue eyes. So I crossed it; I didn't think I'd get caught, I didn't think anyone was around."

Angel was watching me with something brittle and uneasy starting to swell in his eyes like a thunderhead. "...But you did get caught." He guessed and I nodded slowly, my neck cracking and smarting with the motion.

"Yes, I did... there... I don't know why I didn't know he was there _sooner_. I was just so wrapped up in my hunt and my nose was filled with the jaguar scent and he was quiet like only we can be quiet in the jungle." And suddenly I was them again, I was a Faerieshian because I was Wickett all over again and she'd just jumped down from that tree and found herself staring at him.

"And... I'd never seen a male before. He... he looked a lot more like me then I thought they would. We're not so different, I guess. And I kinda stared at him and he stared at me and for a second, after I wasn't afraid because he didn't look like he was going to attack me and I didn't want to attack him if I didn't have to, I just sort of thought... maybe me and you can be friends, maybe you and I are sharing a secret right now, we're in this place and no one else is here. Maybe he wanted to see those kits too. So I just... let it all down."

Angel was suddenly shaking next to me, as if he was beginning to understand where this was going. I was shaking too but I'd gone too far now, there was no closing my mouth and turning back.

"And then he..." I choked on this bit, remembering that Angel was a male too and that this... this was hard enough to explain to anyone. But then... Angel was different. "I... I can't _believe_ I let my guard down like that and the next thing I know he's got me and I wanted to fight him off but... he was _stronger_ than me. I'd always been so strong and I thought I could beat anyone, I was strong, I was a warrior and this was my jungle. But... he was stronger than me and he had me and I couldn't get away. And... I didn't understand what he was doing. I didn't understand."

"Oh _god_..." Angel croaked. "He... he _raped_ you?"

I felt something like bile swell in a hard lump in my throat, ready to burst. "I guess that's what it's called, isn't it?"

Angel covered his eyes with his hand, his jaw clenched tight, body shaking and I could smell the sweat on him, that male sort of sweat, something heavy and dangerous. It made me want to recoil and I had to tell myself again, Angel was different.

Finally though he turned to me, his eyes glinting with something I was certain was also glinting in mine, so maybe I was just seeing my reflection in his glass-work eyes. Lighting flickered outside and it lit up his face again, making everything about him go white all of a sudden like maybe for a split second his soul was right on the surface for me to see as some sort of stain quivered on its shell.

"There's more to it, isn't there?" he asked, voice ragged, and I felt my chin dip, head lolling in a hangman's nod.

"...I don't have to finish it."

"...Yes you do."

I blinked at him, wondering how he'd seen that, wondering if maybe he could pick up on things in people's eyes and auras too, that sometimes he got the sorts of messages other people didn't, a flicker on his radar from my brain.

Because I did. I did need it to be finished. I needed it to be done.

I shifted, knee bumping Angel's and it sent a spark of energy up into me, a red little spark of the resolve I needed.

So I kept going:

"Well... I... I went back, eventually, to where I belonged and kind just... I don't even know. But Luka knew something was up, and she just wouldn't leave me alone, so I told her about it and she started to get all... weird. Like I hadn't seen her do before, all sort of... frightened. And I finally got it out of her and she said my scent had changed. And then I started to notice it too, I started to feel strange, and I thought at first I was just sort of messed up about what happened but... then I didn't get my Blood."

Angel's hand went to his face again. "No..."

I nodded, my throat closing so tight it made me gag. "...Yes." I managed to force out and Angel looked at me again, eyes shining with pain for me.

I tried to hack out my voice. "And the thing is... we weren't supposed to see the males, ever, except at the Arcane. That's when... we mate. But other than that... it was law."

"But... it wasn't like you wanted that to happen!" he choked out.

I shrugged helplessly. "You try telling Arcana that."

"That... that isn't fucking _fair_!"

"Life's not fair, Angel."

"Hell, I fucking know that! But... Jesus, out here if that had happened..."

"Out here things are different." I said softly and he stared at me and then his anger seemed to dissipate in face of something else and he reached out carefully at first to touch my shoulder. When I didn't flinch back he pulled me in the rest of the way, engulfing me and my throbbing sorrow, my bleeding injustice.

"So... what did you do?" he asked lowly after a long, long time when I just let my insides slosh around in me and my brain bleed a little bit, chest aching. I didn't think it'd be this hard going back...

I inhaled slowly. "Well... I thought maybe if I could hide it until the Arcane I could pretend that I conceived it then and maybe I'd get away with it."

"...You wanted to keep it?" Angel's voice had taken on a strange edge suddenly, not directed at me but at something I couldn't see or feel at the moment.

"...It wasn't its fault anymore then it was mine." I said slowly. "I may not have wanted to be a mother or anything but... yes, I wanted to keep it. It was mine. It was mine and maybe... maybe it could have been something good in the end. Maybe something good could have came from all of it after all... but the Arcane was another two months away and Arcana had a way of unearthing things."

_**You couldn't have hidden it, blasphemy, abomination, disgusting little whore**_

My teeth came together so tightly I heard something crack and chip away, sliding down my throat like a needle. Angel's hand drew a line over my spine as if he sensed her, sensed the activity in my skull.

"...Was that why you were exiled?"

I let out a hollow, harsh choking sound, maybe a laugh in another lifetime. "I wish it could have been that simple. But Arcana, she _hated_ me. And when she found out... she used it against me; I broke the law, so she was free to do whatever she wanted to me without releasing Eris' wrath... and so... they came for me one night, and they were so quiet and I wasn't feeling well and they just snuck up on me, jumped me in my hut. Tried to tie my wrists but I wasn't going down like that, and I snapped at one of them, bit her finger clean off at the joint. But then they had these herbs and they got them down my throat and they made all my muscles turn to water, I couldn't use them, couldn't get them to do anything I wanted. And they dragged me out to the Pinnacle, this high cliff overlooking the rest of the Crevice, this big rift in the earth that divided us from another tribe. And they tied me to this post there and everyone was there, my whole tribe, faces painted like we were going to war... and there was Arcana, she was blind and yet she could always see me, she had them all in tangled in her fingers. And it started to storm then like I'd never seen it before and Arcana turned to too the others, hands in the sky, and said she's summoned Artemis' fury to help her purge this evil blight from our tribe. And she turned back to me with this dagger in her hand, one I'd never seen before. I'll always remember the handle... it was made with a baby's skull. And then she... she..." I could feel them now, like I never had before, building behind my eyes, bubbles of hot lava, wanting out, out. I felt something leaking from my nose and I could taste blood in my mouth and Angel was shaking against me again and my mind was just splitting it was so hard but there was no going back now, I'd come too far. "_She cut it out of me_."

I felt the chill run between us and I couldn't tell if it was his or mine but we both were joined by the spine then and as the pain burst free again in my hollowed abdomen I felt him bite down on my jacket, curling around me protectively as I shrunk into myself, hands grabbing at my lower stomach.

I was still talking and I could barely tell the words were coming out of my mouth they just seemed so unreal. "She fucking tore everything out of me, everything, and I tried, I tried not to scream but just... it was the most horrible thing in the world, feeling her hand inside me, pulling everything out. And I didn't even know babies can look like anything at that stage, but they do, this little tiny thing, but it was something, it was alive and she had it in her hands and she _ripped_ my _baby_ in _half_ right in front of me and let its blood, my blood just pour down on her, screaming up to the sky that she'd righted what was wrong."

My throat was suddenly being scratched and shredded as I carried on, something racing too quickly in me, right up from that hollow spot like some sort of demonic spirit that had been sewn into me when everything else was robbed from me and it made things lurch and pound in my head and chest that gave me some sort of power suddenly and up in her little hidey hole I felt her cower.

"She threw me into the Crevice to die." I went on, barely remembering that Angel was still there. "They left me to die. Except... I didn't die."

"_How_?" Angel's voice was barely there, like it hurt him to talk. "How does anyone survive that?"

"I don't even really know." I said. "But I just know I woke up. I wasn't dead. There... there was this plant down there... it grew through the bones of the others that had been thrown down there to decay. And... I dunno, maybe it only grew from death, so somehow it was able to give life. But it helped me heal. It helped me get strong again. Or... maybe I was, Eris, somehow, or I had something in me, something about me that fate wanted to smile on. But I didn't die. And more then that... I got better again."

I felt Angel swallow and I turned to glance at him, all my little inner demons knocking and cackling against the walls of my skull.

"This is my favourite part of the story." I whispered. "Arcana thought by killing me she'd unleash Eris' wrath. But she killed my baby. And I didn't die. So she unleashed something more deadly anyways."

"...You."

"_Me_." I grinned, because this was the part, the rotting, ironic justice, the horrible, bittersweet vengeance, the part where everything came crashing down and in the end I stood tall and I was the stronger and I could not be killed, not then, not that day. An eye for an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye.

"So I went back, once I was strong enough. I didn't even have my hunting fangs anymore... I didn't need them... and I... I fucking butchered them. Any of them who crossed me... I guess I'm glad I didn't run into Luka. She was still my Luka. But the others... what did I owe them? And so any of them that tried to stop me... I killed them. Almost my entire tribe. All of them. And I got a hold of _her_ last."

_**Stop it! STOP IT NOW!**_

_No. This is my story._

"And I proved to her that Immortals can bleed and that her goddess wasn't going to save her, that she'd hadn't done anything right. And I ripped off her _head_, because, well, an eye for an eye. And I let her fall into the Crevice instead."

_**NO!!!**_

_YES! YOU ARE DEAD! I KILLED YOU!!! _

I glanced up at Angel, feeling my rage and agony ebbing out slowly and I finally remembered that he was there, still wrapped around me. I looked in his eyes for judgement, for fear, for scorn, for disgust. I did see a flicker of something there, something that understood he and I were on different planes. I'd killed, after all, my own kind, dozens of them. I was soaked to my neck in blood. I wasn't sure if Angel had ever killed anyone.

I swallowed slowly, realizing I had to wrap things up. "So that's why I had to leave. It's almost sort of funny; they're all too happy to kill each other over territory, but as soon as someone like me does what I did, well... they all band together, the whole jungle is swarming with them and I had to run, they were out for my blood. And, I guess fate was just smiling on me, or something because... there was a carrier ship there. I'd never seen one before but I reached the far end of the terra after running for hours and there it was, this foreign thing, and somehow I just knew it would get me out of there. And it did. It brought me to Macabre."

Angel shook with something and when it came out of his mouth I realized it was a bark of laughter. "Buzz Juice. It was their carrier, wasn't it?"

I grinned slightly, even though my face was feeling a little too stiff to be making such an expression. "Yup. My saviour Buzz Juice." Then I closed my eyes, breathing out slowly, feeling things coil back into their places, rearranged, nervous inside me. That, in the very end, was me, life after life of loving something so deeply I could feel it pulsing in my gums like I've got my fangs in it. And then having that something torn from my fingers, robbed right out of my own chest like the others that crash and collide with me feel they can just reach in an take it, hands in black, silky gloves to cover their putrid flesh.

Always has it ever been that I should be the one to only balance the scales when things have already been tipped beyond control, when there is already blood soaking into the cracks in the floor and there is no point in shedding any tears because there is no taking anything back, there is only trying to fight your way forward through the walls of shit and disembodies limbs that get hurled down on you, spools of vomit from emotional center of your brain, where it is sick and dying and drowning in the phlegm building in its lungs. I am a hand and wielder of vengeance and bloodlust, carnage and aching rage being the only retaliation I can ever get my fingers around. I've learned the long way round that life isn't fair and yet it seems I never am able to catch it before everything explodes into a thousand little pieces of silver, bloodied glass.

And it haunts me, etches right into my spine, that maybe, I cause these things through my own actions, I am caught in a self-created cycle in which I light a fuse and chase after it but am always too late to catch it before it reaches the gunpowder. And then all I am left with is shrapnel in my guts, the smell of burnt sulphur in my nose and wickedness in my eyes, hungry for some sort of justice, even if it is only squaring things off.

An eye for a fucking eye.

I opened my eyes slowly, pushing my face into the crevice between my knees, seeking a new beginning. "And I guess in conclusion, maybe that's how I'm the Stolen."

Because in the end... I lose everything.

Everything I ever wanted to hold tight to my chest, all the little golden things to keep me warm at night. Everything I never wanted to lose.

Angel blew out a long sigh and I feel his hand at the side of my head, stroking my ear methodically. "...Jesus fucking Christ." He muttered after a while. "I... I don't want to say I'm sorry. I hate it when people say that to me."

I nodded. "That's okay. You're here. That's what's important."

He made a strange, muffled noise and pushed his face into the back of my neck. I turned slightly and kneaded his stomach like a cat making a nest, trying to convey some sort of message, a report that I was okay. It took me until then to finally detect the flickering scent of his warm blood on him, somewhere, a little hot spot of bubbling, liquid life.

I located the place on his side, a wet patch were some of his stitches that Varan had so neatly sutured into him, little tiny patches of care, had let go, ripped slightly. I ran my thumb along it gently, feeling a jolt tear through my skin at the contact with his still-hot blood and then stuck my thumb in my mouth, sucking on it slightly.

...God his blood tasted good.

I licked my thumb slowly and dragged it back over his stitches again, lucky Faerie spit to heal his wounds. I looked up to find Angel watching me and ran my finger along his collar bone slowly, resisting the urge to bite him.

"Can... can I ask you something?" I asked after a moment.

"Yeah, 'course."

"What do you think of me, now?" I asked sincerely. This is something I've always wanted to know and been too afraid to ask of anyone, mostly because no one knew it all, not like he did now, not so deeply and wretchedly.

Angel seemed to think about it for a long time, looking out at the rain. I waited patiently, watching his pulse thrum in his neck as if hypnotized.

"Well..." he began at last. "I don't think any less of you, if that's what you thought. I feel awful for what happened to you, you know, but... you know, that first night we actually got around to talking I asked you what you thought made someone a bad person. And, you remember, the whole killing people thing came up and we agreed that sometimes, people have to die. I dunno... maybe I'm just a heartless bastard like Stork seems to think, but... I don't blame you for doing what you did. Going back to your tribe I mean. They betrayed you and tried to kill you. The whole two wrongs don't make a right thing... bullshit, in that case. I felt the same way towards Halo's fleet after we lost Stork; if Varan hadn't of guilt tripped me I would have killed them, no problem. I mean look at Shade; he couldn't be a bad guy if he tried and he went right ape shit on those guys. I, personally, think he had every right to... except he shouldn't have been that reckless about it, you know?"

I nodded slowly, a warm bubble growing and then bursting in me and coating my insides with liquid relief, like some sort of soothing cold medicine or something. I'd always tried to tell myself the same thing; if I couldn't at least stop tragedy before it happened I could at least try and clutch some sort of retribution for those who'd been lost. That was the point of war too, wasn't it? My whole uglies theory. And yet my morals had always been conflicted; Rainer had never killed anyone. The thought of people being murdered made him sick, and I knew, no matter how bad they were, killing someone still stained you. My massacre of my own people gave the voice fuel for its abrasive words and it made me unsure, uncertain of myself. Was I some sort of bane to those who dealt death to the innocent and the defenceless? Or was I really some sort of bloodthirsty monster underneath, wearing the guise of the avenger to hide my own inner brutality?

Angel's logic took that doubt away. The line between right and wrong was smudged and frayed but I knew where each side started and what side I had to be on. Sometimes right and wrong could seem like the other's twin, very close to each other, conflicting and ever tumbling in a vicious cycle. It, too, was an ugly, and sometimes the braver of us had to step up and get ugly about it, even if it meant exile, even if it meant abandoning the easy road.

I had to believe that if I was ever going to make sense of this backwards world.

I felt a strange yet peaceful sense of content wash away the dirt and the pain that had been clogging my insides and I leaned in against Angel again like we were keeping one another warm. Touch had been something I'd lost for an entire year, after Fli's leaving and Rainer's death. It had haunted me and made me ache with loneliness in its absence; I'd always been so close to the people around me, communicating through body language and the voices that fingertips and kneecaps left on your skin. Without it for so long it had been frightening and foreign to me when I was suddenly in the thick of the Gargoyle's mayhem but I realized now how badly I'd missed it, craved it.

Maybe Angel craved it too. Maybe he'd just been alone and without it for too long to know how to grasp it, a language he didn't understand.

So I slid against him until I sort of collapsed over him, sprawled over his legs, inside of my knees cupped around his thigh, head resting against his knee, cradled and joined to him. I reached out for his hand and treaded my fingers through his, reaching my hand up and dragging his with me like some sort of mirror-game, swirling our fingertips through the miasma of dirty secrets and shared understanding above us, the rain pattering away outside like background music, weaving a sort of security blanket around us, a protective membrane that just for a little while shielded us from the rest of the universe.

"Do you think people can be haunted?" I asked, surprising myself.

Angel quirked an eyebrow. "Like how houses supposedly get haunted?"

I'd forgotten he was sceptical about this sort of thing. "Yeah, except the house is your head."

He stared down at me before something seemed to click together in his eyes. "...You think the voice isn't a chemical issue."

I nodded. "I told you the pills didn't work."

"Yeah but... Varan had a point, you were prescribed a human dosage, for all we know you could have a completely different system. You might not have been able to metabolise them properly or something."

"Or maybe it wasn't because my chemicals were messed up in the first place." I said evenly. "I mean wouldn't I have started hearing things back in the jungle if that were the case?"

"Sometimes it takes trauma for mental disorders to surface." Angel said, his voice sounding elsewhere.

"...I don't think I'm schizophrenic."

"...You think you're haunted."

"Yeah. That's why I was asking you. You seem to know a lot of things."

"Well... who do you think you're haunted by?"

"...Arcana." I breathed. Angel started at me.

"Is it her voice that you hear?"

"No. I don't know, it doesn't sound like anyone or anything. But it's her feeling, her nasty old spirit, I can taste it in my head. The things she says... I just know."

Angel hummed to himself distractedly. "Well... I told you I'm sceptical about this sort of stuff, right?"

"Right."

"So... forgive me if I seem a little disbelieving about this. It's not that I don't believe _you_, per say. I just wonder... did you ever think maybe it's all in your head, pardon the pun? That you think she's haunting you because you have a bunch of messy emotions about everything that's happened to you? It might be some sort of weird thing, self-inflicted, subconsciously, somehow."

I mulled this over. "...Maybe." I said at last. "But if that's true... how am I ever going to get the answers we need?"

"...Maybe you're just special, Wasp."

I grinned a bit and pushed my face into his hip. "It's just something I wonder, sometimes. Where it came from, how it got there, why it won't leave me alone..."

Angel made a sympathetic noise and stroked my ear again methodically. "Yeah, I don't blame you." He muttered. "I wonder tons of shit about me. Gotta fucking love psychology, huh?"

I nodded in agreement. Personally I found it sort of fascinating; how can all these things happen in the little lunchbox of your head? How can chemicals and nerve impulses make you feel unrelenting, ravaging anger one day and on another make you want to scream with laughter and spin in endless circles in the rain? Or make you want to fall into someone else's body and just trace circles with their fingers? What part makes pain and what part is responsible for dreams and secret messages?

Angel's fingers moved over the top of my head and rested on my forehead like he was checking for a fever. I glanced up at him and saw some sort of uncertainty in his eyes. I cocked my head curiously. "What's up?"

"I..." he trailed off and cleared his throat. "I dunno." He continued, his voice dropping low. "I just... feel free to smack me for asking this, but... I just wanted to know if I could see."

I wrinkled my nose before I understood what he was referring to. And for a second fear made my heart contract. But then... I'd told him. Rainer had seen the scar, as had Fli and that wretched, wicked doctor. I'd never told any of them. But I'd told Angel, and... he needed to see. It, too, was a part of me, a part of Wickett that need to be exposed.

So I took his hand from where he'd touched it to my forehead and guided it down, using his fingers to pull the hem of my Socially Awkward shirt up over my abdomen to just above my belly button before I let him go, let the pale light filtering in from outside the windshield reveal me.

I saw the pain cinch around his mouth as he took in the ragged, angry mark, a rough-hewn blotch of pale scar-tissue spread wide like the mark of some horrible disease on my lower stomach, a physical token of my losses and failures. "Christ..." he whispered and very carefully, very gently, reached out with his fingertips, brushing over my skin and stomach muscles softly as if he could erase the mark from me, take it all back, heal me. And as he made little circles and figure eights like some sort of witch-doctor spell I actually believed somehow he did heal me, slightly. I felt a soothing lull pour down from his fingers into my empty insides and it made things seem lighter, not so pressing and foreboding. And right to my core I knew it was a good thing I told him about it, the best thing, even if nothing had changed about what had happened.

"So you can't have kids anymore, can you?" he asked me quietly. "Like if you ever wanted to..."

I shook my head, not so sad about this. "No, I guess I can't. But that's okay. There's a lot of things I'd rather do instead."

Angel made a jerky nodding motion to show he'd understood and kept tracing shapes on my tummy, but he was looking out at the rain again now and I heard his pulse start to pick up, some sort of ache singing away in his muscles, something making his teeth clench and eyes go blank, like he'd closed the shutters on them.

I nuzzled his side with my nose. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just... well nothing."

I sniffled at his skin, smelled the anguish thrumming in his pores. "...You sure?"

"...No, not really." He said, still focusing on the rain. When he spoke again though something had pulled tight and broken in his voice. "It's just... it's not fucking fair. That you... you would have kept your baby, you looked at it like it was yours too, that it belonged to you."

I sucked at my lip ring inquisitively; it didn't sound like that was all he meant to say. "...And yet?" I prodded gently after a minute.

"And yet she..." Angel grimaced and pushed his fingers roughly through his hair, his face turning harsh. "My mother got raped too, you know. That's how I came along."

Something started to rise like a horrible dawning in me. "By this Dark Ace guy?"

"Yeah. He found out about her. My mother was that insider Fraggle brought up, I dunno if you remember back to that, but she was this insider in Cyclonia and he found her out. And he raped her and then for some god damn reason she decided to have me anyways." I could hear the bile and heartache in his voice and pushed in closer to him, pressing a hand against his hipbone.

"It's just not fair. She never wanted me. She _hated_ me. And I just... why couldn't she look at it like you did? I was hers too, damnit. I was hers too." He twisted his face away from me, fist clenching and trembling at my side. "Just... fuck. You would have kept yours and you lost it, you lost everything and you still are the most brilliant fucking person I've ever met. And she didn't lose fucking anything and she still... if she didn't fucking want me then why didn't she just get rid of me and spare us both the fucking trouble?"

I pushed myself up by my elbows and leaned into his neck, feeling the brittleness he was so desperately trying to contain struggling there, the years of hurt and unrequited love that had turned to poison in him.

"I'm disgusted with myself when I'm with you and Varan." He muttered then, his voice choked. "Because both of you wouldn't change a god damn thing that had happened to you, all the shit and blood you guys have waded through, and you wouldn't ever change it so you could just be with us. And here I am wishing I could change it so I wouldn't have ever existed in the first place."

I felt a dry sob wrack my insides. "Angel..." I whispered, as devastated for him as he'd been for me. "Angel, don't you remember what the Oracle told you? You aren't a mistake, you deserve to be alive just as much as the rest of us. And she was messed up, your mom, you know, maybe she just couldn't-"

"Don't!" he snapped, cutting me off. "Don't start defending her! Don't humanize her! I tried to humanize her for _years_ and I can't _do it_ anymore, because it just makes everything worse, makes me wonder what the fuck did I do wrong? What did I do _wrong_? Why couldn't I be enough for her, why couldn't she just see me and not _him_? It's just too god damn hard to try and make her seem human, just this fucked up woman who didn't know how to bounce back, couldn't take her own life back. It makes me _sick_, it's fucking _bullshit_. It's just so much easier to hate her. Because then at least it doesn't hurt as bad."

I felt it then, all of it, all the black, dead things spinning in the cesspool in his chest, felt everything that was sore and stained in him just as he'd felt it all in me. And it scared me; I was scared for him.

"Angel, don't you see it?" I whispered into his neck, pushing in close to him, hand over his heart as if to shield him. "This is what the Oracle was talking about! You put this weight on yourself, and you shouldn't. You didn't do anything wrong. I didn't know your mother, but I know you, and there is nothing wrong with you, you're not him and you're not her, you're you, you're Angel and you're better than them, then this! This is the darkness in you and the Oracle told you it will consume you if you don't beat it back! And... it scares me. I don't want to see that happen to you."

He pushed his face into my shoulder and breathed deeply. "Bad things happened to you for no reason." He started slowly. "But you, because your strong and amazing and brave, you beat past those things. But...I don't know how to be like that. Yeah there's this weight on me, and I can't just get rid of it. Because that is me, it's in me, like it's in Varan, this feeling you can't get rid of, knowing who your god damn father was and knowing your fucking mother was too weak and too selfish to fight past that because it was him and he's part of me and it's like I can't fight past that because it's always going to be a part of me."

I bit into him hard enough to feel the pain recoil in his muscles. "Angel, listen to me; that darkness that he spread over you and your mother, that's what's in you, and yes she was too weak to fight past it, but you, you're not like her, you're not weak. You have to see you, outside your body, outside of the shadows of them both. And you have to know that you are better than that, you're strong and amazing and brave too and if you reach for it you can beat this before it beats you like it did your mother!"

I heard him make a growling noise. "I will _never_ be like her." He vowed, maybe to me, maybe to himself.

I nodded encouragingly. "That's right, because you aren't her and you aren't him either. I told you, it's what's in your heart that makes you who you are." I felt something desperate struggling in me and I pushed my entire body into him, trying to mould with his pain and the other parts of him that needed to be salvaged, so maybe together we could come out cleaner, no more dead weights and shadows dragging us into early graves.

He let out a sigh and nuzzled against my neck as if to apologize, even though I didn't think he had to. "Why are you so god damn good to me?" he asked, but there wasn't so much bitterness and self-loathing in his voice now, just a hurt sort of honesty.

"Because I care about you." I said simply. "And, look, I know, I understand it's not easy to get over the bad stuff. Fuck it's not easy at all, it clings to you in the form of voices and dark spots and scars and bad dreams. But look at the good things too, and even if you can never get over the bad stuff completely... at least there's the good things, right? Like the Gargoyles and music and... oh, chocolate! You like chocolate, yes?"

I felt him grin against my skin. "Fucking right I do. And I do look at those things, trust me. It just... it gets the better of me sometimes."

I nodded, understanding this completely. "Yes, it does with me too. But that's why I have you."

I felt the heat rush through him. "Yeah... I'm so fucking glad to have you."

I smiled widely. "You know maybe... maybe we have a destiny. Maybe we're each other's karma somehow."

"Like how'd you mean?"

"Well." I said, licking my lower lip, the idea only having just sprung on me. "Think of it like this; I lost my baby, even if I wanted it. Maybe your mom didn't want to have you but she did, and for the record that's gotta mean something, right? But, anyways, so because she had you, you ended up here, with the Gargoyles. And because I lost mine I ended up here too. So, maybe... we're meant to be the missing part of each other's puzzle."

Angel made an uncertain humming noise. "I dunno Wasp. I don't believe in that kinda stuff, remember."

"Hmm... well, okay, how about this. You said that Varan and I, we wouldn't change the bad stuff. And, what with all my bad stuff, over the years, I had to start to believe that there are some sort of scales in the world, like karma, you know? Sooner or later they have to balance out, the bad stuff has to lead to something good and vice versa, if you're brave enough to keep holding on through it all while it beats you down. And so... I'm almost glad some of the bad stuff did happen."

Angel jerked in surprise. "_Why_?" he asked incredulously.

I pulled away from his neck and rested my forehead against his, smiling. "Because when it balanced out, it brought me to you."

And the rest of the Gargoyles, of course.

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

I entered the bridge early the next morning, having finally been chased from a fitful sleep and decided to just forget about it. I figured I was going to need a heavy dose of caffeine to keep myself going today and was going to head straight to the kitchen when I spotted two other occupants on the bridge and had to pause to take in a scene I never thought I'd see in a million years.

Angel was sitting on the couch, staring off into the grey morning outside the windshield thoughtfully. Wasp was curled up beside him, head on his lap and shoulders rolled into his stomach like a kitten seeking warmth, sleeping uneasily; every once and awhile her body would twitch spasmodically as if it wasn't used to being restful. Angel was stroking one of her ears methodically, his other arm wrapped around her torso, cradling her softly.

See if I were any type of decent I'd have gone on my way and not made a big deal, left the two of them alone. But this was _Angel_ we're talking about. This might have been a once in a lifetime deal and I wasn't about to pass it up.

"Awww!" I said, trying not to be too loud so I wouldn't disturb Wasp, but enough to shake him out of his trance. He rolled his icy gaze in my direction and seemed to steel himself resignedly, waiting.

"Now there's something I thought I'd never see! Angel? Being _affectionate_? Get out." I said, grinning half out of earnest thoughts of how adorable the whole thing was and half out of spite because I'm a horrible little girl that way.

"Shove it." Angel said lowly.

"So you've got a sweet side after all, huh? I knew it." I teased, sitting in one of the chairs.

Angel rolled his eyes. "Yeah, big surprise, Angel's actually got a heart."

I couldn't get over him. This whole thing. I'd never seen him act like this before. There was something different in his eyes when he glanced at Wasp as she twitched, something honestly tender and warm. I mean yeah I knew something had shifted with them, he'd even told me he'd had a 'change in perspective', whatever that's supposed to mean, but this... this was just so... like come on, this was so dangerously a not-just-close-friends thing it was almost too much to laugh at.

Then again, I recalled the way Falshade had held me after the whole bathtub incident and he and I were just close friends.

"So um... how's the kid?" I asked, motioning to Wasp.

"I dunno, she kept saying she was fine, but..." he sighed and pushed some of her half-dreadlocked hair out of her face. "I dunno, I'm worried about her," he muttered and I felt myself gawk before I caught myself.

He frowned at me. "What?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. I'm worried about her too."

"You guys are talking about me." Wasp muttered, pushing her face into Angel's knee as if to hide her face from us. "Leave me alone!" she warbled and laughed.

"Yeah, Angel, what's wrong with you? Talking about someone behind their back, god!" I said, leaning over to smack his arm. He grumbled something to himself.

Wasp sat up and stretched her arms until something popped in her back. I was alarmed by the transformation that had taken hold of her face; her face had always been pale, but today it was practically ghostly, sickly and strained looking, bluish rings blossoming like bruises under her eyes, pupils dilated so that she squinted with a growl at the steadily increasing light. She looked like she was coming off heroine instead of just her medication. I felt horrible guilt squeeze my insides.

"Jesus Wasp, what was in those pills, cocaine?" I asked as Angel tilted her chin to get a good look at her. She snapped at his hand playfully and then struggled loose, jumping onto the floor of the bridge and staring out the windshield like she had the night before. "Aww." She whined.

"Oh come on, it's sunny out. What's wrong with a little sun?" I asked, coming over to stand beside her.

She pouted. "Nothing, I _guess_." Then her eyes lit up with inspiration. "I MUST JUMP IN PUDDLES!" she declared loudly and before Angel or I could grab her she was out the door, clambered up onto the railing of the deck and jumped down to the muddy earth of the little terra we'd landed on to weather out the storm. Below I could see her jumping violently from puddle to puddle and had a flash back of my five-year-old self doing the same thing in cherry red rubber boots, soaking Finn as he held my hand loyally.

Angel stretched beside me and I covered my nose, glaring at him pointedly. "Dude, since when are you boycotting deodorant?"

He gave me a sour look. "Since never. I've got much better hygiene then you-" he must of caught a whiff of himself then because he cut himself off and pulled a face. "Whoa ho, _fuck_. I don't even think I stunk this bad after running laps all day at the Academy."

I wrinkled my nose. "Thanks, I really needed to know that. Go take a god damn shower, smelly little desert rat."

"I'm going, I'm going, quit bitching." He grumbled, moving off down the hall and thankfully putting some space between me and his armpits. I'm sure I've said this before, but boys are fucking disgusting (hey, I took a shower yesterday, so ha).

My dose of morning annoyingness completed, I ambled towards the kitchen and didn't bother to shout 'BOO!' at Varan, even though he had his back to me and it would have been brilliant. But then again the guy is so high strung as it is, it just seemed too mean.

"'Morning!" I trilled instead and he turned to me, brow raised.

"Well you're certainly cheery this morning aren't you? What sort of drug did you take?" was his greeting to me and I scowled at him.

"Jeez, nice to see you too. Just for that I _demand_ you make me a cup of coffee."

He turned his back to me. "Request denied."

"...I demand you make me one _please_?"

He laughed. "Request accepted. Oh, and leave Angel alone." He added to me as I made my way to the fridge for an orange.

"Hey man, I nearly choked to death he smelled so bad! If I hadn't of said anything we'd all need gasmasks to be around him!" I defended myself.

"Not about that, about Wasp. He seems a lot happier lately, so just keep the teasing to a minimum, alright?"

I sat back down, suddenly curious. "He does? Still seems like a grouchy little bastard to me."

"That's because you antagonize each other. But seriously, when you were... gone, I dunno, he tried to look after us all and he looked really rough. But then the two of them started hanging out and he didn't seem so bad anymore. So all I'm saying is give them a bit of space, you know?"

"Hmm..." I pulled the peel from my orange in a long spiral contemplatively. "Why'd he have to look after you guys?" I asked casually. It just didn't seem like Angel to be so willingly helpful.

Varan made a strange noise and I quirked an eyebrow. "What? Come on, tell me. You guys are all acting like you're hiding something from me."

Varan let out a sigh and turned to look at me seriously. "Look, don't tell him I told you this, but Falshade took losing you _really_ badly. Like it seriously messed him up."

I felt my heart contract. "...Like how badly?"

"He went into Sky Shock, Stork. And then there was that whole thing where he lost it in that fight we got in... it just tore him up, thinking you were dead. Like I know he would have been like that with any of us, but... it was you, you know."

"What's that supposed to mean, it was me?" I demanded. Falshade went into shock? Jesus... so that's why they didn't want to bring it up.

"Because you're his best friend and... he thought it was his fault, you know. He blamed himself for it."

I stared down at the table top, heart hammering hard. Varan made another noise, this one more sympathetic and came over to rub my shoulder briefly. "Look, don't beat yourself up about it now, it's over and done with. I just thought you should know, so we can avoid anymore incidences like yesterday's, you know?"

"Yeah..." I muttered. "Just... man I feel so bad. For all of you. I wish I could have come back sooner."

Varan put my mug in front of my and mussed up my hair. "What matters is you're back, okay? Don't feel bad, please. In fact, forget I said anything."

I blew out a sigh and tried to find my good mood again. Varan was right, I was back, and what was the point of feeling bad for it now when I should just feel happy to be back with my friends again? I did make a mental note to be a little kinder and less difficult with Falshade for a little while though (just a little while though. Hey I have a reputation to uphold!).

Varan went back to making French toast and I ate my orange in silence, making sure Varan wasn't looking every once and awhile so I could spit any seeds I was unfortunate enough to bite down on onto the floor.

Falshade came into the kitchen a while later, only in his jeans and seeming in a not-so-morning-person mood until he noticed what Varan was making for breakfast.

"You have a hole in your pants." I noted, forgetting about my little resolution already.

Falshade frowned down at said hole. "I'm _aware _of that, thanks, but these are my last pair of clean jeans. Besides, people pay like, fifty bucks for jeans with holes."

"Hmm." I said sipping at my coffee and glancing at my own jeans, which were riddled with rips and tears, spilling out those little white fibre things like spaghetti noodles. "Also I can't help but notice you're not wearing a shirt. _Why_? Why don't we have one of those signs for the kitchen, no shoes, no shirt, no service?" I went on, tucking my bare feet under my chair subtly.

Falshade rolled his eyes. "'Cause it smells, I gotta do some laundry, alright? Can the interrogation wait until after breakfast? Why do you care so much anyways?"

"Because it bothers me that you guys are allowed to run around practically naked and I get bitched at for not wearing shoes." I griped.

"No one ever said you have to get dressed before you come up here, eh." Fraggle argued, slouching into the kitchen and collapsing into his chair. "I got like, no sleep, eh. Bloody thunder; sucks having ears this big sometimes."

I scowled at him. "Yeah, 'cause I'm _really_ going to waltz in here without a shirt on. I wouldn't hear the end of it from you guys!"

"Oh I dunno, bet you'd have an easier time getting Varan to make you what you wanted for breakfast there, eh."

Varan turned on him, spatula in his hand threateningly. "And what's that supposed to mean?" he asked ominously.

"Oh come on Fraggle." Falshade said, taking a wedge of my orange. "Varan's got more substance than that. He's only got eyes for Roo."

I giggled into my mug while Varan turned on Shade and threw the spatula at him.

Angel sauntered in a while later and came right up to me and lifted his arm, armpit right in my face. "There, better?"

"DUDE!" I snapped, shoving him back roughly. "EWWWWW, get your god damn pit outta my face! Yuck!"

Angel snickered to himself and sat down beside Falshade, pushing his dripping hair from his face. "Well come on, if you're going to be the official body odour detector around here then I gotta have your approval."

"Stork judging people's hygiene? That's a little ironic, isn't it?" Falshade remarked innocently and I spat one of my seeds at him.

"You guys are the worst boys in the history of testosterone." I griped. "And I don't care if you smell like fucking roses, I don't want your disgusting hairy pit anywhere near me ever again! God, you guys and your body hair, ick."

"Hey!" Fraggle said indignantly.

"You have an excuse." I told him.

"Alright, enough about you filthy little humans and all the filthy little things about you." Varan interrupted, setting a plate of French toast on the table. He took in the look Falshade, Angel and I had set on him while Fraggle snickered into his glass of juice and rolled his eyes. "Oh come on. This one's sitting here half naked because he can't remember to do his own laundry, this one's got nasty ol' body hair and this one has got to be the most unhygienic girl in the history of _estrogen_, thank you."

Man, thank god for my girl Wasp and her brilliant timing.

Right around then is when she decided to wander into the kitchen and pretty much made me look like model for a shampoo commercial or something when it came to talking about filth and hygiene; she was coated from boots to dreadlocks in a layer of mud, which was dripping off her jacket and from her sopping hair all over the floor.

"WASP!" Varan yowled at her as I burst into hysterics. "What the bloody hell are you _doing_???"

"Uh, breakfast?" Wasp said, waving a muddy hand at the table helpfully before squelching over to take a seat beside me, leaving a trail of grime behind her.

"GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN!" Varan shouted at her and Wasp cocked her head at him.

"I thought this was Fraggle's kitchen."

"Hey, yeah, girly's got a point there, eh." Fraggle agreed sourly.

"Go and stand in the shower before I drag you to the hanger and blast you with the hose!" Varan ordered, jabbing a finger back to the hall like he was kicking out a dog that had rolled in something dead. Wasp's eyes widened in horror.

"No, I don't wanna, you can't make me!"

"Wasp, he certainly can." Falshade assured her, trying to keep his own laughter under control.

"No no no, no shower for me! I-" Wasp turned to Varan as he made a stride towards her and abruptly screamed bloody murder before taking off down the hall.

"Oh man that made my day, eh." Fraggle wheezed out, still hiccupping with laughter.

"I have no idea why, you ought to see the nice little trail of mud she tracked all through your bloody ship." Varan told him stonily and Fraggle's ears shot up in realization.

"So I guess I don't seem so bad now, do I?" I asked Varan haughtily. Just then though he apparently noticed the collection of scattered orange seeds all over the floor and I had to take off after Wasp to avoid a severe spatula-beating.

* * *

"Wha'cha doin'?" Falshade asked, hanging over my shoulder to get a look at what I had in my hands and I swatted at him irritably.

"Out of my working bubble, you're messing up by vibes!" I griped and he took a respectful step back. "And to answer your question, I'm making some trackers for all of our skimmers. Stork had a good idea going on with these things; I mean say one of us crashed, knock on wood, it could take us ages to find them in the Wastelands you know? If they were hurt we'd be wasting precious time looking for them."

"Ah." Falshade said with a nod. "Clever, I like it."

"Why thank you." I said. "Yeah, so I'm designing them to go off in high impact situations like the ones Stork made. Like an air bag, sorta."

"Yeah, that's good and all, but say we needed to find someone 'cause... oh I dunno, we're in bad visibility or something?" Shade asked.

"I, being the brilliant mind I am, have already thought of that." I assured him. "When I build the receptor for these puppies I'm going to add a switch we can flip that'll activate the trackers so they send off a beacon signal. _Amazing_, no?"

Falshade ruffled my hair. "Yeah yeah, you're the greatest."

"I thought you promised to make me a new Sight." Angel decided to remind me then.

"I didn't promise _you_ anything." I told him snidely. "I said I'd _think_ about it. As in maybe, when I don't have other more important things to do, I might consider getting around to it sometime. Besides, I thought your vision was so _fantastically superior_ you didn't need one anyways."

"Well I don't." Angel insisted. "I just thought it'd be nice of you, since I was so kind as to fix your throwing axe for you already, even though I too have more important stuff to be doing."

"Oh yeah, like what? Evidently showering wasn't one of them."

"I've got projects and shit I'm working on."

"Yeah, _top secret_ projects." Wasp added, bounding over with an old wooden box in her hands, considerably cleaner then she had been earlier (she'd taken Varan's advice and actually stepped into the shower fully clothed). "Look, look what I have found!"

"I can't look at it if you shove it right in my face." Angel told her and she set the box down on the table, scrambling into a chair to wait patiently. "Oh hey, I forgot we had this." Angel said, opening the box. I glanced over at the ancient chess set before going back to my tracker prototype. I'd tried to fish the one Stork made me out of the seat of my skimmer for a preliminary reference but short of tearing apart all my new leather upholstery that sucker was staying put, so I'd given up on it and decided just to start from scratch.

"Wanna play with me?" Wasp asked pleadingly and I saw something melt in Angel's face; ha, that guy was just as pathetic as I told him he was.

"Yeah, sure. But just to warn you I'm wicked good at this." Angel examined the different pieces. "Oh, shit, we're missing one of the knights. Guess we could just use a coin or something though."

"Solution!" Wasp exclaimed and dug something out of one of her inner pockets, producing a silver dragon statuette with black onyx shards for eyes. "Ta-dah! Shadowfax, at your service."

"Oh so this is the infamous Shadowfax huh?" Angel picked the figurine up and examined it with interest.

"Yeah. He doesn't talk anymore, but I'm sure he's pleased to meet you all." Wasp assured us.

"Oh, well, same to him then." Falshade strung out awkwardly, ruffling Wasp's dreadlocks. "So I read more of that book, you were right about the colour green thing. Growth, renewal, and then a whole bunch of other stuff that just confuses me. Like apparently it means like death too? I don't know how I'm supposed to interpret it."

Wasp made a humming noise. "Yeah, that's what sucks with symbolism. There's a lot of it."

"My god, it's just a fucking colour." Angel griped. "Blue and yellow make green, end of story. If you're really going to get wrapped in all this symbolic bullshit then maybe you should focus on something less inconsistent. Colours, jeez."

I don't know what else there is... I mean I mentioned some if the big things, and some of its just obvious. Like that vortex thing from the last one, again, I'm going to assume is a manifestation of what's coming. And those zombie people things, that's clear to me now, it means Halo and the others, what with their regenerative powers. Then there's like Cyclonia, which we figured out, the symbol thing, again we figured that out..."

"Hey, what about those blue wings?" I asked suddenly and Falshade quirked an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"You know, when we were back in the Scar, you were sort of rambling about different things from your dreams and you brought up blue wings or something. I only just remembered but for some reason it's making me think I know what it means, I just can't remember."

"Oh, _right_." Shade snapped his fingers. "Yeah, there was that, and that throne room and everything..."

"The Lightning Claw?" Angel interrupted and we both looked at him.

"What's that?" I asked and he stared at me like he couldn't believe I'd ask such a thing.

"My faith in your mental capabilities is sorely being tested these days." He informed me and I kicked him in the shin.

"You're move." Wasp informed him, oblivious to all else.

"Hold on Wasp." I said. "What about my mental capabilities? Is this something I'm supposed to know?"

"Well, considering your dad was a Storm Hawk, yeah, you probably should."

Something curdled in my insides. "...How'd you mean?"

Angel barely suppressed a noise of aggravation. "The Lightning Claw! It's a fighting move, a really complex one or some shit, the only two people who were able to do it was the Sky Knight from the original Storm Hawks, you know, who the move was named after, and then Aerrow from the Storm Hawks version 2.0."

"You're move!" Wasp said irritably.

"Wasp, tell you what, I'll play all you want later, I _promise_, but I'm in the middle of making Stork feel stupid and I hate to pass that up."

I felt my fingers run though my hair as my head dropped towards the table top, ignoring Angel's last comment. God damn, how could I not have thought of that? Piper had written about Aerrow's signature move in her log, she'd even drawn a sketch of it if I recalled, two wing shaped bolts encased in blue Striker energy. And how many fucking times had I read that book? Maybe Angel was right, my mental capabilities just weren't top notch anymore.

"Wait here." I told Shade and took off down to the hanger. I couldn't really believe I was doing this, but then hey, I'd told them about my relationship with the Storm Hawks anyways, and maybe we needed something from their history; it was really starting to sound that way to me at least.

I grabbed the log book and ran back upstairs, flipping though it so avidly for the right page I nearly ran right into Varan.

"Sorry, emergency!" I said hurriedly as I skidded to a halt beside Shade and showed him the right page. "There, that's it, right?"

Falshade's eyes widened. "Yeah, that's it! So it is the Lightning Claw... but what does that mean then?"

"What's that?" Angel asked as Varan wandered over curiously.

"It was their log book. The Storm Hawks'." I explained distractedly. Things were starting to fall into places in my mind, the right shapes into the right holes.

"No way!" Varan said incredulously.

"How long have you had that?" Angel demanded at the same time.

"Do I have to tell you about every little detail of my life?" I snapped at him. "I don't bloody think so. It's _mine_, Finn gave it to _me_, and until now it never occurred to me we might get some use out of it, so don't start hacking me out for keeping some of my life private."

"It's not _your_ life, it's _theirs_." He just had to get one more smart-ass word in.

"Angel, leave her alone." Varan told him sternly.

"Stork, did, um, other Stork tell you anything about the war?" Falshade asked softly and I leaned over his shoulder to see what he was reading about.

"Why'd you ask?"

"Well, it's just, I know Aerrow was the one who supposedly got to Cyclonis, and you know... they never found either of them. So I'm just wondering, if the Lightning Claw is in my dreams, is it like a sign that the Storm Hawks are wrapped in this somehow, like more importantly then the other squadrons? And if so, then why?"

"Well..." I swallowed, recalling how Stork had looked and sounded while retelling his bitter story, the story to end all others. "Yeah, that's what he said too, Aerrow went in alone and they never found him afterwards. But I can't see what that has to do with anything that's going on now. But that's why I brought the log up here, maybe something that happened with the Storm Hawks will gives us some sort of lead about what's going on now or something."

"Ah..." Falshade made an awkward noise in his throat and then pushed the book back to me. "Well, tell you what, you do that. If you find anything in here that strikes you odd or something then tell us, but you're right, it's yours, it's their life and I don't feel right just rooting through it."

And that, boys and girls, is why Falshade is my best fucking friend in the whole fucking Atmos. He gets the sensitive stuff. He gets you.

I took the book back uneasily. "Well... thanks, Shade. And I will look through it, and if I find something, you know, I'll say so."

"Not to rain on your little parade here." Angel interjected. "But Stork ,surprisingly, had a point; none of the old Storm Hawks stuff seems to have anything to do with what's going on right now. It's like there's a big ol' piece of the puzzle still missing. If they are connected to it, then how, and why?"

"Well, I guess if we're meant to find that out then we will, somehow." Falshade said with a shrug, sounding more aloof and easy-going about this whole thing then he had in a long time.

"Aww." Wasp said suddenly and we glanced over at her to see what she was doing. "Who's the cutie with the hair?" she asked me and when I looked to see what she was referring to I saw that she had my photo on the table, the one of the Storm Hawks, while they were all still alive and together; it must have fallen out of the front cover when I'd been flipping through it.

"Oh... those are the Storm Hawks." I mumbled awkwardly, rubbing at my head. There they were, there was my daddy and my name-sake, the last time they'd seemed to honestly smiled, frozen in time.

"So... that's your dad then, huh?" Falshade asked, leaning over and tapping a finger next to Finn.

"Yup, that's him." I said with a bit of a grin. "Crazy old son of a bitch. Oh and that's Stork." I pointed him out as well. There he was, standing next to Piper... I felt a section in my heart contract, thinking about what the two of them might have been able to share if they hadn't of gone through so much hurt and loss.

Wasp was sniffling at the photo as if she could actually pick up all their individual scents. "He's got your eyes." She declared suddenly, sounding very clear and certain for once.

"Who?" I asked, my stomach going cold.

"That guy, with the monkey-thing and the hair that looks like his head's on fire. Those are your eyes, babes." Wasp insisted, tapping Aerrow's face repeatedly.

The other three peered down to see what Wasp was talking about. "...He kinda does, Stork." Varan said after a moment.

"Dude, that's weird. Those really are your eyes." Angel furrowed his brow at the picture then looked up me critically. "...You said you were adopted, yes?"

"Yes." I said around the lump in my throat; Angel's not known for his ability to put things delicately in a sensitive situation. I saw Falshade kick him under the table. "Why?"

"Well, just wondering is all." Angel said with a shrug, glaring at Shade. I knew what he was getting at though.

"Aerrow was dead a whole year before I was born." I said coldly. "Whoever my biological father is, it's not him."

"Ah, well, maybe he had a twin or something then."

* * *

Later that night I was sitting on the couch, mulling over the whole Storm Hawks mess and, as it were, rubbing Falshade's back for him. Brilliant guy he is, he'd noted how not-pleased I was with Angel and dragged him down to the hanger to do some training, which, naturally, ended in a whole lot of swearing and sulking on both company's part. See, thing is, we Gargoyles are pretty hardcore about training; Falshade always said 'You're only as good as you train to be', which to me sounds like some cheesy football coach motivational speech thing but I mean he had a point. If you are lazy about practicing, you're skills are gonna suffer in battle, and man have I ever learned that's _really_ not the place to realize maybe you should have done a few extra chin-ups. So, needless to say, we went a little overboard when we trained, like really put our muscles into it and sometimes I think we even _try_ to hurt each other (Sure that might be just to toughen each other up, but then, you spend most of your time with the same obnoxious, smelly guys long enough you start to get a little too in-to the whole trying to beat them to a pulp thing). So that of course leads our training sessions to usually end in blood, tears and cursing like no tomorrow. I think collectively we've had almost every injury in the books; sprained wrists, pulled muscles, bloody noses, cracked ribs, one minor concussion, a dislocated jaw, three broken fingers, several chipped teeth and of course a whole collection of bruises, scrapes, bumps and even a few burns, believe it or not.

So here I was trying to soothe Falshade's sore muscles because he'd probably pulled something in his back while Angel, doing what he did best, sulked in his room over something about 'bad form' (Falshade didn't specify, but I had a feeling that meant Angel must of gotten hit somewhere guys really don't like being hit). That and I was playing the word game with Wasp, who had really taken to the game and seemed to know a lot of really weird words, which just made it that much more fun; it's better if you have a worthy opponent. After becoming frustrated with my trackers I'd taken Wasp up on the chess match she'd started with Angel and then spent the rest of the day with her, even going so far as to split a Buzz Juice with her and now my muscles were humming and twitching like mad.

"Let's move to E." I said to her while Falshade melted into me, eyes closed peacefully.

"Exoskeleton!" she chirruped, stacking a bunch of bottle caps she'd unearthed from her pockets on the floor in some sort of pattern I didn't follow.

"Epilepsy."

"Emaciated."

"Uh...Earmuffs."

Wasp laughed and rolled onto her back, tugging at Falshade's boot laces. "Shade, Shade, you says something!"

"Hmm?" he said drowsily. "Uh, I dunno... egotistical."

"That's my name, don't wear it out." I said and Shade snorted.

"F!" Was declared.

"FUBAR." I said. "Which, apparently, is an acronym, not a palindrome."

"What's which?" Wasp asked, stacking her bottle caps on the toes of Falshade's boots.

"See, I didn't know either. Palindromes are the ones that spell the same thing backwards and forwards."

"Yeah like that doesn't mess me up more then I already am when trying to read." Falshade griped, sounding sleepy. I patted his head sympathetically.

"You know what would be great, eh?" Fraggle asked randomly from where he was sitting at the table, looking at a nudie magazine unabashedly; we'd decided to stop for the night and finish up the last boot tomorrow. "Some cupcakes. I blame you for putting the idea in my head, eh."

Cupcake had been one of my C words. Pity Angel wasn't around.

"That does sound like a good idea." I agreed. "The kind with the sprinkles already mixed into the frosting."

"And with some of those sparkling candles." Wasp added, about as enthusiastic about desert as I'd ever seen her. Then she stiffened slightly and touched a hand to her temple softly and I felt something quiver in my chest.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." She assured me, but there was something flickering in her eyes that didn't let me believe her completely.

"Hey Varan!" Fraggle shouted down the hall and Falshade flinched at his volume.

"Can you rub a little lower?" he asked me quietly and I nodded, moving my hands to the small of his back.

"Like here?"

"Yeah, thanks." He said gratefully, relaxing again.

"What?" Varan hollered back from the kitchen.

"What kinda celebration do we gotta have to earn cupcakes, eh?"

"I'm not making you any fucking cupcakes!"

"Aww." Fraggle looked back to his magazine. "Fine, I don't need his no-good cupcakes. I got naked girls, eh."

I rolled my eyes. "Why do you have to look at that out here?"

"'Cause it's my ship and I can do what I like, eh."

I was going to tell him something clever when Wasp was suddenly on her feet, bottle caps scattering across the bridge, a short, growling noise escaping her.

"Wasp?" I asked slowly, moving away from Falshade and getting up carefully. "Are you _sure _you're okay?"

She looked up at me, her eyes wild and struggling. "...I think this is it." She said as if she'd barely let any air out with the words and her hands jumped towards the sides of her head, trembling. Something flashed in her eyes and her hackles quivered, teeth tearing at her lip and grinding against each other loud enough for me to hear it.

"Do you... do you hear it?" I whispered, feeling on edge, my heart pounding like it usually did before I hurled, suddenly feeling very edgy and panicked.

Wasp nodded jerkily then muttered something under her breath that sounded like a threat, eyes flickering to the side and back again like a glitch.

I tried to think of what to do here... what could we do? I didn't even know what was going to happen; Varan, Varan was crucial suddenly. I rounded on Fraggle, who was watching Wasp as she paced tightly with wide eyes. "Fraggle go get Varan, he'll know what to do." I said, sounding a little snappier then I meant to but he jumped up always and took off down the corridor. Falshade had gotten up now too, look uncertain, shaky.

"I'm gonna go get Angel." He said quietly and I nodded, having forgotten about him. Wasp glanced at him as he spoke, eyes unfocused, pupils dilated to frightening proportions.

"Yes." She wheezed out. "Go get him, please." Falshade nodded and took off, leaving me alone with Wasp and her slowly shifting state of consciousness; she looked like a sleep walker in a way, movements all jerky and disconnected from one another. And I hate to admit it but it gave me the creeps a little bit as her eyes continued to jump about as if possessed, as if she were watching something playing inside her own head. But I was her friend and I'd brought this on her and I was going to be damned if I abandoned her now. I reached out and grabbed her hand and squeezed and she glanced at me and grinned tightly.

"This could get ugly." She warned me.

"I'm not going anywhere." I promised.

"This has nothing to do with her!" she snapped suddenly, making me jump and I stared at her, alarmed. Wasp shook her head and, gently but with a slowly unravelling control, unwound my hand from hers.

"I wouldn't get too close." She told me, trying to look as non-threatening as possible but there was something stuck in her eyes now, a disturbed, violent look, some sort of inwardly-tuned fury.

Fraggle returned with Varan then, sidling uneasily onto the bridge. Wasp waved at them with a shaking hand before gnashing her teeth, muttering again to someone not in the room.

"She's..." Varan looked to me for conformation and I nodded.

"Yeah, she thinks this is it. What should we do?" I asked, trying not to sound too desperate. In all honesty I was scared as all get-out; I wasn't sure how ugly this was going to get, how bad it might be for Wasp and I really wanted Varan's logical, medical opinion right now.

"Shit, I don't know...Wasp, maybe you should sit, you know?" he said uncertainly, his tail twitching. Wasp snapped her gaze to his face then whipped her head to the side, clawing at something unseen.

"No. Can't not move." She said disjointedly "He is NOT!" she screeched then, fingernails digging into her temples and I ignored her warning and drug her hands away from her forehead.

"Stork?" she asked, not looking at me but focusing on the table leg, arms suddenly out to the side for balance and I nearly got thrown off my feet by the movement.

"Yeah, I'm right here." I assured her.

"I don't want to say the bad things." She told me, muscles convulsing in her limbs.

"We aren't going to blame you, sweetie." I said. Man I don't think I've ever used that word in my life. But here it felt necessary; Wasp called me babes to convey some sort of female-to-female comfort and I wanted to do the same. I wanted to be a good friend.

Falshade was back with Angel, who took one look at Wasp and stepped up next to me, reaching for her hand. Wasp noticed him and smiled in a strained sort of way and man that sort of got to me. But then her eyes flashed and she backed away from both of us, hands out in front of her as if to keep us at bay, like she was contagious or something.

"So, what, you guys are just standing around like idiots as usual?" Angel snapped at the rest of us. "Paper, guys, c'mon! She's only gonna hear it once!"

Falshade skidded over to the shelves and hunted down a scrap of paper and a pen, which he passed to Varan. "Alright, Wasp, whatever you hear you tell us and we'll write it down, okay?" he told her gently and she nodded, her neck making snapping noises.

"Okay." She agree, voice raw, trying gallantly to smile. "I feel like a fortune cookie." Abruptly her face twisted and she turned on her heel, stomping across the floor. "No no no no NO NO NO! SHUT UP!!!"

Fraggle made a noise and ducked uncertainly behind Varan. "I don't like where this is going, eh." He muttered.

"THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM!" Wasp screamed, her hands back at her temples. "Leave them out of it!"

God I felt bad for her. Not only did she seem like her mind was being fractured, but we must have looked scared as nobody's business by that point, none of us knowing what to do for her. I was frightened to get close to her but did so anyways, dragging her hands back again. "Wasp, don't hurt yourself, that's not going to help."

"She's saying such nasty things, Storky." Wasp whispered. Then she blinked at me, a weird, clear membrane sliding over eyes like she was changing her perception of me. "Am I scaring you?" she asked hoarsely as this thought had only just occurred to her.

I swallowed. "A little bit, yeah. But that doesn't matter. I can be pretty scary too, ya know." I said and she grinned crookedly. Then her eyes shifted and for a few moments it was like it wasn't even her anymore, it was a creature, all emotion and conscious thought gone from her eyes, just pure madness, an animal with its leg in a trap, fighting to be free. And I realized why Faeries lived in their own little jungle; they weren't like normal humanoids. They were dangerously close to still being predatory animals, like the next link in the evolutionary chain between some sort of large cat and human. Like the Nordian Hybrids, minus the fur.

Wasp shoved me back as if it were for my own good and Angel grabbed my elbow, pulling me back a bit, beside him, looking torn, like he wanted to go to her and at the same time knew he shouldn't. She was pacing again, a manic look in her eye. Suddenly thought she stopped short, arms out again, eyes becoming very still. "Shut up." She said. "Shutupshutupshutupshutup!"

"Wasp, we need to know what it's saying." I reminded her, throat feeling constricted, terrified and worried about her. This was so fucking surreal I could barely believe it was happening.

"This isn't about that." She ground out. "She's fucking with me. She's always bloody fucking with me, always always GOD DAMNIT WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE? LEAVE ME ALONE!" she howled, her voice breaking and her thumb went to her eye and I could only guess at her intention.

Angel must have guessed it too and he had her by the wrist. "Wasp, no!" he shouted at her, shaking her a bit. "That's not going to help anything!"

"_I want her out_!" Wasp sobbed and that really tore my heart apart. I'd never seen Wasp so vulnerable, so broken and upset and it made tears spring to my eyes. Falshade was behind me, his arm wrapped over my shoulder and around my chest and I pushed my face into his collar bone momentarily. "This is fucking awful!" I told him and he squeezed me gently.

Suddenly Wasp backed away from Angel and her eyes went freakishly wide. "She...Black wings! She's saying black wings, over and over, black wings, black wings, black wings will unfurl, whispers of the shadows inside and the bonds that were thought unbreakable will snap!"

"Varan!" I barked at him, because he was watching Wasp, stunned, until my voice snapped him out of it and he started scribbling like mad.

Wasp crouched down, cowering against the floor, holding her head as if she were suffering one of my brain attacks. Abruptly it was like something had burst in her nose and blood didn't just drip free, it sprayed free, whooshing out like a water balloon exploding and then cascading like a red river over her lips and chin, as if her brain were haemorrhaging under the strain and I was afraid for her. "Old wounds will reopen and the infection that has been festering beneath will spread over the world like a virus and there will be no vaccinations!" she gurgled, sounding feral and broken and unworldly all at once. I felt like I was watching her being manipulated by some outside force, possessed by a demon.

"I am not an abomination!" she screeched then, blood spattering to the floor with her words. "You had it coming! You had it coming! You took it away from me! It would have been as beautiful and fierce as the jungle itself and I could have loved it and you took it away! You can't do this to me! Get out, get out, get out!!!" she pounded her fist into the floor and I saw something in her hand break and the she was talking again, fast and in an unearthly tone, like it wasn't really her voice, wasn't really her at all:

"Light and dark are thrown together and the line in between is as grey as the ashes...the ashes from which one will rise... what once was will return as evolution evolved and it breeds a new destruction the likes of which the world has never seen! And... the bonds between us all will grow tight like wire, a snare, and we will become trapped in the threads that stretch between us all like flies in a spider's web, where we will be eaten from the inside!"

"I can't watch this, eh." Fraggle whimpered, curling his ears against his head and turning around. I knew exactly how he felt, but I couldn't tear my eyes from Wasp as she wheezed and choked on her own blood

"...that has nothing to do with this! Just tell me what I need to know for once, god damnit! _Tell me_!" Wasp snarled and now a trickle of blood ran from the corner of her eye too. She held very still for a moment, blood splashing onto her jacket, and then she was screeching so incoherently and violently I uttered a whimper of fear and Falshade held me closer, his own heart jack hammering so hard against his ribs I could feel it. Wasp was clawing at her belly, shaking her head furiously, still shrieking, bloody spraying in all directions and I felt like I was watching an exorcism.

"Toxin in the blood, poisoning us all, and hate and fear will turn them against the other, and all eyes will turn inwardly blind!" she suddenly managed to spew out in a keening voice and then seemed to stagger back, fists clenched so tight in her hair there was blood there too and a wrenching, hacking sound escaped her.

"That's all!" she burst out, seeming to have forgotten the rest of us were still here. "That's it and now I want you gone!" and with that she turned to the wall and abruptly started smashing her forehead into the steel, over and over again, screaming "Get out, get out, GET OUT!!!"

I struggled out of Falshade's grasp and Angel and I grabbed her jacket, trying to haul her back but she turned to push us back then abruptly doubled over and vomited all over the place, more blood coming up as if she were bleeding inside and streams of scarlet running down her cheeks like bloody tears, a spectacle of tortured mental rage, a psycho, our fucking psycho.

But then she froze, eyes wide and shining, her ears twitching. She froze and stared at the table.

"What did you say?" she whispered past all the blood in her throat.

Varan was practically cowering, his tail thrashing wildly. "I d-didn't s-sssay anything." He stammered.

But Wasp wasn't looking at him. Her gaze was fixed on the dragon statuette that we'd used as the missing knight in chess earlier. She stared and stared for the longest time, the rest of us too shell-shocked to move. But then she was scrambling to the table, as if her legs weren't working properly and she seized the dragon from the table and held it to her ear.

And then she started laughing. Quietly, uncertainly at first, but then she was laughing like a real psycho, laughing and crying at the same time, real tears mixed with blood, and clutching that dragon like it was the last piece of the universe.

And then she thrust it high above her head so it sat on her palm and turned to the rest of us, smiling so widely it seemed to take over her whole face, bloody fangs glistening. And then she said "He says hi."

And then she keeled over.

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

It was really, really rare to make me feel awkward, make me unsuited and clumsy in my own skin. Rarer still to make me feel like a complete idiot. I mean hey, it's me.

But fuck me, I was really feeling like that now and I hated it. Because here I was trying to do something good and decent for once, something I really wanted to do and yet I felt like a complete ass about the whole thing. And I hate trying to do anything without my dignity intact so I was actually just considering scrapping the whole moronic idea when I ended up running right into her.

I stayed with Wasp on the bridge all last night, after everything had gone to shit and she's passed out like that. Fuck that was one of the worst things I'd ever had to deal with in my life, right up there with losing Stork and watching Shade nearly bleed out on me. Even during all her gut-wrenching, heartbreaking stories she managed to keep herself together while talking and reliving those god-awful memories and I really sort of admired her for it. So, I dunno, I'd started looking at her like this really strong sort of being, unshakable in a way. So watching her like that, blood pouring from her head like her whole face had been broken, eyes tortured and possessed, the way she screamed like that, it really just tore me apart. At that point I was ready to just say fuck Falshade's mission, fuck the Oracle's prophecy, just let that girl have some god damn peace. Admittedly I'd been sort of snarky with the others afterwards but I was at the end of my rope and didn't have the energy or the compassion at the moment for anyone but Wasp, so too bad. And then I just stayed with her after we moved her into her room, stayed beside her and held her hand, looking over all the broken, discarded objects that she'd deemed a brilliant treasure and stuffed into her tiny room; a rag doll with no arms and only one eye, a jar of rain water, an old, faded red high top with secret messages scribbled all over it in pen... stuff I would have considered junk, someone else's garbage. Wasp kept and cherished all that stuff and at some point it struck me that you know, maybe I was like all that stuff too and despite all the reasons why she should of looked at me as trashed she took me in and looked after me anyways, took away some of the tight, searing pain from my chest when it got to be too much.

I think we'd all been pretty worried that Wasp would be different after what happened, sort of distant and strange to us. But she surprised us all this morning when she strode around the ship in high spirits, grinning like her face was stuck that way and chatting nonsense to that little figurine of hers, Shadowfax. She took in our concerned, nervous faces and suddenly frowned:

"Are there stitches in my head?" she'd asked. "Is that why you all look like that?"

"...No, Wasp, your head's fine." Stork has assured her. "You, um... you feel okay honey?"

For the record Stork never said those kinda words to _us_. Not like I was complaining though, mind you.

"Yeah... I feel like I got an operation, the one where they take something out of your head?"

"...A lobotomy?" I'd hazarded a guess.

"Yeah. Like there's more space now, like I pulled out a splinter." She spun around, arms out to the side. "It feels brilliant." Then she'd produced Shadowfax from her pocket, smiling and holding him out on her palm towards the rest of us. "He says hi." She said again, like she had yesterday, although she was in considerably better spirits this time around. "He says hi and that he thinks you guys are neat." And since then she'd been listening very closely to that little dragon, ear tilted towards its mouth constantly. "We've got a lot to catch up on." She'd explained to Falshade's curious look.

And so just like that, she was back to normal. Well, as normal as Wasp gets I mean. And I suppose she seemed a lot... happier. Like she was usually bubbly, cheerful. But now she just seemed to sort of radiate something completely different and it made me want to smile whenever I saw it in her eyes, this bright spark of joy that she seemed to have forgotten over the years. I don't know what had changed in her, exactly, but I took it that maybe that voice had seemed to have evaporated since yesterday, somehow.

Fuck, maybe she'd been haunted after all. But you didn't hear me say that.

And now here I was standing before her awkwardly, having just stumbled upon her so suddenly I'd practically jumped out of my skin. I still hadn't adjusted to how stealthy she was.

"Hey!" she brightened, smiling at me.

"Hey." I said, glancing around. "What, uh... what're you doing?"

We were standing in the corridor near the kitchen, or she had been, staring at a random spot on the floor with fascination.

"I'm I Spying." She explained. Then she pointed at a little blot on the floor. "That used to be a cricket. I smushed him." She explained.

"Gross." I said distractedly. "So, um... I finished that project I was working on and wanted to show you, if, you know, you're not busy."

She looked at me again and grinned. "That top secret thing?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I mean no, I'm not busy."

"Cool." God damnit I hated myself just then, how short I was compared to her, how nervous I felt, how awkward she made me feel. I cleared my throat roughly and brought what I'd had behind my back all this time out in front of me for her to see. "Well, this is it."

Wasp cocked her head and just stared at what I'd brought before her.

"You can hold it, you know." I told her after a few uncomfortable moments. "Actually, it's for you, you know?"

She stared at my face now, eyes wide and shining with something that made my stomach clench. "Like... you're giving it to me?" she asked slowly.

"Well, yeah. I made it for you." I said. God damnit Angel, are you _blushing_? I made a mental note to beat myself around the head later. "I didn't wrap it or anything but it's a present all the same, so, here, take it."

I deposited it in her hands and she lifted it gingerly for examination, running her fingers over the edge of the blade.

"You... you made this?" she strung out. "...For...for me?"

I scuffed my boot. "Uh, yeah, I did. I had some material flying around and you seemed pretty upset about losing your other one. Besides, you fight with two hands, you gotta have two weapons."

Wasp blinked at me and then stared at the machete I'd crafted carefully as a replica of her other one. Of course it wasn't exactly the same; I'd rearranged all the jagged snares and teeth that stuck out from sharp edge of the blade a little differently than the pattern of her other machete's, and I'd made the handle slightly different, so that it curved to fit in her hand easily... and I'd sorta, you know, curved and shaped the metal around the crystal induction slot so it sort of resembled the silhouette of a large cat. Actually I was pretty proud of that part, it was like the finishing touch.

Wasp ran her fingers over all the little details, eyes wide and unblinking, reflecting the light that shone from the edge of the blade while I fidgeted uneasily; I was god awful at this sort of thing, and Wasp bred a type of uncertainty I'd never had to deal with before.

"But I mean hey, if you don't like it or whatever you don't have to use it or anything, I just-" I was cut off when Wasp flung herself at me, wrapping her arms around me so tightly I couldn't breathe. She pushed her face into my neck and kissed me, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Are you _kidding_?" She demanded, breaking away and holding the machete out at arm's length, making some slashing motions with it. Her face split into a grin and she turned back to me, beaming. "I _love_ it!"

I stared at my boot fixatedly, swallowing. "Well, great. I'm glad." Oh man I wasn't just glad I was fucking euphoric. I'd really wanted her to like it; it was sort of a 'I'm sorry for being an asshole in the past', a 'thanks for keeping me sane and hopeful in this world of ours', and a 'this is to try and balance out some of the bad stuff that's happened before' sort of gift all in one and it had sentiment I guess.

She paused in her dancing about and came back to me, tilting my chin and kissing me full on the lips right then and there, even though we were still in the corridor and any of the others could have stepped out and spotted as at any given moment and then we'd never hear the end of it.

But, you know, I really didn't give a fuck about that just then. I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her in closer and kissed her back, feeling happier then I had in ages.

Wasp broke away from me eventually to marvel at her new sword some more. "It needs a name." She declared after a moment, looking at me. "Why don't you think of one?" she suggested brightly, smiling again and something melted in my chest.

"Hell I'm really not that creative when it comes to names." I told her. "But, you know, we should break it in a bit, christen it that way, what say you?"

She cocked her head and then a sly grin crawled on to her crooked, beautiful face. "And how do you propose we do that?"

"Only one way to break in a blade."

I had my sabres up in an X to catch her machete as it came down towards me and she smiled at me wildly from under our crossed weapons. "Race you!" she shouted, whipping around and dashing off to the hanger and I laughed softly, trailing after her.

Man I'll tell you, nothing's hotter than a girl who's got some fight in her.


	23. Get Out Alive

**23**

**Get Out Alive**

**A/N: Xekstrin, this one's for you, baby. This one will make or break you. **

_**There's nothing left, so save your breath **_

_**Lying in wait **_

_**(Caught inside this tidal wave) **_

_**Your cover's blown, nowhere to go **_

_**Holding your fate**_

_**(Loaded I will walk alone) **_

_**Fire your guns, it's time to run **_

_**Blow me away **_

_**-Blow me Away, Breaking Benjamin**_

_**Evolution has begun **_

_**-Nucleus, A Dark Halo**_

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

"Well hot damn!" I crowed melodramatically. "We sure did score with the whole finding out secret information on the enemy thing! Like we're talking major jackpot here, huh?"

Angel snorted next to me. "Oh, totally. Hey, you know what would really spruce this place up?"

"What?" I asked, trying to keep my mad snickering under control.

"_Anything_."

I collapsed against his shoulder, laughing hysterically. I mean come on, this was just too fucking funny; all of us getting all paranoid about this top secret recon mission we were going to pull when we finally reached one of these terras and then we end up here instead, on this lovely piece of completely uninhabited terra. I mean man, talk about irony.

Falshade came up behind us and smacked both of us upside the head simultaneously. "Oh knock it off you two." He said irritably.

Varan made a sighing noise, scuffing some of the dry earth below his feet. "Damn." He said. "Well this was a bust."

"Aw, don't feel bad there, eh." Fraggle said, clapping his shoulder comfortingly. "I mean we still got another four terras to check out, right? That's like still at least a one-in-four chance we'll find something, eh."

"Kudos for figuring that out all on your own." Angel congratulated sarcastically and got another smack from Falshade.

"Fraggle's right, Var. Plus if the Cyclonians had activity going on at this terra they must have had a reason, right? Let's go look around a bit, maybe we'll find something that'll tell us what exactly was so interesting about this place." Falshade added on, trying to cheer him up.

"Probably was the lovely scenery." Angel commented and then ducked behind me to avoid Falshade's fist. As Falshade waved a hand at the rest of us to get us to follow though Angel leaned back towards me. "Fifty bucks says this place used to be an amusement park." He said, only pretending to keep his voice down.

I smirked. "Nah, I'm thinking this was a real nice shopping mall at one point."

Falshade gave us a nasty look.

I trailed along after the others as we made our way over the flat, barren terra. I didn't really want to say anything because I didn't want to tear holes all through Varan's plan, especially because he'd gone to Repton himself to get these coordinates, but I was having a hard time believing the Cyclonians really had been doing anything on this terra at any point in time. Not only was it completely abandoned right now, it looked like it had never had any occupants at any point in time during its long, terra life. But then, it had taken us for freakin' ever to get here, so we might was well check it out, get some sunshine and stretch our legs a bit anyways, right?  
Just then Wasp, who'd been loping around the terra since we'd gotten here, happy as always to be away from the confines of the _Merlin_ for awhile, came careening towards me and shoved something alive and wriggling right in my face ecstatically.

"Look what I've discovered!"

"WASP!" I shrieked, reeling backwards and tripping on my own feet, falling to my butt on the hard, dry earth. "Get that thing out of my_ face_!!!"

The others stopped and turned to see what the commotion was. "Oh my god, you're afraid of snakes _too_?" Angel asked tiredly. "How much more of a girl can you be?"

"I'm not afraid of them." I snapped irritably, getting back to my feet. "I just don't appreciate having them shoved into my face is all. And for your information I _am_ a girl, thanks, so I'm probably gonna act like one once and awhile." Although, you know, just 'cause you're a girl doesn't automatically mean you're afraid of snakes or anything, as Wasp was so kindly pointing out.

"Wasp, put that thing down, for all you know it's poisonous." Falshade told her as said snake, russet red in colour and squirming like mad, slithered and weaved through her cradling fingers.

"Nah, it's okay, his head's the wrong shape, see?" Wasp assured him, stroking the snake's head in demonstration. "The poison ones have sharper faces, you know?"

Poisonous or not the snake apparently wasn't too pleased at being carried around like a cute little animal and chose this moment to bite Wasp on the wrist bone.

"Hey, ow!" Wasp said, surprised. "Bad snake, no no no!" She gently pried the snake's jaws open until it released her. "He likes me, see?" she said to me as I gave her a look. "That's just a love bite."

"Uh-huh."

"I think I'll name him Romeo." Wasp carried on and I wasn't sure if she was talking to us or not anymore. "Romeo, Romeo, where art thou Romeo?" she warbled then thrust the snake high above her head in one hand. "I am here! Hiss!" she said then frowned. "Hmm...Hey, Varan can you do a hiss for me?"

Varan gave her a displeased look and flicked his forked tongue at her, disgruntled. "Do I look like a trained monkey to you? Go put the snake back, Wasp."

"But I-"

"Look he was probably enjoying himself on some sunny rock or other and then you went and interrupted him. That's probably why he bit you." Varan explained. Wasp's eyes went wide and she looked down at her snake, appalled.

"I'm sorry!" she cried and took off again to bring the snake home.

"Hey good one, eh, she didn't even ask to keep that one." Fraggle said with a grin.

"Anyways shall we carry on?" Falshade asked and we kept going, kicking up little clouds of red-orange dust in our wake, which Angel, Fraggle and I soon turned into a bit of a game, kicking dirt at each other and darting around Varan and Falshade to avoid each other's volleys, getting coated in a fine layer of grit. Wasp joined us again a little later, following behind me and trying to step on the backs of my shoes childishly.

"So what're we doing here again?" She asked. "I thought we were supposed to do something sort of secret-like."

"We were, if the place was inhabited." Falshade explained. "This place isn't, so we're looking for clues, you know? Something that'll tell us why the Cyclonians where here."

Wasp eyes widened. "Oh, oh! Clues! I like this game!" she took off again, running here and there out in front of us, stopping occasionally to sniff at a pile of rocks or a crack in the earth. To be honest I was glad to see her running around and enjoying herself so much; I'd been so worried about her after the whole, messy Prophecy thing, especially when she'd been bleeding and screaming like she was, but she really seemed to be okay, cheerful and full of zest again, no more twitching episodes or clawing at her temples, no more muttering to the noises in her head or bloody noses. Maybe stopping with that medication really had been in her best interest.

Just then there was a loud, ominous groaning sound that seemed to echo up from the terra itself and I swear I felt the ground shake beneath my sneakers. The others paused, looking around nervously.

"Did the rest of you feel the terra shake too or was that just me, eh?" Fraggle asked.

"No, I felt that." Falshade said. "Felt like a really small earthquake... let's keep going but be careful you know, if it does that again we should get out of here." He looked ahead of us where Wasp was still dashing and twirling about like a dog that's been cooped up way too long indoors. "Hey, Wasp, don't get too far ahead, okay?" he shouted out to her. We saw her pause, wave, and then abruptly vanish literally into thin air.

"WASP!" the rest of us cried out in alarm and we took off at a run to where we'd seen her disappear. Angel was the first one to get there and abruptly he tried to stop himself in a full tilt run, grit flying up like mad under his skidding boots. "WHOA!"

Falshade had been close behind him and only just managed to catch him around the waist before he tumbled off the edge of what turned out to be a very sheer cliff, the lip of a great massive hole carved like a meteor crater into the earth.

"Thanks, man." Angel said and Falshade nodded, releasing him. Angel threw himself onto his stomach and peered over the edge. "Wasp, are you okay?"

I crept over to the edge hesitantly too, my heart pounding in the back of my mouth, to find Wasp had slipped from the edge of the cliff but by some stroke of luck landed on a tiny ledge about ten feet below. She looked up at us and waved a shaky hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She assured us.

"You guys are going to kill me, seriously." Varan groaned, hand over his chest. I patted his foot comfortingly before unslinging my axe from my back and offering the handle down to Wasp below.

"Here, grab on." I told her and she complied, wrapping her long fingers around the shaft and I heaved on my end, trying to pull her up and epically failed. Varan came to my aid and grabbed a hold too, hauling Wasp back up in one swift tug.

"You are one lucky little Faeire you know, kiddo." He told her and she just grinned as if, you know, she hadn't almost plummeted to her death.

"Huh." Angel said, sitting back from the ledge. "So it's a mining terra. Well shit, I could have thought of that. It's probably why we felt that earthquake back there though; whole integrity of the terra's been compromised."

"Hmm..." Falshade said distractedly, leaning out over the edge, looking down into the pit. Angel glanced up at him.

"And you're thinking of going down there anyways, am I right?"

"You know me too well." Falshade said, ruffling his hair. "But yeah, we should go down there and check it out, see if we can figure out what they were mining down there."

"Crystals, duh." I said and Falshade rolled his eyes.

"Well I know _that_, thank you, Stork. I mean what _kind_ of crystals? For all we know this could be where they got the type they're using now to make these soldiers of theirs."

"Yeah, no offence here Shade, but I'm gonna put my money on Firebolt crystals instead. If this crystal of theirs is so high tech there's no way they would have left traces of it lying around behind them, they would have blown this place to smithereens after clearing out." Angel pointed out in that annoying drawl of his.

"Well you've never had much faith in my ideas." Falshade said offhandedly, evidently still keen on going to have a look down there anyways. "Now there's gotta be a way down that doesn't include a whole lot of broken bones."

"Over that-a-way." I said, pointing out across the huge expanse to where there was a large pathway scooped out of the cliff wall, a slope for carting rock out of the crater.

"Alright, over that-a-way it is, come on." Shade said with a nod to me, hauling Angel back to his feet. "And for the love of _god _nobody play that 'Saved your Life' game right now."

"Aw, damn." Angel griped. "Oh and _you_." He rounded on Wasp. "You stick with us now, got it?"

Wasp sighed and scuffed her foot but obliged for once, following after me dejectedly as we made the long trek around the edge of the pit. Along the way another tremor shook the terra beneath our feet and to be honest I started feeling a little paranoid; I mean what was to say the whole place wasn't just going to up and collapse at any moment?

"You know what would have been a brilliant idea?" Angel asked at one point.

"I have a feeling you're going to tell me anyways." Falshade said with a sigh.

"Bringing our _skimmers_." Angel carried on and I kinda had to agree with him. Okay admittedly it wasn't that far of a walk, maybe like fifteen minutes, but it was hot out and the ground was hard and rough, really not great if you wanted to avoid blisters.

"Oh what are you whining about, you grew up on this sort of terrain!" Falshade snapped, probably snubbed that he hadn't thought of the same thing earlier.

"I'm not whining, I'm just stating the obvious. Plus Fraggle looks like he's gonna melt." Angel said. Falshade turned to get a good look at said Blizzarian.

"Aw, sorry Fraggle. You can go back if you want."

"Nah eh, I'm alright." Fraggle insisted, although he was panting pretty roughly by this point. I made a mental note to keep an eye on him in case he collapsed suddenly of heat stroke.

We made our slow way down into the open mining pit and thankfully we found it was a lot cooler when we got down there.

"Buried treasure!" Wasp exclaimed, clambering up onto a rusty old neck of a collapsed, abandoned crane. "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!"

"Get off of that thing before it falls down the rest of the way, you monkey." I told her with a grin and she jumped down onto my back, running her fingers though my sweaty hair.

"Okay, so let's split up a bit and see if we can't find anything." Falshade said. "But nobody go too far, like stay in sight of each other and don't go rooting around anywhere that doesn't look stable; last thing I want to do is have to dig one of you out of a pile of rubble."

I saluted him, shook Wasp off me gently and went to start looking around the mouths of some of the old tunnels, climbing into abandoned mining carts to see if anything had been left in the bottoms. After a while of finding nothing I fought past my initial wariness of those gaping tunnels and ventured into one a little bit, scrounging around the rough-hewn walls, looking for evidence of crystals. However I knew this was a pretty fruitless search; if there were even any crystals left they'd be further down, deeper in the terra's interior and there was no way in hell I was going down there; for one thing if there was another earthquake I'd be buried alive. For another... well it was just creepy down there, alright?

I sighed and thunked back against a wall, ready to give up and tell Shade we should just leave here and hope for better luck with the next terra, when something shifted above me. I started, looked around wildly and then let out a yelp when something came clattering down from the tunnel roof and bounced off the top of my head.

"Ow." I griped, rubbing my skull and then practically pounced on the thing that had been dislodged from the ceiling when I located it in the semi-darkness. "Oh ho, score!" I cheered, doing a bit of a victory dance while no one could see me and then scooted out of my tunnel and back into the pit. "Hey! I found something!"

I was interrupted from my triumph when I heard Fraggle let out a piercing yelp from the other end of the pit and turned to see him fall to his ass in the dirt and clutch his hand, swearing and sobbing.

"What?" Falshade called out, worried, and I followed after him as he hurried over.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man, I'm done for, eh!" Fraggle whimpered.

"What happened?" Falshade demanded again.

"I got bit by something, eh, oh man, I'm gonna die!"

Angel had made his way over by this point. "Did you see what it was?" He asked, sounding a pretty concerned, which was a lot, coming from him. Then again he knew all about what kind of nasty, venomous creepy crawlies called these sorts of terras home.

"I didn't see it, eh, it's was up in there." Fraggle jabbed a finger at a small crevice up on the wall and Angel went over to investigate as Varan arrived and picked up Fraggle's hand, examining it around all the fur.

"Does it look bad?" Falshade asked, looking over his shoulder as I sat next to Fraggle and rubbed his shoulder soothingly.

"I can't even see what I'm supposed to be looking at." Varan said irritably.

"Gotcha!" Angel said suddenly and backed away from the wall, something black and wriggling dangling from his fingertips: a nasty-ass looking scorpion.

"Angel, are you _insane_???" Falshade snapped at him. "Drop that thing, now!"

Angel ignored him, examining the disgusting little thing as it jabbed uselessly with its stinger, which he had pinned between his thumb and forefinger so it couldn't stab him. "Oh, Fraggle, you'll be fine." He said after a minute. "This kind is practically harmless."

"_Practically_???" Fraggle said hysterically. "It's a fucking scorpion, eh!"

Angel rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and not all scorpions are deadly, idiot. These ones have venom that's meant to paralyze, like, dung beetles, you'll be fine, hand might get a little tingly, that's it."

"Says _you_." Fraggle whimpered. "For all we know that's a completely different kind then the ones you're talking about, eh! Oh man they're going to have to chop my arm off and everything..."

"Fraggle for fuck sakes, grow a set, would you?" Angel snapped. "Look, I know what I'm talking about, you'll be _fine_."

"And what if you're wrong?" Fraggle whispered, eyes engorged.

"Well then I'll buy you your headstone, how's that sound?"

Fraggle sobbed into his knee and Varan clocked Angle hard in the side of the head.

"Get rid of that thing, now!" He snapped and Angel tossed the scorpion to the side without a second glance, rubbing his head sullenly.

"I'm telling you, you'll be fine, you big baby." He told Fraggle sternly.

I decided to clear my throat at this point to interrupt any further conflict. "So I found something." I said loudly and the four of them turned to look at me.

"You did? Well why didn't you say anything sooner?" Angel asked and I made an exasperated noise.

"Just show us what you have, Stork." Falshade said tiredly and I produced the crystal from my pocket.  
"There you are, hope it's useful, bloody thing came right down on my head." I said stonily while Falshade took the crystal from my hand and examined it curiously, tilting it back and forth so it could catch the light from different angles.

"Anybody know what kind it is?" he asked after a minute. "'Cause I've got nothing."

"Where the hell is our damn crystal expert?" Angel said grouchily and turned, letting out a sharp whistle. A few moments later Wasp scrambled over and skidded to a halt in front of him with a salute.

"Reporting for duty!"

"Here." Shade tossed her the crystal. "You know what that is?"

Wasp held the crystal in her hand, cocking her head to look at it from different directions. Then she brought it up to her nose, sniffled at its facets and then drew her tongue in one long swipe over its surface. I pulled a face.

"Ew, Wasp, do you have any idea where's that's been?"

Wasp shrugged then abruptly passed it back to Falshade. "No clue. What is it?"

Falshade smacked a hand to his face. "Wasp, I was asking _you_ what it was. You're our crystal specialist after all."

Wasp looked affronted. "Well you guys just sort of gave me that job, I never said I was very good at it."

Unfortunately she had a point.

Angel suppressed an irritated noise. "Okay, well, does it smell like the type of crystal that Halo and the others are using?"

Wasp seemed to think about it, tapping her chin thoughtfully, grabbing Falshade's wrist to give the crystals another good sniff. "Nope, that's not it. But it does seem kinda familiar... I think it's like the kind they use in their weapons. But it smells off."

"Raw Firebolt." Angel said immediately. "Ha, snap, who called that? That would be _me_. This is where the Cyclonians must have gotten all their crystals."

Falshade sighed. "Damn. Wasn't even really worth the look was it? All we got was this dumb old thing and a scorpion bite."

"Scorpions sting, actually." Angel pointed out and Falshade swatted at him.

"Aw don't feel bad, Shade. I mean yeah, we might not have gotten anything really big out of this, but hey, if we hadn't of checked it out we wouldn't have known for sure what they were up to here, right?" I said and I had to admit that was a pretty lame argument.

"Yeah, _darn_, that would have kept me up all night." Angel agreed sarcastically and I kicked him in the shin.

"Well, come on, let's get going then, Fraggle's right, there's still four more terras out there." Falshade said half-heartedly, heaving Fraggle to his feet. Fraggle suddenly looked inspired and held his hand out to Wasp.

"Am I gonna die?" He asked her hoarsely and she shrugged.

"Sorry, I'm no good at palmistry."

"Sniff it, damnit!" Fraggle snapped and Wasp made an 'oh' face before sniffing at his fingers briefly and then sneezed when his hair tickled her nose.

"Nah, you're fine."

"Phew." Fraggle blew out a long sigh of relief then abruptly brightened considerably, stretching lazily. "Welp, good enough for me, eh."

"Oh wow, thanks, you couldn't have believed me when I told you that the first four times?" Angel grumbled.

"Always better to have a second opinion, eh."

Angel threw his hands upwards in frustration and turned on his heel. "Let's get the fuck out of here." He growled and strode off without waiting for the rest of us.

The trip back seemed to take even longer then the trip out there had and halfway around the crater I was about ready to keel over from thirst and I demanded a break for water.

"I is thirsty! Appease me!" I shouted and, in response, Falshade threw a water bottle at me.

"Appease this, brat." He said, but he mussed up my hair to show he was just teasing and stopped to drink from a second water bottle before passing it to Varan. "Man was the walk here this long?"

"I was just thinking the same thing." I agreed. "Must by the sourness of disappointment weighing us down."

"Poetic." Varan congratulated me sardonically.

"Ah, you all are a bunch of lazy bastards." Angel quipped, taking my water bottle and making exaggeratedly sure to wipe the mouth of it extensively before drinking from it.

"Wow, you still believe in cooties or what?" I asked snidely. "And you were the one who-" I cut myself off when a big ol' nasty insect, black with a really unfriendly looking stinger, landed on my arm. "Oh come on!" I said, disgusted. "Man I'll be glad to put this place and all its ugly critters behind us. Off my arm, bug!"

"Stork, don't!" Angel suddenly shouted at me but I'd already been in mid-slap when he did so I ignored him and squashed the gross looking thing before it decided to lay its eggs in me or something.

"Sucker didn't stand a chance." I applauded myself, moving to wipe the splattered remains from my arm when Angel snatched up my wrist and brought my arm up for examination.

"Dude, let me go before I decide to smush you too!" I snapped. Hey I wanted those bug-guts off me, alright?"

Angel, surprisingly, did let me go. "Oh for shit sakes." He groaned. "_Run_."

"What?" Falshade, Varan and I all said in unison, confused as all get-out.

Angel stared at us as if he couldn't believe our stupidity. "Run, morons!" he shouted and then he literally turned around and took off towards the _Merlin_.

"Boy's lost his marbles, eh." Fraggle commented, taking another drink from his water bottle casually.

"Ow!" Falshade said, smacking the back of his neck. "The hell?" He pulled his hand back to find the splattered remains of another insect on his palm. Right around then Fraggle yelped and swatted at a third insect that had stung his ear.

And that's probably when we all heard it, a low, ominous buzzing sound, and turned around to see what looked like a miniature storm cloud of black insects, speeding right towards us.

The next string of words weren't exactly the most intelligent to ever be uttered among us Gargoyles (which is saying something):

"SHIT!" I shrieked, stating the obvious.

"BEES!" Fraggle yelped, again stating the obvious.

Falshade was the only one who had anything sensible to say. "RUN!" He shouted and tore off after Angel. The rest of us didn't need telling twice (or, ahem, a fourth time).

I felt something sting me between the shoulder blades and tried to smack the damn thing while running. Then I felt another one get me on the arm and yelped, swatting around me like a lunatic as the buzzing got louder behind us. Those fucking things were _chasing_ us, I shit you not!

And here was the problem; yeah sure I train hard, I'm a tough little thing, muscular, athletic, what have you. But, thing is, on the Atmos, running isn't exactly high on your list of priority training areas. Like try and take me on in a sword fight, you're done, sucker. And a dog-fight? Oh, bring it _on_, man. But running? Meh, you could probably beat me in a race. Not like I'm slow or out of shape, but it's like I'd trained for the swimming and biking part of a triathlon and totally forgot about the running part. So, needless to say, I'm not the fastest little blonde on two legs.

And the problem with that was, the others were friggin' speed demons, man. Angel already had a great head start but Falshade managed to catch up with them, both of them evidently still in great shape for running after hours of doing laps at the Academy. Wasp wasn't far behind them, her long, ropey legs carrying her swiftly if a little clumsily over the smooth desert plain. And Varan wasn't that slow either, considering he had a tail and all to trip him up; he was on Wasp's heels.

So, ho hum, here are me and poor Fraggle, who, you know, spends a lot of his time standing around doing nothing all day, left behind treacherously by our so called _friends_ as insect fodder. The ol' 'I don't gotta outrun the axe murderer, I just gotta outrun _you_.'

And I'll tell you something, it makes it really hard to just focus on running when you've got a bunch of monster black hornets tangling in your hair and stinging your back.

So difficult in fact that just about _anybody_ would have tripped over that rock, jeez.

"Don't leave me!" I yowled, finding myself face-first in the dirt and scrambling to get back up. At first I thought Fraggle was just going to keep running but then he skidded, darted back to me and grabbed me by the arm, hauling me up beside him as he continued to leg it like mad back to the sanctuary of the _Merlin_.

And man if I thought the walk out and around the crater had seemed long, the run back to the _Merlin_ was just about unimaginable, the agonizing distance never seeming to get any shorter. But those bees were still on our tail and there was no way I was leaving my carcass behind to become a nursery to bee larva, no sir, no fucking way. So finally I found myself scrambling up the ramp and plunging deep into the hanger, not bothering to stop and collapse, until I heard the doors roll shut behind me. Then I just keeled over and gasped for breath on the floor, my back smarting like nobody's business.

For a few minutes there was just the sound of our collected panting as we all tried to get our breathing back in order. Then Falshade finally spoke up. "Did we lose anybody?" he asked breathlessly from where he was flaked out on the floor.

"Don't think so." Varan said, leaning against the wall near the bay door switch. "The _hell_ were those things?"

"I've affectionately named them Hell on Wings." Angel reported. "Would it kill you to listen to me for once?" he shot at me and I glared at him.

"_Excuse_ me? You say that like it was _my_ fault those things tried to eat us alive!"

"Well, it was! I told you not to squash that thing!"

"Oh my god, I was in mid-smack, nobody would have been able to stop that sort of blow!"

"Well, genius, maybe you could have at least tried; you squish one of those things and they release like, this pheromone that gets the whole hive out for your blood. And they'll chase you for miles." Angel shuddered at some distant memory.

"So, in other words, those friggin' _bees_ have more loyalty then you do." Fraggle said then, leaning against a crate and trying to pick a stinger out of his arm.

Angel sat up and fixed him with a steely look. "_Pardon_?"

"Ya fucking took off and left the rest of us for dead, eh!" Fraggle snapped, irritated by the fact that he not only had a handful of nasty, swelling bee stings but also a scorpion sting thrown into the collection as well.

Angel looked outraged. "I told you idiots to run not once but _twice_! Again, further proof, you're boneheads, all of you! You learn this in basic training; someone says freeze, you freeze, someone says duck, you duck, someone says _run_, you fucking _run_!"

"Well, no offence here, Ange, but you did look sort of crazy running off like that." Varan said reasonably. Angel scowled.

"I don't care if I looked crazy. _I_ didn't get stung."

Suddenly Wasp started laughing so hard she fell off the crate she'd been sitting on. We glanced over at her to make sure she was alright.

"Um...Wasp? Would you like to share that with the class?" I asked carefully.

Wasp was choking for breath. "Oh man..." She wheezed. "We just had to run... from _bees_!!!" she collapsed into hysterics. "_BEES_!" she shrieked and fell back, curling to her side with laughter.

"Evidently you were lucky enough to avoid being stung." Falshade grumbled, reaching for the back of his neck. "Shit that hurts! What the hell kind of bees have to have stingers that _big_?"

Angel slid over behind him. "Hold still." He ordered and picked the stinger from the back of Falshade's neck, where he had a nice, big, mottled red and purple mark swelling. I glanced at my arm and was appalled by the size of the lump swelling there. God my back must have been a mess.

Angel looked over at me. "You didn't get stung too much, did you?" he asked, finally sounding a little less hostile and a bit more concerned.

"Oh, no, just about a good fifty times." I snapped, feeling pretty cranky at this point.

"Let's see." Angel said, making a motion for me to tug up the hem of my shirt and I glared daggers at him.

"Piss off."

Angel rolled his eyes. "My god Stork, it's your _back_ for god's sake, I'm not telling you to strip naked."

"Stork, come on, he's just trying to help." Varan added.

I made a growling noise. "I feel your hands anywhere near my bra and I'm going to kick you so hard you can forget about ever having kids." I vowed and Angel rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm not even tempted." He muttered to himself and I flipped up the back of my tank top. I heard the guys hiss behind me.

"What?" I demanded.

"Nothing!" They all said a little too quickly.

"Don't do that to me!" I snapped. "...Those bees aren't, uh... deadly, are they?" I asked in a considerably less harsh tone.

"Well, no, I don't think so." Angel said, not sounding so certain of himself as he brushed his fingers over my skin gently, picking out stingers where they were still stuck in my skin and I winced. "...You aren't allergic to bees, are you?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay, well... you should be fine. Might get a bit sick to your stomach though, this is a lot of stings."

"Fan-fucking-tastic." I grumbled, hugging my knees irritably. "Well, this has to be probably my favourite mission so far. But then who knows, maybe the next terra will have giant spiders."

Wasp snorted. "_Bees_." She giggled to herself.

"Aw, Stork don't be like that." Falshade wheedled. "I'm sorry you kinda got the brunt of that and all, but you know considering what we could have run into out here..."

"Yeah, yeah, truth be told I'd rather take on Halo and his little band of crystal enhanced douchebags then a swarm of angry bees any day." I said crabbily, not entirely lying. I mean hey, least you can fight back against the former.

"Actually same here." Angel agreed.

"Got a bit of a bee phobia there, eh?"

"I'm not _afraid_ of them, thank you." Angel said irritably. "I just hate being stung. You would too if _you_ got _your_ foot stuck in one of their underground nests as a kid."

"Oooh, sorry I asked, eh." Fraggle said with an understanding nod. "Guess I'm kinda lucky I got all this fur, eh, or I'd look as bad a girly there."

"Thanks." I grumbled.

Varan came up behind me then for a closer look. "Oooh, Stork." he groaned sympathetically. "I hope we have something to put on those to make them feel a bit better."

"There, got 'em all." Angel reported and I stood up, tugging my shirt back down.

"Okay, well, let's get this freak show on the road I guess. Nothing here but raw crystals and killer bees." I said gruffly.

Falshade got up as well. "Yeah, good idea. Who knows, there's still a lot of daylight left, maybe we can check out another terra before today's over. If, you know, you guys are still up to it. I'll totally understand if you're not."

"No point wasting any more time." Angel said, stretching.

"You don't get an opinion on this." I told him sharply. "You didn't fall into a pit, get stung by a scorpion or get stung multiple times by marauding bees."

"You're all a bunch of babies. Oh I got stung by a scorpion, boo fucking hoo. If you're bitching about this I'd really hate to hear from you when, you know, we get into another battle or something."

"I seem to remember a certain someone complaining a lot about his teeth not too long ago." Varan interjected then and Angel stared at his boots, uttering an awkward coughing noise.

"Well... whatever. Fine. Let the babies decide." He muttered.

"Keep in mind said babies can kick your scrawny little desert ass from here until next Tuesday, eh." Fraggle warned him. Then he flexed his hand experimentally. "You know, I'm okay, eh. I say we keep going, Cupcake's got a point, shouldn't waste any more time then we have to."

I sighed. Well, my back hurt and all but then I wasn't going to be the little princess in all this and ask for time off just for some bee stings. What's that word, martyr? Yeah, that's me all the way. "Yeah, fine, I don't feel so bad, let's see if we can find somewhere else today."

Falshade smiled. "Okay, great. Let's go look at those coordinates again and put this place behind us."

"I'll do it if you want." Varan offered when we reached the bridge as I made my way towards the map to see where we had to go. "I've already got all the locations marked off anyways. You go sit."

"Are you trying to steal my job?" I asked him teasingly but took his advice and sat on the couch. Wasp crawled up next to me and licked the lump on my arm dolefully. "Poor Stork-y." She hummed sympathetically.

"Yeah, yeah, poor Stork." Angel taunted, sitting on the arm rest next to me. "Always getting into trouble, that girl." He held out a small jar for me. "Here, baby."

"Thank you, Cupcake." I retorted. "What's this?"

"For the stings, genius. It'll make 'em feel better."

"Daww, thanks." I said genuinely. "Uh..." I sighed then passed him back the little jar, lifting the back of my shirt again.

"See, it's not that bad. Heaven forbid we guys see you and your precious skin that you work so hard at covering." Angel said melodramatically, smearing on some of the ointment in the jar. Almost instantly it was like a really nice cooling sensation seeping into my skin and I sighed.

"Oh hush." I told him half-heartedly. Wasp sniffled at the salve with interest.

"That stuff stinks." She reported.

"Probably because it's been sitting in the bottom of my trunk under some socks I'd forgotten about." Angel explained casually. I pulled a face.

"Oh, hey." Varan said near the helm. "There's another terra really close by, like maybe two hours. What say you?"

"Might as well check it out." Falshade said with a nod.

"Alright then, keep her at a general south-east direction then, Fraggle."

"Aye aye." Fraggle said and lifted the _Merlin_ from the crummy little hell-terra, twiddling the steering and taking off in the direction Varan pointed.

"So we've got two hours to kill then." Angel said, coating the last of my stings with the miracle salve and passing it to Falshade to put on his neck. "...does that put us anywhere close to lunchtime?"

Varan rolled his eyes. "Go and make yourself a sandwich if you're hungry." Angel hopped off the arm rest and wandered off to the kitchen and I was able to lean back gratefully, angling my shoulders so my back didn't get pressed up against the cushions. I didn't feel nauseous or anything but my head felt sort of woozy all of a sudden. Wasp crawled over and curled up between my legs, resting her head on my stomach carefully with a sigh.

"You make a nice pillow." She informed me.

Falshade had gotten up and strode over to the piece of paper that we'd tacked to the bookshelf, the Prophecy that Wasp had spewed out only two days ago, copied out in Varan's messy scrawl.

"Since we've got the time I suppose we could make a bit of an attempt on this, right?" he said as if asking for our permission; I had a feeling he really did feel bad for dragging us into the pit to find nothing except scorpions.

"Sure." Varan agreed, examining the sheet as Shade set it on the table, sitting down in one of the chairs. "Although, and I don't mean to sound pessimistic here, this is just as confusing as the stuff in your dreams. It's like one big riddle."

"It's cryptic." Wasp said, eyes wide and enthusiastic.

"Indeed. But that doesn't really make it any easier to figure out what it means." Varan said. "Like the whole black wings things... what does that mean? Like the whole 'unfurling' makes me think it's something still to happen, but what could that be?"

"Yeah, 'whispers of the shadows inside' I don't get that." Shade agreed. "But that's only one little chunk. Some of the other stuff makes sense. Like the whole evolution evolved thing, the new breed of destruction, that's easy. It means the Berserkers I'm assuming, or at least the soldiers like Halo who have these added crystal powers."

"But we already knew that, eh." Fraggle pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but the Oracle said she didn't know exactly when we'd get these answers, some of them are bound to overlap with what we already know." Falshade reasoned. He looked over at Wasp, who was looking sort of put-out. "Aw, Wasp, don't be sad, honey. At least this proves our theory, right? That we're on the right track about this stuff."

"Hmm..." Wasp said. "I know. It just sort of sucks; I wish I could have been more helpful."

I patted her head. "You were sweetie. I mean look at all the stuff we didn't know about right? Now we've got a head start on figuring it out, like a cheat-sheet sort of thing, you know?"

"I guess so." Wasp said, looking a little more optimistic. Then she seemed to think of something. "Falshade you mentioned ashes before, right? Like about what they meant, right? And there's something in there about ashes, right?"

"Uh, yeah, that's right." Falshade squinted at the messy letters. "No offence Varan, but you couldn't have written this a _little_ neater?"

"Hey, I was in a hurry." Varan huffed. "It says 'light and dark will be thrown together and the line between will be as grey as the ashes from which on will rise', in case you're wondering."

"Thanks." Shade nodded. "Okay so... that matches up with something from my dreams all right. I see that pile of ashes a lot, and there's always something in it; usually it's this shiny looking thing but once it was a baby I'm pretty sure."

My insides froze as I started and Wasp looked up at me curiously.  
"You okay?"

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, I'm fine. That's just weird, that's all." Last time Wasp had mentioned ashes and phoenixes it had made me think of the fact that Stork had told me I'd been found in the ashes of the Scar, hence my retarded name given to me by the geniuses in the Sky Knight Legion. And now Falshade was saying he'd dreamed of a baby in the ashes, and he thought this somehow linked up to what the Prophecy was saying? Things were starting to spark off one another in my head, some sort of chain reaction that led, as always to a dead end. Angel was right, there was still a big piece of the puzzle missing. So what if I'd been found in the Scar and that might somehow link up in some way to Falshade's dreams? It still didn't explain _how_ that was, _how_ it was relevant and until we did know that the rest of it was next to useless. It's was like having all the numbers you needed for an equation but not the formula; the fuck were you supposed to do with them, right?

"So I'm thinking that means... someone is supposed to rise up, but it doesn't say from which side or anything so... fuck. Okay, next chunk." Falshade said, waving a hand at Varan for him to continue.

"What about this bit about old wounds?" Varan asked. "'Infection that has been festering underneath...' that's some nasty sounding symbolism right there."

"That kinda sounds like the whole Cyclonian thing." I said. "Like how they were involved in this by leaving all the technology behind to create the army that's out there now."

"Hmm... yeah that sounds pretty likely to me." Falshade agreed. "And then there's this bit here that kinda scares me: 'the bonds between us will grow tight like a wire, a snare...' I don't like that. What's that supposed to mean, the bonds between _us_ us? And if it is referring to us specifically then... what's going to happen to us?"

"The Oracle told us we have to stick together." Wasp murmured. "That we have to depend on each other and protect each other. The bonds between us are the most important thing we have; these Berserker guys, they don't care about each other and that makes them weak. She even told us, love is the most powerful and dangerous thing in the world."

"She told you that specifically, if I recall." Varan mused. "But she also said our bonds were going to be tested... that kinda worries me. Was she trying to say what the Prophecy's saying here, that we're going to be torn apart?"

"...What on Atmos would be strong enough to tear _us_ apart though?" Angel inquired, coming back from the kitchen, sandwich in hand and showing an uncharacteristic display of loyalty. "I mean come on... we're like... family, basically."

"Aww." Falshade teased but he was smiling in genuine as he gave him a playful nougie. "Damn right we are... dude, what the hell did you put on that thing?"

Angel looked at his sandwich. "I don't even really know. Anyways all I'm saying is I can't see us... what was the wording..." He leaned over to examine the sheet of paper. "Oh, I like this bit, being 'eaten from the inside'."

"That's not meant to be taken literally." Wasp said and Angel shifted her a look and it must have occurred to him that he'd sort of said that in a rather sarcastic tone.

"No I know... sorry, I'm not making fun or anything." He assured her, which took me rather aback. Then again Angel seemed to have taken down a lot of his 'I have an asshole reputation to uphold' walls when it came to Wasp. He sat down in a chair and bit into his sandwich. "Besides, this is all subject to change." He said with his mouth full and Varan swatted at him.

"How old are you going to be, eighteen? And you still can't learn to finish chewing before speaking."

In response Angel opened his mouth exaggeratedly and flashed Varan a good, glory look at his mulched up sandwich.

I felt Wasp stiffen against me suddenly. "...Whispers of the shadows inside." She murmured and looked up at Angel anxiously. He raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I really don't think you want any of this." He assured her, motioning to his sandwich and totally misinterpreting her look.

"You remember what the Oracle told you, right?" she asked him sharply, voice very clear. He shifted awkwardly.

"...Most of it."

"You remember what _I _told you?" she insisted and I felt my cheeks heat up for some reason, as if I'd stumbled upon something private between the two of them (and yeah usually I would have made a joke or something, but this seemed like _really_ private if you catch my drift).

Varan and Falshade looked in opposite directions awkwardly while Wasp held Angel's gaze determinedly. "Well?" she asked.

"Of course I do." He muttered earnestly.

"Good." She said, then snuggled back into me as if nothing had just happened. "Just make sure you do. It just might be important."

Falshade cleared his throat uncomfortably while Angel went back to his sandwich, avoiding our looks pointedly. "Okay, well... I dunno how to word this properly but Varan's made me a little nervous, so... yeah we're like family, so just remember that, you guys, even if you get pissed at each other." He seemed to direct this part at Angel and I specifically and we both gave him our infamous 'who, us, the two little innocent ones?' look.

"Stork can you believe that? When have I _ever_ been pissed off at you?" Angel asked me, feigning insult.

"Oh gosh, never!" I said with wide eyes. "Imagine _you_ and _me_ fighting, jeez."

"Why do you two have to ruin every single moment I try to make?" Falshade asked tiredly, but he was sort of grinning too. Well come on it was funny; Angel and I not fighting, psh, right.

"It's what we're good at. If you wanted to have all these touchy-feely moments you should have left us on that damn terra where you found us." Angel explained casually.

"I suppose." Falshade agreed. "But then who would I have to bash my plans all day and annoy the living shit out of me? Man, life would be so boring."

"Can't help but think it would be a bit more peaceful though." Varan decided to add.

"Yeah, but who the hell wants that?"

* * *

"Hey, Stork, wake up."

I opened my eyes to find Falshade hovering over me, shaking my shoulder gently. "Huuuuh?" I groaned, rubbing my face. "Waz goin' on?"

"You fell asleep. You feeling okay?" he asked. "Jeez you really did get the worst of those bees, huh?"

I stretched a bit, finding a cold spot where Wasp had been resting, heating me like my own personal little furnace and lulling me, aided by copious amounts of bee venom, into a very deep sleep. "Oh, hey, look at that." I said groggily. "Sorry, must have drifted off."

"That's alright, not like we were doing anything anyways. But, uh... we're there, you know, and you really have to get up now."

Oh man did I ever get up, springing off the sofa. "We are? Well why didn't ya say so? So what's the haps, what's up with this place?"

"Well Angel and I just flew some recon to check it out, because we didn't want to bring the _Merlin_ in too close in case and... this place isn't just some deserted nothing terra, I'll tell you that."

I felt all my energy come rushing back from where it had been tucked away while I slept off that bee venom (heh, who needs drugs when you have bees, am I right?). "Seriously? Details here, Shade!" I noted he was in his armour, ready for action and I felt my muscles start humming with anticipation.

"Well it's a base alright, we're thinking some sort of outpost maybe, because it didn't look too heavily guarded, but it's definitely got activity going on. And it's them alright. We saw some of them on Nightflyers, a patrol I think." He briefed me, moving towards the hanger. "Go get your gear on and meet us in the hanger... if you're feeling up to it. I don't want you to come along if you're feeling too out of it."

I shook my head furiously. "Do I look like a creampuff to you? Nah I'm fine, nap did me good." Admittedly _now_ my stomach was feeling a little queasy, as Angel had predicted, but my head was fine, no more wooziness, and there was no way I was staying behind for this.

Man it felt good to have my armour back on, although I felt a wee bit nervous too, recalling what had happened last time I'd charged too eagerly into battle. I double checked this time to make sure there was a parachute tucked under my Gargoyles emblem (I do learn from my mistakes, thanks), grabbed the backpack Stork had given me, which I'd recently re-filled with some important mission-y sorts of things, then scooted out into the hanger where the others were waiting.

"Got yourself a 'chute there, sleepy?" Angel asked me and I aimed a kick at him. Seriously, was I going to be hearing about that one forever?

"Shove it." I snapped, straddling my Hornet. Then I caught the way Falshade was eyeing me up critically. "I do, damnit!"

"Alright, alright, just checking." He assured me. "Okay, so remember, this is low profile. Don't go flying on ahead, there's a spot where we can land to get a look at what's going on and we'll think of a plan there. Savvy?"

"Savvy." The rest of us said and then followed after Falshade as he took off from the runway. I was surprised at how murky things suddenly seemed to be, considering how clear out it had been earlier, and not just a cloudy day murky either; the clouds were thick like smog and orange-ish in colour, like the glow around the Scar. Glancing back over my shoulder I realized Fraggle has docked the _Merlin_ in a little cleft in this large, wonky rock formation so that the further from it we got, the harder it was to see it. If you didn't know where it was it'd be next to impossible to find it. I guess that's one advantage of having such a small ship, anyways.

I followed close behind Varan's Bone Wing so as not to get separated in the bad visibility. Just the thought that this place was so murky and Scar-like made it seem like a likely candidate for a bad-guy hangout. Ahead Falshade suddenly went into a sharp dive and we followed suit, pulling up for an quick landing as, after plummeting through a few smoggy clouds, the flat top of another rock pillar jutted up into the sky, surrounded by broken rock formations; a perfect little look-out spot.

Shutting off my engine and tucking my skimmer between some rocks for now, out of sight, I hurried over to where Falshade was looking out between two larger rocks. He moved aside so I could see and when I stood on tip-toe to look out I got a good view of a large terra not too far in the distance. The longer I looked the more I saw about it that proved it was occupied by our favourite assholes. There were a few lone Nightflyers flying about the place, and at one point I saw one fly into a large mouth carved out of the terra's side, the entrance to what I could only assume was a hidden hanger.

"Dude, we totally found their hidey hole!" I cheered quietly. "Ha, those guys are in for it now!"

"I wouldn't say that's their main base of operations." Angel argued. "We would never have gotten this close without running into a wide patrol if it was. This looks like an outpost, maybe where they've got some of their supplies."

"Whatever it is, we've got to get in there and find out for sure." Falshade said. "I wanna know for certain what they're up to, what they've got hiding in there." He turned to the rest of us. "Okay, so, here's what I'm thinking; we're going to split up. One group goes in, the other stays out here to keep a tab on them. No sense all of us going anyways, we'll attract too much attention."

"...Yeah, but Shade, we're talking about going behind enemy lines here. We should stick together, in case things get messy." Varan argued evenly. I had to agree with him; I didn't exactly want to split up, not here, not when numbers might be crucial if we got in a pinch.

"I know that, but if we get cornered it's not going to matter if there's just two of us or all six of us." Falshade said. "If we need it I want to have back-up to come in to get us out of there, to keep us covered. And that way if things go... bad, then it's not all of us who get captured... or worse."

Varan's tail flicked uneasily but he made no further comment.

"Okay. I think it's obvious that I'm going." Falshade said. Well, duh Shade. "And Wasp, I want you to come with me too." Wasp, who'd been stacking pebbles on the ground, looked up, surprised. "I'm going to need a really good warning system while we're in there, and you've got the best ears and nose out of all of us. You'll be able to tell if they're coming for us miles before I will." Falshade explained and Wasp grinned.

"Okay, my ears and nose are at your service." She assured him, standing up with a salute.

"I'm coming too." Angel said then. "That'll make it even, three and three."

Falshade was shaking his head. "No, Ange, sorry, but you're staying out here."

"What? Why?" Angel demanded, getting a stubborn look in his eye.

"Because I need your eyes out here, keep an eye on the activity that goes on. If it looks like suddenly they're planning something, that there's a lot of movement out here, I need to know about it. Besides, that way there'll be a Sky Knight on each team."

Angel started to argue but I cut him off. "Then I'll come with you." I said.

Falshade gave me a look. "...No, you stay out here too."

"What?" I demanded. "And so what, you bring Varan or Fraggle? No offence you guys, but those two stick out like a sore thumb! I'm smaller than either of them, I'm quick, agile, I blend. Why-" It hit me then like a bolt of lightning. "...You don't want me to come." I said slowly and he shifted awkwardly. "What, are you afraid something's going to happen to me again?"

"Yes, alright?" He said sharply. "Look I don't like dragging any of you in there but you only just got back, you don't know these guys like we do."

"None of us know what it'll be like in there." Angel interrupted. "Stork's the better choice, Shade, you should take her with you. She can look after herself."

It was hard to tell who was more shocked, Shade or me. I mean Angel taking my side? Get out of here.

"Uh... thank you?" I strung out awkwardly and Angel rolled his eyes.

"I ain't doing you a favour, smarty. If I have to be stuck out here I don't also want to be stuck with _you_."

"Oooh." I got it now. "Yeah, good point. That'd be like, counter-productive."

Falshade rubbed his temples, making an irritated noise. "Would it kill you guys to work together for once?" he asked in a long-suffering tone.

Angel and I looked at each other for about three seconds before we both burst out laughing, leaning on each other for support.

"Oh man, when is the last time _we_ ever worked together?" Angel asked me honestly.

"I think on Shade's last birthday, remember, when we tag-teamed him for his birthday beats?" I recalled after thinking about it for a minute.

"Oh _right_. Man, good times."

"Yeah, sure was."

Falshade looked like he'd dearly love to crack our heads together. Varan intervened though before violence could ensue.

"Guys, cut it out would you?" he said to Angel and I sharply. "Let's remember where we are, here. And, Shade, I'm not picking apart your plan here, but Stork had a point; I mean come on, I might as well be holding a big 'Hey, We're Intruders!' sign if I go in there, and Fraggle's not exactly that subtle either."

"It's my good looks eh, they just radiate." Fraggle agreed matter-of-factly.

"Stork's right, she's smaller and probably makes a lot less noise then either of us would." Varan went on and Angel snorted.

"Stork not make noise? The girl's like a fucking garbage barge in an Eruption stone refinery!"

"I thought you were _against_ keeping Stork out here." Varan reminded him before I could smack him.

"...Oh yeah. Sorry, conflict on interests, carry on."

Falshade sighed. "...Alright." he relented at last and I cracked a grin of victory.  
"Sweet."

"Okay, so, we're going to need to be in radio contact with each other. I brought the portables, so-"

"Ah, shit, that's not going to work." Angel cut him off. "If they've got radio signals coming in and out of there, which the almost certainly do, they're going to be able to pick up our signal on their radar and hear everything we say. We might as well light a fire and shout 'Here we are!'."

"Why would we do that?" Wasp asked.

"Well, fuck." Falshade said. "Then how're are we going to-"

"Fear not, lady and gentlemen!" I said suddenly, rushing over to grab my backpack. "I, the magnificent Stork, have already prepared for such a situation!" I dug through my pack and produced a little boxy thing with a curly antennae and little green light bulb sticking from the top.

"Ta-dah! Know what it is?" I asked smugly.

"...Something your alarm clock gave birth to?" Angel asked sarcastically and this time I did smack him.

"I call it a Signal Spectre." I explained. "I dunno, guess spending all that time with Stork's made me paranoid, but I thought of it after I was able to pick up the enemy radio signals on my skimmer; that might be how're they're tracking us in the first place. So I made this; basically it cloaks your radio signal so no one else can pick it up or hack it, see?"

"Stork, you're a genius!" Falshade said, grabbing me around the shoulders tightly in a one-armed hug.

"Yeah, that's what I keep saying." I insisted. "Here, give me your radio." He handed it to me and I attached my Spectre to it, flicking it on so that the little green light started blinking. I took the other one and clipped the receiver for my Spectre to it, handing that one to Angel. "There, set the channel and only Falshade's radio will be able to pick it up."

"Girly, I hate to say it, but this thing really is clever." Angel relented. "Pity I didn't think of it."

"Ah well, you can't win them all." I said condolingly, clapping his shoulder.

"Okay, great." Falshade said, locking on to Angel's channel. "So that's that... I can't think of anything else we need, so..."

"Here, hold up." Varan said, unclipping something from his belt. "Take that, in case of an emergency." He said, handing Shade one of his smaller explosive devices. "Plus if we see that go off out here we're definitely going to know where to find you in there."

Falshade grinned, clipping the Bug to his belt instead. "Good idea. Alright, so, say we're not back in an hour, or at least, you haven't heard from us otherwise about it... that means we got into trouble."

"Which means we're going to have to storm the place and save your sorry asses." Angel concluded. "Well, no shit, Shade."

"Actually... I dunno. If you don't hear from us then I think that should mean a sort of 'assume the worst' thing and get _your_ asses out of here before they come looking for the rest of you." Falshade said and I felt a little conflicted about this; not like I was worried something was going to happen and not that I was upset that we would be heartlessly left for dead, but because if I were on the outside team, I wouldn't give a shit if it was dangerous, I'd go in after whoever had gotten in trouble. At the same time if something did happen to us I didn't want the others to get caught or worse too just trying to save our butts. Loyalty is a double-edged sword that way, when you have such a tight-knit thing going on as we do; you'd die for your friends, but you don't want to see them die for you.

"Nope, sorry, not gonna happen." Angel said. "We're not gonna leave you guys behind; that's just disgraceful."

"Yeah, what kinda squaddies do you take us for, eh?" Fraggle agreed.

Falshade sighed but smiled anyways. "Alright, alright. But if anything does happen... Angel, you look after the others. You gotta be the Sky Knight, if... you know, if something goes wrong."

Angel gave him a look smattered between irritation and assurance. "Right. But you're coming back. All three of you are or I'm personally going to skin you alive before those guys ever get a chance." He jabbed a thumb towards the terra in question. "Now get going before we all get spotted by a patrol and blow our surprise... which is sort of all we've got."

"We're going. Take care." Falshade said, ushering Wasp and I back to our skimmers.

"Yeah, you guys too. Don't do anything stupid." Varan told us and Shade and I had to grin.

"We'll try." We said at the same time and then took off, Wasp hot on our heels.

"Okay, we're going to go in wide, make a big circle until we see somewhere we can get in from, okay?" Falshade called to us as we banked swiftly and vanished into the clouds, out of sight, hopefully. "I'm hoping there will be somewhere on the far side of the terra where we can get in."

"Roger." I said and squinted into the clouds. Man if they did have patrols out here we'd never see one coming in all this smog. It made me feel really edgy for some reason, and it finally really struck me that hey, here we were about to try sneaking into enemy territory when we didn't have an even rough schematic of the place or any idea what kinds of numbers they had inside there or anything. I was reminded of the time when, driven into a temporary state of insanity by my loneliness, I snuck into the dormitories at the Academy in the middle of the night, seeking Falshade and Angel's company, because I was sick of staying alone yet again in my empty, run down little apartment. I'd felt sort of edgy about that too; I mean how embarrassing would that have been if I'd been caught, this strange girl wandering through the boy's dorms in the dead of night? I'd look like one hell of a sex offender.

This I suppose was a little more intense then that time; if we got caught here there was a good chance we'd have to fight for our lives to get out. You can see how that'd be a little more unnerving. Just a wee bit.

We circled around to the far side of the terra in a wide loop, avoiding breaking out into the open at all costs. We were flying pretty low actually, much closer to the Wastelands then one normally would, so now and again I could feel hot blasts buffeting my Hornet from below.

Falshade, who'd had a pair of binoculars up to his eyes for the last little bit, suddenly pointed towards the side of the terra. "There, got something! When we break cover we're gonna gun it for that spot down there, alright? Follow me!"

I tried to see what he'd been pointing at but what with all that murk I was completely lost. I just had to follow him blind when, after scanning the skies anxiously for a moment, he leaned forward on his throttles and took off, Wasp and I right behind him, speeding towards what seemed like solid rock. It was only when we were really close that I finally noticed what he'd pointed out, a thin trail that looped down from the terra top, leading to a little alcove in the terra-side.

And oh man was that almost a catastrophe waiting to happen. Try landing three skimmers, which are all speeding together one after the other, in this tiny little cave and then stopping on a dime. It's not fun.

Wasp's Gremlin crashed into my Hornet by accident and I got vaulted over my handle bars and onto the hard rock floor, only just managing to roll out of the way of Falshade's Ultra as it skidded to a halt. After a moment the cacophony of engines died down and Falshade lifted me back to my feet apologetically.

"Sorry, could have planned that better. You two alright?"

"Sorely bruised, but fine." I reported irritably. Wasp simply nodded. "So what's so fantastic about this spot, Shade?"

In answer he strode to the edge of our little hide-out and pointed upwards. Leaning out beside him I craned my neck and saw, about fifteen feet above us, a vent sticking out from the terra.

"Short of a welcome mat, that seems like a pretty nice invitation to come on in." Falshade said and I couldn't decide if I wanted to grimace or grin.

"Right, so how do you propose we get up there?"

Falshade pulled something out of the side compartment of his skimmer; rope complete with little grappling hook. Ah. So he'd brought his mountain-climbing gear.

It took three throws to finally get the grappling hook wedged securely in that grate (and I mean we had to be extra sure, last thing we needed was for it to let go on us, then we'd really be screwed). "Okay Stork, you go first." Falshade invited when we finally hooked the vent, passing me a screwdriver. "In case it doesn't hold mine or Wasp's weight." He added to my sour look.

"Fine." I huffed, grabbing the rope, tips of my toes just balancing on the edge of the cliff as I clenched my teeth around the screwdriver like an assassin would a knife or something and tried not to think of how very far down I'd have to fall if that grappling hook did let go; sure on my skimmer heights are no problem, but this was a little different, you know? Drawing in a deep breath I pulled myself up the rope, feet leaving solid ground so I was dangling there, thousands of feet in the air and really hoping my upper body strength was considerably more up to par then my running speed was.

Those fifteen feet did seem sort of like a long haul, but then, I fight with a huge-ass battle axe, so my arms were pretty strong and I wasn't breathing _too_ hard by the time I reached the vent. I got to work right away on taking out the screws from the sides and was so focused on my job that I was on the last two screws before I suddenly realized that, my god, this vent was the only thing the rope was attached to, the rope that I happened to be clinging to, and I'd just about unscrewed the whole thing!

Pushing the vent to the side slightly I managed to get enough of a gap to force my leg into the shaft that lay beyond the grate. At this point in time those last two screws where straining to hold my weight as I dragged down on the vent so I scrambled like mad to force myself into that tunnel opening, even though the vent wasn't completely out of my way and my poor, sore back got scraped up by the corner of it.

But then I was in and I unhooked our grappling hook, wedging it instead into the corner of the metal shaft that I was now crouched in, making sure it was in there good and solid. Then I quickly took out the last two screws and let the vent drop down below, apparently just missing catching Falshade in the head with it.

"Hey, warn someone before you're going to do that!" he said sharply.

"Well sor_-ry_." I muttered to myself. "Okay, come on up, the hook's in good, you'll be fine!" I called down, my voice sounding tinny and rattling in the duct.

Wasp scrambled up into the tunnel a moment later and I moved back to make room for her, pulling her in gently by her elbow. I might have been a little cramped in here but Wasp was practically squished, having to hunch her head down below her shoulders and sit on her knees. Falshade wasn't any better off when he joined us and for a moment I was worried his wide shoulders were going to get him stuck; the duct was barely two and a half feet wide and not much more then that height-wise.

"You okay?" I asked him as he scrunched in behind Wasp, cursing under his breath.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, so long as this thing doesn't get any smaller." He said like the words took an effort to get out and I decided not to point out that it was his idea to climb into this duct in the first place.

"So, okay, onward we go. Sorry Wasp, you're gonna have to follow my butt the whole way." I said, wiggling it in her face a little teasingly as I got on my hands and knees and started crawling down the tight little shaft, feeling like I was moving deeper and deeper towards the center of the earth or something. Behind me I could hear Wasp hyperventilating slightly.

"You okay back there?" I asked her.

"Uh-huh." She said, not sounding entirely convincing. "I just feel like the whole terra's swallowing us... man it's really tight in here."

I'd forgotten Wasp tended to get claustrophobic in places like this, and to be honest, I couldn't really blame her; I mean hell there was tons and tons of solid rock all around us, only separated from us by this thin little metal duct. It wouldn't take much, a simple fault in the design or a little earthquake or something and... crunch; Falshade, Wasp and Stork gumbo.

"...Hey, Stork?" Falshade called from the back, his voice sounding weird in the confined space.

"Yeah?"

"Any idea what type of duct this is? Like what's it for?"

"Uh..." I examined the walls briefly. "I'm thinking it's just a ventilation shaft. Why?"

"Just wondering, I wanted to get an idea of where we're going to end up."

"Well this will probably lead to some junctions that lead to other vents inside the terra, we just have to pick one that seems like a good shot."

"Alright... oh, _fuck_, it just occurred to me, our voices are probably being carried all over the place!" Falshade swore and I made a yipping sound, realizing we might have already blown our cover.

"Okay, after this, keep quiet." Falshade said and we fell into silence, the only sound echoing in that narrow little shaft aside from our low breathing was our knees bumping occasionally down hard on the thin sheet metal. I don't know how long we dragged ourselves through that god damn duct but eventually I was able to feel several cross-breezes and Wasp started sniffing ecstatically as we came upon, as I predicted, several junctions.

"Which way you wanna go?" I asked in a whisper as Wasp crawled on top of me to get a good sniff of the different passages.

"...This one smells safest. Like I mean I didn't smell any people down where this one goes." She said eventually, pointing at the tunnel to my left.

"Alright, that way we go then." Falshade agreed from behind us and Wasp scrambled off me again as I turned tightly in the small space and pulled myself into the new tunnel.

However, here was the thing; the first maybe foot of it was, as the rest of the shaft had been, horizontal, flat, straight. But then, and I hadn't been able to see this from around the corner, it dropped into a bit of a sudden slope. And the problem was I'd been so intent on hauling myself forward I didn't have any time to stop my forward momentum and I ended up pitching head first down this chute. And, to make matters worse, I let out a squeal too, which most definitely must have travelled through the whole complex.

After a rough ride, a good twenty foot drop, I was finally halted when I crashed into the sheet metal again at the bottom of the slope where the tunnel abruptly turned to the right.

"Owwww." I groaned, clutching my head. I was so wrapped in my own self-pity I didn't hear the scrabbling noise until it was way too late.

That scrabbling noise, as it were, turned out to be Wasp, who was trying to grasp purchase in the stainless steel chute and failing miserably. She came careening into me a moment later, blasting the air from my lungs and crushing me up against the end of the tunnel once more.

And that might not have been so bad if _Falshade_ hadn't come shooting out from the impromptu slide not a second behind her, crashing hard into both of us and crunching me at the bottom of the air-duct pile-up, one of Wasp's machetes digging its hilt into my ribs and somebody's boot jammed in the small of my back, my poor back!

There was a lot of groaning, swearing, popping of joints and attempting to suck it up from the three of us as we detangled ourselves from each other's limbs and tried to get off each other. In the tight space we were trapped in though, this proved difficult.

"Shit, I'm sorry, you guys okay?" Falshade asked, hauling himself off Wasp finally so Wasp too could roll off of me and I could finally breathe again.

"Ughhhh, my organs..." I wheezed, trying to suck some air back into my lungs. Wasp rubbed my back apologetically.

"Poor little Stork; I'm sorry, I heard you yelp like that and thought you were in trouble." She explained and I nodded, waving a hand.

"It's okay you two, I'm just being over-hey! I'm not _little_!"

"We're fine too, thanks." Falshade supplied dryly, groaning slightly as he shifted further from us for more space. "Well, we're down here, that's the point. So shall we carry on?"

Wasp nodded. "There's an opening up ahead I think." She said, sniffing. Suddenly she froze and I was worried maybe she'd smelled something else. But then she started whipping her head around, ears pricked intently. "What's that?"

Falshade and I strained our ears too and after a moment I was able to hear what Wasp was talking about as it raised slowly in volume; a rattling, whining sound like a turbine picking up speed.

"...Is it hotter in here suddenly?" Falshade asked slowly around the time I started to notice my palms were beginning to burn on the warming metal beneath us.

Something slowly started to dawn on me and I tilted my head to look back up the shaft we'd just tumbled down. At first I thought my eyes we're playing tricks on me; maybe I'd hit my head on the fall down. But after I rubbed my eyes it was still there, the air up top of the shaft rippling slightly like-

Heat waves.

"Oh god..." I croaked. "It's not a ventilation shaft, it's a _furnace_ duct!"

"_What_?" The other two demanded.

"GET OUT, NOW!!!" I shouted at them, shoving Wasp to get her moving, to hell with our voices carrying; in about thirty seconds we were going to roast alive, that was on top of my danger priority list.

We were scrambling like mad then, trying to haul ourselves through that damn tunnel, clawing and dragging our bodies forward desperately as the metal grew hotter and hotter around us, blistering our hands and knees, burning our shoulders and backs if we lifted ourselves too high. I was sure I could smell my hair starting to burn and my eyes were streaming as the air got so hot I couldn't breathe without searing my lungs, air shimmering all around us with the immense heat.

Falshade almost missed the grate Wasp had mentioned; he slid to a halt ahead of us, rolled onto his back and kicked upwards with both feet like a boxing kangaroo, boots slamming hard into the metal slats. It creaked and groaned but didn't pop free and he dropped more swear words in that moment then I think I've ever heard him say in one sentence before, slamming his boots into the grate a second time. It screeched against its restraints and the third blow was the charm because it burst free and clattered down again somewhere above us. Falshade scrambled up through the opening like the devil was after him, getting stuck for a moment halfway through because Sliver wedged his belt tight to the edges and he had to roll to his side to get himself free. Wasp shot up right after him and I scrabbled forward, sweat stinging my eyes as it poured off me like nobody's business. Falshade shot his arm down and grabbed me, half-hauling me out of there and I got scraped up some by the edges of the grate, but then I was outta there and I don't think fresh air had ever felt so good.

All three of us panted and gulped down as much cool air as we could into our scorched lungs, spreading over the cold metal floor under us gratefully for a minute, completely forgetting where we were and that any second we could have the enemy fall on us like vultures to a rotting carcass.

Finally though Falshade looked around, paranoid and still gasping. "Okay well... that definitely wasn't one of my better ideas."

"Ya think?" I said snidely, looking around as well, my relief to be out of that furnace duct replaced with unease and fret. And then that was replaced immediately with wonderful surprise. "Sweet Jesus I've died and gone to grease monkey heaven!"

"Stork!" Falshade hissed, grabbing me around the waist and hauling me back as I made a break for it, good sense gone in the face of sheer beauty before me. "Wake up, stupid! This is enemy territory, not a racing convention!"

"But... so... much... awesome." I drooled, struggling.

"Wasp, are we still alone?" Falshade asked, keeping a tight hold on me. Wasp was up, sniffing, ears revolving and flicking around intently.

"Nobody's in this room, no... but they're around... close by."

"Okay. Tell me if you hear anyone coming. Let's go check this out... and Stork, stay close." He warned me before letting me go and I was all over the first battle cruiser I could reach, looking over every glorious feature.

The grate we'd busted through had been located in the far corner of what turned out to be the enormous hanger bay of our bad guys' hideout; the large opening we'd seen in the terra-side earlier was at the far end, bay doors closed like massive jaws, so it was like we were inside of some colossal creature's mouth.

And this mouth happened to be filled with a dozen shining battle cruisers, gorgeous spectacles of destruction.

I was prancing around the nearest one, soaking up every inch I could: "Look at the size of those blasters! Look at the tillers, the thrusters! Man this thing is meant for heavy combat alright, look at how it could manoeuvre, for being so big this baby could turn pretty quick! How thick do you think that armour is?" And so forth.

"Stork, that's cool and all, but this is an _enemy_ vessel. We're not supposed to admire them." Falshade pointed out irritably, following after me.

"Yeah, but we gotta know what we're up against!" I argued. "For instance, these crystal inductors for the boosters, we don't have anything like that on the _Merlin_, meaning they have an advantage. Thing is we know that now, so ha! Look at these magnifiers for the crystal shields, very top of the line, no wonder these guys aren't getting hammered like they should, but one well aimed shot and those shields are gone baby gone... and dude, look at this, they're using after burners with their engines." I gave a 'tsk tsk' here. "Sure reuses twenty-five percent of the fuel, so that cuts time on converting and burning new crystals, possibly giving you a slight upper hand in battle, but that also means the engines have a higher chance of blowing up, especially with one well aimed blast from a certain sharp shooter I know... ha, these guys are _done _next time we run into them." I scooted over to the next ship, slightly bulkier, not like the ship I'd just been looking at, which had been your standard battle ship, evenly designed for speed, manoeuvrability, armour and firepower. This next one though, man it was a real bruiser; this monster was definitely meant to do some real damage, probably built to attack terras and larger carrier ships. It would be slow due to the sheer amount of armour on the thing, but it carried some really heavy duty blasters to make up for it.

"Jeez look at this bastard, huh? Bet you one of these cannons could punch a hole the size of Varan in the _Merlin_, easy."

"Good to know you're on our side and all about this." Falshade said sardonically.

"Well hey, you're supposed to know your enemy aren't you?" I shot back.

"There's a difference between knowing them and gushing over them."

"I don't _gush_!" I snapped and then something caught my eye about one of the nearby cruisers and I scrambled up a bit of scaffolding to get a better look.

"Stork get down, they'll see you for sure!" Falshade hissed. "What're you doing?"

"Look at this..." I breathed, ignoring him. "Rotational thrusters, double intake manifold, fuel injection boosters... all on the same engine... holy shit."

"What?" Shade demanded, anxious and tense.

"Falshade... this is an old Talon engine."

"..._What_?"

"This is the kind of engine they had on Talon flag ships, their meant for serious battle, moving in and conquering, boarding other ships... they don't make these types of engines anymore, they were blacklisted after the war." I ran my fingers over the old engine before sliding back down from the scaffolding, running over to another ship. "And look, this fin here, it's been taken from a different ship and welded on here... this armour plating too... and these blasters, their old, they don't put ones like these on our ships..." I turned to Shade. "These have all been crop-shopped from older ships. Talon ships. These guys are taking apart old battle cruisers and re-vamping them onto newer ones! And look, some of this stuff, this isn't company brand." I rapped my knuckles on a tiller. "This is hand-made stuff... they're taking old ships and adding their own parts so no one will recognize them."

Falshade blinked and ran his hand over the side of the nearest cruiser. "...That makes sense. I mean they couldn't just go to a shipyard to get all these materials and parts, we'd know they were building an armada. So they've been doing it all themselves... you know that would explain why this place didn't seem to have so many soldiers. I bet this is a manufacturing terra, we're they're building all their weapons."

I nodded excitedly. "Or at least storing their supplies, a little separate storage terra so they don't keep all their eggs in one basket. And if they've got this kinda stuff mechanical stuff going on..." I rapped on the ship again. "What other kinds of things are they making, I wonder?"

Falshade grinned a little. "Well that's what we're going to find out."

Just then someone else's voice joined us so suddenly it made the three of us start and our hands jumped to our weapons before we realized whose voice it was:

"Blue Wonder to Raven Hair, over, eh."

Falshade fumbled the radio from his belt. "Fraggle! Don't do that to me, you almost gave me a bloody heart attack!"

"Well _excuse_ me, just wanted to say hi, forget me being so polite in future, eh."

Falshade uttered a growling noise. "Put Angel on."

There was a shifting sound. "Howdy. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Angel's voice joined us now and Wasp waved at the radio as if he could see us.

"Don't let Fraggle use the radio again." Falshade groaned. "What's going on out there?"

"Absolute jack shit. Fucking bored out of my skull. And you know, I'm starting to think I should have let Stork stay out here after all; Fraggle's going to make me put a crossbolt in my head."

There was a scuffling sound and some muffled swear words and yelps.

"-I'll make a real nice throw rug outta you if you do that again!" Angel snapped while Fraggle whimpered about something to himself.

"Well we discovered some shit about these guys and almost got burned to death, but you know..." Falshade trailed off jadedly.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, Stork says they're crop-shopping old Talon ships for these new cruisers they've been using. We're think this is a manufacturing terra, we're going to keep going to see what else they're doing here."

Someone else was talking on Angel's end. "What?" We heard him ask and then the muffled sound of Varan saying something. "You tell him, he doesn't listen to me." Angel said and then it was Varan on the other end.

"Shade, are you sure you should keep going? I mean you know what they're doing here now, we should get out of here and tell the Legion about it."

Falshade scratched the back of his head indecisively. "...Yeah we're going to keep going." He said after a moment. "I wanna know what else they're building."

"...Shade I doubt this is where they're making the Berserkers, if that's what you're thinking."

"Well, you never know." Shade said defensively. "I just want to know for sure."

Varan made a sighing noise and then it was Angel again.

"Well, whatever Shade, just be careful. And maybe, you know, speed it up a bit, Varan's freaking out on me here."

"Right, we won't be long. Keep us posted." Falshade said and replaced his radio. "...You two are okay with that, right?" He asked Wasp and I on an afterthought.

"Well on second thought no, I wanna go home. 'Course I am, numb nuts." I said sarcastically.

"Alright, let's go then. Wasp, you lead the way, okay?" He suggested and Wasp looked surprised but did as he asked, leading us around all the sleeping battle ships towards a set of sliding doors. She pressed her ear to them briefly before stepping through, motioning for us to follow.

I was suddenly reminded of being back in Stork's underground base as we moved quietly through the arched corridors in our little line, keeping within arm's reach of each other; the tunnels were dark and gloomy like they were back in Stork's lair, and it was chilly down here too(although after our incident in the furnace duct, I wasn't complaining). We froze at every corner as Wasp listened intently, nostrils flared wide before proceeding and we jumped at any noise besides our own muffled footsteps. I was just about to point out how odd it was that this place seemed so deserted when ahead of me Wasp and Falshade froze and I ran into them. Falshade held up his hand for me to keep quiet when I foolishly opened my mouth to ask why we'd stopped and then the three of us flattened ourselves to the wall as a trio of men, two technician-y looking guys followed by an armed guard, passed by our little side corridor. I held my breath as they strode past, laughing about something or other that I was sure was hilarious; Falshade pressed his arm over my chest protectively, holding me securely against the wall. But just as we were beginning to think that maybe we were home free the terra around us rumbled and shook like the one we'd visited earlier had, dust tumbling down from the ceiling in little streams. The three guys froze just ahead of us.

"God I hate it when it does that." One mechanic muttered. "Makes me think the whole place is gonna come down on us."

"We've got stabilizers in place, remember?" The guard told him peevishly. "Quit being such a bitch." Jeez does that ever remind you of someone we know or what?

"Still..." the guy looked up at the ceiling anxiously and the guard clocked him in the back of the head with his staff irritably. Which of course caused said mechanic to whip around, and he almost got whatever it was he wanted to snarl out to the guard before he noticed the three of us huddled in the corridor.

"Hey! The hell do you three think you're doing?" He asked and the other two wheeled around as well.

"Uh...we're new." I tried. "We're looking for um... mess hall?"

"...Let's see some ID." The guard said, stepping forward, the crystal in his staff snapping to life ominously.

"Uh... sure, no problem. Wasp, show him." I told her.

"Sure, got them right here." Wasp said, opening her coat and looking through the inside pocket. The guard leaned in closer and then reeled back as Wasp's foot snapped out faster than lightning and caught him right in the chest, blasting the air from him. His grip loosened on his staff and before he could even regain his footing Wasp was on him again, machete hilts thundering into his temples simultaneously and the guy went down like a ton of lead.

Falshade and I were already after the other two, and to be honest I felt kind bad about it; they didn't have any weapons and they were fellow mechanics after all; but that didn't stop me from delivering a good upper-cut to my guy's jaw and then slamming him into the wall with a well-placed roundhouse so that he slid down, unconscious. Falshade's guy tumbled down next to mine, nose bleeding like a faucet.

Falshade rubbed his knuckles slightly before glancing over the pile of unconscious men. "Well, there goes our attempt at being stealthy." He said with a sigh. "What do we do with these losers?"

Wasp ripped a few lengths from jerk-guard's shirt and knotted them around his wrists. "We stash them somewhere and hope no one finds them until we're outta here." She said simply. She yanked something out of her inner pocket and shoved it into the guy's mouth; I was pretty sure it was one of my old oil rags.

A few minutes and three hog-tied guys stashed in a janitor's closet later we were on the move again, skirting down corridors at a slightly more hurried pace now, uneasy and jumpy. Any minute now I expected some sort of alarms to sound and for the place to go into lockdown, trapping us like mice in a maze.

We were just rounding a corner and stalking down one long corridor when Shade stopped suddenly in front of me and again I found myself crashing into his broad back. This time I knew to keep quiet, but it didn't appear we were in trouble this time. I peeked out around him after a moment and saw what had made him stop.

The entire wall of the corridor had been made into a large, tinted Plexiglas window, through which we could see a huge work floor spread below, more mechanical looking guys with thick gloves bent over long tables, others at what looked like an assembly line, masks over their faces as they welded pieces of metal together methodically or put a couple parts together with delicate tools.

"What're they doing?" I asked in a whisper.

"Refining crystals... and those other guys, they're making weapons I think, staffs, swords... maybe some explosives." Falshade muttered. "Jesus, look at them all... where in hell did they get all these men? They don't look like soldiers, their mechanics, engineers... where did they all come from?"

"God, they've got their own sweat shop set up... they're mass producing this stuff." I observed, watching a few tempered crystals flow along a belt line and tumble down a chute in the wall. "They're making enough weapons to equip an army."

"This stuff _is_ for an army." Falshade said. "The Berserkers, remember? They're making more, we were right, and they're getting all this stuff ready to arm them up... Angel said he felt like we were running out of time... who knows how long it's going to take for them to launch an assault?"

I chewed my lip anxiously. "Shit. We've gotta go, let the Legion know about this place, or at least blow the joint before they've got everything they need finished. It won't stop them, but it'll cripple them, slow them down."

"Right." Shade nodded. "Okay, let's-"

"DUCK!" Wasp screeched, shoving us both down and then was sent flying backwards, head over heels, to land in a heap on the floor, red liquid gushing all over the place.

"WASP!" Falshade and I cried out at the same time and I ran over to her while Falshade turned on the guard who'd stumbled upon us, who was in the act of loading his crossbow for round two.

But he wasn't fast enough to beat Falshade, who slammed into him like a freighter, knocking him back and then slashing at him with Sliver, which the guard barely managed to catch as it swung down towards his head, crossbow coming up to block it and falling to the floor in two pieces. He looked down, stunned, at his ruined weapon, only to look up again to catch Falshade's boot right in the bridge of the nose, blasting him backwards to stagger to the floor, out stone cold.

Falshade stared at him for a moment to make sure he really was down before running over and sliding to his knees next to me as I carefully lifted Wasp's torso from the floor, letting her lean on my lap.

Then I saw a rivulet of red streaming down from her side and panic set in hard.

"Wasp! Wasp, are you okay?" I demanded, shaking her a bit. She blinked up at me.

"...Yeah."

"Shit she's bleeding." Falshade said, clutching his head. "Wasp, hang in there okay, we're going to get you outta here."

"No, I'm okay, really." She said, sitting up.

"Wasp, don't move!" I yelped. "You're hurt!"

"No, I'm fine, really, I-" She paused and stared at her torn jacket. "Aw, no I'm not." She griped.

"I _told_ you, now keep still, you're bleeding-"

"No, no I'm not, calm down." She assured me, digging something out of her ripped jacket. "It's my Buzz Juice. Damnit, that was my last one too." She yanked out the shredded can as it dripped the last of its contents onto the floor and I wasn't sure whether to sigh in relief or smack her.

"Oh yeah, how unfortunate it wasn't your kidney!" I snapped, glad she was okay and feeling embarrassed for over-reacting; but hey, she really might have been hurt! "Don't do that to me!"

Wasp licked some of her juice from her fingers. "But he would have hit you."

Falshade glanced back at the unconscious guy on the floor, breathing out slowly. "Yeah, thanks for that, Wasp. But next time tell us you're alright a little sooner, okay?"

Wasp nodded then stiffened, jumping to her feet. "They're coming." She hissed. "Move, now!"

The three of us took off down the hallway, slipping in Wasp's spilled Buzz Juice, our boots squeaking and squealing over the floor as we ran towards the fork at the end of the passage, and now I could hear boots thundering behind us; we'd made too much noise, they knew something was up now.

We turned that corner so sharply I slipped slightly and Shade had to catch me by the arm, hauling me along beside him after Wasp as she led us further from the sound of stomping feet and angry voices, turning down random tunnels so sporadically and suddenly I wondered if she even knew where she was going or if she was just trying to put as much distance as possible between us and them.

At last she slowed and darted into a little side passage, a tiny, dead-end alcove. "We're alright here for now." She said as we gasped for breath. "But I think they know we're here now."

"Yeah, probably. Shit, that means we can't go back the way we came in." Falshade said. "Not like I want to go back through those damn ducts again mind you..."

"So what do we do? We've gotta get back outside." I said, keeping one eye on the passage.

"There's gotta be another way out."

Falshade's hand was on its way to his belt for his radio when he paused, leaning out from our little hiding place slightly, staring down the corridor.

"What?" I demanded in a whisper, hands at my throwing axes.

"There's a door down that way, big one." Falshade muttered. "And it's guarded."

"So?" I snapped, trying to keep my voice down. "Shade, we've got to go!"

"...We passed other doors. So why is that one being guarded?" He wondered pointedly and I glanced out now too, spying the door in question down the corridor from us, where a guard was standing boredly, leaning on his energy staff.

"...You think that might be a way out?" I asked him.

"Maybe. Or maybe it's something they really don't want just anyone to see." Falshade suggested as Wasp peeped over his shoulder.

"Ooh, a mystery!" she said excitedly.

"Exactly. I wanna know what's behind there." Falshade said and I felt torn; we really were in trouble, we had to get out of here before we got pinned by the soldiers that were around, who must have been roused to suspicion by now. It was only a matter of time before they found us. But then, maybe there was a way out through that door, or maybe Shade was right, maybe there was something really important down there they didn't want us to see. So, if you know us Gargoyles by now, that guarded door might as well have been a box of cookies that said 'Don't Eat' on it in big red letters. Yeah, like we were really going to heed that warning.

"Alright, so how do you propose we get past Mr. Vigilant down there?" I asked Shade.

"Already thought of that. Stay here." He said and then just strode out and toward that guy like he personally owned the place. Wasp had to hold me back I wanted to run out after him to smack him upside the head.

"Hey man." Shade said casually, lifting a hand in greeting like they were old pals. The guard straightened, confused and trying to pretend he'd been doing his job.

"Uh... hey. Who're you?"

"Oh I'm new. Dude you still have one of those shitty staffs?" Falshade asked suddenly. "Man, that sucks."

The guard looked defensive. "Why, what they give you?"

"Check it out." Falshade unsheathed Sliver. "Standard issue, they're giving everybody swords now."

"You're kidding."

"I kid you not." Shade assured him.

"Well fuck, you know, here I am with this wimpy little staff and you guys are getting swords? What am I supposed to do in a fight with a god damn staff, right?" The guard seethed, apparently assuming he'd made a friend.

"Well hang on, maybe there's a reason they want you to keep the staff. Mind if I take a look at it?" Shade asked innocently.

"Uh, yeah sure." The guard handed Shade his staff and Falshade, to add further proof to my theory that he was completely insane, let him hold on to Sliver while he examined the staff.

"Hmm... well you know, there is _one _thing these staffs are good for." Falshade informed him causally, gripping the staff tightly.

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

The crack of staff meeting skull made me flinch and Falshade's little friend crumpled instantly, Sliver sliding from his unconscious hand. Grinning smugly to himself Falshade scooped up his scimitar and then motioned for me and Wasp to come over.

I ran over to his side, eyes wide. "I can't believe he fell for that!" I said in disbelief. "And since when have you been such a talented actor? You should do Shakespeare."

Falshade chuckled. "Ah, well, you know." He said, trying not to look too proud of himself.

Wasp was giggling like mad as she came over. "That was almost as funny as the whole bees thing!" she said, trying to keep her voice down. "Nice one, Fal-Shade. So now what?"

"Now we see what's behind door number one." Falshade said, yanking on the handle. "...Unless the bloody thing is _locked_. God damnit why is luck _never_ on ourside?"

"Don't tempt the fates, Shade." I said. "Calm down, once again, I have come prepared for such a situation." I rooted around in my backpack again until I found what I was looking for and produced a little spike with an orange crystal nestled in the top.

"How brilliant am I?" I asked in my oh-so-humble manner. "I don't have a fancy name for this little guy yet, but it's a lock pick, that's what matters."

"You've got everything in that bag of tricks don'tcha?" Falshade asked with a grin, moving aside so I could examine the locking mechanism next to the door.

"Like I said, genius. Heh, it's funny, I actually made this so I could break into Angel's room, I just _know_ that little bugger's got a secret stash of candy bars in there and I think he owes me after drinking all my chocolate milk." I explained. I found the little keyhole and stuck my pick into slot; the orange crystal flashed and buzzed followed by a clicking noise and when Falshade tried the door again it swung open easily.

"Awesome!" he said ecstatically. "But you know I think your purpose for that thing might be a lost cause; I've never known Angel to save chocolate."

"Hmm, good point." I mused. Ah well I could always hold something of his for ransom.

"Anyways, ladies first." Falshade said, holding the door wide and I pretended to curtsey sarcastically, aiming a kick at him as I darted in through the doorway. The other two filed in behind me and Falshade hauled the door shut again. The moment it was closed we were plunged into total darkness and I jumped a little bit.

A moment later Falshade's activated a Flash Stick and a little circle of yellow light surrounded us. Wasp shielded her eyes with an uncomfortable growling noise.

"Sorry." Falshade lowered the light a bit. "Okay, let's go. Wasp, can you lead us again? We're looking for a way out but, you know, if you smell anything strange, speak up."

Wasp nodded. "Okay, here go, into the point of no return!"

That gave me a little more of a foreboding feeling then it probably should have.

We were only going along for a bit when the terra rumbled and shifted below our feet and I could hear rocks clattering down somewhere off in the distance. "This is just a carved tunnel isn't it?" I asked. "Like still just rock, yes?"

"Yeah." Wasp said.

"Like maybe they were mining stuff?" Falshade asked. "Would explain why we keep feeling those tremors, if they dug too deep... well like Angel said, the integrity of the terra will have been compromised, whole place is unstable."

"They said they had stabilizers in place." I recalled, although I gotta say, I couldn't expect these guys to have great safety standards. "Hey Shade, maybe you should put the light out, in case we're not the only ones down here."

"Yeah, alright." He said and a moment later we were plunged into blackness once more. I felt something touch my arm and squelched down on a shriek, smacking at it.

"It's me, stupid! I'm not trying to pull anything, but I'll lose you in the dark." Falshade snapped quietly, taking my hand. "Wasp I'm grabbing on to your jacket, don't attack me like _some_ people, okay?"

"Okay. I'm going to keep going now." She warned us and we started moving again, following after her blindly and stumbling occasionally on rough spots on the ground. At one point something made a creaking, rustling sound and rushed right over top of my head, grazing my hair and blasting me with a small jet of cool air. I pressed into Falshade's back with an embarrassingly high-pitched "What was that?"

Falshade's hand squeezed mine. "What was what?"

"Bats!" Wasp whispered excitedly. "Aw, how cute! Oooh, their little voices hurt my head though." She said. "I wonder what they're saying?"

"Probably 'the hell do those noisy bastards think they're doing?'" Falshade said. "Come on, let's keep going, they won't bother us."

"Well I know that!" I snapped, only just remembering to keep my voice down. "It just startled me, that's all!" Seriously, I don't mind bats, I actually think they're pretty cool little critters. But when they come swooping down at your head it kinda disarms you, you know?

"Well if there're bats down here that definitely means there's a way out." Falshade said quietly.

"Too bad we can't ask." Wasp sighed.

"But I just want to know, what else is down here? Can you smell anything, Wasp?"

There was a series of snuffling noises from up ahead. "No, different air currents and bat shit, that's it."

"Ew." I groaned.

"Damn... they must have just been digging out crystals down here then." Falshade sighed. "Oh well, I guess we know what we need to know, now let's just focus on getting out of here."

We weren't more than five steps further when Wasp evidently stopped dead and Falshade and I walked into her. "Was that you two?" She demanded.

"Was what?" I hissed. I felt her move past me, inhaling deeply, yellow eye glowing in the darkness.

"...We're not alone."

Immediately our backs came together, weapons in our hands, breath baited, waiting. "I know they're there." Wasp whispered. "They've masked their scent somehow... but something's out there."

"Okay." Falshade said lowly. "Game plan; make a break for it as soon as you can, get back to the door, get out the nearest exit."

"Falshade!" Angel's voice was loud and sharp in the dark and all three of us jumped at the sound. I felt Falshade fumbling for his belt.

"Angel, keep it down!" He snapped.

"You guys have to get out of there, now!" Angel said, ignoring him. "There are cruisers out here, they've got soldiers with them, lots of them! They're storming the place, get out of there!"

"What?" Falshade said, alarmed. "Shit, we're in trouble here, Ange, we're down in these underground passages, they're onto us, we can't get out!"

Angel said several bad words all at once then asked "What?" to one of the other two. "Are you sure?" he demanded, a spike of panic in his voice now. "Are you _sure_???" Then he was speaking to us again frantically. "Varan just saw Halo, this is bad Shade, use that Bug and blast your way out if you have to but you've gotta get out before-" silence.

"Angel? _Angel_?" Falshade demanded and I could hear him shaking the radio. "Fuck! New plan, Wasp, find were the fresh air's getting in and-"

Something clattered across the floor and stopped before me and I flinched, hoping to god it wasn't a bomb. Several other things came clattering to the floor around us and we pressed in tight to one another, muscles strung tight and trembling.

Then it was like floodlights were turned on suddenly as all around us Flare crystals came to life, blinding us. I flinched back, covering my eyes and reeling, blinking like mad to clear my head and that's when I heard the laughter.

Looking up we found ourselves facing a dozen armed soldiers, faces leering maliciously, saliva dripping from sharpened teeth like they were a pack of rabid wolves and with eyes as black as the spaces behind stars, sucking in the crystal light like black holes. At the head of them was a guy with hair as red as Carrion's, long, claw-like daggers stretching down over his fingers and I realized this must have been the one who'd diced Angel up so badly, the same guy who'd torn open Shade while I'd been away.

"Foolish little children should know better than to be so loud." He told us, waving a finger back and forth like he was scolding naughty little kids, his voice sounding to me what a raven would sound like; croaking and hoarse but with a certain spiking, high-toned cackling edge to it like Carrion's. It sent a shiver down my spine. "I've been sent to finish what I've started, Ravenscroft." He went on. "I remember scoring you open nice and wide. This time I suppose I'll have to be a little more thorough."

"Touch him and you're dog food." I snapped, bold attitude never abandoning me when things got rough, axe head blazing to life. Wasp snarled on my other side, fangs gleaming in the flickering light of the crystals.

Zodiac, I'd figured this guy to be, cocked his head almost parallel to his shoulder, taking me in. "Who's this little bird? I don't remember you..." then he made a hissing sound, drawing back. "The eyes... _the eyes_." He turned to his cohorts while I mentally staggered; what about my eyes? "That's the one. That's the one the Master wants. Get her; kill the other two."

His Berserker minions had been struggling, twitching and snarling like dogs on chains, this whole time and with those words it was like they were unleashed, flooding forward with howls of ecstasy, hungry and desperate for blood.

Wasp hit them first, lunging forward past Falshade and I and slamming in to three of them at the same time, taking one to the ground under her. The Berserker flipped her over and pinned her but her teeth went for his throat faster than he could react; there was a horrible crunching sound as they sank in to his windpipe, and when Wasp tore back again a good chunk of his neck came with her fangs, jugular ripping open and spraying blood everywhere in large, rapid spurts. Sure these guys could heal fast, but apparently not as fast as they could bleed-out.

Falshade shoved me behind him as the rest of them came at us and there was a gruesome slicing sound as Sliver cut through flesh and bone and one of those monsters let out a tearing shriek. I was stunned for a moment on how vicious and grisly my friends had become while I'd been gone, but then I snapped out of it; desperate times call for desperate measures after all.

My axe head slammed into the chest of one Berserker who attempted to hack Falshade to bits with a pair of hand-held scythes, plunging deep into his chest cavity and I felt his sternum crack and collapse. He staggered back and I wrenched my axe head free, not waiting for his rib cage to get a chance to heal again before smashing in with another powerful strike, blasting him back and to the ground where I struck him a third time as he choked and hacked for breath, his lungs collapsed and probably punctured. I needed to keep hammering into him though until he asphyxiated or he'd just heal and get back up... shit this wasn't good, we were outnumbered four to one and these guys could heal within seconds. We only each had a certain number of strikes in us before we were down for the count.

Unfortunately while I was still trying to literally beat the life out of this guy with my axe (god damn here we were killing people... I had a hard time grasping that it had really come this far) when a second Berserker came at me from the side, diving for my exposed flank. I leaped back, trying to defend myself but my damn axe was stuck in this other guy's chest and I couldn't grab my throwing axe fast enough.

But then something exploded through this guy's throat, from the back all the through his Adam's apple at the front and blood sprayed all over me as he collapsed, neck severed. Falshade tore Sliver free and slammed a powerful kick into my opponent's jaw, snapping his head to the side with a definite crack.

"Their neck's a weakness!" He shouted at me as we turned back-to-back. "They don't heal fast enough to stop the bleeding if they get sliced, or if you break their necks!"

"Right!" I stammered out. God when had he gotten so good at killing people? Then again, these guys were all too prepared to kill us... it was us or them in the end, and I was definitely going to go with us.

'_They don't want to kill you.'_ I reminded myself. I forced that thought to the back of my mind; I didn't have time to think about that right now.

Falshade and I got torn apart in the fray as he got tangled up with another Berserker and I went for another that came in to tag-team him, battle axe diving in for his leg with a mighty low-handed swing. He leapt back, reflexes incredibly sharp but that was exactly what I'd expected him to do. I changed the direction of my swing and took a step back, delivering a back-handed swing that brought my axe head up and then deep into his neck, sawing through flesh, arteries and vertebrae with one fluid chop. I recoiled in disgust when his severed head, black eyes lifeless and staring, rolled towards me while his body collapsed backwards, blood still spurting from his severed veins.

I almost got sick, I won't lie; fuck I'd just _beheaded_ that guy in one fell swoop, just like that, without thinking about it, just doing it. I knew these guys were out for our blood, they'd do the same to us without batting an eye, they were bred solely to destroy, to kill, and yet... it was still just awful. Sixteen years old and I'd just claimed someone else's life by way of decapitation.

"STORK, MOVE!" I heard someone shout and I spun to the side as Wasp roared past me, machetes catching the blades of an oncoming Berserker and forcing him back with her momentum, slamming him into the tunnel wall. With one machete she held back both of her opponent's swords, arm shaking with the effort and with the other she lifted her second machete up until the tip was pressing right to his forehead and then rammed it forwards, jagged teeth and snares that decorated her blade ripping through his skull. Something grayish and fluidous splattered against the wall behind him as her machete punched clean through and when she yanked it back he fell right to the floor, a jagged hole at the back of his head, oozing brain matter.

I turned away, appalled, overwhelmed, sickened. I knew this is what had to happen, this is what war was, but it's not something you can just get used to, seeing people's brains and guts and blood spray and gush all over the place.

Suddenly I felt a hand close around my wrist and something pinched against my arm, slicing in like a razor blade. I looked up into the malicious face of Zodiac, his mouth curved into a sadistic grin.

"I've got you now, little birdie." He taunted, his voice a low, gravelly hiss.

"I don't bloody think so!" I snarled, hand at my throwing axe and then bringing it down onto his forearm, slicing though his armoured gauntlet. He snarled right back at me, recoiling slightly, and I slammed a kick into his gut, elbow driving into his face a moment afterward as he hunched up slightly; ha, evidently he hadn't expected this little birdie to fight back. Blood flowed from his nose momentarily before it ceased abruptly and began to dry on his face and with an enraged growl he slammed the back of his free hand across my cheek, metal claws crashing against me hard and momentarily stunning me.

"_LET HER GO_!!!" I don't think I've ever heard Falshade sound so furious or deadly as he smashed Sliver's hilt into Zodiac's jaw and grabbed me around the arm, yanking me back. For a moment it was a bit of tug-of-Stork match until I got sick of being yanked around like that and, while Zodiac was distracted by Falshade, pulled the dirtiest trick in the book and rammed my knee as hard as possible into this unprotected crotch.

And for all the times Angel's chewed me out about that being seriously bad form, I know he would have approved of that move in this particular situation. He probably would have had a good laugh about it, come to think of it.

Zodiac let out a howl and his grip loosened on me. Falshade yanked me back and shoved me behind him protectively. "WASP, TAKE STORK AND GET DOWN!" He shouted and I felt Wasp come up behind me protectively, wrapping her arms around me tightly and hauling me back, slashing out with a machete as a Berserker came in to close, hand reaching out for me.

Before Zodiac could get his balance back (just 'cause you heal fast doesn't mean you're gonna get over having your junk crunched like that right away) Falshade seized him by the collar and yanked something out of his belt: Varan's Bug.

"FALSHADE, NO!" I screamed at him but he'd already yanked the pin free with his teeth and wedged it into Zodiac's body armour. He slammed an impressive roundhouse right into Zodiac's chest, sending him reeling back into the other Berserkers, and then dashed back towards me and Wasp, arms over his head. Wasp turned on her heel, running down the tunnel a few steps before flattening us to the ground, pressing me down beneath her, protecting me with her body, hands over her ears.

We were so close that we heard the explosion almost at the same time that I felt the blast rip by us, heat roaring around us; if Wasp hadn't been over top of me I would have been thrown back by the shockwave. I felt stones and pieces of metal, armour pieces that had been torn to shreds by the blast, rush past us like shrapnel and the terra shook beneath me as it was rattled by the force of the explosion, the sound amplified in the small tunnel. The Flare crystals shattered and suddenly we were in complete darkness once again.

And then there was a mighty trembling beneath me, a growing rumbling sound as the floor began to shudder and buck beneath us, more rock tumbling down from the ceiling over head. And then the terra heaved and split open under us and Wasp and I found ourselves tumbling down a slope of rock as the stone cracked and yawned open ahead of us, pulling down the massive slab of rock we happened to be crouched upon.

"STORK, RUN!!!" Wasp cried, scrambling to her feet and hauling me up. We turned and pumped our legs like mad, trying to fight our way back up to the top of the slab before it was completely engulfed by the crack in the tunnel, fighting against gravity and trying to find purchase as the rock was tilted at a steeper angle, trying to throw us down into the crevice. My heart was pounding so hard it heart and my legs were searing and I just couldn't seem to move fast enough, fear slamming through my veins as I clung to Wasp's hand desperately, my only guidance in the dark.

But then a loose piece of rock came careening down from the top of the wedged slab of rock and slammed right into my shins, tearing my legs out from under me and I went down, hard. Instinctively I let go of Wasp's hand to try and catch myself and then I was sliding and tumbling down, down, towards the open fissure, hands clawing desperately from some sort of hold, palms being shredded by the rough stone, fingernails tearing from my fingertips.

"NO!" I heard Wasp shriek somewhere above me and then I felt the stone vanish and a great emptiness was all that was beneath me, dragging me down, down, into great black depths and I couldn't even see how far I was falling; all I could feel was that horrible feeling of my stomach being suctioned to my spine, my throat closing at the back of my mouth, heart jack hammering like wild, oh god it was just like last time, only this time I couldn't see when I was going to splatter on hard ground.

And this time I had my parachute.

The wind was enough to make it deploy and I felt it flare out behind me; it was too cramped in this narrow space to open completely, but it slowed me down some, fluttering behind me as I continued to drop into darkness.

And then it snagged on something and jerked me to a halt so suddenly my shoulders were almost separated. I swung back under it along the ropes and abruptly cracked my head into hard stone and was spent spinning into oblivion.

* * *

I heard myself groan before I was actually aware that I had woken up. My head was pounding dully and there was a sore spot on my forehead, which, when I raised my fingers to it, I discovered was a nice sized goose-egg complete with dried blood. Well wasn't this just turning out to be my best day ever in the field of injury achievement.

It took me awhile to sit up, because my head was reeling a bit and pounded harder whenever I moved too quickly. I slowly became aware that hey, I was on solid ground, not dangling by my parachute in the middle of nowhere. I felt at my back; while I was unconscious the pack must have come loose and snapped away from me. My parachute was probably tangled up somewhere up above me.

It occurred to me then that Falshade and Wasp were somewhere up there too, possibly hurt, possibly still in battle, possibly crushed to death under a pile of rock; that had been another one of Falshade's not-best-ideas, setting off that Bug in the unstable passage way. But then, those Berserkers had us out numbered, we'd needed something drastic, I suppose I couldn't blame him. I just hoped he was alright; I hadn't seen him since the Bug had detonated, for all I knew he might have fallen down the crevice like I had.

Finally I got to my feet, staggering around a little, testing my legs for injury, prodding my ribs carefully. Aside from bumps and bruises I didn't appear to have obtained any serious damage. My head was starting to feel a little better and I knew that meant that, since I seemed fine, my next priority was to go and find the others. I checked my back and sighed; I'd dropped my battle axe up above. But my throwing axes were still there, which meant I wasn't completely weaponless. I'd also lost my backpack, which sucked, because I knew I had a few Flash Sticks packed in there for just this sort of occasion.

Finding the others, as it were, was not easy in the dark. Not only could I not see a foot in front of my face, I couldn't tell where tunnels were and where they led, which meant I was pretty much fucked. I found the wall at one point and ended up walking along it with one hand pressed to it for guidance, because that was better than sitting around waiting for the others to find me at least. It occurred to me at one point to use my one of my axes like a light, but that would waste the Striker's energy, which I might need, as well as give away my position to anyone else who was down here.

But, give away my position or not, I started to get a little antsy down there. I was alone, in the dark, underground on an unstable terra where there were marauding Berserker soldiers who were out to bring me to their 'Master' for some reason, separated from my friends who might also have been lost, or hurt, or in trouble, and to top it all off I really had the creeps. I mean usually I'm not so easily frightened, but there's some things that'll set my nerves off, one of them being, well, see above note about what was so not-great about my current predicament.

So, needless to say, after an immeasurable but, knowing me, certainly not long amount of time I thought to hell with giving away my position, it wasn't going to matter in the end if I couldn't even be found by the people I was looking for.

Activating the crystal for one of my throwing axes, I did what I do best and started shouting: "FALSHADE? WASP? WHERE ARE YOU GUYS? IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, SAY SOMETHING!!!"

I listened into the dark for an answer and only heard my on distant echoes. Well shit. I opened my mouth, breathed in deep and prepared to make some serious noise when suddenly I felt like I must have gotten clubbed in the back of my head and fell to my knees with a gasp.

Oh god the _pain_! I retched it was so bad, hands grasping the sides of my head as it felt like my brain had just grown three sizes larger, crushed by the confines of my skull, throbbing horribly, blinding me with agony. I opened my mouth the let out a scream, because I just couldn't hold it in, I'd never ever felt pain like this, but nothing came out but a dry, rattling sound, my throat seized shut from the pain. Oh god I felt like someone was trying to hack their way out from the inside of my head with a blunt chain-saw, digging right into my nerve bundles, tearing my brain to shreds. I felt hot tears running down my cheeks and didn't even realize I'd started crying; the pain was so intense I couldn't focus on anything else and god, right then I just wanted to be struck dead so I wouldn't have to feel it anymore, it hurt, it fucking hurt so badly!

And then it started to narrow itself, somehow, drawing in from entirety of my head and forming a point at my forehead, like the gathering of some sort of energy focusing itself at one specific spot. I felt my fingers fumbling at my throwing axe, wanting nothing more than to just split my own skull open and let it all out, just let the pain burst free and get out so even if I died from it my last few moments would be pain-free. At this point in time I was ready to sell my soul to the devil himself if it mean getting that thrashing, overwhelming pain to just go away, oh god _please_ _go_ _away_....

Then I felt something struggling, something just on the borders of my skin, like static electricity thrumming, stretching away from me, pulling tight like two cells dividing. I felt the pain getting sucked out through this pull, this feeling of something spreading out from me; I couldn't see it, but I could feel it, like something welling up into a separate membrane, rushing out of me into this new pocket it had made for itself, still threaded to me through my pores. And not only was the pain moving into this pocket but I could feel my energy being hauled forward too, right from my legs up through my stomach and chest and my arms too, limbs going weak and shaky like I was coming down from a serious sugar rush, crashing, joints achy and feeble, head too heavy for my neck. It was like part of me was taking flight from my body, forcing its way out into a material body of its own, leaving me to tumble back, brain buzzing numbly, body shutting down slowly.

In the last moments before I faded from my own existence I saw the manifestation of my energy bend and twist into a shape, and then this shape become solid, corporeal, _alive_. And this thing bent down over me and grinned at me with false affection, sliding my eyelids closed with frigid cold fingertips.

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

Coughing, I brought my arms down from where they'd been covering my head protectively and pushed my way out of the pile of rubble that had come down around me where I'd been tucked up tight against the wall. I tried to stand and my legs collapsed the first time, shaky and weak and for a moment I was worried I might have taken on some shrapnel or been nailed by a falling rock. But no, the second time I was able to stand and stay upright, knees trembling just slightly to hold up my weight. It was just the adrenalin wearing off, that was all.

I leaned against the wall for a second, trying to get my bearings, breathing in and out slowly. It took me a minute to remember my Flash Stick was still tucked in my belt and I yanked it free quickly, activating it and lifting it high to get a good circle of light around me so I could see what level of damage I'd caused. For the record I knew setting off that Bug hadn't been the safest thing in such a tight, unstable place, but I had no choice, there was more of them then there had been of us, and what was more was they could regenerate and we couldn't. Besides, they'd been after Stork, I wasn't about to let them take her away while they left Wasp and I for dead.

The first thing that I saw aside from the rubble was a Berserker, dead, crushed beneath a large chunk of rock not too far away; evidently he must of kept healing over and over, but couldn't move the rock, which was crushing vital organs and his chest cavity and in the end it hadn't mattered, he'd just died. Poor bastard, must have taken awhile. So there _were _flaws to the design, they weren't perfect, weren't indestructible. That gave me a small amount of comfort.

The next thing my eyes fell on was Stork's battle axe where she must have dropped it when Zodiac grabbed her and any comfort I felt was bowled over by fear and anxiety. Oh god what if she or Wasp had been crushed like that Berserker? I'd never forgive myself...

I ran over and picked up the axe, strapping it to my back for safe-keeping and then started to shout for my girls: "STORK? WASP? WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Falshade?" Someone's voice called out, sounding muffled, nearby.

"I'm here, where are you?" I called, scrambling over rocks, looking for where the voice might be coming from.

"Here." It was Wasp, I could tell now, and I turned, looking for her. "To your right a bit."

I saw her then, or at least her eye, glowing from under a triangular slab of rock that was balanced precariously atop a pile of others and leaning against the wall. I ran over and dropped to my knees next to her; the rock had fallen so it formed a sort of cave over her, but who knew how long that would hold for.

"Hi." She said. "I'm stuck."

"Okay, hang on, I'll get you out." I eyed the rock slab; it was way too big for me to simply lift, and if I shifted it too much there was a good chance it'd come down on top of her. Inspired suddenly I unstrapped Stork's battle axe and pushed the end of the shaft under the rock. "Okay, when I lift this you gotta move, I dunno how long I can hold it up."

"Okay." She said and I pushed down on the opposite end, leveraging the rock upwards so it lifted up about four inches. That must have been enough because Wasp scrambled out from her little entrapment; but just as I was about to let the rock come back down she screeched out "WAIT!" and dove back under it.

"Wasp, I can't hold it!" I gasped out exasperatedly, teeth clenched tight but she pulled herself back out not a moment later and I let the rock come back down with a loud, final thud. I turned to glare at her to find her hugging one of her machetes tightly, the other secure in its sheath.

"It's okay, I got you." She said. "Sorry, but I couldn't let it get crushed."

I sighed. "That's okay I guess. Are you alright? Nothing broken or anything?"

She was covered in blood, although I knew not all of it was hers; the only injuries I could see just now was a shallow cut on her thigh and a scratch on her cheek. "I'm alright." She assured me, sheathing her other machete; I glanced at it, remembering she'd lost one of hers during our last battle and noticed that this one was a shiny, if slightly bloodstained, new one, complete with a silhouette of a large cat on the hilt. I didn't have much time to dwell on it though because she was speaking again. "What about you?" She came over and brushed her fingers gently over a bruise on my forehead, leaning upwards to swipe her tongue over it once, a Wasp way of expressing sympathy I'd gathered.

"I'm fine." I assured her. I glanced around then, looking at the rest of the rubble. "Wasp, what happened to Stork?"

Wasp's face fell and she bit her lip. "She fell. Down there." She waved a hand at the large crevice that had opened in the tunnel, a large chunk of rock wedged in it perilously. "I'm sorry... I tried to grab her."

I only half heard her, running over to the lip of the crack and looking down, past the rock, to the black depths below. I heard myself utter a choking noise, heart starting to throb painfully. "No... god damnit, _no_, we just got her back... we-just-got-her-_back_!"

Wasp was beside me, rubbing my shoulder and sniffing over the edge. "...I smell her, way down there." She said after awhile. "I don't think she's dead. She might be hurt, but not dead."

I stood up abruptly. "Then we've got to find her."

Wasp was up too, nodding. "Right, of course. That's the only option."

"There's gotta be other tunnels that'll lead us down. You can find her, right?" I asked, sounding a little more demanding then I meant to, but only because I was worried about Stork. Wasp nodded reassuringly.

"Yep, consider me your little search-and-rescue Faerie." She said. She climbed onto a nearby rock and began drawing in deep breaths through her nose, lips parted slightly, turning her head sometimes to get a better scent. "Okay." She said after awhile. "Follow me, I know which way we have to go for now."

"Okay." I said, and watched as she backed up and took a run at the crack, leaping clear across it and going into a roll on the other side, springing to her feet. I followed suit and landed without incident on the other side.

"Should I put this out? You can see in the dark, can't you?"

Wasp nodded. "That might be a good idea, until we get closer to where Stork is anyways. We don't want anybody following us." She glanced back up the way we came with narrowed eyes. "I don't know how they managed to cloak their scent, I can always smell their mutated blood from miles away." She growled to herself. I rubbed her shoulder condolingly.

"It's okay Wasp." I assured her. "Oh hang on, I should see if I can get a hold of the others." I remembered suddenly how Angel had cut out like that and felt a fresh wave of panic for them. I grabbed my radio, which was luckily undamaged, and hoped the signal could get through all this rock. "Angel, are you there? Varan, Fraggle? You guys, can you hear me?" I released the button and only picked up static. "Shit." I said, replacing it.

"I'm sure they're alright; they can look after themselves." Wasp said.

"Yeah..." I trailed off uneasily. "Alright, let's... let's go find Stork first, and then we'll find the others. Lead on." I turned off my Flash Stick and replaced it in my belt. I felt Wasp's hand slide into mine in the dark and she squeezed mine momentarily as if to convey some sort of comfort before leading me along gently, occasionally telling me where there was a rock sticking up from the ground that could trip me and pausing now and again to sniff at the air. I could tell we were moving deeper into the terra when as air started to grow cooler and cooler the further we went. A few times we heard the terra shift and groan and I felt nervous going down this far; who knew how long this terra was going to stay standing for, especially after I'd set off that explosion? It reminded me of being back in the Scar, although we'd all been together then and with the others behind me, pressed close when they were startled and chatting away in the dark, it made things less nerve-racking. Today I was being pummelled by stress, worried about Stork, and for Angel and the other two, paranoid that we were being followed or that the terra was suddenly going to cave in on us, sore, crashing from adrenalin and just wishing I would have said fuck it, let's worry about this terra tomorrow.

"Hey, Wasp?" I asked in a whisper after awhile. The silence was killing me.

"Mm-hmm?"

"Why do you think Zodiac told those other Berserkers to go after us but not Stork? And who was this Master of theirs?"

"I'm not sure." Wasp said honestly. "But I don't like it. We're missing something here, there's more to this then we thought and it's starting to catch up to us."

"I know, that's what worries me."

Wasp squeezed my hand gently. "We'll figure it out. It'll be alright."

I nodded; I had to believe that. "Yeah... hey, look..." This thought just came to me, what with Wasp holding my hand and leading me through the darkness, it struck me how much I trusted her, how much I appreciated her help and liked having her around. I felt confident in her combat abilities, not only that she could protect herself but others too if they needed it, and I appreciated how she seemed to make my nonsensical dreams and things somehow make more sense (as she'd said, nonsense was her thing). "I know I probably don't tell you enough, and that I wasn't so sure of you in the beginning, but I'm glad Stork convinced me to bring you along. I'm glad you're one of us, Wasp. I'm glad you're my friend."

She paused and lifted my hand to her face. "I'm smiling." She informed me, running my fingers over her lips so I could feel it. "And I'm glad I came along too. I like being with you guys. I'm glad we're friends."

I smiled too, despite all the things that weren't worth smiling about. "Well, good. I, you know, I just thought I should tell you that."

"It's important to let your friends know you care." Wasp agreed. "It made me feel all warm inside."

I laughed softly. I thought back to her machete and it struck me suddenly how she must have gotten it. "...Angel made you that new machete, didn't he?" I asked her with a grin as we continued along though the dark tunnels.

"Yeah, he did." There was some sort of strange happiness in her tone, different then the brightness that she usually spoke with. "I thought of a name for it finally, I meant to tell him... I'm calling it the Angel Fang, you know, 'cause it's my hunting fang and he made it, see?"

"I see." I said. "He'll like that I'm sure. You know I think it's great you two are getting along now. He seems happier lately."

"Does he?"

"Yeah. Well when you're around he does anyways."

Wasp didn't say anything but I heard her make a pleased little humming sound. "...He thinks the world of you, you know." She said after awhile.

"He does?" This surprised me. He sure didn't act like it. But then... I thought of all the times he'd been angry with me when I did something stupid, of when he'd tried to look out for me and comfort me and cheer me up even, in his weird, Angel ways. Sure he could be nasty and sarcastic to me a lot but when it really came down to it I guess he'd almost taken on an older brother ort of role with me, in his backwards way (he _was_ older than me, but only by two months).

"Oh yeah, he's always going on about how he looks up to you and stuff." Wasp went on. "He was really upset when he... well, you know. He thought you wouldn't want to be his friend anymore."

I felt my cheeks heat up. "He looks up to me?"

"Of course he does." Wasp said this like it should be obvious. "Why not? I always thought you were rather admirable."

I seriously am not good at taking compliments. "Oh, well... thanks, Wasp."

"No problem."

Something suddenly occurred to me. "Wait... he told you about _that_?"

"About what?"

"You know what I mean."

Wasp seemed to think about it for a moment. "Oh, _that_." She said. "Yeah. Like I said, he was upset."

"Hmm..." I said gruffly. "I'd sort have preferred if he _hadn't_ done that."

"Told me or done it?"

"_Both_."

Wasp giggled to herself. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"I'd appreciate that." I said sourly. Wasp squeezed my hand again reassuringly. Then she stopped ahead of me and I bumped into her by accident.

"What's up?" I whispered. Shit, we'd been talking rather loudly all this time, I should have kept my voice down.

"There's a big crack just ahead. It goes right across the path."

"You think we can jump it?" I asked.

"I _think_ so. Would you consider yourself a good jumper?"

"...How wide is it?"

"Hmm..." Wasp let go of my hand and I heard her step forward a bit slightly. "Nine feet maybe? We should be okay if we get a good run."

"Wasp I need to see where I'm jumping." I told her.

"Okay, here, give me that glowing thingy." I passed her my Flash Stick, which she activated and threw ahead of us. It clattered down on the stone ahead.

"Aim for that and you'll be fine. The edge is about three steps in front of you."

I felt a nervousness well up inside me; I mean yeah I considered myself in good shape, I could make that sort of jump, but when I couldn't see where I needed to take off or land... it unnerved me. But then I supposed if I did mess up I could always deploy my parachute...

I drew in a deep breath. "Okay."

"How about I go first?" Wasp suggested.

"...Alright."

I felt her back up a bit and then run past me, taking off and then coming down on the other side. I heard her land but then there was a cracking noise and she let out a yelp.

"Wasp!" I shouted, anxiety flaring back to life. "Are you alright?"

"Um... no, I could use some help."

I backed up a bit, breathed in again and took a run, counting my steps until I felt a cool breeze come up from the crevice below and jumped, flying through the air to land abruptly on solid ground next to my Flash Stick, falling to my knees with a grunt. I got up and raised my Stick, looking around. "Where are you?"

"Down here." I approached the edge to find Wasp just clinging on by her fingertips. I seized her wrists and hauled her up to safety.

"I thought you said you'd be okay!" I scolded, only because she'd scared me.

"Well I was, the ledge crumbled." She said defensively. She got up and brushed herself off. "Shall we carry on?"

We went on in silence after that, remembering we might not be alone and that our voices carried in the tunnels. A few times we heard what sounded like explosions outside and I felt growing anxiety rising in my stomach. I hoped desperately Angel wasn't being stubborn and looking after the others like I'd asked, calling them back if things got too risky.

We'd just taken a new passage when Wasp halted again.

"What's wrong?" I asked lowly.

"...Do you feel that?"

Suddenly something went weird in the air, as if a surge of electricity had rippled through it, a pulse of energy that rattled the entire terra. My Flash Stick abruptly exploded in my belt, spraying crystal shards like buck shots and Wasp double over in front of me. When I reached around her to see what was wrong I felt hot blood drip onto my arm.

"Wasp?" I asked, concerned.

"It's my nose... what was that?" she asked, something strange in her voice. "The aura... can you feel that aura?"

"What aura?" I asked, confused and uneasy, but Wasp never got the chance to explain. Above us the tunnel shifted, groaned and cracked and then an avalanche of rock poured down on us. I stumbled backwards, hands over my head again with a yell, separated from Wasp in the dark as the whole ceiling came crashing down.

It took a few moments for the rock to settle, for the thundering noise to stop. When it did I was aware of a very weak trickle of light seeping in from above, enough for me to see the wall of rock that now stood in front of me.

And I could also see that Wasp was no longer with me.

"Wasp!" I shouted. Oh god if she was under that rock I was never going to be able to dig her out. "Wasp, where are you? Say something, _please_!"

"I'm here." Her voice was muffled again and I tried to find the source of it.

"Where?"

"Here." I heard her voice come clearly though a gap in the rocks and I reached through, feeling her grasp my hand tightly on the other side of the wall.

"Are you alright?" I demanded.

"Yes, I'm fine. Are you?"

"Yeah..." I let out a breath of relief and looked up at the mountain of broken stone. "Do you think you can shift through some of this rock on your side and I can move some on mine, and then I can get-"

"Falshade I think if we try moving this stuff it'll bring down the rest of the tunnel." She said uncertainly.  
"But..." I trailed off. She was gripping my hand tightly, trying to convey some sort of message.

"I'll keep going." She said eventually. "I'll find Stork and we'll both get out of here. You need to go help the others."

"...Okay." I said. She was right, I couldn't help Stork now, but there was a very good chance the others needed me and I they were my friends too, I had to go help them. "How do I get out?"

"On your side, there's a gap in the ceiling on top of these rocks. Climb through that and follow the light, the fresh air. It'll lead you out."

"Right." I nodded to myself. "Okay, good luck, Wasp. Be careful."

There was silence on her end for a moment. "Oh, I nodded, sorry."

I smiled grimly. Then, when I felt her fingers starting to slide from mine I suddenly clutched them tight and pulled her back a bit. "Wasp." I said through the gap, my tone sounding suddenly very desperate, very dependant that she understand this, that she take on my responsibility in my absence. "Wasp, bring Stork back. Promise me you'll bring her back."

She squeezed my hand so tightly I felt my fingers go numb. "I promise." She vowed, her tone letting me know she understood how important this was, how much trust I was putting in her. "I'll bring back our Baby Girl."

"Thank you." I whispered. "Now go, and take care."

"You too. See you on the other side." I felt her kiss my fingertips quickly and then she was gone. I held my breath for three seconds, steeling myself, going into serious Sky Knight mode, before looking up for the gap Wasp had mentioned.

I still had a responsibility to the rest of my friends.

**x.x.x Fraggle x.x.x**

We used to joke around, us crewmen of the _Merry Geronimo_, using sea terms while we were sky fishing, even though we were miles away from the nearest body of water. Sea legs, sea sick, spray o' the sea used when you caught the spray from someone else's lugey. I guess when you think about it, the sea and the sky aren't so different; both can make you sick to your stomach, you can get caught in some serious gales in both and both are just so absolutely freeing to be in, when you're way up in the sky or far out on the blue, whittling your days away in peace.

Another one I recalled was dead in the water. You can be dead in the air as well I suppose, but for some reason the implication of being dead in the water seemed somehow more foreboding to me.

And that's how I felt right now; I was dead in the water. Or dead on the terra, anyways.

I dragged the both of us forward a few more steps, wishing I had Angel's radio, wishing Falshade was here, wishing we'd just stayed on the _Merlin_ in the first place. I should have taken that scorpion sting as a warning, an omen that this day was just going to keep getting worse.

'Cause oh man had it ever gotten worse.

Varan made a groaning sound against me, head lolling unconsciously, and I shifted under him, trying to support him better. But the guy was a good nine inches taller than me and outweighed me by at least sixty pounds and I could barely support myself as it was, legs shaking horribly so that with every step I thought they were going to buckle and give out, leaving me utterly defenceless and unable to escape. My body was going into shock I was trembling from head to foot in fear, certain at any moment someone was going to swoop in behind us with a huge blade and that would be the end of us. Something was wrong with my left leg for sure; I'd come down hard on it when my Ice Grinder went down and it kept giving to the side slightly when I put weight on it, searing with pain. I wanted to throw up I was so wrecked, fear for Varan, fear for myself, exhaustion, defeat and anguish all driving me down hard, gravity hauling at my already weakened body, trying to just drag me down so I'd never get up again.

"Falshade!" I cried out desperately. What had happened to the others? Last we'd heard they'd been in trouble... oh god what if they were in worse shape than we were, what if they'd been killed? What was I supposed to _do_??? I had no ride, my ship was miles away and I had a seriously injured Terradon depending on me to get him help. And those guys were still around, I could hear them on their Nightflyers, up to something or other and I just knew they were going to spot me staggering about down here eventually and then-

I sobbed hopelessly, trying to keep Varan from falling from my side, his dead weight dragging us both down.

"Why do you have to be so heavy?" I cried, wanting to shake him, to wake him up; please wake up, Varan, I need your help, I'm alone and scared and it's me, you know, it's Fraggle, I don't do this sort of thing, I fly the ship, I shoot at the bad-guy's cruiser, I crack jokes, I don't go in and fight like you do, I don't know how to look after my friends when they're sick and hurt, I don't know what to do, please wake up, please! Then I felt bad for shaking him; he was roughed up bad, he needed me to look after him, not shake him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just wish you'd wake up, 'cause I don't think I can carry you much longer and I'm afraid we're both gonna die and I don't know where Falshade is!"

I thought of Pippa then, who I'd given Starla's lucky charm and who'd been so much easier to carry. But I'd looked after her when she'd needed me, even when the others couldn't. I... I had to be able to do this, I had to find Falshade, or at least find a way off this bloody terra. I had to.

Gritting my teeth I staggered onward, dragging Varan alongside me, trying not to bump him around too much and cause further damage. I didn't know where I was going, I just sort of stumbled along, occasionally calling out for Falshade, looking for anything that might get us out of this mess alive, an unattended skimmer or our brave-hearted Sky Knight who always, always had a way out. I had to keep moving, I told myself over and over, or I'd keel over and never get up again.

I just had to get out of this...

I had to see Starla again. I'd promised her I'd come back someday. I had to take her for a ride on the _Merlin_, I had to have one more snowball fight, I had to let her steal the marshmallows from my hot chocolate one more time and I had to hear her laughing again.

I just had to get us home.

**x.x.x Wasp x.x.x**

_Rainer's look was haunting me as I leapt down from the last landing of the fire escape, landing on the slimy top of a dumpster and sliding down to the cracked pavement. He knew what I was doing, he knew where I was going and what the intention in my eyes had been. But he'd let me go anyways; he couldn't really have stopped me, he was still babying Sketcher, holding him up so he wouldn't drown in his own vomit as he seemed to try and heave up all his insides. He's pushed too many chemicals into his veins, his brain was overwhelmed and sending signals over crossed wires to all other parts of his body, unsure whether to tell his heart to swell and pound until it exploded or to lie down and go to sleep until his face went blue._

_No, Rainer wouldn't leave Sketcher. But he'd given me that look to accompany me in his absence, a second shadow to lean on my shoulder and whisper reason into my right ear: '_Two wrongs don't make a right, Wasp, it won't make this right, we need to focus on Fli and Sketcher right now, our friends need us..._'_

_I knew all of that. But Rainer hadn't yet seen Fli in that wretched, death-ridden hospital, he hadn't seen how she was crumpled like a paper crane on that starched bed, hadn't seen the tubes and wires sticking to her like the tentacles of some gluttonous demon, trying to suck up all her light and strength. No, Rainer hadn't seen any of that. He hadn't seen the little diamond tears leaking from Fli's flower maiden eyes, eyes that had witnessed her own self-mutilation and all the drooling, listless men who'd sweated over top of her, eyes that still held hope in a tiny little box in their very centre and still knew how to defend herself, how to defend her pride even when so many tried to rob it from her. And tonight that box had broken open after all these years and that hope had spilled out over the edges like tiny shreds of her wounded spirit, even though she tried to convince herself that this, this was going to be okay._

_Rainer hadn't seen that._

_But I had. And that look, Fli's look, was the one that was tacked to the backs of my eyes and it was more driving then Rainer's._

_It started to rain sluggishly as I stalked through the warped streets, ducking past streetlights as the shadows followed me like faithful, beaten dogs, licking at my hands and rubbing my legs, growling when their noses brushed my roiling aura. They knew something was wrong, that something was about to happen, the scales were going to be righted._

_An eye for an eye._

_I was soaked right through when I reached the right building, acidic, polluted rain dripping thickly down my neck and into my face, etching little highlights as if my skeleton was blazing through in streaks behind my skin. I pushed past a group of hunched, filthy men who were working out some deal or other in the tiny sheltered space in the alcove of the doorway and one of them grabbed me when I knocked into him. I turned and snarled at him, spraying saliva and rain water from my fangs and he released me, staggering back. I must have looked pretty terrifying by this point, face gleaming darkly, eyes burning with some deep, untempered fury that was starting to push too hard against my stomach lining. It needed more space, it needed to be feed and reconciled, and it was staring to leak from my pores in snapping little tendrils, like a permanent growl resounding again and again from my skin._

_Turning away from him again I pushed through the grubby glass door and into the run-down, cockroach infested lobby of the apartment complex. I headed for the stairs, carpet stained and frayed and trying to trip me up as I took them two at a time but I didn't falter, not like I had on those cold, skeletal hospital stairs. There was no faltering here, anger was pulling the string with flawless, expert precision. It had done this before; it knew how this sort of thing played out._

_I was on the second flight of stairs when I smelt Fli's blood. I dropped to my knees, sniffing at the little signature blotch on the old, flea-ridden carpet. I felt a growl circle tightly like a length of barb wire in my throat. The next stair had a blot of it too, and then on the landing... my vision was swarmed with her scent, still spiking hot even though the blood was cooled and drying in little flakes among the caret fibre. I paused in my rampant hunt for a second to splay myself flat to the landing, hands spreading over the little patches of her DNA, pushing my nose down until it was rubbed raw by the scratchy fibres, drawing my tongue along her bloodstains and absorbing the little solidified droplets between my taste buds, fingers and arms stretched like some sort of crucifix to the fallen and the damned. _

_I swallowed then and her blood travelled down in one fluid motion to my roiling stomach and it was like a chemical reaction, blood mixed with stomach acids produces, produces, produces..._

_Rage. White, hot, burning, unrelenting, demanding rage, right up to the top of my head and into the cores of my bones, reverberating deep. _

_I was up again, up the stairs so fast I barely felt them pass by under me; maybe I was flying. Maybe I was like some angel of death and vengeance, momentarily granted a pair of wings. Or maybe, in these moments, my brain flies out the back of my skull and it's like being in the jungle, no laws, no thought process or moral conflicts, it's all just gut reaction and raw feeling, all fangs and bloodlust and dirty, brutal instinct. _

_And maybe in these moments I am no better than the ones who have raped and killed me and my own beloveds. But in these moments... I really, really don't give a fuck about that._

_Fli's blood made a blazing orange guideline in my mind, scored into my inner eye like echolocation, and it pulled me forward by a notch in my spine, up, up, faster now, faster. It was when I'd seven flights of stairs under me that his scent suddenly shot like a kick to the nose right up into my head and made me want to pause and vomit. Sweat and lazy sexual pheromones, cheap cigars and cheaper alcohol, some fetid cologne and clothes long unwashed, growing mould in the pockets and stained with rotting food and human waste. Garbage, bloating corpse, crow food. Worthless, soulless, vacant sack of shit. Unworthy of even the foul, infected heavy air that is the miasma of this stinking hellhole I call home. _

_My boot found his wooden door and blasted it back, chain lock tearing loose and spitting splinters into the smoggy air of his collapsing apartment. He was sitting in a chair, smoking and choking to death on the phlegm and tar that was clogging up his weakened lungs. He jerked to his feet clumsily when he took me in, this growling, savage creature in his broken doorway. He was an overweight, ugly male with a cracked, stubbly face and dull, stupid eyes and I hated him. I hated him, hated his stinking flesh and the slothful, self-centred demon that lay underneath, reclining lazily in his stomach. _

"_Who the fuck are you?" he hacked out, words slurred, slow, confused. "The fuck you think you're doing, bustin' into my fucking place and-"_

_He was cut off as his table crunched into him, knocking him back off his feet. There was strength in me now, fury lending me extra fuel, more muscle, and it wasn't so hard to hurl that thing at him._

_He'd barely pushed the splintered wood off him when I was on top of him, one big, heavy boot, the boots that Fli bought for me, pressing into his throat. I leaned down so that a string of saliva spilled down from my snarling mouth and dripped onto him, drawing a line over his face like a target. "I am the ghost of the little girl you broke." I told him, voice low and unearthly, a deep-rooted growl curling around every syllable. "And I'm here to send you where you belong."_

_His eyes stretched wide, still confused but fearful now too, like an animal of prey that suddenly finds itself with teeth in its hide, the stalking predator it didn't smell in time. _

_He was heavy but I hauled him to his feet by the lank, greasy hair on his oily head, right up straight to receive a stunning kick right in his bloated, diseased stomach, blowing him back into the wall. He didn't even have a chance to catch his breath before I smashed his lonely kitchen chair into him, feeling a satisfying crunch as I delivered the blow, right across his ribs and jaw so he fell once again. He got to his hands and knees, wheezing and choking for breath, all those cigars and days of inactivity catching up with him, making him weak, vulnerable. My hunting fangs found his hamstrings and the sound of his flesh tearing made my spine tingle, stomach churning in satisfaction. He let out a howl and fell to his side, legs useless now, muscles severed. _

_Carnivore found a nerve junction near the base of his spine then, punching right through to stick in the ancient floorboard beneath and when he opened his decaying mouth to scream I wedged my boot between his teeth, pining his lower jaw to the floor, feeling his rotting teeth crack and crumble the more pressure I put down. He shrieked around my boot and tried to struggle free, hand clutching as if trying to grab my leg but my other boot came down on his fingers and crushed them into the floor as well._

"_Do you know who gave me these boots?" I hissed, glaring down into his creased, terrified face, eyes spitting fire and bile at him. "SHE DID!" I roared, heel pressing down on his trapped digits until I felt something snap. "She gave them to me, you meaningless piece of shit, you lowly, overfed cockroach! She did! She was special, she was beautiful and brilliant as the dawn and you broke her, you wretched bastard, you broke my Fli! And now I will break you, I will make you feel every bruise and scar you ever beat into that girl!" And with that I lifted my foot from his broken hand and rammed it as hard as I could into his bottom jaw, and trapped as it was against my other boot, it shattered without resistance, shattered and popped to the side and his scream let some sort of terrible, laughing creature out of the deepest recesses in my chest... and I revelled in it._

_Tearing Carnivore free I grabbed him by his collar and hauled him up again, slamming him to against hi counter to punch Throatknotch's hilt directly into the bride of his nose, feeling it collapse against my strength, crunching like a snail's shell. And then again and again and again until all I could feel was pulp, like the inside of a discarded orange. He was gagging on his own pathetic sobs at this point and I turned him towards the slanted doorway, slamming a snap kick into the center of his chest so he reeled back and fell once again. And I just kept hauling him back up every time he went down, hauling him up to deliver another blow until he staggered back heavily into the wall of the corridor in this shithole of an apartment complex.  
And suddenly he was speaking, words bursting from bubbles of blood. "I... I'm sorry." He wrenches up. "I'm sorry!"_

_Something exploded in my chest, right next to my heart and I had him around the throat in an instant, leering into his ruined face. "You're sorry?" I whispered. "Sorry???" My eyes were narrowed and I felt certain in that moment that he could see every inch of his miserable existence slipping away like sand grains in an hour glass, every detail of his impending destruction. _

_I leaned in close enough so that my fangs could have torn his lips to shreds with my next words: "You're not forgiven."_

_Carnivore dug deep into the fleshy part of his groin and he screamed like something possessed as I twisted my loyal hunting fang in his disgusting meat, tearing through soured nerves and filthy organs, males and their god damn testosterone factories, driving greedy, selfish desires into the weaker minded and driving them to fuck and beat innocent little girls, paying out everything they've got just to wreck someone under their repulsive flesh. _

_I pulled my blade free, feeling sorry for every having to expose it to such putrid skin and blood; my hunting fangs deserved a better kill then this. Twisting him towards the staircase I released my hold on him and it only took one swift motion for Throatknotch to rip across his throat before he tumbled back, a dead sack of shit-soaked cells. _

_His body came to a halt against the wall at the bottom of the landing with a hollow thud and as his blood soaked into the mildew-ridden carpet, a much finer host, I turned and disappeared like a black piece of the night out the window at the end of the corridor, leaving him for the street-cleaners; that was their job, they're very good at it by now, scraping split corpses from gutters and the bottoms of dumpsters. It's one occupation on Macabre that will always guarantee to keep their workers well-fed and busy._

_Because nothing will ever, ever change on Macabre._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The further I went, the harder it seemed to push down on me.

It was coating the air, this metallic aura, lodged like a steel splinter in the part of my brain just above my nose. And with every step I took down those tunnels, the colder and more demanding that splinter seemed to get, stinging my sensitive brain tissue until my eyes started watering, as if I bubble of rubbing alcohol was located somewhere in one of my nostrils, blinding me and hacking away at my mucus membranes. I'd never felt an aura like this, this weight in the air that crackled with some hybrid electricity and sent cold shivers down my spine.

However, filtering feebly through all that acidic miasma was Stork's scent, flicking occasionally in my mind's eye like a trail of pixie dust. Wherever that aura was seeping from, Stork was there too. And I'd promised Falshade I'd bring her back. And even if I hadn't promised, I couldn't abandon my little Storky.

And so I trudged onward, feet glancing over the stone swiftly, silently, as I cupped my fingers around my nose and mouth like a gas-mask, something to filter out most of that sharp smelling air and only sucking in Stork's familiar scent when I needed to know what tunnel to turn down.

At one point I had to scramble up a chunk of rock that had been forced up by some shifting in the earth or other, jutting out from another crack in the tunnel, much more narrow this time and craggy too, like an old, broken mouth. Stork's smell was wafting up through this crack and so without any hesitation I forced myself in head-first, crawling down past protruding teeth of rock that leaned out to try and snag me, reaching out for company. This terra seemed so old and ravaged to me, I could feel its raggedness leaking from the stone as I splayed my wide hands over it for purchase. There was barely any strength left in the ancient thing, all of its hidden treasures scooped and scrapped bare by humans with wide eyes for glittering things. It's skeleton was brittle, bones hollowed like a bird's and as I snaked my way down that crevice I felt another tremor wrack the terra's interior, battering me slightly in the tight space. I held still for a moment, hoping that no rocks would come crashing down on me or that my little crevice wouldn't suddenly close up once again around me, swallowing me whole. But when I was meet by no further incidence I continued my downwards crawl, feeling like some subterranean creature scuttling down towards the underworld.

The fissure opened up into a cavernous tunnel below and I landed on the stone floor on all fours, crouched in a defensive pose, ready to spring. I listened intently for a few moments before getting my feet, twisting my fingers in their joints roughly as they started to grow cold. That aura was almost overpowering down here, shooting up my nose like a freezing tide and settling onto the hairs on my skin, knotting them together.

Stalking down the passage I clung to the walls, looking for little pockets of relief as my knees strained to keep me upright; I felt like the entire terra was pressing down on me, the weight of that crackling energy coming down hard on my shoulders, trying to flatten me like an insect. I rolled my shoulders irritably, cracking my neck to the side to relieve my tense joints, and kept creeping along determinedly.

At first I almost didn't see her.

But then, ahead of me, I picked out a little lump on the earthen floor and dashed forwards, throwing caution to the wind.

My kneecaps seemed to crack as I came down hard next to her, feeling her neck briefly to make sure it wasn't broken before rolling her towards me, lifting her from the cold stone to my chest like I wanted to tuck her inside me for safe keeping.

"Stork!" I rasped, sniffing her all over urgently, nudging her pale cheek with my nose. "Stork, can you hear me? It's me, it's Wasp, I've come to rescue you!"

She felt heavy in my arms for having such a small little body, like her limbs and muscles had gone to deadweight, totally beyond the grasp of her mind. I laid my ear to her chest, fearing making the back of my mouth prickle with needles. I held my own breath, listening desperately, waiting, waiting... where was it? Where was the steady drum-beat of our little Stork's big, thundering, stubborn heart?

Then I heard it, one short, hollow thud. I kept holding my breath even though my lungs were starting to burn and twitch for fresh air, until, agonizing moments later, I heard another slow thump. Her heart seemed to have taken a vacation, relaxing in her chest, sluggish and unconcerned with the rest of her. Her whole body seemed to have gone into hibernation; her breathing was slow and sporadic, taking ages between the exhale and inhale, and her skin was clammy and cool, not as cold as the touch of dead flesh, but almost like her body just didn't have the energy to give off much heat. She was alive in there, that much I knew, but it was like she was nestled deep in a cocoon, burrowed deep down under layers of subconscious, like Snow White after eating the poison apple.

I nuzzled at her neck, licked at her face, hoping that Faerie spit was as lucky as the myths proclaimed it to be. I even kissed her soft little mouth briefly, biting at her lower lip gently, like a pup tugging its mother's fur for attention; maybe Stork had slipped into a fairytale and needed a kiss to wake her up. But no, despite all my efforts she remained unconscious, far far away from me in another dimension I couldn't reach her in. Wherever she was I hoped it was nice there, that she was comfortable and relaxed.

It took me until then to realize something had changed with her hair; usually it was blonde with black shot through it like the mottled coat of a tortishell she-cat, little wing tips and streaks of raven feathers among that sun-bleached blonde. But now... now it was just blonde, seeming wane in its vibrancy today, no dark undertones to make it leap from her head, permanently windblown and hawk-tailed.

"Stork what happened to you?" I asked her, running my fingers through her strange new hair and hating the coarse feel. "Never mind, it doesn't matter right now. Don't worry, I'm going to get you home."

I'd barely gotten up from me knees when I heard the laughter; it seemed to tear into my soft brain tissue like the talons of an eagle and I buckled and slipped back down to my knees on the floor, eyes wide as pain shot up from the roof of my mouth and I was reminded of the brain freeze I'd gotten while Stork and I worked our way through a box of popsicles one hot, sticky day that seemed years ago now. For a moment I had to suppress my gag reflex as I feared it was her, it was the voice back in its tar-filled little recess in some bottom corner of my head. No, no, please no, things had been so much better without her cackling away up there, a magpie that refused to drop dead; there had been so much space up there for things to filter through, room to retain things and explore things, turning over memories like hour glasses without her sharp comments ripping them apart in my hands; and space to consider things too, like how it made me feel when Angel slid me a side-long glance at breakfast and smiled under his bangs. All these things seemed to be back in my hands, my head was my own little private closet again, cleaned out of cobwebs and broken glass and it had just felt so deliciously freeing. I didn't want that feeling to go away, I didn't want her back, not ever and certainly not now.

It took me a few moments to realize the laughter wasn't in my head but spilling from someone else's mouth. I blinked once, a split-second of self-permitted relief, before looking up to see who, exactly, this laughter was emitting from, and I was struck suddenly by the source of this weighted aura that was pressing and squeezing in around me like the coils of a python, the source of the shards of ice that seemed to jab at the back of my throat on every inhale.

She didn't seem to be very old; she couldn't have been older than me, anyways. But the way she stood there, about ten feet in front of me, made it seem like she thought herself ageless and ancient, all-powerful and wise like she'd personally witnessed the universe turn over. Her pale skin leapt out from the shadows like she was some otherworldly spirit shining through the thin skin of a corporal being, a ghost in her own flesh. Black hair hung around her head like the hood of a cobra, spearing over her ashen face and breaking it to pieces with the contrast.

But her eyes... they were the pinpoint, the dead center of this swirling, acrid miasma, where it all seemed to congeal and flow from. It made me sick to my stomach as I realized her orbs shared Falshade's violet hue, although hers were considerably darker and protruding with a wicked cunning from behind her pupils, a brightness skipping off them like light off a switchblade. But at the same time, the seemed vacant to me, hollow, inhuman, filled to the brim with malice and cool calculation and nothing else, no shred of any sort of emotion. She made me think of a child's doll, black button eyes reflecting vision from the outside world but producing nothing genuine of its own.

It was this emptiness about her, the feeling that I could just walk over and pass right through her that frightened me and made me feel a jab of pity. What was it to be physically alive and functional and yet drained of everything that made living worthwhile? No dreams in your sleep or trembling in your heart?

She stopped laughing and examined me scrupulously, a moth pinned to a chart. This shook me from my initial unease of this girl-thing and I bared my teeth at her, hackles quivering.

"Oh, yes, you are a fierce one aren't you?" she asked, her pallid lips turning upwards at the corner. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to make a liar out of you though, Wasp. You see, I need to keep dear little Feonix with me."

I hated her voice the moment it struck against my eardrums, girlish and direct, clipped and hollow, with an underlying reverberation of something like the buzzing of a loudspeaker. I hated that it had curled around both mine and Stork's names. "What have you done to Stork?" I spat, on my feet and stepping over Stork so her limp form was behind me, shielded. If this little creature wanted Stork, she was going to have to go through me first.

She pretended to pout, sticking out her wane lower lip in a sickening imitation of a scolded child. "You aren't going to ask me about myself? I would have thought you'd at least like to know who I am."

I snarled at her, ropes of saliva spilling down from my upper teeth. "I don't give a damn who you are." I assured her, my voice a low growl. "I want to know what you've done to Stork."

She laughed, tilting back her head as if she found this extremely comical and I my hands curled around my machete's hilts without even bothering to be subtle.

"Oh but you _should_!" she cackled with glee. "You _should_ give a damn about me. Because very soon, I am going to be the ruler over this world of yours."

I snorted and spit a glob of snot into the corner, my nose oozing from the force of that metallic, sour scent, my mouth filling with saliva until I was afraid I might drown in it. I needed to get rid of some of it anyways, and I always found that ejecting a good string of mucus has a way of unnerving people, or at least letting them know that they aren't unnerving you. "I'm only going to ask you one more time; _what-have-you-done-to-STORK_?" I demanded, my chin titled down to protect my throat, ears right back against my head, hackles raised, eyes narrowed, every sign of aggression in Faerieshian and human body language. My boots were gritted down hard into the stone below me so I could lunge forward in an instant if I had to, muscles bunched and ready to let loose.

Something seemed to snap about her, the energy around her crackling as she lost her patience and her face changed, her eyes turning a note darker. "What have I done to her?" she repeated, her voice a low hiss, no more mockery and false-playfulness. "What have I done to her... well Wasp, you seem to know a little something about reincarnations, don't you? Why don't you tell me?"

I blinked at her, not understanding, and she held out a boney hand in my direction, letting a spiral of her scent waft towards me through the aura that was swirling about her. And it hit me so abruptly I felt like something might have exploded in my head, one of my lobes bursting in disbelief. I staggered back slightly, almost tripping over Stork's prone form.

"You..." my fierce, brutal energy slipped slightly as shock swelled in my stomach. Her mouth curved into that grin again, a grin that looked like it had been carved onto her face rather than adjusting itself into the expression; her eyes stayed just as dark and poisonous the whole time.

"Why...why do you smell like... like _her_?" I strung out, mind reeling as my nose confirmed over and over that, somehow, shifted and distorted, warped almost beyond recognition it was there, in the very basics of its structure, Stork's scent weaved and smeared into this other girl's.

"Because my dear, I _am_ her." She explained simply, teeth flashing like polished glass behind her lips, gleaming with self-satisfaction. "Or rather, I was her, a part of her. Feonix's existence has been fashioned from my own, you see. Call her something of a reincarnation, if you will. My essence has been housed in her body, unbeknown to her, for sixteen long years, gathering strength, biding my time. And when I was finally powerful enough to animate my own body once more, I found Feonix's body a little too small for me. And so here I am, back at last in my own skin."

I gawked at her, shaking my head violently, ears slapping my neck. "No. No, that can't be true..."

"What further proof do you require?" she asked tauntingly. "Do you not see me before you? Do you not smell Feonix's fibre in me?"

My eyes narrowed dangerously; it disgusted me to think this little wretch had been a parasite in Stork all this time, feeding off her energy, living inside her all this time. "I don't believe in reincarnations." I told her. "Stork's soul is her own. She's nothing like you, she doesn't reek like you do and her eyes are green and beautiful and full of life that you'll never, ever know."

Something cinched in her face and her smug grin vanished like it'd been peeled from her face. "I believe I've answered your question." She hissed. "Now, before you put me in a completely foul mood I'm still considering being gracious enough to let you go on your way unharmed. Unless you have any more clever comments."

My ears tucked back into their familiar places alongside my skull; I briefly wondered if maybe I had little indents that curved to fit my ears there perfectly by now. "I'm not leaving without Stork."

"Ah." The girl feigned disappointment here, reaching to her back for something. "Well in that case... you see, I'm afraid I can let you take her. So I'll give you a choice: you can either turn around now and get out of here alive. Or you can try to take Feonix with you and entertain me with your fruitless efforts. Which will it be?"

I really didn't like her voice; it made me think of venomous, slithering snakes and something lurking in the shadows, filled with a vile arrogance and that undertone that just rattled me. It reverberated with the same tone as her cyanide aura, something filmy and toxic flowing smoothly like velvet through her words like tiny little eels. It made my spine prickle in ways I wasn't familiar with; I don't think I'd ever felt this much unease about someone before. And that aggravated me; I didn't like that she disarmed me like that.

Plus I knew a threat when I heard one, and I dug in my boots, a snarl hacking up from deep in my jungle guts. "I thought I already made it clear; I'm not leaving my Stork behind." Stork needed my protection and I'd made a promise to myself to look out for her when she needed me, like Fli had for me. And Falshade... Falshade had put his faith in me, all his money on my number, and I'd promised I'd bring her back to him. I was taking up a temporary role as Sky Knight in his absence, and I wasn't going to back down from that position.

"Oh well." The girl sighed, twirling a spiked energy staff around in front of her, a formidable thing with curved metal claws over either end. "I suppose it's only a matter of time for all of you anyways..."

She was fast when she moved, a striking viper; she turned her staff on me quickly and it spat a wave of red energy towards me, sizzling and snapping like a wall of radiation. All my instincts told me to duck, roll to the side, dodge the assault and then counter with one of my own. But I realized too late that Stork was still behind me, utterly helpless, and to move would leave her exposed. So at the last minute I crossed my machetes in front of me, hoping I'd act as a shield so that energy wouldn't hit Stork in her already damaged state, and then slashed my machetes out like the snap of a switchblade flashing open, trying to send out some sort of barrier against the energy, diffuse it, bounce it away from me and Stork.

And... it worked.

I saw the wave of red roll over me like I was submerged in a red sea during high-tide, breakers moving in. I felt it too, the pressure around my protective bubble that made my ears pop, the energy spiking around me and testing the strength of my barrier, my extended energy shield. I felt my stomach muscles clenching as if I were holding back a blow from a sword, boots slipping back an inch with the force as it tried to break in. But then it was passed Stork and I, flowing and fading like a lone music note behind us.

I blinked, glancing at Stork quickly; she was still breathing, achingly slowly, deep in the folds of unconscious.

Then I stared back at my opponent, who was watching me with a flicker of interest. "Extraordinary." She murmured, one pale finger sliding to sit between her two faded lips thoughtfully, staff at her side non-threateningly. "I'd always wondered about you... how long have you had that sort of influence on crystals?"

I furrowed my brow, confused. "What are you talking about?" I growled impatiently.

"Not just anyone can hold off a wave of crystal energy without some sort of opposing crystal shield intact." She informed me patronizingly. "It's an acquired skill... or a rare gift, depending on how you want to look at it. You can feel it, can't you? The energies around the crystals... you can utilize this energy by binding it to your own, stretching it, bending it to your will."

I kept my mouth firmly closed, tongue wedged to the roof of my mouth, but I ran her words slowly through my mind. Well, yes... in the jungle it was instinct to feel the energies of your tribe-mates, become in tune with them so during a hunt or a ceremony you could weave into their thought process, their instincts, coordinate an attack or feed off their vibes, pushing your fingers into their skull and chewing on their aura. I'd even read that females in particular send off little signals to one another, the longer they stay together, even going to far as to start their menstrual cycle at the same time. There were languages in this world that spoke in quiet voices, the whisper and sigh of a touch, the stroke of someone's aura against yours, conveying comfort or irritation. Pheromones, unconscious thought, dreams, psychic vibes... they all spoke to one another while you were distracted with something else, picking at a scab or trying to find something lost under the couch. In the jungle it had been crucial for the hunt, to keep together. In the outside world it gave me an entirely different edge, the ability to feel the little cracks scored into people, even if I didn't understand them right away.

Maybe that's why it had been simple to feel the pulse and flare of a crystal, the different prickles against my palms that told me what was what; every type of crystal has a different signature, just like people. Somehow my energy found it all too easy to interlace with a crystal's, so that I had to be careful always when I played with Rainer's lighter, which had a very small Blazer located inside, and why I'd accidently blown the crystals in Fraggle's Ice Grinder; if I recalled correctly, Stork had mentioned something about playing some sort of Gargoyle-patented training game and my excitement must have flared up while I'd been pushing past his skimmer, hand at its flank. Excitement is infectious after all.

I stared back at this girl and she must have seen the struggling understanding in my eyes because she nodded, grinning smugly. "Yes, you see? You can warp untemepered energy with no need for an adapter. It's too bad you didn't pay more attention to the ability; but you focused more on your honing physical skills I suppose. Pity. Something of a waste of time if you ask me."

"...Can't everybody do it?" I asked, ignoring her last comment, distracted by this crystal stuff. I suppose it fascinated me, and she didn't look like she was about to attack me again just yet.

She laughed robotically. "Of course not. In fact, I stand by the belief that it only comes into place in the absence of something else."

I cocked my head in spite of myself; I should have learned by now how hazardous curiosity can be. "What do you mean?"

"I know a lot about you, Wasp; I've kept a close eye on you since Feonix picked you off that shit-stained terra. I guess you were something of a fascinating specimen to me, more interesting than those witless boys she followed after so willingly. I'll never understand what is so special about the male population." Disgust flickered briefly on her face. "Personally I believe the world would do better without them, or in the least keep them at our feet where they belong. How interesting for you to spend most of your years solely among females; you and I aren't so different. I suppose that's what caught my attention about you."

Something hardened in my chest when she said that; it made me feel ill to think I shared anything with her, and yet... something about her seemed to be catching my attention as well. "How'd you figure?" I asked distrustfully, refusing to let my guard down completely; I knew only bad things happened in situations like this if I did.

"...Tell me, does it bother you that you can no longer have children?"

I felt all my bones stand on end like my skeleton had been electrocuted. I stared at her, clenching my teeth. How...?

"I'm a rather perceptive individual as well you know." She said with a sly little grin, pleased with herself. "I notice things others miss. You've been sterilized, haven't you?"

I just glared at her, refusing to answer, heart thudding. This girl... the fact that she knew these things shook me to my core. It was unnerving to think that all this time, she'd been watching all of us through Stork, observing our intimate world.

"I told you that you and I were alike." She went on. "I was born sterile; it seems to be something that has occurred with every great empress before me. We depend on the males in our family to keep our blood pure, to pass on the genes. And yet now I'm the only one left..." here she smirked. "No matter though... I've discovered ways to create life beyond the pathetic, disgusting procreation process. But I'm getting off topic aren't I?" she seemed to think for a moment and I waited, ashamed of myself for being so drawn in suddenly, as if this were a gritty science fiction novel and for a moment I wasn't me but some other character and the outside stuff didn't apply to me right now. But I couldn't bring myself to end this conversation, not just yet.

"You know it seems through time males and females, of any species, have been given certain gender attributes that will guarantee the continuation of their genes, and of their entire species in general." She began again after a few moments. "Males of course have their bloodlust, the ability to fight with, granted, impressive skills, whether in the animal kingdom for dominance or in our own species. Women can train all their lives and it has been proven they can never achieve the same muscular strength or stamina of that of a man. Our lung capacity is smaller, we don't bulk as much muscle, our skeletons were built for things other than fighting and physical strength. It's ingrained into a male's DNA to pass on their own genes, a survival of the fittest situation. Females... well they're something different. Instead of this instinct to fight challengers, we have this installed instinct to nurture, to defend our offspring right to the death it we must. Maternal instinct, it's called; it's been said nothing is more dangerous than a mother creature when her offspring are threatened. You must know all about that."

I could feel the blood pounding in my head as she went on. I knew all of those things; mother jaguars will fight to the death if her cubs are threatened. I knew about males and their genetic programming to breed as well... I knew about that one quite well.

"Studies have shown that female rats tend to be faster, bolder, more intelligent and even able to memorise and retain information better if they're nursing young then the female rats who aren't. It's a female's nature to counter that of a male's I suppose; there's evidence of it everywhere. However, I've always wondered... what of the females who aren't able to reproduce? What of this maternal instinct then? Are we the weaker creatures, to be picked off by the stronger, more aggressive females, just as the weaker males are chased off or killed by the more dominant ones?" there seemed to be a trembling sort of frustration in her voice, although her face hadn't changed in expression and I had a hard time believing the feeling. "Or... is it replaced with something else instead?"

I blinked at her. "...Like what?"

She stared at me baldly as if I'd said something stupid. "I don't know about the animal kingdom." She said. "But I believe that the reason that women like you and me are able to do what we can do with crystals is spawned in place of the inability to reproduce. Something more powerful in place of what should be natural to us. For example if you were to lose one of your senses, the others would be heightened to unprecedented ability to compensate. So perhaps our female's intuition is focused and warped instead on that of the energy signals of crystals?"

I mulled this over. I remembered Angel saying that natural and synthetic energies didn't mix; I had trouble grasping that nature, instead of replacing the inability to breed with maybe... a heightened ability to survive or something, would instead generate in us the ability to utilize crystals, something from the non-living end of the spectrum. Although... this girl's theory somehow struck a chord of sense in me, something that made me believe that maybe she was on to something. Evolution works in strange ways after all, as does fate.

"I'm... not sure. You make sense. But I don't think just because you're not able to have children of your own doesn't mean you've lost that maternal instinct thing completely."

"Oh no? Explain." She invited, seeming interested.

"Well... say it's not even a maternal thing. It's just this thing in you, and maybe we females do have it a little more strongly than males, although I've seen what lengths guys will go to when they have to, to look out for each other... or even a perfect stranger." I thought of Rainer finding me, alone, scared, lost, and bringing me home to look after me, despite the fact that I'd attacked him at first. "And maybe this thing is just this gut-instinct to protect those closest to you when they're threatened. They don't just have to be your own flesh and blood."

"You think so?" she mused.

"Well, look at me." I said, waving my hand at Stork to demonstrate my example and the girl gave a high-toned laugh, something like a young girl who was genuinely amused in that giggle that made me think, for a split second, that maybe there was some human in there; maybe Stork had given her some over the years.

"Good point." She congratulated. "You see, this is why you interest me so much. Despite the fact you grew up in the most primal of societies you have this higher way of thinking that I must respect. I'll admit it was rather enjoyable watching you; I find so much about this world to be dull and uninspired these days. It sickens me. It was refreshing to watch you careening about; it's almost a shame we're on opposite sides... I'd love to crack open your potential, temper your crystal abilities."

"Hmmm..." I said. I stared at her critically for a long time, sinking back into myself, realizing shortly I was going to be fighting her, possibly killing her, in order to get Stork and I home. "...What's your name?"

She laughed once again. "Piqued your interest have I? What happened to not giving a damn?"

I shrugged. "You know mine." I said honestly.

"And you should know mine by now as well, although I can't expect you to think of it." She explained and then something finally twisted in her face, some sort of perverted glee, dripping with a sense of long-awaited reprisal and delighted cruelty. "I have been the bane of these skies once before, and this time I shall conquer them for good. I will end the age of the wretched Sky Knights, long overdue, and I will reign supreme over this world of ours. I am the last in the line of a great and terrible empire and I will blot out the stars with my storms and armies; I am Master Cyclonis, and I will finish what my ancestors started."

That name bounced off something in my head, like a raindrop smattering on a leaf briefly. Cyclonis... something about it intoned something foreboding to me, although I couldn't understand what just yet.

"I see." I said. "I can't say I'm pleased to meet you, but... well it's been an interesting experience that's for sure."

"Indeed." Cyclonis agreed, hand tightening on her staff as she stared at me and I felt my hands do the same on machetes. "I don't suppose you've changed you decision have you?"

I looked at Stork behind me, who was long overdue to be taken home to safety by now; I felt a shard of guilt tear at me. "No. I'm not leaving without her."

"Pity." Cyclonis said and that's when things snapped between us, we were right back to being enemies locked in combat, two dominant, sterile females ready to tear one another apart.

Her strike came like a bolt of lightning, another wave of red energy, more ferocious and determined then before, roaring towards me. I dropped my machetes and shoved my arms out in front of me, trying to send my energy down to my palms and make it spread, a shield of green fire around Stork and I to deflect that blow.

The energy curled overhead once again, although this time I had to fight harder to hold it back, teeth clenched tight, muscles snapping taut to hold my ground, wrists taking the brunt of the force, straining under the force.

The moment the energy had dissipated I dove for my machetes and rolled to the side, coming up in a couch and firing two green charges at her, no longer worried about Stork; Cyclonis wanted her, for whatever reason, so she wouldn't hurt her.

Cyclonis angled her staff in front of her and both charges seemed to shatter in an array of green lightning bolts as if they'd struck something solid, a crackle of red energy bubbling around her. She whipped her staff in a horizontal slash and a red line of energy came rushing towards me like a blade, prepared to slice me in two.

I ducked under it as it sang overheard and slashed out with Throatknotch, a wave of green energy crashing towards her. Again she diffused it and then spread her fingers over the red crystal in her shaft, cupping them around her palm and like an octopus sucking the meat from a clam, she pulled up some of the crystal's essence, forming a glowing red maelstrom of roiling energy in her hand.

And then she threw it at me.

I deaked to the side, preparing to fling another few charges at her when suddenly the globe of energy turned as well and came after me as if locked on to my scent. I dodged again and it curved around, following my movements. Cyclonis laughed, no longer her girlish one but something that got enjoyment from the impending appearance of blood.

I circled back right up against the wall and that's when my fury came roaring to life, a dragon that had been reclining, waiting for its call, under my heart chamber. It's teeth sank into me and its fire spread through my veins, heightening everything around me, making my muscles tougher, reflexes faster, determination stronger and my own bloodlust that much hungrier.

Angel Fang ripped through that ball of energy and sent it scurrying out in all directions like fleeing cockroaches. I made a cross-slash with both machetes and sent spear of energy at her, which she destroyed with a blast from her own weapon.

"You see?" she jeered at me. "You can only do so much with petty blades."

_Petty_? _My_ hunting fangs?

"And I bet there's only so much you can do with crystals too!" I snapped, rushing up on her. She hurled a bolt of energy at me and I slashed through it and then continued to slash at her, Throatknotch diving in for her abdomen while the Angel Fang struck for her neck, coming in to slice her windpipe.

She caught both blades with her staff and held them, and over our tangled weapons I grinned my werewolf grin, showing off all my wicked, eager fangs.

"And then it all comes down to tooth and claw." I informed her and slammed a kick into her chest. She went reeling backwards, flipping over herself so come down in a crouch. So she _wasn't _onlytrained in only crystal combat.

From her position on the cave floor she whipped one of her feet out to try and knock my legs out from under me. I jumped backwards and she was up faster then I gave her credit for, bringing her staff down towards me head. I caught the blow with Angel Fang and flipped her staff to the side, Throatknotch plunging in for her exposed flank. She turned to the side to avoid the blade and then swung back around, her kick catching me off guard; I staggered back, clenching my jaw to make sure it hadn't been dislocated and looked back at her in time to see her shoot a bolt of red energy directly at my chest.

My eyes slammed shut to avoid being blinded and I braced for impact, hands in front of my chest, curled as if to catch a ball. I skidded backwards about two feet when that charge slammed into my energy field, blowing something in my nose in the process, but when I opened my eyes I found the energy burning just a few inches in front of my jacket, nestled between my hands, its heat licking my skin uncomfortably.

I looked back to her, eyes narrowed dangerously and summed up my energy as if I was gathering saliva in my mouth; and inward suck, collect, hork, and then spit.

The bolt of energy went careening back towards her and for a second I'd like to think she looked a little surprised; I guess she hadn't expected me to be able throw her own energy back at her. She diffused it with the spear of her staff and glared at me; both of us were tired of this fight by now.

She flung a mighty wave of energy at me as I lunged forwards and I met the thing head-on, bracing myself, energy repelling the red electricity as it burst around me like a wall of flame, pressing on me like static and causing another vein to burst in my nose, blood running down into my mouth. It was all I could do to hold up a shield and keeping running, but I slammed something shut determinedly in my mind, blocking out messages of stress and pain from the rest of my body and ploughed through.

When I burst through the other side she whipped the end of her staff towards me to try and crack my neck to the side. I deflected the blow and dodged to the side, darting back and forth, one foot to the other, an erratic little dance like a rabbit would make to try and deak out a predator.

And as I hoped she followed my movements waiting for me to make my move. I felt one foot come up against the wall and bunched the muscles in my legs, my powerful, loyal legs. With Angel Fang I hurled a bolt of energy at her and the moment it was charging forwards I sprang after it, pushing off from the stone. She side-stepped, pierced and shattered my charge with the end of her staff and then turned to look back at me.

But I was already right in her space, barely a hands breadth away and before she could even get her staff back around to attack me Throatknotch's hilt had thundered into her temple.

Her blood hit my receptors and almost made me keel over it was so acidic, so sharp and intense. But I bit the feeling back, because she'd staggered under that blow but hadn't gone down yet and Throatknotch punched in a second time. That was all it took and she collapsed before me, hanging from her staff for a moment before it clattered to the floor and she slumped down to the stone, out cold.

I knelt down next to her, rolling her to her side to look at her ice-carved face. "You focus too much on crystals." I told her. "In the end, I'm think I'm alright with my petty hunting fangs, thanks."

To be honest, I considered slitting her throat right then and there for a second. After all, she'd told me she was going to take over our world, she was the puppet master behind all that was going on. But then I just stood up and turned my back on her; she was unconscious for one thing. It didn't feel morally right to slit someone's throat while they couldn't fight back. I knew how unfair that was, to be tied up and helpless while people carved into my flesh with knives, splitting me open before my own eyes. I couldn't do it, it didn't sit well with me. And I knew it wouldn't have sat well with Falshade either.

And also... I couldn't help but feel like, after our conversation, I didn't necessarily want her dead. Not right now, not today. Maybe I'd regret it in the days to come. But I had more pressing matters anyways; I'd left Stork lying there long enough, she needed help and the safety of the _Merlin_. She was what was important now that my enemy was disabled. I had to take care of her.

"Next time we meet, we'll finish this." I called back to Cyclonis' crumpled form. "But like I said, I have to protect those closest to me."

I dropped to my knees beside Stork once more, checking her breathing and her pulse, lifting an eyelid to take in her unfocused orb. I nuzzled her briefly "I'm sorry Stork, I'm sorry I took so long. We're getting out of here now, I promise."

I tore a strip of fabric from my Socially Awkward t-shirt and knotted it around Stork's wrists, hauling her up and sliding her tied arms carefully over my head, so she was hanging limply against my back in case I needed my hands free, an unconscious piggy-back ride.

And then I was off, racing through the tunnels, sniffing for where the fresh air rushed in, looking for the fastest route out. I had paused at a junction, inhaling deeply, Stork pressed into my back securely, when I felt a tug of something go off in my chest and my breathing hitched uneasily. Something had happened. Something bad had just happened to one of the others.

Panic was tasting like bile in the back of my mouth as I scrabbled up the sides of some rough boulders, having found a few minutes later a jagged slice of light pouring through from the outside, a rift in the underground walls.

"Look Stork, a way out." I said, feeling like I needed to speak, needed to do something to distract myself from the feeling of dread that was steadily swirling in me, growing bigger and colder with each turn like the eye of a hurricane. I hoped Falshade had found his way out and was with the others; something was telling me they needed him right now, desperately.

Outside I inhaled deep the fresh air, trying to let it calm me as I tasted the wind for traces of the others. Blood was on the air as is whipped through my dreadlocks and I swallowed nervously; some of that blood smelled familiar; some of it was Gargoyle.

I was scrabbling up the terra side to get to the top, where hopefully I'd have a better chance at scoping out the others, leaping from ledge to ledge and scraping my hands raw as sometimes I had to climb hand-over-hand to get to the next little trail, when something flashed in the grey sunlight and caught my eye.

And I knew I had to keep going, I knew that; but my damn curiosity lunged up to the backs of my teeth keenly and the dread spiked into my stomach wall at the same time. I needed to know what that was.

I loped over the outcropping where I'd spied the flash and climbed up some rocks, looking between the crevices among all the stones to find what had been glinting like that. As if she sensed that I was looking for something, Stork's head lolled to the side against my shoulder like she was trying to help. I glanced in the direction that her chin had titled and located what had been reflecting the sunlight among those russet coloured rocks.

It was Angel's crossbow, broken and splattered with dark, desert blood.

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

I found my way through the lower tunnels somehow, stopping now and then to feel for air currents. There was a weak source of light trickling in from somewhere and I knew I was on the right track the lighter it seemed to get. But still, it seemed to take me agonizingly long time to get out of there, during which I was more panicky then I think I've ever been in my life. I kept thinking I could hear footsteps behind me, or that something had moved in the shadows up ahead. I wished I could have stayed with Wasp; it wasn't that I didn't trust her to find Stork, but I'd already split everybody up once and I had a feeling now that the others were in trouble. What if something happened to Wasp down there, while she was all alone? I'd never find her in those tunnels, if I even managed to get past that wall of rock that had been separating us.

And what of the others? Why had Angel just cut off like that? I prayed it was because they'd had to make a quick getaway, that they were on the skimmers right now waiting for us or better yet back on the _Merlin_. I'd tried my radio once more, even though I knew it wasn't a good idea to be making so much noise down here, where Berserkers could be lurking or the tunnels might be ready to collapse. But I'd had to try, even though all I received was static.

I rounded a corner and was nearly blinded by the blaze of light that poured in through a gap in the terra wall, a large, human-made hole by the looks of it; this must have been where the exit to the underground passages had been all along. Luck seemed to smile on me for what seemed like the first time all day and there was a wide trail leading up to the surface of the terra from the outcropping that led to the tunnel entrance. I ran up the slope, slipping occasionally because my legs were shaky with anxiety and the spiking and then waning of adrenalin that had been pummelling me for the last hour.

The top of the terra seemed horribly open to me when I reached it; it was a wide open plain littered with rock formations and small clefts here and there. I looked around, trying to get my bearings and figure out where I had to go to get back to my skimmer. I headed out onto the terra, angling for the east side of it, where I figured the trail would be located that would lead me down to the little alcove where we'd stashed our sky rides.

I wasn't out very far when I heard the roaring of engines behind me, and because no familiar voice was shouting out to me I knew they weren't friendly skimmers coming up behind me. I ducked and hunkered down behind a collection of large rocks and a few moments later at least two dozen Nightflyers roared by overhead, heading out into the thick, murky clouds. I furrowed my brow, getting up carefully, glancing around to make sure there weren't any more. They were leaving the terra... why?

I swore to myself, hoping like mad they hadn't found the _Merlin_. It occurred to me though if they were abandoning the terra like that it didn't mean anything good; the place was unstable after all, maybe they were packing out, the terra no longer safe to house them.

I was just standing up on a small platform of rock to see if I could spot any sign of the others when a collection of twisted metal caught my attention and I leapt back down, hurrying over to it.

"Fraggle!" I shouted, sliding to my side to check under the crumpled remains of his Ice Grinder. He wasn't pinned under it, nor did he seem to be lying anywhere nearby, but there were splatters of blood littered all over the place.

My throat closed with fear for a second before I fought it back, getting to my feet. If he'd crashed here that meant there was still a good chance he was out on the terra, somewhere.

"FRAGGLE!" I hollered, not giving a damn if I gave my position away anymore. Fuck, with all that blood... he needed help. "ANGEL, VARAN!!! ARE YOU GUYS OUT THERE??? HEY!!!"

I followed the trail of blood spatters, turning back towards the edge of the terra. I took it at a run, scrambling over rocks in my way, shouting out for the others whenever I could. At the edge of the terra I found a place where it looked like there might have been a scuffle, or some sort of commotion anyways; the fine layer of grit was disturbed and kicked all over the place, and the blood splatters were smeared in a few spots like they'd been stepped on, or like someone had been dragged through them. And then they started up again, leading back into the interior of the terra and I paused, trying to figure out what in hell might have happened. Had Fraggle been captured by the enemy, or had he gotten away? And why had he come back this way?

Whatever the reason, I knew I had to keep following the trail, possibility of running into Berserkers or not. If they _had_ found Fraggle then he needed help, and if they hadn't then he was out there somewhere, bleeding and possibly alone.

I kept yelling out for him and Angel and Varan, not caring if I gave myself away; if there were enemies still out there then let them come for me. It would draw them off the others for one thing, and they'd been in for a real struggle if they tried to take me on right now anyways. Fear for the others could all too easily lend me strength if I had to beat my way past some Berserkers; I was determined to find them and there was nothing that was going to get in my way.

My blood trail was suddenly becoming rather erratic though, only a splotch every now and again and a few times I had to stop and hunt around for the next mark to know where I had to go. And then it disappeared completely and I let out a howl, yanking at my hair and aiming a kick at a nearby rock, ignoring the pain that shot through my foot.

"ANGEL!!!" I shouted. "FRAGGLE, VARAN, WHERE ARE YOU?"

I was about to start yelling again when I slammed my mouth closed on my tongue, listening. For a second there I'd been sure I'd heard someone calling out for me. I strained my ears against the wind that was picking up, praying I'd heard something, that my mind wasn't just playing tricks on me. And then I heard it again, someone definitely crying out my name desperately, someone not too far away.

"I'm here!" I shouted. "Where are you?"

"Falshade!" Came the shout again and I scrabbled over some of the dusty rock formations, hopping down to the other side and then freezing where I stood.

There was Fraggle, barely able to stand, blood matting his fur in several places, eyes wide and distraught, shining with desperation. I ran over to him before he collapsed under Varan's weight, who he'd been supporting against him while he shook from head to toe wretchedly, looking like he was about to fall down and stay down.

"Fraggle...oh god, what _happened_?" I demanded, shifting Varan off him and giving him a good look; he looked like his scales had been torn off in several places, skin red and inflamed underneath, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and several other places on his torso. "Varan, wake up, c'mon Var... Fraggle what's wrong with him?"

Fraggle started at me, wild-eyed and in shock. "I'm s-sorry." He choked out.

"What? I don't understand... Fraggle, listen, you _need_ to tell me what happened."

"I'm sorry!" He wailed, completely overwhelmed by this point, burying his face in my shoulder and bursting into tears, clinging to me for support and between the two of them I nearly buckled under the weight.

"Fr-Fraggle, knock it off, you're scaring me." I said fearfully. "Listen, it's okay, you're okay, you don't have to be sorry, just tell me what happened!"

"I...I couldn't get him, eh. I couldn't help him." He choked into me, heaving and shivering like crazy.

"What do you..." I trailed off, only just noticing something and I felt cold, hard dread drop heavily in my stomach, my chest seizing. "Fraggle... where's Angel?"

Fraggle howled at this point, twisting his ears tight. He looked up at me, his eyes huge and remorseful. "I...I'm s-so sorry... I'm sorry... I tried to... they..."

"Fraggle, where's Angel?" I demanded again, feeling horrible for being so rough with him when he was in such awful shape but I needed to know what had happened to them, what had happened to my brother.

"...They... they got him." Fraggle whispered, his voice cracking.

My heart stopped and I felt like I was going to puke. I stared at him, his words hitting me like a blow to the head, sending me reeling. "They... they what?" I wheezed, gagging on my words.

Fraggle started sobbing all over again. "I'm so s-sorry, I couldn't h-help him, and they got him, Falshade, they got him and... and... and I don't know where they t-took him."

I felt my knees starting to get dangerously weak. "But... he was still alive? Was he alive when they got him?"

"I don't know!" Fraggle wailed. "He was fighting them but they were all over him, and I...I'm sorry! I couldn't help him, I'm sorry eh, I wanted to but I just-" he cut himself off, overcome by his tears now, crying hard, guilt and pain and stress just tearing him apart.

Still trying to support Varan I wrapped an arm around his shoulder, feeling awful for demanding so much from him when he was injured and traumatized. "Okay, it's okay Fraggle, it's alright buddy. There was nothing you could do. You're okay and you brought Varan back with you, that's what matters. You did good, alright? You did awesome. Now we're going to get you both out of here and it's all going to be alright, okay?"

Fraggle heaved and choked but tried to get himself under control. "O-okay. What are we g-gonna do?"

"We'll go to where our skimmers are, get off this fucking rock and get back to the _Merlin_." I said. "Stick close to me, I'll look after you. We're gonna be okay."

Fraggle nodded and clung to my side as we set off across the terra towards the trail that led down to where Wasp, Stork and I had stashed our skimmers. I hoped Wasp would know to go back to the _Merlin_ if she couldn't find us here; I'd have to go back for her of course, but I had to look after Fraggle and Varan first.

We hadn't gotten very far though when I heard a noise behind us and grabbed Fraggle, tugging him over. "Hang on to Varan." I hissed, shifting Varan's weight back to him and then turned, Sliver out and ready to attack.

It was Wasp who'd been there, and I felt my arm drop to my side when I saw her and who she had in her arms.

"Falshade..." she breathed out and I ran over, taking Stork's limp body from her trembling arms and holding her in close, taking in her pale face, panic coursing through my veins.

"Stork..." I whispered and then I rounded on Wasp. "_WHAT HAPPENED_???"

"I don't know." Wasp whispered. "Falshade, don't shout at me, I don't know."

I felt a trickle of shame but I was too worried about Stork to care. "What's wrong with her?" I wheezed, my body trembling like mad, heart thundering in my chest hard enough to heart.

"I'm not sure." Wasp said, touching Stork's pale forehead gently. "But she's alive, Falshade, she's alive, that's what matters."

"Alive..." I repeated. She barely looked it, breathing so shallowly and slowly it was like she'd gone into hibernation, body just slowed right down and using the bare minimum amount of energy. "Okay... we've got to get her back to the _Merlin_, and Fraggle and Varan too, Varan's hurt bad."

Wasp nodded, loping at my side as I hurried back to the others. Fraggle was shaking with exertion, trying desperately to hold up Varan and I looked back at Wasp.

"Can you carry her?" I asked, lifting Stork slightly. Wasp nodded and I carefully deposited her back into Wasp's gangly arms before ducking under Varan's shoulder and hefting him off Fraggle. "You think you can make it?" I asked Fraggle, because he wasn't looking good at all, shocked and out of it, staggering about like his legs could barely support him. But he nodded valiantly and stumbled after me as I continued on the way to our skimmers.

"Falshade?" Wasp said from behind, where she was keeping an eye on Fraggle. I knew what was coming and I shut my eyes, trying not to think about it; if I let myself think about it I was going to fall apart and I couldn't, not now, the other's needed me. "...Falshade, where's Angel?" her voice was hoarse and small, like she wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer.

I turned to glance at her briefly. "I don't know." I told her honestly and something cinched in her face, but she kept following after me, clutching Stork tight to her chest protectively.

The trek down the trail was hard going and we had to move extremely slowly; it was a narrow ledge, barely four feet at the widest point, and with me trying to support Varan it threw me off balance, and once the rock crumbled beneath my boot and I nearly went tumbling from the edge. I had to turn sideways at one point to get across a particularly narrow spot because it just wasn't wide enough to go with Varan beside me. It nearly made me sick with fear when I realized our skimmers might have been found down there and taken away. We'd be stranded out here, completely fucked.

I let of a shaky breath of relief when I spotted my Ultra waiting in there faithfully alongside Storks' Hornet and Wasp's Gremlin. I turned back to the other two on the trail.

"Wasp take Stork with you on your ride; Fraggle you take Stork's and head back to the _Merlin_. Don't stop for anything unless we see Angel out there." This I knew would be a long-shot if the enemy had him and I shook the thought furiously from my head. I could think about that once the others were safe on the _Merlin_.

I made sure Varan was secure behind me as I took off after the others, trailing behind Fraggle to make sure he didn't suddenly keel off the side of Stork's Hornet or go into a sudden nosedive or anything. He held his own all the long way back to the _Merlin_ though, and we didn't run into anyone on Nightflyers. The _Merlin_ was safe and untouched, waiting for us where we'd left her and my insides loosened slightly with relief. However I snapped back to paranoid Sky Knight mode again a split second later. "Approach her with caution!" I shouted at Wasp. "It might be a set up!"

I saw her nod briefly before spiralling in for a landing, Stork in front of her, held in place between Wasp's arms on her controls. She touched down on the runway and I was right behind her, shutting off my engine so as not to give our spot away.

Wasp was scenting the air, turning all about before nodding briefly at me. "It's fine, we're alone."

I nodded and drove my skimmer the rest of the way into the hanger, the others behind me. Supporting Varan with my shoulder once more I headed for the bridge, pausing to make sure Fraggle was still behind me. He looked like he was limping but he followed after me valiantly and when we got to the bridge he helped me lay Varan out on the couch.

Wasp wasn't far behind us and I turned to see her gently laying Stork down on the table, touching her forehead briefly. I came over beside her, my stomach cramping with distress as I stared down at her.

"What happened to her hair?" I breathed, running my hand tentatively over Stork's hawkish hair, now just flaxen blonde in colour, no more streaks of black running through.

"I don't know." Wasp whispered, curling her hand at Stork's neck. "She's... I don't think she has any physical injuries... she's just... out of it. Like her body doesn't have enough energy or something. Her scents all out of whack, her aura's like...shifted."

"Shifted?" I repeated quietly, not understanding. Then I glanced at Wasp. "Thank you. For bringing her back." I whispered and a tiny grin tugged at her mouth.

"Of course."

"Fraggle?" I asked carefully, turning to him where he'd collapsed in one of the chairs, looking like a shipwreck. "Listen buddy, I know you're not feeling well at all right now, but I need to know what happened." I said softly and he glanced up at me, still shivering. "What happened out there?"

He drew in a rattling breath, hugging his arms around his chest. "They... they started leaving it looked like." He started after a few minutes. "Like they had carrier ships coming out of the hanger... but then they had this other ship come in and... it was full of those guys, those Berserkers. Varan... he saw Halo down there and when Angel heard you guys were trapped in there... we lost our signal. We thought something happened to you." He choked up a bit here and felt awful. I'd thought the same thing had happened with them, but now come to think of it, if they were trying to ambush us they must have sent out some frequency that blocked any outside signals, to cut our communication off from each other. "Angel... he was mad. Like I don't think I've ever seen him that freaked out... and he was just right mad. So he told us we were going in there to get you and charged off on his skimmer... we got pretty close eh." Fraggle paused to swallow, wrapping his hands around his ears. "But they were out there, they knew we were coming and they came out to stop us, just dozens of them... Zodiac was there leading them."

I sucked in a breath, chewing on my tongue. He was still _alive_? After I jammed that explosive in his armour, he just... _fuck_.

Fraggle was still going and I made myself pay attention. "We... we were doing alright, eh. I thought maybe... maybe we'd get through. And then... the crystals went weird." I glanced at Wasp, remembering the shockwave that had torn through the terra, making my Flash Stick explode and that tunnel come down. "It... the Striker in my staff just shattered, eh, just shattered and my engine... it blew, the crystals went up and I was going down. Varan... one of his explosives went off right next to him, he'd barely thrown it when they went weird like that and it just blew up. He went down on the edge there, I thought for sure he was going to miss the terra and just... fall, eh. Like Stork." Fraggle choked up, wringing his ears tightly. I put my hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "I...I crashed a little further in, eh, and I ran back to get him, I couldn't just leave him there... he looked like he got burned really bad, and I couldn't wake him up... I thought he was gone for a second there." Tears were shinning in his eyes again. "And then I remembered Angel and started looking for him, eh... he was still up there. He was still fighting them. He was so fucking _mad_, Shade, and he was just hacking those guys apart... but...but..." Fraggle made a whimpering noise and buried his face in his palms. "There were so many of them!" He howled. "They were all _over_ him, they wouldn't leave him _alone_ and then... and then Zodiac had him. Last I saw of him, Zodiac had him. And... and I couldn't do anything to h-help him." Fraggle's voice faltered and then he was sobbing again and I squeezed him tight around the shoulders, trying to calm him down.

"Shh, Fraggle, listen what could you have done? Your ride was totalled, there was nothing you could-"

"He would have done s-something to help if it was me!" Fraggle wailed. "I dunno what he would have done, but he wouldn't just give up on me!"

I looked at Wasp for help but she'd turned away from us, hand at her mouth, biting down on her fingers.

"Fraggle, listen to me." I said, making sure he was looking right at me. "You're lucky they didn't get you too, you're lucky you didn't get killed out there. But you're alright and we got you back, and what's more you saved Varan out there. You didn't give up on him and you didn't give up on Angel either. He wouldn't have wanted you to get hurt or worse trying to help him anyways. There was nothing you or any of the rest of us could do."

Fraggle snorted messily, hiccupping slightly. "...It's still just bloody awful, Shade."

I nodded, turning from him to pinch at my nose briefly so I wouldn't lose it all over the place. I had to be strong here. "I know it is. But it's going to be alright... I'm going back for him. I'm going to go get him and bring him home. So while I'm gone I need you to hang in there just a little longer for me and get the _Merlin_ out of here, okay?" I said, turning back to him. His eyes were still shiny and wide but he looked pretty determined anyways as he got to his feet.

"Right, eh. I'll get us out of here. Where to?"

"There was that little nothing terra we passed on our way here, you remember? About forty clicks back to the west. Go there and wait for me... unless something happens, like if _they_ show up. If they do... get the others to safety. Don't try to fight, you run, Fraggle, you gun it for all she's worth, alright? If you can't wait at that little terra then we'll meet up on Vatican when we can. That'll be our emergency meeting place. Alright?"

Fraggle nodded firmly. "Yeah, gotcha... but... what if you don't come back?"

I ran my fingers though my hair distractedly. "If I'm not back in two hours... I died."

Fraggle swallowed and looked like he wanted to say something, then just shook his head and limped over to the controls. "Alright... see you in a bit then, eh."

That's our stubborn Gargoyles spirit for you; you never admit defeat or death, not until you've got someone's body in your arms to prove it.

I had made it all the way to the hanger before Wasp caught up to me, grabbing my shoulder. "Let me go." She said, a note of desperation in her voice.

I shook my head. "No, Wasp, you stay here."

"No!" she said defiantly, stamping her foot down hard like Stork always did when she wasn't going to budge. "Please Falshade, I'll have an easier time finding him, I can track them better then you can!"

The look on her face right then really went to my heart. Angel was my brother and that made me desperate to find him. But he meant a lot to Wasp too... she wanted to find him just as badly as I did and I knew it killed her not to be able to help look for him. But I needed her here.

"Wasp, listen to me." I said in a low voice, looking right into her eyes intensely. "The others need you right now, Varan and Stork and Fraggle, they're hurt, they need you to look after them. I don't know shit about medical stuff, I can't look after them, but _you_ can. And if something happens while I'm gone I need you to protect them for me. You're strong and brave and tough and I need that about you right now, I _need_ you to look after them while I go and find Angel. I'm _trusting_ you to look out for them while I'm gone."

She squeezed her eyes shut, turning her face away from me, jaws clenched tight. "...Okay." she relented after a moment of struggling with herself. "You can count on me. I'll take care of them."

"Thank you." I said, and on a sudden impulse I wrapped her in a tight hug to show her how grateful I was that she'd brought Stork back and that she was being strong for me, taking my place while I was away. I gave myself about five seconds right then to let my fear and anguish for Angel rampage free, because I knew Wasp felt the same way and in that brief moment we could let it all go, be afraid and weak and broken up about it, just for a few seconds before reigning it all in again.

"Okay, I've got to go." I said, releasing her and she nodded, taking a step back. "I'll find him, Wasp, I'll bring him back." I promised.

She nodded resolutely, pulling down the lever to open the bay doors again.

"Be careful, Falshade." She called out as I got back on my skimmer.

"I'll try. Go take care of Varan and Stork."

"...Who's that girl?" she asked suddenly just as I was about to start my engine up.

"What girl?"

"That one from before, the one that everyone seems to get a headache about, the one they never found. Bloody Mary. Who is she?"

I struggled to understand what she was talking about. With all that was going on I really didn't have time for Wasp's disjointed questions right now. Then I recalled Fraggle mentioning something about Bloody Mary all that time ago, back in the Scar, and I caught on to who Wasp was asking about.

"Cyclonis?" I asked slowly, feeling something foreboding trickle down my spine at the name, wondering why on Atmos Wasp was asking about her now.

She nodded. "Right, that's it. Well be careful out there. Because she's back."


	24. Rusted from the Rain

**24**

**Rusted from the Rain**

_**What's left to lose?**_

_**You've done enough**_

_**And if you fail, well then you fail**_

_**But not to us**_

_**-On your Porch, the Format**_

_**I stumble through the wreckage, rusted from the rain/ There's nothing left to salvage, no one left to blame/ Among the broken mirrors, I don't look the same/ I'm rusted from the rain, I'm rusted from the rain**_

_**-Rusted from the Rain, Billy Talent**_

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

_Cyclonis is back._

I had that thought running through my head like mad as I took off from the hanger, going back to that god damn terra. What the hell was Wasp _talking_ about? Cyclonis couldn't be back. She was dead, she'd been dead for nearly eighteen years. She couldn't just come back; nobody came back from the dead, no matter how badly you wanted them too. We Gargoyles knew that all too well.

Well, Stork had come back... but she'd never really been dead. That didn't count.

'_Maybe Cyclonis had never really been dead either. They never found her body, after all.' _I shook that thought from my head. It didn't matter right now. I couldn't focus on anything else right now, not the arguments for all the reasons Wasp should be wrong and not the terrifying thought that despite all that, she might be right. The only thing I could focus on right now was finding Angel. That was all that mattered.

It didn't take me long to get back to the terra, as I wasn't trying too hard to stay out of sight or be inconspicuous about it. Hell, let them find me. If I got a hold of one of them I would _make_ him tell me where they'd taken Angel; I would make them all wish they were dead for even _thinking_ of tangling with _my_ god damn brother.

I burst out through the cloud layer and hovered for a moment, looking around wildly. There was the terra, not too far away. So where were they? There'd been Nightflyers around the place not too long ago... where were the all now?  
I recalled the group of skimmers I'd seen vanishing off into the clouds, leaving the terra, and a feeling of unease started to grow in a tight little bundle in my stomach. I leaned on my throttles and flew towards the terra, diving down towards the massive bay doors of their hanger. They were yawned wide open when I got there and I nearly fell off the side of my skimmer when I touched down inside.

The place was completely empty.

All those battle cruisers that Stork had been raving about were gone. Any of the tools that had been lying around, stacked in the corners of the place, spare engine parts and blaster cannons, they were all gone too. Packed up and taken away. Here and there were a couple odd tools that had been left behind in their hurry, a wrench or a welding mask dropped and forgotten. And the twisted grate that I'd kicked from the furnace duct, almost two hours ago. Other than that it was almost like no one was ever here.

I choked, staring around crazily, having a hard time swallowing the idea that they'd just up and left. Why would they just...

There had to be someone still around. And I suppose that's why I started yelling: "HEY!!! ANYBODY HERE??? HELLLLLOOO!!! ANGEL!!! WHERE ARE YOU???"

As if to answer me I heard a deep, resonating rumbling sound echo up from the bowels of the terra itself, the remnants of a distant explosion. The whole hanger started shaking a moment later, the walls splitting open in wide rifts, the high metal ceiling caving inwards so that the massive florescent lights that had been hanging from it swung wildly and then snapped from their supports, crashing down like a meteor shower, exploding in thousands of pieces of crystal shards and glass around me. My arms covered my head as I felt the floor begin to buckle, crumpling and breaking apart below my feet as the rest of the ceiling started to come down, mighty chunks of rock and steel supports.

I almost didn't make it out of there. While dashing back to my skimmer I nearly got clobbered by one of the falling lights, which sprayed wicked shards of glass at me like shrapnel and I had to dodge to the side to avoid being shredded. Then the floor heaved upwards in front of me, splitting and jutting upwards like tectonic plates jamming against each other. I leapt across the widening gap and came down hard on the other side, having to haul myself up from the edge, scrambling like mad. I lunged towards my skimmer as it started to slide down the slope of the heaving rock as it was pushed upwards. I grabbed the handle bars, swung myself on and converted to air mode in time to gun it through the bay doors as they crumpled inwards, crashing down just behind me.

I flew out a safe distance and then turned around to watch in terrible awe as the terra collapsed in against itself, falling in pieces into the clouds like a sandcastle, rock splitting and jutting out like broken bones. Dust spewed out into the air as the tunnels below were sealed shut by tons of falling rock, and the sound of that thing going down was like being inside a thunderhead, shaking the air around me with its volume, this horrible sound of stone being wrenched apart and then falling the whole long way to the Wastelands, rumbling and thundering.

I tore my gaze away, looking out at the clouds instead, where those skimmers had disappeared into earlier. I understood it now... they'd set this whole thing up. They hadn't meant to stay there forever. Somehow... they must have known we'd be there, that's why Halo and the Berserkers showed up, why they'd started clearing out like Fraggle had said. I grit my teeth, trying to force down my anger as I took off in the direction I'd seen those Nightflyers go, trying to keep my head clear enough to focus. They couldn't have gone far yet, they were still out there, close by. And they had Angel with them.

"ANGEL!!!" I shouted, praying he was still somewhere within earshot, that maybe he'd hear me and even if he couldn't answer me back, he'd know I was out there, that we hadn't given up on him and I was coming to save him. "ANGEL, WHERE ARE YOU???"

The murky orange clouds swarmed my vision like thick fog and I couldn't see very far ahead. I held still for a moment, holding my breath and trying to block out the sound of my idling skimmer, listening for the sound of a rumbling engine in the distance, something to tell me which way I had to go. Hearing nothing I sped off again, keeping in the same direction as I'd seen those Nightflyers go. "ANGEL!!!"

I think somewhere in my head I was starting to realize that I had no idea where they'd gone, that I couldn't just keep flying blindly or I'd get lost and never find my way back to the _Merlin_. I felt my chest starting to seize with panic; I was losing them, they were getting farther and farther away from me and I didn't know where they were going. And they had my brother, they were taking him away.

"_He's always going on about how he looks up to you..."_

"ANGEL WHERE ARE YOU???" I bellowed, refusing to give up like that. I kept going stubbornly, ploughing onwards through those clouds, hoping anyone would hear me now, that maybe they'd come back to try and get me, so I'd at least know where they were. "ANGEL! ANGEL THAENSHAR!!!"

I don't know why I used his last name like that; maybe it was just to show how desperate I was really getting, that somehow in my childish, stupid brain I thought that somehow that'd act like the magic word and suddenly I'd find him.

But it didn't work, there was no such thing as magic words and miracles.

Because suddenly the clouds started to thin and then vanished completely like a curtain being drawn back from smothering me and I was in the middle of clear blue skies again. The sky seemed to stretch out in all directions as far as the eye could see, a huge, blank canvas. No nearby terras, not Nightflyers, no battle cruisers. Nothing but the whole wide Atmos, and somewhere out there, somewhere I didn't even know where to begin looking for, was my brother, alone and in the hands of the enemy. And god only knew what they were going to do to him...

If he was even still alive.

"_He thinks the world of you."_

All my hope imploded then, crashed and burned in my chest and sobbed, banging my forehead down hard into my handles, over and over, no no no no NO!

It went off like a movie reel in my head, memories of everything that had happened between us over the years, waking up to find him sprawled at the foot of my bed at the Academy in effort to keep my nightmares at bay, the two of us teaming up against Stork when she got particularly annoying and passing the Trials together, huddled up under a rocky outcrop to keep warm when we got caught out in the middle of one of the worst rainstorms I'd ever seen, training with me time and time again even though I always, without fail, managed to hurt him by accident, him jumping on me and insisting on coming to Rex even though he'd hated the idea, taking the black eye I'd given him in stride when I was in Sky Shock, staying beside me all night when I woke up from my nightmares and giving me his own blood when I'd nearly died on them all. He was difficult and stubborn and pissed me off to no end, but he'd always been there when the chips were down, he was always at my side when I really needed him, he looked out for me like a real big brother and he never would have given up on me.

And there was absolutely nothing I could do for him when he needed me the most.

I bawled pretty hard right then, probably as badly as I had when we were certain Stork had plummeted into that lava pit. I just...I just... god fucking damnit why was it always my friends who suffered for my stupid mission? What was I going to _do_? I should have let him come with me, made Stork stay, then she'd never have gotten separated from us and hurt like she had and Angel would never have been caught by Zodiac, because there was no way I would have let him. I'd fucking failed him, I'd failed to be there to watch his back and I'd failed to find him afterwards. I'd failed all of them.

It took me a while to reign it all back in. I felt powerless and defeated... but I wasn't going to give up; if Angel was out there somewhere, I was going to find him. And I was going to make sure nothing happened to the others either. No more mistakes, no more failing my friends. I sat up and wiped at my face roughly, looking out at the skies again.

"We're coming for you, Ange." I promised, hoping somehow he'd hear me, maybe read my thoughts, wherever he was. "I have to look after the others first, and then we're coming for you. Just hang in there."

And then I turned back to find the _Merlin_, feeling like I'd abandoned my best friend to his death.

* * *

It took me about an hour to get back, and the whole time my heart just seemed to weigh heavier and heavier. Fraggle and Wasp were expecting me to bring Angel back with me... and Stork and Varan were still roughed up really badly. Fuck, nothing had gone right today, and just to say that was a fucking understatement. Short of one of us dying, it couldn't have gone worse.

Fraggle had the _Merlin_ waiting on the terra I'd instructed him to when I finally got back, which was good thing at least. They weren't bothering to come after the rest of us anyways.

Wasp was cleaning Fraggle's wounds when I trudged miserably onto the bridge. They both looked up, relief on their faces to see me and my heart contracted.

"Did you find him?" Fraggle asked hoarsely, still looking like a wreck.

I had to swallow down more tears before I could answer. "...No. They're gone."

Fraggle's face fell and he made a choking noise, covering his face. I couldn't bring myself to meet Wasp's eyes; she'd promised to bring Stork back for me, and she had. And I'd just...

"Shit, eh." Fraggle whimpered, pulling his knees into his chest stiffly. "Just shit. How're...how're we going to find them?"

"I'm not sure." I said. "But we will. As soon as Stork and Varan are back on their feet we'll start looking. We've still got those coordinates, and if nothing shows up with that then... we'll keep looking, until we find him." I reeled all of this out like I was begging them for forgiveness, like I was trying convince them I was going to make this right.

Fraggle nodded weakly but determinedly. "Yeah, that's the only thing to do, eh. I'm just... I'm worried about him, eh. What if..." he trailed off.

"We'll find him." I insisted. "So... how're the rest of you?"

"Varan's going to be alright." Wasp spoke up then, her voice strange and distracted. "He got burned pretty badly, but I think it would have been worse if his scales hadn't protected him. Some of them melted off though I think... I'm not sure if they'll grow back or not. But he'll be alright. Fraggle and I moved him to his room."

I nodded and chewed my tongue uneasily. "And...Stork?"

Wasp glanced at me. "Well... like I said, she doesn't have any physical injuries. Her energy is just zapped. Like she's in hibernation or something. I'm not sure... but... well I think her heart beat has gotten a little faster than when I found her. I think she just needs to rest, gather her strength back up."

"What about her hair? Why'd it change like that?" I asked uncertainly.

Wasp sighed. "I don't know, Falshade."

I felt bad for pressing her like this. I'd already demanded enough from her today. "But she'll be alright, she just needs rest?" I confirmed.

Wasp nodded. "I think so. I, um... I put her in your room, for now. It made more sense than always running down to the hanger to check on her, and that way if she needs us..."

"Yeah, okay, good idea." I said, nodding to show it was alright. "So what about you two then? Fraggle you look awful... maybe you should go lie down, huh?"

"I... yeah, I like that idea, eh." He said despondently. He glanced at Wasp. "Am I done?"

Wasp stuck a band-aid to a patch where his fur had been cut back from wound on his side and nodded. "Yeah, you're fine."

Fraggle got to his feet clumsily and I moved in against his side to support him, arm around my shoulders. "Come on then, trouper."

He grinned half-heartedly and I helped him limp down the hall to his room. We were just inside his door when he turned to look at me seriously. "Listen, Falshade, I'm sorry I couldn't-"

I held up a hand to stop him, easing him down onto his bed. "Fraggle, listen, I've already said it but I'll say it again because it's the truth; there was nothing you could do for Angel. And we're going to find him. What matters is you and Varan are both okay, and that you're safe with us. You did us all proud today, you know that? You looked after the others even though you were all roughed up and I'm really grateful for it, okay?"

He looked up at me and smiled weakly. "...Thanks Chief. Anytime you need me, you know... s'what I'm here for."

"I know." I said, grinning and tugging the rim of his toque down. "Now get some rest, okay?"

"I'll try." He said, stretching out on his bed and I left, hoping he was able to fall asleep for a little while anyways.

Wasp was still out on the bridge when I got there, signing to herself quietly. She looked up at me when I walked in and tried to grin valiantly but it failed before she even had the corners of her mouth up. "Hey." She said.

"Hey." I said back, feeling my chest starting to ache again. "How're you holding up?"

She shrugged. "I'm alright."

"Okay." I sat down on the armrest of the couch so I could face her. She stared at me for a long time, her face unreadable. "...You're arm's bleeding." She said at last.

I glanced down, only just noticing the long slice in the sleeve of my shirt. "Oh."

"Here, let's see." She said, plucking at my sleeve for me to roll it up. I moved it aside and she sniffed at my arm, prodding the jagged cut carefully. "Hmmm... hold still. And sorry, this might hurt." I watched her fish a pair of tweezers out of the first aid kit and wipe them on an antiseptic pad before moving them towards my arm, shifting the skin back so she could get a good look at the cut. I winced when she stuck the tweezers in and moved them around for a second before pulling them back, a three inch piece of glass coming out with them. Blood started flowing from the wound right afterwards and she pushed a wad of bandages up against the deep slice to staunch it. "So... what happened out there?" She asked, focusing on my arm as she spoke.

I let out a sigh, pushing my hair back from my face. "The terra's gone. They cleared out of there and blew it up behind them. They've left the place and I tried to follow them but... I don't know where they've gone. I couldn't see them, even when I was out of that murk. I have no idea where they are. And I think... I think they set it all up to do that. Like they knew we were going to be there."

Wasp made a noise, moving the bandages and carefully dabbing at my arm with a second antiseptic pad and I tried to ignore the burning feeling. "Of course they knew." She said simply. "She knew everything we were doing."

I stared at her. "...Who did?"

"Cyclonis." She said.

I did a bit of a double-take, confused as all get-out. "Wasp... what are you talking about? Cyclonis... Cyclonis is long dead."

"Well she's not anymore. I told you she was back." Wasp said, pressing the bandages back to my arm. "This is pretty deep... I'm going to have to stitch it, okay?"

"No, not yet. I want you to tell me what on Atmos you're going on about first." I insisted, moving my arm away from her grasp. "What happened when you left me?"

Wasp sighed, sticking her long fingers in her mouth and sucking my blood off of them, apparently thinking. She stared at me owlishly for awhile before speaking again. "I went looking for Stork, like I said I would. And when I found her down there, she was with her too."

"Who was?"

"Cyclonis." Wasp said, sounding a bit irritated with me by now. "I keep telling you. I know you must not believe me, but that's who it was. Or that's who she said she was anyways. I've never met her before, this real Cyclonis, so maybe she was lying, who knows?"

I blinked at her and shook my head a bit. "That's... not possible. Cyclonis died in the old war."

Wasp shrugged. "Yeah, you guys have said that before. But that's who this girl said she was. I'm just telling you what happened, like you asked."

I felt a bit bad for being so difficult. But this was pretty hard to digest, to be fair. "Okay, sorry, I know. So... what happened then?"

"Well I asked her what she'd done to Stork. And then she let me get a good whiff of her when I kept asking and..." Wasp shuddered slightly about something. "Look, can I stitch up your arm while I'm talking? I can multi-task you know, and you're blood's driving me crazy."

"Um, yeah, sure." I said, shifting back towards her a bit as she threaded a needle, wiping it with more antiseptic. "You, uh... you do know how to do it, right?"

"Oh that's right, you were unconscious last time." She said. "Varan asked the same thing. I told him, you don't last long on Macabre if you can't stitch yourself back up."

"Okay." I said, trusting her.

"Sorry if it hurts." She apologized in advance, sticking the needle into my skin. I winced a bit but didn't say anything.

"And then what?" I prodded after a moment, watching her pull the length of thread through my arm.

"Then what what?"

"The last thing you said was you got a good whiff of her, this girl..."

"Oh, right." Wasp remembered. "Well... she smelled like Stork."

I jerked back in shock and flinched when the needle tore through my skin. "She what?" I asked, stunned.

"She and Stork... they have the same smell, sort of. Like two different flowers grown in the same soil. It was there, in this girl, really deep and shifted but... it was Stork's." Wasp explained slowly, as if she was still unsure of it herself. "It was so... strange. I didn't like it."

"But... how is that possible?" I asked, head reeling.

"She told me that Stork was sort of like her reincarnation. Do you know what a reincarnation is?"

"Isn't that... where you have someone who's supposed to be someone else's soul in a new body?" I asked slowly.

Wasp nodded. "Yep. I'm not so sure I believe in them. I believe souls can be recycled, but I think once they're in someone else again in the world, then that person is their own, that soul is theirs. I look at them kinda like a library books, sort of. Like they've been read by other people before but it's yours for the time you have it too, you know?"

"Well, that makes sense to me. It's a really profound way of looking at it and all, Wasp, don't get me wrong." I assured her. "But what does that have to do with this?"

"Well like I said, I don't believe so much in reincarnations, people that are like previous people reborn." Wasp went on. "But this girl told me that Stork was somehow made from her, like built from her essence? That her soul has been inside Stork all this time and somehow Stork's energy has nursed hers until she was strong enough to have her own body again."

My stomach turned cold and I felt slightly sick. "And Stork... Stork never new, all this time?"

Wasp shook her head, her ears flapping against her neck. "Apparently not. It was like having this little parasite in her I guess, one she didn't know about or anything, but it's been feeding off her." Wasp's hackles twitched at this thought. "And I... I wouldn't believe it. I don't like the thought of that at all but... this girl smelled like her. And she seemed to know about us, like she'd been watching us through Stork."

I furrowed my brow, trying to absorb all this information. I didn't want to believe it, but the more I thought about it... the more things seemed to pop in my mind that made it make sense. "...If that were true, that would explain how they'd been tracking us always, how they knew our names when we ran into them the first time, how they knew to wait for us outside the Scar and that we were coming here today. I don't know how they would have done it while Stork was gone though..."

"Maybe she was able to keep an eye on us due to our connection with Stork?" Wasp guessed. "I'm not sure. But... the girl had black hair, Shade. And now Stork doesn't."

I swallowed uneasily. "And that must have been why Zodiac told his Berserkers to only go after us, why they wanted her."

"I think... I think that's why she'd get those headaches, you know, like the one that made her almost drown?" Wasp said slowly. "Her smell was always strange after, she seemed out of whack... and when I hit her to get her breathing that one time... it was like I could feel something in her, stirring about in there. It was weird. And that aura today, that suddenly just flared up... I think that was her getting out of Stork. She's got her own body back now."

I remembered Fraggle mentioning the crystals going weird, my Flash Stick exploding and Wasp's nose bleeding with that shock wave. "...The Cyclonian empresses... they were always really good with crystals... if this is all real... that might be why the crystals went off like they did."

"Oh yeah, she mentioned that." Wasp said, nodding.

"... She mentioned what?"

Wasp shifted slightly, looking a little ashamed. "Well... I was talking with her, for a bit."

I gawked at her. "You...you were?"

"Yeah... she attacked me when I tried to get Stork out of there... and I was able to hold off her crystal's energy. She said it was a gift or something to be able to do that without using a shield or anything. She said she'd been fascinated by me. And that her and I were a lot alike."

I made a face. "..._How_?"

"Well because of the way she can use crystals, without adapters and stuff." Wasp said, sounding slightly defensive. I changed my tone.

"Sorry, I just... so what?"

"...Well I can do it too."

I stared at her, surprised. "...You can?"

Wasp looked around for a moment before her eyes fell on Sliver, still in my belt. Tentatively she reached out a hand and held her palm above the purple Striker crystal in its hilt. She seemed to focus on it, narrowing her eyes and holding her arm rigidly. And then, to my utter disbelief, a trail of purple energy spiralled up from the crystal towards Wasp's hand, until she had a small ball of it floating above her hand. She lifted her hand and held it between us, and for a moment we both watched the tiny ball of energy revolving slowly, roiling and swirling away inside.

"...Wow." I breathed after awhile, unconsciously holding out my own hand. Wasp tipped the little orb of energy towards my palm when it dispersed suddenly, spreading out and then dissipating into the air with a slight crackle.

"I'm not very good at it." Wasp explained. "I've always been able to feel crystal's energy, but I've never really tried to use it like this, to control it. It's... weird."

"Can all Faerieshians do it?" I asked, holding my own palm above Sliver's crystal and trying to extend some sort of threads out to it to channel the energy outwards, towards me.

"I'm not sure. We didn't use crystals in the jungle."

"Oh." I said, moving my hand away after a few more fruitless moments of trying to tap into the crystal's energy source. Then I remembered what we'd been talking about. "So... this girl, she said you and her were alike because you both can do this thing?"

"Yeah... she told me about this theory of hers too, about the whole thing, which was sort of interesting. Like she thought that when women are robbed of their maternal instinct or whatever that they get some other power instead, they can use their female intuition this way, somehow."

I furrowed my brow again. "That doesn't really make sense to me. Maternal instinct, that's like the whole mothering thing, isn't it? How can that be robbed from you?"

"Do you know what the term sterilization means? And like not the kind where you disinfect something."

"...Um... I think so..."

"It just means when females can't have babies. You know like how you'd spay a cat? Well Cyclonis was saying that if you're sterile and can't have babies, then nature compensates for the loss of this powerful female thing by replacing it with something else, something she thinks it the ability to use crystals like she does. She says all the Cyclonian empresses have always been born sterile."

I looked at her uncertainly. "But you..."

Wasp glanced up at me from where she'd gone back to stitching my arm and gave me a reassuring look. "I can't have babies either. I don't have a uterus." She explained casually.

"Oh..." I felt my face heat up slightly, and at the same time I felt a trickle of hurt for her. "I'm sorry."

Wasp shrugged. "It doesn't bother me so much. I've never really wanted any babies. Then again I'm pretty young and all, but I didn't really see myself ever living that long anyways."

I wanted to say something a little more optimistic but when I really thought about it, I could never really see myself living that long either. Like hell, if I did make it to say, thirty, what would I be doing with my life? This was the only life I'd ever known, and odds were, with this sort of life, you usually didn't live so long. My dad had only been twenty-six...

"So... anyways, you and her talked about all this stuff?" I asked, continuing our conversation.

"Well, she did most of the talking. And around then is when I asked her who she was. And that's when she told me she was this Master Cyclonis girl, that she was back and she was going to finish what her ancestors started, she was going to put an end to the age of the Sky Knights."

My pulse started to pick up slightly, stomach clenching. "She did huh?" I said, fingers drumming on the sofa uneasily. "So what did you do?"

"Well she asked me if I was still set on my decision and I said of course, meaning I wasn't leaving Stork behind, and so... well we started fighting again. She sure likes to use crystals... but I suppose that's a bit of a weakness. She didn't pay enough attention to _me_."

And we all know how dangerous Wasp can be...

"So... did you kill her?" I asked, even though I pretty much knew the answer. Why would she have warned me about her if she had of?

Wasp gave me a look that almost seemed like she was nervous. "...No, I didn't. I left her in the tunnels, knocked out. I had to get Stork back."

"...Even after she said what she did?" I asked and I felt guilty for it, but I felt a prickle of anger at this. Wasp might not have known much about things out here, about the old war, but after what Cyclonis had told her even she should have known that she was dealing with someone who was best to get rid of as quickly as possible, because you didn't get shots like that very easily, or very often.

Wasp met my eyes with something not defensive but pointed, an unwavering intensity that tried to make some sort of connection. "I know she's no good. And I know your dad died in the war against her, if she really is this Cyclonis person, and please believe me, I really am sorry that you never got to meet him, that you never had him with you. And I know she's had these guys of hers after us, tried to kill us. But she was unconscious, Falshade, she couldn't defend herself. I don't think you would have been able to do it either. And Stork... you asked me to bring Stork back."

I stared back at her for awhile before nodding. She was right... I don't think I would have been able to just slit her throat like that. And yes, I had asked her to bring back Stork. I'd rather have Stork alive and with us over a dead Cyclonis any day of the week. There were always other battles, other chances to take her down for good. There was only one Stork, and only one Wasp too. What mattered was they were both here. I knew this was going to come back to haunt us, likely in the near future, but for now, I was just glad Wasp had gotten both of them home.

"Okay. Yeah, you're right, I probably would have done the same thing. So that's it then?"

"Yeah, after that I just came after all of you."

I nodded again. "Alright. Well... listen. Good job today, Wasp. You did really, really well. I'm so thankful you're alright and that you brought Stork back. Man you wouldn't believe how glad I am for that... so, you know, thank you."

Wasp grinned slightly, snipping ends of the thread from the tiny knot she'd made, my arm effectively stitched closed. "Anytime."

I sat back on the couch and felt a bitter lump swell in my throat. Again I was reminded that Wasp had lived up to her word and brought Stork home. And yet I'd come back without Angel, who meant just as much to Wasp as he did to me; maybe even more. And she'd wanted to be the one to look for him, and come to think of it, yeah, she probably would have had an easier time tracking them down. I just felt like I'd failed her after she'd put her life on the line to keep her promise to me.

"Hey, Wasp?" I said quietly, voice hoarse.

"Yessum?"

"I'm... I'm sorry I didn't find Angel out there. I'm so fucking sorry... I should have let you go but the others... I don't know what I would have done for them so... I'm just..."

I was sort of choking on my words there by the end and pushed the heels of my palms into my eyes, fingers digging at my scalp. Everything came back up all over again, and now that my worry for Stork and Varan had subsided it just hit me so much worse, the fact that Angel was out there somewhere, where we couldn't help him, possibly being tortured and lord only knew what else by these psychopaths, and now (and I was still having a hard time getting my head around this) Master Cyclonis was back from the dead? And she'd be where Angel was too, the ringleader of the Berserkers, and I felt like we were running out of time, the numbers ticking down on the timer for a bomb. It was only a matter of time before they launched some sort of assault, and what if Angel only had a certain amount of time too? If they were torturing him for information, even though I couldn't think of what he might know that they wouldn't, if Cyclonis had indeed been watching us all this time through Stork, I knew he wouldn't crack. They could try and tear that kid in half and he wouldn't tell them anything, if for no other reason than because his stupid, stubborn pride would refuse to give them the satisfaction. And when they realized he wasn't budging, he was no longer useful to them...

I felt Wasp slide into me at that point, curling in under my arm and nuzzling my chin. "You told Fraggle it wasn't his fault." She said quietly. "So why should it be yours?"

That girl should write a book, 'How to Make Someone Cry in Twelve Words or Less'.

"I know..." I sputtered. "I just... I still feel like... like fuck, none of this should have happened. Why... why in hell did they just take him? They never seemed interested in taking prisoners before... and Fraggle and Varan were right there too. Why take him? If they wanted just any of us... but no. Zodiac wanted Stork, and then he targeted Angel specifically, and I just want to know why the fuck they had to _take my brother_!"

Wasp was shaking, pressed into my side tightly. "I know." She whispered.

"It's just... I need Angel around. He kicks me in the ass when I need it, he gets me through things." I was just rambling now, all the hurt coming up and out like word vomit. Wasp seemed to understand though. She pressed her forehead against my neck comfortingly.

"I know... I need him around too."

I glanced at her, at the way her eyes were shining with pain and the way she had her lower lip tight under her teeth and I pulled her in against me, rubbing her back soothingly, dropping my mouth down over her hair as she leaned against me and I just shook with her silently for awhile. I felt okay being weak and helpless with Wasp here, while the others healed and rested. Lately I was starting to feel that Wasp and I were alike as well, that we had this instinct to protect the ones we loved built right into our DNA, that we shared this mutual childish, optimistic view of the world, trying to hold on to the good things as they seemed to be burning up all around us. I'd depended on her for the Prophecy and to look after the others when I couldn't, taking up my responsibility for me. And so, like our little moment in the bathtub after we'd all thought Stork had died, I felt okay to lose it about this stuff today, because even if it didn't change anything, it was just something that was going to happen, and I'd rather it happen here, now, with Wasp, when we had a moment outside the responsibility and battles of the rest of the world.

And I wondered briefly if Angel felt the same way about her, that he could just let his guard down for awhile with her, and that's why he seemed to be able to tell her all these things he'd never... brought up around the rest of us...

"Wasp..." I said slowly, something forming in my mind uneasily. "Listen, I know this probably isn't the best time, but... I need you to think if Angel ever told you anything that might explain why they took him."

I felt Wasp's muscles stiffen and she moved away from me to look me in the eyes. "..What do you mean?"

"The more I think about it... Zodiac wanted Stork, but told those Berserkers to kill us, because the needed Stork alive, because she was useful to them. Later, he didn't seem to care if Varan or Fraggle lived or not... if he just wanted one of us to take prisoner, he could have easily grabbed either of them. But he didn't; he went after Angel. He specifically went after Angel. So that makes think that somehow... he's useful to them too. Or else why go to all the trouble when they've had no trouble trying to kill us before?"

Something looked like it was dawning on Wasp; her eyes widened and a look of terror flashed through them. She turned from me, clutching her forehead and muttering something to herself.

"Wasp... what is it he has to remember? What was it the Oracle told him that you wanted him to remember?" I asked, recalling the urgent way she'd spoken to him this morning.

"Just... something important." She said shiftily. I felt bad for meddling in her private affairs with him, but this might be crucial to Angel's survival.

"...He has told you something, hasn't he? You know why they wanted him." I said slowly and she turned to look at me again, torn and agonized.

"...It's his secret, not mine." She whispered after a long while.

I don't know why, but I gave a hollow bark of laughter; I don't even know why I said what I did next; maybe I was just drowning in everything, losing my mind a bit. "I'm sorry, but that's just such an Angel thing to do. I share a room with the guy for a bloody _year_, call him my best friend, my _brother_, and he goes and spills something to _you_, after all this time he proclaimed to hate you? That's just-"

"Falshade!" Wasp snapped, face suddenly hostile. She pushed me back so suddenly I found myself pinned under her as she growled down at me, eyes glinting with something dangerous and appalled. "How can you even say that? You think he just wanted to hide things from you, like it was some big joke to him?" She asked, her lips peeled back from her fangs threateningly. "You want to know why he never told you what he told me? Because he was _afraid_, Falshade. He was afraid you'd _hate _him."

I gawked at her, an explosion of shock going off in my stomach. "He... he _what_?"

"Didn't I tell you how much he thinks of you?" Wasp demanded. "He _loves_ you, Falshade, you mean so much to him and he is so afraid of losing you... that night after you almost bled to death, I saw it in him, how much he needs you and cares about you and depends on you to keep himself going. And he's got this fear in him that if you ever found out about him he'd lose that, he'd lose you, and that would ruin him. He's got it in his head that his mother hated him because of who he is and he's terrified of you and the others doing the same thing. That's why he never told you, even though it eats him up at night and maybe why he told me in the first place, because he needed to get it out before it killed him like it did his mother. Maybe he wasn't afraid of me hating him, I was disposable to him. But he could never tell you. You're not disposable. So don't you _dare_ say things like that about him. I know it's not your fault that you don't understand, but you just don't understand."

I stared at her, dumbstruck, trying to soak in her words. He... he really thought we'd just hate him? That _I'd_ hate him? That whatever this thing was that he was so desperately hiding from us all along, it was enough to make me hate him and turn my back on him, not want to be his friend anymore?

I looked at Wasp, at the intensity and distress on her face and I knew she'd been upset and afraid all this time, but it took to right then for me to realize just how frightened and torn up she was that Angel was gone, how much she really did care about him and how fiercely she was prepared to defend him. I never would have out and out asked her, but it flickered in my mind for a moment and I couldn't help but wonder... was she possibly in love with him?

"...I'm sorry. I... you're right, I don't understand, and it's none of my business. I don't even know why I said that... I'm just sorry."

Wasp kept up her aggressive stance for a few more moments before her features softened again and she shifted off of me, sliding into the space between me and the back of the couch. There wasn't really room for both of us to be lying there but she made herself fit, tucked in against my side. "I know... I know you wouldn't usually say that stuff. I just thought you should know all that, before you decide to judge him. But it doesn't really matter I suppose, if you didn't mean it."

"I didn't. I dunno, I just feel so shitty, Wasp, like just fucking wrecked about everything. Maybe I was just wanted to be pissed because it's easier than being worried about him... I just feel like I have nothing to grab on to. We don't know where he is or what they're going to do to him. Apparently Master Cyclonis is back from the dead, Varan nearly got blown to pieces, Stork's unconscious and I don't know if she'll wake up... I'm afraid she won't. I'm shit scared she's just going to be like that forever. I already lost her once, and now I've lost Angel and I don't know what to do anymore, Wasp. I just don't know what to do."

"I understand." She said quietly. I felt her lick my cheek, swiping up a tear that must have gotten out of the corner of my eye. "It can't be easy to be Sky Knight. That's why the others look up to you so much. You're Falshade Ravenscroft, you've always got a plan, you always know how to get us out of something, you're always there when we need you. It can't be easy to be all of that all the time."

"Well I wasn't able to do that today, was I?" I pointed out bitterly. "I just fucking failed."

"No, you didn't. Shit happens outside our control, and we can blame ourselves all we want, but you know what? It doesn't change anything." Wasp said firmly. "The only thing we can do is keep going forwards, to try and make things right, somehow. To just keep trying. You didn't fail, Falshade, not to us you didn't. As long as you keep trying and being brave and being our Sky Knight, you'll never let us down, we'll always be there to back you up. The Oracle told us never to give up hope. You're not giving up hope, are you?"

"I don't want to." My voice cracked slightly and I felt overwhelmed again. "But it's bloody hard not to, when all this shit goes down."

"That doesn't sound like Falshade to me."

"I don't feel like being Falshade right now. I just feel like being a kid about all of this, just for a little while... is that too much to ask, do you think?" I asked her seriously.

She blinked at me and then shook her head. "No, it's not. Just so long as you promise he'll be back again when we need him to be."

"He will."

"Good. Because he's what gives the rest of us hope, you see." And then, to my surprise, she burst into tears, just like that.

"Hey." I said, rolling onto my side. "Wasp..."

"I don't feel like being Wasp right now either." She snorted messily. "...I want Angel back. I don't want to lose him too, not like Rainer, _please_ not like Rainer..."

That name rang a bell, although I couldn't place it at the moment. It didn't matter anyways; Wasp was crying and that's all the concerned me.

"I know." I whispered, pushing her bangs out of her face and resting my forehead against hers. "I want him back too."

And so for awhile we weren't Falshade or Wasp but we were the weaker, vulnerable and sorest parts of ourselves, abandoning our hope for a little while and just crying next to each other on the couch, wallowing in our hurt and fear and wondering where it had all gone wrong.

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

I only remember waking up once.

It seemed to take forever to get my eyes open, and it was difficult to hold them open for very long when I did get my eyelids up. It was like my eyelids were made of stone or something and just wanted to keep dropping back down, and the energy it took to keep them up was just ridiculous, like trying to lift a heavy piece of scrap metal or running a marathon.

It was hard to process anything. It was taking almost all my energy just to stay awake, forget about paying much attention to anything else. I couldn't even recognize my surroundings, my brain was just out of it, refusing to work.

Someone's voice assaulted my vacant head then, sounding unnaturally loud, and at the same time it was like it was coming to me from a great distance.

"Stork?"

I couldn't turn my head to save my life. But that was alright because a moment later someone's face swam into my vision and it took me a couple seconds to realize it was Falshade.

"Stork can you hear me?" he asked and it took ages for his voice to make sense in my head. I tried to nod but it was like my neck was seized up and my chin barely dipped an inch. It was enough for Shade though. He must have realized then I was just completely out of it and so, so weak. So weak in fact it was infuriating, because I could barely keep my eyes open.

It struck me how haggard he looked as he peered at me with concern, the dark circles under his eyes and the way his face was drawn and pale, like he had the flu or something. He looked happy to see me, but there was stress and concern rooted deep in his violet eyes as well.

"You looked wiped." He said. Understatement of the year. "Go back to sleep, okay sweetie?"

I dunno why, but in spite of all the other things that were clamouring around in my head right then, it occurred to me that Falshade had never used those sorts of names on me before. It seemed strange to me; he must really have been worried to go that far. Or maybe he just felt safe to use it right then because I couldn't have attacked him for it if I wanted to. And, come to think of it, I didn't want to, not really.

I sank back into the mattress I was lying on, no energy to argue with his suggestion; hell I really just wanted to go back to sleep anyways. I'd almost let my eyes close again when I felt him get up to leave, heading for the door and it was almost like a sort of panic jumped up my throat, threatening to strangle me.

It took all my strength to cough up my voice, and even when I finally got it out it was so quiet I barely even heard it myself. "Shade?" I breathed, hating how fucking feeble I was.

Shade must have heard me though. He paused and looked back at me to show he was listening. I was fast losing my strength and I didn't even get the full sentence out; I wanted to tell him not to leave, but all I got out was "Don't..." and then my throat seemed to collapse.

Thank god for Falshade and his ability to know what you were trying to tell him, even if you couldn't say it. Falshade will always get the important stuff, he'll always know when you need him most. "Okay." He whispered, coming back over. "Don't worry, Stork. I'm not going anywhere."

A rush of calm flooded over my like novocaine and I felt myself slipping back into unconsciousness. The last thing I felt before I dropped back into oblivion was Falshade sinking down onto the mattress beside me, and then I fell asleep once again, lulled by the rhythm of his strong, steady heart beat.

* * *

I don't know how long it was before I woke up again. But slowly I felt myself shift into consciousness, and thankfully I felt much stronger then I had before. But my limbs all seemed heavy and shaky like they will when you've been training too long or had too much sugar or not enough sleep. My head was fuzzy and I felt dizzy, disorientated. My breathing was so unusually slow that I started having a mini panic-attack, feeling like I couldn't get enough air in fast enough, like I was suffocating. I had to force myself to relax and stay calm in order to stop from hyperventilating.

"Stork?" It was Wasp this time who suddenly leapt into my vision, hopping onto the bed I was lying on, being careful not to crush my legs and leaned forwards on her hands and knees, sniffing at me with concern.

My voice sounded as hoarse and ragged as an old man's when I forced it up. "Hey." I croaked and she grinned a bit, looking relieved.

"You're awake! Oh yay, I was hoping you'd wake up soon, everyone's really worried about you."

"They are?" I asked, feeling mortified. Damnit what was it with me and freaking the others out? I was supposed to be the tough girl, damnit!

I noticed then that Wasp too look rather worn out and weary, something pained and upset glinting in her eyes, even though she was trying to smile, pleased to see me awake.

"Yeah, you've been out for three days."

"Three days?!?" I yelped, but of course it came out more like I was choking on a bone or something. "You're kidding, right?"

Wasp shook her head. "No."

I groaned and dropped my head back onto my pillow, my neck cracking with the movement like I'd developed arthritis or something. Fuck. Three whole days... why was I always the one to get knocked out, crashing in the Wastelands or falling down holes in terra tunnels? I felt god awful for constantly stressing the others out. As if we didn't already have enough to deal with.

I was staring at the ceiling, feeling wretched and what not, when it occurred to me that it wasn't _my_ ceiling. I glanced out the corner of my eye, noting the clothing and armour strewn all over the floor and the handful of posters of famous squadrons tacked to the walls, the field guide to the Atmos that was splayed uncaringly on the dresser. "...Why am I in Falshade's room?" I rasped.

"We thought it'd be easier then always running down to the hanger." Wasp said simply like she couldn't see what the big deal was about staying in a guy's room. Oh but it was a big deal, man! Our rooms on the _Merlin_ were our own little private sanctuaries away from the noise and annoyance of the others; I couldn't just invade and occupy Falshade's room, in his bed where... hell I really didn't even want to know what he did here. I felt like I was invading his privacy, and that aside this was just not pleasant. Not that my room smelled any better, but it reeked like a guy in here. Plus, you know, I'd given him and Angel a hard time about going through my stuff, and now here I was sleeping in his room? It just seemed hypocritical.

"You couldn't have stuck me on the couch?" I demanded. God damnit it was so fucking hard to talk, my tongue thick and clumsy in my mouth, my throat raw and sluggish. Wasp blinked at me, seeming confused and I sighed, feeling bad for giving her such a hard time after worrying them all.

"Sorry it's just... never mind. So is everyone else okay?" I asked, recalling that things had gotten pretty rough before I'd passed out.

Something flickered on Wasp's face that made my stomach clench uneasily and I pushed myself up by my elbows, shaking with the effort and feeling like I weighed three times what I usually did. "Wasp?" I prodded when she didn't say anything.

"...Yeah, the others are fine. Varan got a little banged up, but he's doing okay." She said slowly, looping an arm around my waist to help me into a sitting position. Then she offered me the end of a straw. "Here, thirsty?"

I furrowed my brow at the can of Buzz Juice she was holding. "Is that what you've been giving me all this time?" I asked.

"Well, that and water. But yeah, I figured you needed energy, so what else could be better?" She asked, seeming pleased with her impromptu diagnostic. I pulled a face.

"Great." I muttered but when I saw the faltering look on Wasp's face I felt bad and took a sip of the drink to be nice. I gagged a second afterward and coughed like made, trying not to spit Buzz Juice all over Shade's bed. Fuck, the muscles in my throat seemed to be working just as lazily as the rest of me and the drink had taken so long to go down it irritated my gag reflex. I collapsed against Wasp and she rubbed my back soothingly, taking the straw away.

"God fucking damnit." I wheezed, feeling so frustrated and overwhelmed by how weak I was and how my body seemed to be working against me I wanted to cry. "This sucks, Wasp."

She patted my head sympathetically. "There there, I know. But you're doing a lot better then you were, you're only going to keep getting stronger you know."

"Yeah..." I sighed. Why couldn't I be better _now_? What was wrong with me?

I wanted to ask Wasp just that but the door opened then and Falshade stepped in. "Hey, Wasp, Varan was looking for you, he-" he cut himself off when he caught sight of me leaning against Wasp for support and his face cracked into a wide smile that really went to my heart. "Hey!" he said, dashing over to sit next to me, looking like he was refraining from hugging me. "You're up! Thank god, we were really starting to think we might have to take you to a doctor and you know, I don't really like doctors so... anyways how'd you feel?" he asked in a rush and I had to grin; Falshade's enthusiasm had always been rather infectious.

"I feel alright." I said and I felt Wasp moving a bit, waiting for me to steady myself before sliding off Falshade's bed and heading for the door.

"I'll go find Varan then, should probably change his bandages... anyways, glad you're back with us, Storky." She chirped over her shoulder before sliding out the door. Damn that name was gonna stick, wasn't it?

Falshade was still grinning beside me. "Man you had us worried. You sure you feel okay? You look kinda off."

I took in his ragged appearance and felt like telling him the same thing. "My arms are all kinda shaky. Feel like I've got a bad sugar crash or something." I admitted and he frowned slightly.

"That sucks... did you want to go get something to eat? Maybe that'll help."

Ah food, the teenaged boy's answer to everything.

"I will, but not just yet. What... what happened, Shade? Like what happened to me? And why's Varan all messed up? What went down, after, you know, I got separated from you two?" I asked slowly.

Something passed over Falshade's face and he was avoiding my gaze all of a sudden, scratching at his scalp uneasily. "...Wasp didn't tell you anything?"

"No she didn't." I said, staring at him harshly until he squirmed and looked back at me uncomfortably. "Shade, what's going on?"

He made an uncertain noise in his throat, glancing around distractedly. "...You don't remember what happened to you?"

I tried to think of what had gone on back when I was alone in that gloomy old tunnel. "I... I remember... I had another one of my brain attacks, a real bad one. That's why I passed out. That's all I remember."

"Oh... uh..." Falshade blew out a long sigh, scratching at the back of his neck like Stork used to when he was nervous about something. "...Okay look, this is going to sound really crazy, okay?"

"What else is new?" I pointed out. "C'mon Shade, spill it already."

He chewed on his tongue, staring fixatedly at his boot. "Okay... well look, I still don't even get half of it, Wasp... Wasp knows more than I do. She was the one who went and got you, you know, I got separated from her by a rockslide. But..." he blew out another sigh. "Wasp said when she went and got you, there was someone else down there with you, who was giving off this strange aura or whatever... and Wasp said that this person, this girl... she smelled like you, somehow, like she was a part of you, somehow. That's probably why you're energy's been so low, half of you is like... missing."

I gawked at him, my heart constricting slightly. "...Okay, _what_?"

Falshade made an exasperated noise, gesturing with his hands wildly. "I told you I don't understand all of it!" he said. "I don't even really know how, but this girl's been inside you, somehow, something like a reincarnation deal, that her soul like, built your existence, or however the hell Wasp put it... I don't really understand it at all, but these headaches you've been getting, that's been her trying to get free, she's been feeding off your energy all this time and now she was finally strong enough to have a body of her own... I don't know, Stork, it's all so fucking weird and unbelievable and just... _impossible_... but then I think well look at all the other shit that's been going on and... I dunno."

My head was just spinning with all of this, and I couldn't remember a time I felt more confused. How could I have been housing someone else inside me all this time? Someone else's soul had built my existence? The hell was that all about?

"...Who, Shade, who did this girl say she was?" I demanded and he shifted, looking more hesitant and uncomfortable then I'd ever seen him. "_Falshade_." I pressed and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"...Master Cyclonis." He muttered into his palm.

My entire body seemed to seize up, chest locking, spine snapping straight, insides freezing. _What_? No. That couldn't... that was _impossible_. She was _dead_, she couldn't have just been _inside_ me all this time. I think I would have known if I had a god damn evil empress's _soul _inside me, feeding off me. Falshade was going crazy. Why should we take Wasp's word for anything, _she_ was crazy too. I couldn't have... this was bullshit, man, there was no way...

"_We never knew who your parents were..."_

"_They found you in the Scar, Feonix..."_

"_They never found her body, you know..."_

"_They found you in the ashes..."_

"_As grey as the ashes from which one will rise..."_

"_I see that pile of ashes a lot, and there's always something in them; usually it's this shiny looking thing, but once it was a baby I'm pretty sure..."_

_I'd been here before, I'd been here before, I'd been here before..._

My heart was pounding so hard it heart, my arms tingling and head feeling constricted... I didn't want any of that to make sense, but...

Falshade's hand was squeezing my shoulder gently. "Stork?"

I made a squelched sobbing noise and collapsed against his side, feeling too overwhelmed to fight to stay upright. "Fuck." I croaked. "Just... _fuck_. I can't... I can't believe I... that's how they knew where we were, how they knew our names, isn't it?"

Falshade's face crumpled slightly and he looked upset, like he didn't want to tell me anything more in case it caused me more distress. "...Yeah, we think so."

I did sob this time, because I didn't have the energy to fight it back. "...I've put us all in danger then." I said, feeling sick inside, so god damn disgusted. She'd been watching everything, all my private moments, all the precious memories of my life, exposed to her, every little god damn thing, putting my friends at risk, a walking, talking culpability. I understood now why Wasp had hated that voice of hers so much, was so desperate to get it out.

"Oh Stork..." Falshade muttered, squeezing me tightly. "No you haven't. I'm the one who started all of this, right? I sent us all out on this mission, if anyone's the one who's put us in danger it's me. Besides, you didn't know, how could you have known? It doesn't matter now... don't beat yourself up about this."

I sniffled. "Still it's just... this fucking sucks, Shade. She... ugh! God damnit that just makes me feel so gross, knowing she..." I shuddered, not wanting to think about it and Falshade set his chin on my head comfortingly.

"Well... she's not in you anymore, you can relax about that, it's over and done."

"But she's back now!" I pointed out. Oh god, _Master Cyclonis_ back in the Atmos, at the head of this _army_ of Berserkers??? Oh man, oh man... fuck we could barely defend ourselves as it was, there wasn't enough of us to handle the might of Cyclonia with her back in charge...

"Yeah, and we're going to deal with that." Falshade vowed. "We're going to deal with all of this. That was our mission from the start, right?"

"Well..." I sighed. "To be honest with you, Shade, I never expected it to get this bad."

He gave a low, humourless laugh. "Yeah... maybe I didn't either."

I bumped him with my head sympathetically. "But yeah, you know, you're right, we're going to deal with this and I'll make that little bitch _pay_ for ever being inside of me."

Falshade grinned slightly, ruffling my hair. "That's my girl."

Still rather shaken with distress and utter disbelief I made a move to get to my feet and Shade slid off his bed, offering an arm to support me which I only took because standing up made my head spin and my legs were weak and shaky.

"I hate this." I growled. "Stumbling around like some little princess or something..."

Falshade snorted. "You'd make one lousy princess, I've gotta say."

"Damn straight I would." I griped, staggering from his room, leaning on him heavily. "So... Wasp got me out of there, huh?"

"Yeah, she did. And apparently she had a bit of a chat with the Master herself, so, you know, maybe you should ask her a bit more about it, if that'll help..."

"I don't really want to think about it anymore." I wheezed glumly, my voice still not quiet up to its usual volume. "It's just too much, you know? And if I keep thinking about it my head will probably explode."

"Yeah, I know what you mean..." Falshade seemed distracted about something but before I could ask him what was up we gimped into the kitchen and I was nearly mauled by a whole lot of Blizzarian.

"STORK!" Fraggle cried, only just refraining from jumping all over me. "Oh thank god you're awake eh, been worried about you girly, when you came back here all messed up..."

I tried to smile bravely. "Nah, no worries man, I'm alright."

Fraggle was grinning ecstatically, taking me from Shade to help me sit in a chair and acting like he hadn't seen me in ages. "I'm glad you're up, we could really use your energy around here eh."

Unfortunately my energy was a little MIA at the moment, but I grinned anyways. "Yeah, everyone's looking a little down- oh my god, _Varan_!"

He'd only just sidled into the kitchen and he seemed embarrassed at the way I gawked at him in shock. "It's not so bad." He mumbled, scuffing his feet.

Not so bad! One _entire_ side of his torso was bandaged up, as well as a patch on his muzzle, and he was limping from the looks of it, moving stiffly. "What _happened_?" I demanded, wanting to get to my feet and run over to him, but I just couldn't get my legs under me; the walk from Shade's room had taken a ridiculous strain on me.

"Oh... one of my Raptures went off a little too close, and I sort of, erm... crashed into the terra." He said, sounding ashamed about the whole thing.

"Yeah, he's one lucky lizard-man if you ask me, eh." Fraggle said. "Fuck was I ever worried about him... burned half his scales off, you know."

"Do you have to tell everyone that?" Varan asked irritably.

"Well you're gonna be alright, that's all that matters." Falshade interjected. "Although we dunno if the scales will grow back..."

"I can't see why they won't, it's just like skin on you humans." Varan said moodily, ignoring our concerned looks. "Anyways, Stork, you look awful, do you want something to eat?"

"Oh, god, Varan, _I_ look awful? Forget about it, there's no way I'm letting you run around and cater to me, I'll make myself something." I insisted, managing to get to my feet this time and then staggered sideways. Falshade darted over and caught me before I fell to the floor.

"God damnit!" I seethed, stomping my foot angrily. "This is fucking retarded, I can't even-" I cut myself off, only just getting a look at myself in the reflection of the microwave.

"Stork?" Falshade asked uncertainly as I just gawked at my reflection.

"What... what happened to my _HAIR_???" I howled, struggling from him and stumbling over to the counter, clinging to the edge for support and leaned in close to get a better look, staring at myself, appalled.

The boys shifted uneasily. "...I don't think it looks so bad, eh." Fraggle piped up after a moment.

I hated how pathetic this was, but I felt close to tears again. "I...WHAT THE FUCK, MAN! Where's _my_ hair? That's not my hair! I like _my_ hair, damnit! I liked it that way and now it's all stupid looking!" Okay, usually, I didn't give two fucks about my hair, I barely ever combed it or, heh, washed it, I just let it be, you know? But that's 'cause I had naturally awesome hair, I didn't need to fuss with it. It stuck up all around my head like hawk feathers and I liked that about it, and I'd loved the black too, the random streaks and tips. And now... now it wasn't awesome anymore, and now I was seriously giving two fucks about it, having a rare girly-girl moment (and I believe I was permitted this, considering all my past boy-ish moments).

"Stork, come on, don't be upset." Falshade wheedled. "It's just hair after all... it could be worse."

"Just hair... Falshade I'm a good damn _blonde_! Do you know what people _say_ about blondes?"

"Hey!" Fraggle said, hurt.

"I look like a god damn country girl!" I carried on, ignoring him. "All I need is the gap tooth! Fuck, I'm a wingwoman, damnit, I'm a bloody _mechanic_, mechanics don't walk around looking like this! This is just disgraceful!"

"Stork, cut it out. Yeah it sucks about your hair, but Falshade's right, it could be worse, way worse. You could have died, you know? Or Cyclonis could have taken you away... she wanted to you know, Wasp had to fight her back to get you out of there." Varan said sharply then and I cringed at his words, feeling ashamed of myself. I sank down to the floor and huddled with my knees to my chest, feeling awful.

"...I'm sorry." I muttered, putting my forehead on my knees. After a moment Varan moved over and rubbed my shoulder apologetically.

"Okay... sorry, I shouldn't have gotten short like that, you're having a rough time as it is..."

"No, Varan, don't say sorry, you're right, it's just fucking hair. When have I ever given a shit about it before?" I pointed out, trying to grin a bit. "It's fine... why did Cyclonis want to take me?" I asked suddenly, stunned.

"We don't know, she didn't tell Wasp." Falshade said uneasily.

"Where is Wasp anyways?" I asked, glancing around.

"Oh, probably in her room..." Varan said, looking distressed about something. "Poor little thing... she's been in there a lot lately, listening to her music and talking to that dragon of hers... she's really upset... maybe you should try to talk to her, Stork, she won't say much to us."

"What, about the whole Cyclonis thing?" I asked, wondering if she might have said something to Wasp that was bothering her. "Why isn't Angel trying to talk to her? Some guy he is, if he had any sense in his... what?"

The others had all flinched, faces falling dramatically, looking utterly distraught; Fraggle looked like he might start to cry.

"You didn't tell her yet?" Varan asked Falshade softly.

"Tell me what?" I demanded, heart trembling with dread, looking from one of them to the other, demanding an answer.

Falshade looked agonized. "Give me a break, Var, I already had to tell her about all the other stuff..."

"I know, it's just..." Varan trailed off.

"Just _what_?" I demanded, pounding a fist into the floor and regretting it. "What's going on, Falshade?"

Falshade gave another one of those long sighs like he was trying to steel himself to something, take the edge off some sort of pain. "...They've got Angel, Stork."

I felt like my stomach just dropped right out of me and I was glad I hadn't eaten anything yet or it would be making a comeback right now all over the kitchen floor. My chest seized again and my mouth went dry, throat clogged. "..._No_."

Falshade rubbed at his face, tearing his eyes from my gaze. "Yeah. They've got him and we don't know where they are."

I felt like I was sinking, trembling like mad. "...Is he still alive?" I croaked. Oh _please_, he _has_ to be alive...

"We don't know." Varan took over because Shade was looking just as bad as I felt, turning away from us and clutching his head. "But if they made the effort to take him then we think he's got to be alive for now or else what was the point..."

_For now_.

"..._Why_?" I choked out. "Why take Angel? They never tried to take any of us before..." Well, except for me, but I really didn't care about that right now.  
"We don't know, Stork." Varan said tiredly. They'd probably been asking themselves the same things for the past three days and I was just picking at scabs now. Oh _god_, poor Wasp... no wonder she was upset. Shit, that wasn't fucking _fair_, she and Angel had just started getting along, just started building something special...

The tears really broke free then, I couldn't fight them anymore and I sobbed wretchedly into my knees. Sure Angel and I pissed each other off to no end, I could downright loathe the kid on a bad day but... he was my best friend too, next to Falshade, and now he was in the hands of those sickos and they were probably doing awful things to him even as I sat there bawling about it. And poor, poor Wasp and poor Falshade too, who'd been worried sick about me for the last three days on top of everything else, and just fuck, everything was going to shit right in front of me. I'd been feeding the worst villain in Atmos' history in my own body and now she was back and at the head of this super-human army, and now, when we needed each other most, needed to be strong and together to fight against her we weren't even all together, she had Angel in her clutches.

Right around then I felt like I understood now what it was like to be stuck in one of Falshade's nightmares.

I felt Varan scoop me up from the floor, cradling me slightly. "Don't cry, little one." He murmured. He'd only called me little one once before, when I'd dislocated my arm for the first time and had been just shocked out of my wits by how painful it was; at that time it had been the worst injury I'd ever achieved. He only used that name when he was trying to baby me and calm me down, even though he knew I hated when people reminded me of how small I was and that I hated being coddled and pampered. But right then, a large part of me did want to be babied, even though I wanted to be tough and strong for all of them, brush this off and plough my way through, all like 'oh, what, the evil mistress of Cyclonia was being housed inside me all this time? Psh, so what?'. But I didn't have the fight in me today, my usually faithful resilience that would put a pit bull to shame. And without that toughness I just felt so lost and vulnerable, like I couldn't defend myself even if my life depended on it. Everything I thought I was had been shattered to pieces, my stable ground shaken out from under me, Master Cyclonis was back with a new breed of psycho-soldiers at her side like trained wolves and to top it all fucking off Angel was gone. I would never have been this weak and pitiful in front of him.

God I really just want to go back to bed and be a baby about all of this, I really did.

But Varan's arms were shaking, even though to him I weighed next to nothing, and I realized it must be hurting him to be holding me so I shifted and struggled until the floor was under my feet again, wiping at my snot-coated face shamefully. I could be a baby on my own time, break down later. For the others I was gonna be strong; Varan had told me Angel had taken care of them when I was gone, so now I was going to do the same thing in his place. Or at least not make things worse by being so epically pathetic.

"I'm not." I insisted, which was a lie and a half; of course I'd been. I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So... where do we start with all of this? We're still going to try and find their base, right?"

"Yeah, eh." Fraggle said, nodding with a sniffle, wiping at his own nose with his sleeve. "We found another terra while you were out, eh, but it was another mining one, abandoned. No scorpions this time though eh, so that's good at least." He added with a weak grin and I laughed feebly. Fraggle was our comic relief right to the bitter end and man I really appreciated it right then.

"That still leaves two." I said, trying to scrap together some sort of optimism. "And then after that..."

"After that we're going to keep looking." Falshade continued, his voice brittle but determined too, almost a little ruthless. "We've put word out to the other squadrons, told them everything we know, and they're on the lookout too. So we're not totally alone in all of this. We've still got a fighting chance."

I nodded. "Great. So what're the plans for today then?"

"Well first of all, _you're_ going to have something to eat." Varan said to me, leaving no room for argument. "Actually all three of you really look like you need a pick-me-up. And don't start arguing with me." He added as Falshade opened his mouth to retort. "You're not going to be of any use to anyone if you're staggering around half-starved, and besides, you're not allowed to argue with me right now. I'm hurt; you can't fight with the injured."

Falshade sighed but there was a slight grin in the corner of his mouth. "Alright fine, but let us help you anyways. Not you." He added to me when I made a shaky move forwards. "Go sit."

I scowled and in response he grabbed me around the shoulders and bodily dragged me back to the table, depositing me in a chair. "Fraggle why don't you go and get Wasp?" he suggested and Fraggle hopped to his feet with a nod, scooting out into the corridor. I sat moodily at the table, chin on my folded arms.

"So something just occurred to me." I said after a moment of moping. "Varan you said you crashed, no?"

He made a face. "I did, why?"

"Well what about your Bone Wing? What happened to it?"

"I don't know what happened to it." He admitted and flinched at the look of horror on my face. "Don't start in on me, it's not like I did it on purpose!"

"I know, I know..." I assured him. "But still... oh your poor Bone Wing... damnit I always loved that thing. What are you gonna do now, without a sky ride?"

He sighed and shrugged. "I guess I could always man the top-side Blaster, since we're without a sharp shooter now too."

Falshade made a strangled noise in this throat and Varan looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"No, it's alright... but you know it might be better if you had a ride at least, we'll need you with us if we get in another aerial fight. Maybe we could get you an older one or something and Stork can work on it."

"I'm liking this idea." I agreed with a nod. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy patching up some roughed-up old skimmer, I'd also have something to keep me distracted.

Fraggle returned with Wasp in tow, who slid into a chair next to me, setting Shadowfax on the table in front of her and dropping her chin to the table top like she was having a staring contest with the little silver dragon.

"Wasp, you hungry?" Varan asked her.

"No." She said.

"...I let you have some bacon if you want. You don't even have to cook it." Varan wheedled, which was a huge stretch on his part; if I thought watching Wasp tear apart raw meat like some sort of large carnivore was gross, it made Varan downright sick.

"No, I'm fine. I only came to hang out with you all." She explained, still fixated on her dragon figurine.

"Well alright, if your sure. Do you want some hot chocolate at least? You can't just drink those energy drinks all the time." Varan pressed, setting a plate down in front of me with a toasted bagel practically oozing nice, warm, melted butter. The guy knows what I like.

"_Chocolate_?" Wasp repeated, sitting up straight and staring at him with wide eyes. "I-" she cut herself off, looking at Shadowfax again. "...and what did he say?" she asked, no longer speaking to us. She seemed to listen for a moment as the rest of us watched uneasily. "...Oh." she said finally, sliding off her chair and pulling herself under the table, leaning against my shin dejectedly. "Hot chocolate sounds fine." She mumbled.

Varan nodded. "Alright. Fraggle what do you want?"

Fraggle didn't appear to be listening. He crouched down at his end of the table so he could face Wasp under the table. "You wanna hear a funny story?" he asked her and I Wasp's ears perked slightly.

"Sure."

"I sneezed on him once, eh. It was so weird actually; you know that feeling you get in your nose when you gotta sneeze and you can't? Well I had that like, all day, eh. It was driving me crazy. And when I was just about to lose my mind he came over to ask me something or other, eh, and it just happened, I sneezed all over him. Man he was pissed off; he didn't talk to me for like three days after, eh. That was before you came along I guess."

He and Wasp stared at each other for a long time and for a moment there I thought something bad was gonna happen, that Wasp was gonna lose it and start to cry or, more likely, break his arm.

But then she didn't. She abruptly burst into hysterics and fell backwards, sprawled over the kitchen floor like she was trying to make a snow angel, laughing as hard as she had after the whole bees thing.

Fraggle was grinning to himself, pleased, as he straightened back up and sat down. "'Bout time somebody started laughing, eh." He said. "Can I have a ham and eggs sandwich?" he asked Varan and frowned at the look he was giving him. "What? The Oracle told me I'm supposed to make people smile, eh, and if there was ever a time for me to bust out the smilin' super powers, I'm thinking it would be now, eh."

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

I was tossing and turning later that night, trying to find some sort of solace in sleep. I mean I felt tired; god did I feel tired. Three nights of trying to sleep on the couch (operative word there being _trying_) while my head wouldn't stop churning and my stomach was hurting from a bad combination of too much stress and not enough to eat, and then three long days of being in a constant state of ache and worry, I was just worn out. It would have been great just to drop into a really deep sleep, or better yet a coma, and just escape the misery that had taken over my life as of late. But every time I felt myself starting to nod off I kept seeing images of Angel, shaking and bleeding, huddled up in some dark place, waiting for us to please, please help him. Or I'd see Stork with someone's sharp fingernails digging into her temples, teeth flashing wickedly above her head in the dark. It was almost at the point where I didn't need the bloody nightmares anymore; my reality was brutal enough.

Suddenly I heard the door open to my room and opened my eyes, even though it was so dark in my room I couldn't see anyone anyways. I was going to call out, wondering if there actually was someone there or if I was losing my mind (at this point, it wouldn't surprise me).

But then I felt someone slide under my covers and curl up next to me and I felt wispy hair brush against my bare arm.

"..._Angel_?"

"Yeah."

"...You're back?" I breathed, not daring to believe it.

"No, not really." He sighed and pushed his forehead against my chest. "Shade, can you listen to me for a second?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Good... Shade, things are going to get really crazy, really soon."

"I know that. What in hell was I expecting all along, right?"

"No, Shade, you don't get it." He sounded urgent about something. "Shit is gonna hit the proverbial fan, Falshade. Bad things are going to happen."

I swallowed. "How do you know?"

"I just know. Maybe I can see the future too. Or maybe I'm just getting really good at judging these things by now." He made that sighing noise again, like he was resigning himself to something. "...I think I'm going to have to die, Falshade. If I don't die before... before they make me into this thing, can you do me a favour?"

"...Sure." I said, not liking where this was going.

"Can you kill me? I'd rather it be you in the end... you're the only one who ever should."

"...I don't want to kill you, Angel. You're my brother. I can't."

"Yes you can. Maybe you won't have to, but just promise me you will, if you have to, so I don't hurt the others, or you. Humour me here, Shade."

"...Alright, I promise."

"Thanks." He stretched out a bit. "Can you do me another favour?"

"So long as it isn't anything like your other favour."

"Can you look after Wasp for me? She's special you know, she's so fucking special, Shade, and I hate that she has to be alone again. Can you just look after her, make her smile sometimes?"

I made a face somewhere between a grin and a grimace, not sure to smile or cry. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Thank you."

"...Ange you're saying all these things like you don't think you're going to come back. We're going to find you, you know."

He laughed quietly. "Yeah, I know you will. I'm not so afraid of dying, you know. It just... it sucks. I liked being with you guys."

"You're not going to die, Angel." I insisted.

"I've got one more favour to ask." He interjected, ignoring me.

I sighed. "Alright fine, but only because I owe you for all those times you did my homework for me."

"Cool. Can you just... please don't ever hate me, Shade."

"Why would I hate you?"

"Just say it for me."

"I'm not gonna ever hate you." I promised. He seemed to relax, sinking in against my side.

"Good."

"So now what?"

"I dunno... can I just stay here? I'm so fucking tired, Shade..."

"Yeah, sure you can."

"Man, you've always been too good to me." He said, rolling over so his back was pressed up against my side, curling into me like a large tom cat and sighing again. "I've got to tell you something..." he muttered, sounding tired. "In case I don't get another chance..."

"Sure, what is it?" I asked, feeling my own drowsiness dragging me down all of a sudden while his thin body heated me like a furnace.

I never found out what it was though, because evidently he must have succumbed to exhaustion at that point and fallen asleep. And I of all people knew how hard sleep was to come by and I didn't have the heart to wake him up; he'd told me enough anyways.

The next morning I woke up to find it wasn't Angel curled up beside me but Stork, with her newly blonde head tucked up just under my chin and her fingers laced through mine.

**x.x.x Elsewhere, Three Days Ago x.x.x**

He stood before her, hands twisting themselves together behind his back as he made sure not to stare at her too obviously, a simple glance, nothing too obsessive or fascinated. He still wasn't used to seeing her, the physical manifestation of the voice that he'd followed so faithfully all these years, heeding her every instruction. And now here she was, finally, before him in corporeal form, and he was ensnared by her, by the sinister cunning that seemed to drip off her in dark, velvety folds.

Finally she turned to him, eyes probing and fingers intertwined in front of her as if to show him he had her full attention. "Your report?"

He bowed slightly before proceeding. "Everything went flawlessly, Master. All equipment has been moved to the second site of operations and productions are back in order."

"Good. And what of my Blitzkrieg? What work is being done on them? This weakness of the throat is a serious flaw, a fault that puts the entire design at risk."

"We realize that, Master, and rest assured that we are working on correcting the issue. I've ordered the manufacturing of throat armour as well, it will do nothing to hinder their movements and-"

"Very well. Now unless you had anything else to report you are dismissed." She said indifferently, turning back to her project.

Halo bowed again and made a jerking motion towards the door when he stopped and cleared his throat uneasily. His Master glanced at him over her shoulder.

"Yes?" she didn't sound necessarily impatient, but he could tell she was perturbed that he'd decided to stay.

"Well... I am in no way questioning your decisions, Master, but I remain curious about... the boy. What exactly is the point of keeping him?"

"He is useful to me." She explained, her back still to him.

"Surely he can't have much of an important role in your plans. I see no point in keeping him alive; he will only bring trouble for us when we don't need the distractions. Ravenscroft and his friends will no doubt come for him and if I may be so bold as to state my opinion I think he'd be much more useful if we were to offer him to the newest Blitzkrieg, give them a taste for blood..."

"Do you assume to know more than I do of strategy?" she asked, her voice casual and sincere but something about her prickled, flaring up dangerously and Halo cringed. "Ravenscroft will come for us either way, and if he does so he only brings Feonix that much closer to my grasp. And since your Fleet seems to have such a difficult time getting a hold of her on your own that might be a good thing, wouldn't you say?"

Halo flinched at the reminder of his past failures. "I apologize Master, I would never doubt your judgement... I just don't understand why you require the boy, that is all. It seems like an unnecessary hassle to keep him here."

"Evidently you don't know who he is." His Master's word's seemed to smirk as she said this. "You see the boy's father was once my most dedicated servant, one much more efficient and much less questioning then yourself. I do sorely miss having such eagerness and loyalty at my side..."

Halo glared at his boots, gritting his teeth. Hadn't he proved again and again how loyal he was? It wasn't his fault that Ravenscroft managed to slip through his fingers again and again, that he managed to keep the girl out of harm. He planned to get a hold of Carrion after this, to take out his frustration on her, the cause of all his failures. "...You plan to try and turn the boy against his friends?" he spoke up after awhile. "Forgive me Master, but I have a distinct feeling that will not work. As pathetic as it is, the boy has a strong devotion to Ravenscroft and the others, as does Ravenscroft to him. He will not turn against them."

"_He_ won't, no." His Master agreed and Halo glanced at her, surprised. She was smiling wickedly now, as if she had something truly delicious on her mind, some sort of cruel victory that Halo didn't yet understand. She turned to him, her features lit up eerily by the red glow of a shard of crystal that she had floating above her spidery hand. "But with a little of my _unique_ way of persuasion, the Dark Ace in him will." Her violet eyes sparked with something maliciously triumphant. "Sky Knights and the bonds they build with one another... the purpose of these meek friendships has always eluded me. As strong as they proclaim these ties to be, however, I have noted over the years how they can pose as a weakness when exploited. Which is exactly what I intend to do." She stared at him and he straightened up. "Can you imagine what sort affect it will have on Ravenscroft when he is pitted against his best friend in battle? Angel _will_ give in to my rule, he _will _follow my orders, with any luck to a much better degree then you seem to be capable of." Here Halo had to fight not to wince, keeping his face submissive and shameful. "And when Ravenscroft realizes that he will stop at nothing to bring Feonix to me, he will have to fight back, at first for the protection of his friends, and then eventually for his own life. Don't you see?" here she started laughing in delight. "It is the ultimate irony, the most wicked of psychological warfare! Hatred can be so easily bred into the hearts of fools, all you have to do is form the crack! One of them will have to kill the other, and I have a feeling that in the end, Ravenscroft won't have it in him to deliver the final blow." Her voiced decreased dramatically in volume and she leaned towards him as he fought to keep from shaking. "So now I shall ask you, Halo, are there anymore flaws in my plans that you wish to point out?"

He swallowed. "N...no Master, of course not."

"Good." She turned her back on him once again. "Then go and retrieve him for me, and return his weapons to him. I'd like a display of his combat abilities, and I believe our latest creation is in need of a test run..."


	25. The Decomposition of Angel Thaenshar

**25**

**The Decomposition of Angel Thaenshar**

**Part One: The Quiet Place**

_**I'm here, all alone/ Wondering how it all will end/ Fighting in vain/ As into the darkness I descend/ Waiting for light/ That I know I'll never see/ Desperate for silence once again**_

_**-Silence, A Dark Halo**_

_**Disorient the senses/ Loss of identity/ No one to trust, no one to trust**_

_**-I am the Killer, Thursday**_

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

_I shifted my feet against the ancient wooden floor, which was covered in a fine layer of sand. I felt the grains rub and dig into the soft skin between my toes and tried to draw some sort of strength from that. This floor was always covered in sand, no matter how often I kicked little piles under the fridge as if to hide some sort of evidence, or when she actually got around to sweeping the floor. I was always tracking dirt into the house, pouring it out of my shoes and shaking it from the wrinkles and pockets in my clothes._

_She hated it. She was always complaining about it, saying it was like walking on sandpaper and that the desert should stay outside where it belonged._

_Now that I felt that sand down there below my feet, the thousands and thousands of grains I'd brought inside with me, I felt afraid; all that sand, every last little granule, was a token of something I'd done that displeased her. What did she owe me after all of that?_

_I shifted my weight awkwardly, feeling torn. I glanced at the screen door behind me. It would be so much easier just to turn and go back outside and leave her alone. _

_But then the little creature I was cradling gently in my hands struggled weakly against my palms and I swallowed with resolve, pulling my lower lip under my teeth and chewing until it started bleeding as I trotted across the kitchen and up the warped old set of stairs, wincing with every creak, praying she wasn't sleeping. If I woke her up there was a good chance she'd start crying in frustration, telling me again and again not to bother her and that I had to be quiet, so quiet..._

_Her door was open a crack when I reached the landing and I leaned against the frame, shaking, as I listened for her slow, shallow breathing. Her floor creaked and I could hear her moving around and felt hopeful; she was awake at least._

_I pushed the door open hesitantly and stood uncertainly just inside her doorframe. Forcing up my voice I called out timidly "Mom?"_

_She turned to me from where she'd been standing in front of her wardrobe. She was naked from the waist up and I averted my gaze quickly, staring fixatedly down at my bare feet. _

"_What?" she asked hoarsely, not sounding forthcoming at all as she turned back around and pulled a thin shirt over her head. _

_I glanced up from under my bangs, taking in her profile. She seemed frail to me, wraith-like in her thinness, all bones and skin that had gone pale with the absence of sunlight for so long. Her light, wispy hair was lank and unkempt but it still looked soft to me. I'd always thought my mother was beautiful, as if her failed, sickly insides were making up for the dreariness and hopelessness that permeated her aura by giving her some sort of twisted radiance on the outside._

_After a moment she turned back to me. "Well?" she asked, her impatience digging at me like thorns. _

_My head was just a spin of excuses and explanations, no words I could think of to say sounding like the right thing, anxiety sending my heart into a frenzy in my chest._

"_I..." I choked on the rest, my throat gone dry and swollen and instead I thrust my hands out in front of me to show her the wounded creature I had caged there; the poor little sparrow fluttered helplessly in my fingers and I saw something change in her face, something hard cinch around her eyes._

"_Oh, _Angel_! Did you hurt that poor little bird?" she was on me in a second, her hand closing like a vice around my thin wrist, yanking my hands upward and wrestling the sparrow from my grasp, causing the little animal to make a screeching noise in pain and protest to the rough handling._

"_Mom!" I yelped out, afraid for the delicate, broken little creature. She threw my arm back towards me so roughly I stumbled backwards and fell to her floor, staring up at her glowering form from where I cowered against the wall._

"_How could you do something so disgusting? Did you think it was funny?" she demanded, my sparrow held against her chest with one hand protectively. "What is _wrong_ with you? What is so wrong with you that you can go and hurt perfectly innocent little animals? That's _sick_, Angel!"_

_I was trembling, entire chest aching, seized up so I had to fight to make any sound at all. "I... I didn't... I found her like that..." I said brokenly, my voice small and feeble._

_She stared down at me for a long time before abruptly striding past me without a second glance, heading down the stairs. Choking for breath, trying not to cry, I scrambled to my feet and followed after her, nearly slipping on the second last step._

_She was at the kitchen table so she could examine the sparrow in proper light. I skirted around to the opposite end of the table and climbed up onto one of the chairs, sitting on my knees so I could look down at the small, vulnerable creature she had pinned gently to the table with her slender fingers, examining it. I was finally able to see the full extent of the damage, one of the female sparrow's wings skewed at a strange angle, small flecks of red blood smattered over her dusky brown feathers._

"_What's wrong with her?" I whispered, not wanting to terrorize the poor thing anymore than it already had been._

_My mother was looking down at the bird, something glinting in her eyes. Her steely, piercing eyes now dulled and filed down by misery and apathy. Mine were the exact same shade and shape, I knew from examining my own features in the mirror, trying to find a hint of relation, something for me to show her that I was a part of her, something to validate my own existence._

"_Her wing's broken." She explained quietly._

"_But you can fix that, right?" I asked childishly, reaching out to stroke my finger over the bird's quivering chest as if trying to soothe it, take away its pain and distress._

"_No, I can't." She murmured, her focus still solely on the bird. "...I'm sorry, Angel, there's nothing I can do for her."_

_Something in my stomach went off like a bright flash of light, my insides leaping forward. I looked at her face past all her pale pink hair that was hanging into her forehead, trying to absorb some sort of... absolution for the tone she'd just used. Her voice had held some sort of sympathy, muted as it was, something almost like... affection. I wanted to see that, in her face, around her mouth, I wanted to see her thin lips give me some sort of wane smile, to see the honesty in her eyes, my replicas. I wanted something, anything, to prove that there was still life in there and maybe, deep down, she did care about me, maybe she even loved me and it took the sadness of this broken little sparrow for her to realise it, realise that I'd brought it to her with the hope that she could make things right. Maybe she'd realise that I had faith in her and this would be enough to pull her free of her desolate world and things would be different from now on._

_I just wanted..._

_She stood up so suddenly I flinched and then she was striding out the screen door, into the glaring desert heat. I slid off my chair and chased after her, nearly getting smacked in the face as the door swung shut behind her. I pushed it open again and jumped down from our decrepit porch, bare feet burning as I hurried over the scorching red earth._

"_Mom, what're you doing?" I asked, skidding to a halt behind her as she stopped beside the small wooden fence that rimmed our yard, a frail and pathetic protection from the creatures that roamed freely on the other side. _

_She let out a sigh, not giving me an answer and instead looked out over the barren outland, at the red cliff formations in the distance and the small mounds that marked the entrances to the homes of the burrowing owls that sometimes would sit in the mouths of their little caverns and blink their large eyes at me curiously. _

_Slowly my mother held the sparrow out in one hand like she wanted to release it, let it fly free. But of course it couldn't and instead it just stayed in her hand, chest fluttering at an alarmingly quick rate, shock setting in hard. Closing her eyes my mother gently cupped her other hand around the little bird's head as if shielding it from some horrible spectacle and I titled my head inquisitively, thinking to myself that she looked like she was trying to cast some sort of healing spell._

_Instead, my mother abruptly gave her hand a quick twist, a sharp jerking motion to the left._

_The crack hit me like a shot to the chest and I reeled back, heart seizing tight, insides clenching like I was going to be sick. I stared up at her, dumbstruck, as she dropped the dead bird on the other side of the fence, tiny head lolling on a broken neck almost comically._

_As she turned back to me I took a step back from her, mouth dry, eyes wide. She just stared at me for a moment like she was meeting me for the first time, like I was someone she didn't know. _

_The word came out of my mouth so hoarsely I barely heard it. "W...Why?" I croaked out, taking another step back when she made a motion in my direction. _

_She looked at me blankly, no sympathy that I'd so desperately searched for on her slight, wane features. There was nothing there, just a cold, hollow vacancy, like there was nothing occupying the space under her skin; she was just a marionette being tugged along through life, unfeeling, unreal._

"_There was nothing I could do; she was never going to fly again." She said, voice robotic, lifeless. Empty. She strode past me without a second glance, returning to her sterile, grey sanctuary where the sunlight couldn't touch her and where she didn't have to acknowledge me anymore. "...She's better off this way." _

_Two months later I found my mother dead and was plagued by the idea that she'd been trying to tell me something._

I heard a groaning noise and it took me a few minutes to realize it had come from me.

My eyes opened blearily and I had to blink a few times to get my vision into focus. Not that it really mattered; wherever I was it was dark, almost too dark to pick out anything, but for the slice of wane light that was flowing in from under the bottom of a doorway.

It didn't take me long after that to realize I definitely wasn't on the _Merlin_.

I tried to move, feeling a slur of panic rise up sluggishly in my veins. Shit, where were the others? Where was _I_, for that matter, and were the others even here?

My effort to move was thwarted however as I realized I was being restrained by something; what felt like an iron collar was clasped tight just under my chin and my arms where chained somewhere up above my head, holding the rest of my body off the ground, stretching the muscles in my shoulders painfully.

Well _shit_. That's never a good sign...

I closed my eyes, groggily trying to remember what had happened. My pulse started to pick up, thrumming against my throat restraint as I recalled Varan, Fraggle and I charging off to help Shade and the girls, who, last I'd heard from them, had been in some serious trouble. Fuck that had messed with my head, the thought of the three of them trapped with no retreat, Berserkers closing in on them... I could almost feel Falshade's blood running down my arms again after his last encounter with them and this time he had Stork to look after too; I knew the girl could fight something fierce, but she had no idea what kind of monsters she was dealing with, and if Falshade had lost it last time just remembering what had happened to her, how reckless would he be trying to protect her if she needed him to? The only one I hadn't really been worried about was Wasp, because at this point I honestly believed Wasp could take on a leviathan and come out the victor...but then... well, it was still Wasp in there, and you know...she was... Wasp.

So maybe that's why I got as pissed off as I did when they came storming out of there like a swarm of hornets; all I could think about was my friends in danger and these guys were in _my_ way. It does things to a guy, you know?

In short I went just a wee bit more ape shit than normal.

And, in all honesty, it looked like that might have been a good thing. Between the three of us we were knocking those guys down like flies and I really thought we were gonna get in there, save the day, hurray for us.

And then something weird happened. And at this point I couldn't really remember things so well, just flashes, bits and pieces; Varan had barely let go of one of his activated Raptures when it went off and blasted him back like he'd been hit by lightning, sending him into a tailspin onto the terra. Fraggle was shouting like crazy at that point, freaking right out; he wasn't used to this sort of aerial combat you have to remember, he was used to fighting from the helm of his ship. And then he was crashing too, his engines belching out smoke. Then I was by myself and there was a whole bunch of them it seemed, coming at me from all directions, and I'll be blunt here, I was _really_ not in a good mood at this point and I _lost_ it on these guys, finally understanding what Falshade had meant by that expression. Trust me, you don't know what it means until you actually lose it like that.

And then the last little bit I could remember was seeing Zodiac's black-hole eyes and an eruption of pain at the back of my head.

Putting together that and the whole chains thing, I had a feeling that meant I'd been taken prisoner.

And, this is going to sound horrible, but you know what the first thing I thought of was right then? My god damn crossbow. Yeah, I'm a horrible person. I remembered the crystal bolts blowing up around the same time Varan's Rapture did, all remaining twenty-odd rounds going off right in the magazine and _fuck_ had that ever hurt, shredding my upper arm with shrapnel. Then it just broke apart and fell before I could catch it. And... well fuck man, I spent _ages_ working on that thing, the motion sensitive trigger, making the fastest possible reload time, the accuracy and the design... it had taken me months, it was my bloody pride and joy and now it was probably lying in the Wastelands somewhere in five pieces.

But then everything else swept up on me and my crossbow got knocked down to the bottom of my mourning list.

The first thing I thought of was Fraggle and Varan; I mean last I'd seen of the two of them they'd gone crashing into the terra, both of them possibly unconscious and more than likely injured, badly. Falshade had told me to look after the others, I was supposed to be playing back-up Sky Knight and I'd let him down. Shit, had they been captured too? Where they somewhere nearby? Or where they hurt and bleeding out where they'd crashed, where the others didn't know to look for them? Or were they...

No. Not allowed to think of that.

Then I thought of Shade and Stork, my two best friends, still trapped in that god damn terra with Berserkers coming in after them. Had they gotten out? Or had they really been depending on us to get them out of there? Oh god... it was driving me crazy not knowing what had happened, I wanted to puke it just made me so panicky.

And then I thought of Wasp and my mind went blank. I couldn't bear to think that anything had happened to her, my mind just wouldn't let me. Wasp was strong and fierce and downright lethal. I ought to feel sorry for any Berserker who even _tried_ to cross her. And yet...

I bit down on my lip, refusing to think of that. The others were fine, I tried to convince myself, Falshade had gotten them out of there and found Varan and Fraggle and they were all a little roughed up but they were fine, they were safe and certainly not dead. Not my friends, no fucking way.

And so lastly, I thought of me. Yeah, laugh: '_gee that's a first, Angel_'.

I blew out a sigh, wondering why in hell I was chained to a wall god knows where. I mean why had they even bothered? They'd never seemed interested in taking prisoners before. If memory served me Zodiac had been all too eager to tear me to pieces last time I'd run into him. And if they were suddenly into taking prisoners, for whatever reason, why me? Seriously, they really had their priorities backwards if they thought taking _me_ hostage was a clever idea, not to sound arrogant or anything. Then again, I'd rather it be me then any of the others; at least if it was me here I could at least trick myself into thinking the others were alright.

I dunno how long I was hanging there for, wondering over and over why everything had to happen like it had. I wasn't even sure if it was still the same day that we'd found that bloody terra in the first place. How long had I been chained up here? Long enough that my arms were really starting to hurt anyways, but I shut that out. Eventually I had to stop thinking of why on Atmos I was where I was and if the others were alright as well, because it was driving me crazy, sending me into random bouts of paranoia, my breathing getting so erratic I felt like I was going to throw up, stomach twisting into a tight knot and my heart pounding so fast it made my head spin with the mad rush of blood. I wished I could just go back to mourning the loss of my crossbow instead of being this worried about them. Instead I tried to distract myself, trying to unearth some sort of better memory to lose myself in: Stork and I hurling handfuls of flame corn at one another in the movie theatre until an usher threatened to kick all three of us, even though Falshade hadn't done anything, or all the times I lay half-dead and groaning on the couch after dinner, cursing Varan for making such god damn good brownies. Or... Wasp curled up against me, giving a little baby-sigh in her sleep and myself thinking that when she was asleep she wasn't quite so intimidating or deranged looking. In fact, she'd looked just... adorable.

I had almost started to believe I really was back on the _Merlin_ and nothing was amiss when I heard footsteps striking off the stone floor. I straightened up as best one can when hanging about a foot off the ground by his arms and arranged my face into my indifferent yet aggressive expression, which was just second nature to me by now, even though I'd been using it less often these days.

I heard the sound of keys jingling and then the door swung open and I had to fight not to wince at the light that blazed in, given off by a Flare crystal in the hand of my personal favourite of douchebags. And that's including me you know.

Halo leered at me, stepping into the stone-walled room, Carrion and some other Berserker I didn't yet recognize in tow.

And, here's the thing; I didn't exactly take so kindly to being dragged away from my friends and being left, holed up in some dark dungeon and chained to a wall, for hours on end. I dunno, maybe it's not the best thing to do when you're life is in the hands of people as unstable and ruthless as these guys, but I really wasn't a happy camper at this point and I was ready to let them know it. Hell I wasn't about to just bite my tongue and be a good little prisoner; what kind of Gargoyle would I be if I just shut up and did what I was told? So, whether it meant bad news for me or not, I jumped right into my best jackass front, one I fit into extremely well by now. Like man, if there were the Asshole Olympics or something then I've been training for them since I was nine years old; these guys were gonna be kicking themselves for ever taking _me_ prisoner, I'll tell you that.

"Well damn, we got the whole fam-damily down here don't we?" I drawled in that voice that I knew made Stork want to strangle me. "Don't I feel special."

"Shut it, rat." Carrion snapped at me in that awful, tinny voice of hers. "Unless you'd like me to break your pretty little jaw."

I yawned. "Man if I had a dollar for every time I heard that one."

"Ignore him." Halo snapped at Carrion as she fidgeted, off-set eyes flashing. Then he strode towards me and I angled my chin as formidably as I could with that damn neck restraint in the way. "So, here he is, our new toy. You know I still don't understand what the Master found so impressive about _you_; compared to some of your teammates you're a little on the small end of the scale, don't you think?"

God damn fucking short jibes! I was _sick_ of that shit. "Well I'm all man where it counts, which I personally always found a little more important." I growled at him. "Plus I've got brains too, which, you know, is more then you've got going on."

His fist connected sharply with my nose and my head cracked back into the wall behind me. I blinked rapidly, trying to keep my vision from swimming while I fixed him with a steely gaze. "Pretty easy to deck a guy when he's got his hand's all tied up. What say you let me go and then we'll see is scale has anything to do with fighting?"

He gave me a look like he'd dearly love to give it a go, but then changed his mind. "Oh we will see how you can handle yourself in battle, and then you can put your blades where your mouth is." He assured me. "But you won't have the privilege of taking on me."

"_Privilege_?"

He ignored me and lifted something up to my right arm. I felt the chain let go suddenly and then I was in a bit of trouble, only my left arm holding me up, aside from that neck restraint, which started cutting off my airways the moment my arm was released. The other Berserker had my right wrist so I couldn't throw any punches and I had to fight to get enough air into my lungs, my head feeling constricted.

"Well where're your clever words now?" Halo taunted me, reaching up for my other arm as I kicked at him futilely. I only had a second to suck in as much air as I could before he released my other arm and suddenly it was like having a noose tightened around my neck, totally cutting off any air and it was like my head was being squeezed with the lack of oxygen.

I struggled for a second before forcing myself to go limp, eyes rolling shut, head lolling. It was almost impossible to fight to stay awake while trying to pretend I'd already passed out, brain and muscles screaming for fresh air, lungs burning. God I didn't think I'd be able to hold out until he opened the clasp for my neck restraint. But he did, ages later when my lungs felt like they were going to explode and I'd started to feel my consciousness slipping away.

And the moment it was off I was all action.

Gulping down a lungful of wonderfully fresh air I hit the ground, head spinning, and swiped out in a low kick that caught Carrion right in her defective kneecap, and despite the fact that my muscles still felt weak from the lack of oxygen I definitely felt something snap and she let out a screech, going down like a ton of lead. I was up a second later and when Halo came at me I got my vengeance for that punch in the nose and got him with one of the best roundhouses I'd ever thrown, knuckles crunching into his jaw hard enough I felt something get jarred loose. As his head snapped to the side I got him with an uppercut and then smashed a snap kick into his chest, sending him reeling back.

And then I was out of there, turning on my heel and sprinting for that door like all Hell was after me.

I dunno what I intended to do if I had of gotten out; where would I have gone? I didn't even bloody know where I was. I guess I'd just figured I'd run like a mad man and hope that luck would smile on me for once.

But, as it were, I needn't have bothered. Because I'd forgotten about that other Berserker and I was just at the door way when he caught up to me, catching me by the hair of all things and throwing me backwards so roughly I thought my scalp might have been torn from my skull. I skidded, tried to regain my footing and made another bolt of the door and he punched something into my stomach so hard I thought it might have gone clean through and snapped my spine, and I went down, breath completely knocked out of me.

Choking and trying to curl into a ball because god _damnit_ that had hurt I realized he must have got me with the end of his staff, which had evidently been equipped with a Paralyser stone, because I couldn't move to save my life. My muscles where just frozen stiff and I could barely breathe as I watched Halo, face livid, reach down and grab me around the throat, and for a second I thought he might just throttle me. But then he was dragging me along behind him and this time, because I barely had any air in my lungs as it was and with him squeezing my windpipe like he was, I did pass out.

* * *

I woke up to the feeling of something wet and warm trickling over my skin.

My eyes snapped open and I tried to move but my arms and feet were tied tight. I wanted to snap something nasty or other when someone dumped more of that stuff on me, coating me with this thick liquid, my hair dripping with it. And, with my mouth half-open like that, some of it trickled into the corner of my mouth and I got a good taste of what it was.

Blood.

I squelched a yelping noise in my throat and struggled again as it snaked down my spine, soaking into my clothes and rolling in fat drops down my face, into my eyes and I gagged as the smell hit me. God now I knew what Varan was talking about all those times he looked ill when the rest of us fell like vultures over hunks of rare steak; god I don't think I'd be able to eat meat again for ages. This blood was still warm and it made my stomach churn at the thought that they'd just bled some poor bastard out and now were dumping buckets of it on me. I fought against my restrains, if for nothing else so I could at least get my hands free to wipe it from my face; it was in my eyes, pouring over my mouth, making it hard to breathe because all I could fucking smell was that coppery stench and it felt like I was going to puke any second it was just so god damn bad.

"Alright, enough!" I was almost (_almost_) glad to hear Halo's voice as one last bucket cascaded over me and I shook my head furiously, trying to shake it from my hair because it was rolling over my scalp like fat, slimy worms and it was making me shiver uncontrollably. I wiped my face against my knee and blinked like mad until my eyes stopped stinging and I was able to see Halo standing in front of me, a smug look on his face.

"Not so tough now are we?" he asked me snidely. "All it takes is a bit of blood and you really see what people are made of."

Not having anything better to say at the moment I horked and spat a wad of spit at his boot, because I really wanted the taste of blood out of my mouth. He snapped a kick into my chest that sent me tumbling back. I curled to my side, trying not to throw up, when something came clattering down in front of me. I stared at them in shock; my sabres.

"Well evidently you didn't read the hostage-taking handbook." I said; my mouth always did have a mind of its own, and even if I was mentally reeling it always managed to say something clever. "Rule number one clearly states not to give your prisoner their weapons."

Halo uttered something that sounded like an annoyed grunt and hauled me to my feet by the front of my shirt. "You don't know how desperately I'm pushing to have you fed to my Blitzkrieg." He informed me. "Carrion would make a snack out of you, I assure you. If I were in your boots I'd consider it wise to keep my mouth shut."

"That's because, from my observations, you're an ass-kissing coward."

He looked like he'd dearly love to strangle me. What else is new? Instead he stomped his boot and to my alarm a large spike suddenly jutted from the toe like a switchblade snapping open... shit I can't believe I never thought of making something like that.

I grit my teeth, willing myself not to flinch if he decided to kick me in the gut (please just the gut) with that. However I needn't have panicked; he simply slashed out and sliced the ropes free that had been binding my legs. He cut my hands free with a dagger a second later and shoved me back roughly before I could make a move for him. And then it was like he just melted into the stone wall, leaving me utterly alone with my sabres.

The fine hairs at the back of my neck prickled with unease and I glanced around, nerves on edge. I appeared to be in some sort of large, circular room, cut roughly from the stone of the interior of whatever terra I had the pleasure of being sent on an impromptu vacation too.

Just then I felt the earth rumble slightly as a huge door across the room from me rolled open and I felt my chest seize with the sight of what was on the other side of that door.

I didn't even want to say it was human, even though that's what it looked like; I mean it had human anatomy and everything. But it sort of looked like it was some sort of colossal, deformed beast shoved into human skin. Even Varan would have been dwarfed by the size of this monster; it was at least ten feet tall and over half of that height wide. The thing was fucking massive, muscles bulging all over the place to the point that it looked like it had had different bits and pieces of other humans sutured into it, some sort of Frankenstein thing made from maybe three or four different Berserkers, combined into one.

_Shit, what have they been feeding _you_?_

Around then I figured this room was like an arena or something and understood why Halo had given me my sabres.

I took a step back, swallowing hard and that thing, that mutated glob of Berserker meat, turned its head in my direction, its eye as white and blind as the Oracle's. And for a moment I thought maybe I had an advantage on this hulking beast; sure it was about seven times my size, but if it couldn't see me coming, size didn't matter. But then its nostrils flared and they eyes turned crimson as if a vessel had blown in its head and I realized suddenly why they'd covered me in blood.

I ducked down for my sabres as it let out this horrible roaring sound and I skittered away from the wall so if I had to retreat I could. Activating my Strikers I crossed my blades in front of myself protectively as it took a step towards me, the ground shaking below my feet. It inhaled again like Wasp would do if she were trying to locate a certain scent and then it seemed to really hone in on me, staring directly at me even though I was still certain it was blind. And then it came charging towards me, thick cords of saliva spilling from its massive jaws, howling like a dog on the scent of a rabbit.

A rabbit named Angel.

I fired a bolt of energy at it which just seemed to bounce off the thing and deaked to the side; no way I was going to be able to take that thing head-on, I was going to have to out manoeuvre it like the _Merlin_ had those larger battle ships time and time again; it might have been bigger, but I was faster, more agile.

I gripped my sabres tight as it spun wildly, snarling like some giant, rabid dog, the smell of that blood they'd dumped all over me acting as a beacon, giving away my position. I grit in my boots, planning to make a passing swipe and tear a hunk out of that fucker's side. Hell I'd slice and dice it until there was nothing left of it.

I don't know why I glanced up but I did and I noticed for the first time a pane of tinted glass located high up in the wall and Halo's words came back to me, why they dragged me into this pit with this monster in the first place; they were testing me, right now Halo and this Master of his were up there, watching my every move. And I mean if they wanted to just see me get torn to pieces they would have just let me loose in here without any weapons, and then what would be the point of taking me from the others in the first place? But no, they'd given me my sabres, they were testing me, they wanted, for whatever sick reason, to see what I could do, get a good look at my fighting abilities. Which told me they had bigger plans in mind for me and I didn't like the thought of that at all.

So I did something that even I knew was incredibly stupid; I backed right up to the stone wall and hunched down, arms and sabres over my head, a weak protection at best. But fuck it, they were up there watching me like some animal fighting in a pit and I was _not_ about to just play their game. I wasn't going to just bend to their will and go along with it. Whatever reason they wanted me for, whatever they intended to do with me, I wasn't on board and I wasn't just going to give whatever it was they wanted to them. No fucking way. Call it my stubborn side, or even my self-destructive one, but if they wanted to toy around with me I'd rather be crushed by that thing now and be done with it then perform for them. And somewhere in the back of my mind I knew Falshade would do the same; if there was no way out he'd rather die then give in to the enemy's will, and that was all the conviction I needed.

I felt that beast coming up on me, the heat of its breath and pounding of its massive body moving over the stone and closed my eyes, just hoping it would be quick, hating myself for giving up just like this, for letting myself be crushed or eaten or whatever that thing wanted to do even though the rest of my body was screaming at me to run, to fight, you fucking idiot, fight! There were so many better ways I'd wanted to go, so many things I still wanted to do and to just give up and get the life squashed out of me was so pathetic and infuriating I wanted to cry and scream and swear like a kid throwing a fit. But I was _not_ giving into their games, and if dying like this was the lesser of two evils then so fucking help me that's the way I was taking out of this god damn world. I hated it but that was it.

At the last second I sent out a silent goodbye to the others, saying I was sorry over and over but would they really have done anything differently? I mean it wasn't like us Gargoyles to give in to someone else's demands anyways.

But just as I felt that thing's jagged fingernails raking down on me there was a distinct buzzing noise and through my eyelids I could see a red glow. Opening my eyes I found an energy shield surrounding me as that beast pounded against it on the other side, howling and bellowing like mad, trying to get it at me. And then it was being dragged back, a mighty collar around its neck, spiking with crystal energy whenever it lunged forward, hauled back by a chain as thick across as my hips, back into the doorway where it had been released.

It was almost out of sight and I was trembling like mad, still in my crouch and trying to figure out what in hell had happened when Zodiac was on top of me, out of nowhere. And even though his daggers where sheathed, that gauntlet didn't hurt any less as he thundered blow after blow into my side.

"You little _shit_!" he seethed, hammering his fist into every inch of me he could reach. "You worthless little maggot!"

"_Fuck off_!" I snapped, kicking at his knee and suddenly recalling I still had my sabres and I stabbed at his thigh with one, aiming a slash at his torso with the other.

Then I felt that numbing jolt from a Paralyser stone connecting with my spine and my sabres slipped from my fingertips, despite how desperately I tried to hang onto them. Then someone had me by the back of the shirt and was dragging me back, out of the arena and down a series of dark passageways, deeper and deeper, back to my little cell and the whole time I couldn't help but think I was getting closer and closer to Hell.

Halo flung me into my little dungeon and before I had full control of my arms he had me chained up again, thankfully not hanging from the wall this time, but chained none the less with heavy shackles around my wrists, just like in the old god damn days.

His fist connected solidly with my jaw once he had me good and chained. "DO YOU REALIZE HOW FORTUNATE YOU ARE TO BE ALIVE???" he roared at me and I had to snort. Seriously, looking at my current situation, I wasn't feeling so fortunate. "If it were up to me I would have let Kronos crush you like the insignificant little beetle you are! My Master is gracious but let me tell you she is not at all pleased with your display!"

"Oh _really_." I said, not in the mood at all to be told how gracious this Master of theirs was when she was so kindly keeping me holed up in a dungeon when she wasn't pitting me against her demonic creations. "Well your _Master_ can suck my dick."

His next blow got me in the cheek bone and cracked my head to the side. "You just don't know when to shut up do you?" he snapped.

Spitting blood onto the floor I said. "Man, you're like the seventh person to tell me that. You'd think I'd learn, but..."

This time is was his boot that caught me right in my bruised side and I collapsed and could feel bile in my throat at this point. My vision was spinning slightly when he bent down in front of me and glared at me like he was picturing all the ways he could slowly kill me. "Well then why don't I give you some time down here to learn? We'll see how clever you are after a few days." He hissed and when he got up he rammed one more kick into my stomach before turning and stalking out the door, which slammed ominously behind him.

I managed to hold it all down until I heard his footsteps fade, because I really didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing me get sick. But then, with that stench of blood still stuck in my nose and drying all over my skin, and my head spinning and reeling like it was, that last kick did me in and I vomited violently all over the fucking place, shaking harder then I had since I was a little kid. It seemed to take forever to get everything up, even though I couldn't recall eating that much and then I just collapsed on my side, curling into a ball with a groan and feeling utterly wretched.

God this fucking sucked. I wanted to be back on the _Merlin_ so badly it made me ache. I wanted to know the others were okay, I wanted to hear them laughing and making noise like usual, like nothing had ever gone wrong and we could just do today all over again and make things right. I wondered what they were doing right now, if they were all alright and where they were. Shit... they didn't think I was dead did they? Would they come looking for me or had they given up hope, assuming I was dead?

A large part of me sort of hoped so. Wherever I was I knew I was deep in enemy territory and there was no way I wanted the others to put themselves in danger for my sake. But then, a small part of me guiltily did want them to find me... I knew it was selfish but fuck I just wanted to be home. I didn't want anything bad to happen to them trying to get me out of here, but I wanted to be back with them as well, to look after them like I was supposed to and help in this war, which was seriously getting way over our heads... I just wanted to be with them in general. I dunno how long it'd been since I'd seen them but I already missed them; I was worried about them, and what was more I was sore and sick and...scared and I just wanted...

I just wanted to be home.

I pushed my forehead into the stone, closing my eyes and trying to slip out of my body, at least for a little while and wished Halo would have had the decency to knock me out again; one good kick to the temple was all I was asking for.

* * *

_She was leaning over me, examining something about me with fascination._

"_What?"_

"_You have one like that too." She noted, running a finger softly over my lower stomach, drawing a curve under my belly button which made my stomach muscles twitch._

"_Yeah, most people do I think."_

"_Mine's different." She took my hand and touched it to the little nubby piece of flesh that stuck out from her stomach, just above her scar._

"_Oh right. I think those are called outties, aren't they?"_

_She giggled. "Really? I like it. Outtie." She brushed her fingers over my stomach again and I flinched. She paused. "What was that?"_

"_Nothing." I muttered. I saw her teeth flash in the dark as she grinned deviously. Before I realized what she was doing she had her fingers running over my stomach and ribs like spiders and I snorted, squirming._

"_You're ticklish!"_

"_Wasp, cut it out!" I choked out among my laughter, trying to hold her off. She seemed to think it was hilarious and leaned in mercilessly. _

"_Ha ha, I got you." She sing-songed._

"_Oh yeah well what about you?" I asked and lifted my fingers to her ears. She squealed and jerked away from me and I chased after her, pinning her down to my mattress and going for her leathery ears relentlessly while she laughed uncontrollably and gnashed her teeth at me playfully, Sky Fu chopping my arms. "Stopstopstop!"_

"_Nope, I don't think so."_

_She surprised me suddenly by sitting up and abruptly pressing her mouth to my neck, her fangs scraping at my skin. _

_The next word that came out of my mouth wasn't the most intelligent I'd ever uttered. "Mmmuh." I groaned, fingers brushing her knee and the back of her neck. "Not fair."_

_I felt her grinning against my cheek and I turned towards her, capturing her mouth with mine and kissing her a little more heatedly then I had in the past. She didn't seem to mind though; she kissed me back just as fiercely and when I brushed my tongue over her lower lip, bumping up against her lip ring she opened her mouth and let me explore her mouth while she carefully flicked her tongue into mine. Which made more than just a flicker of joy go off in my stomach; I mean she'd told me all about her encounter with that male Faerieshian and, you know, I was trying to be careful about anything like this, touching her or getting too rough, because I didn't know what might trigger some bad memories or be too much for her. I'm just one sentimental guy aren't I?_

"_Oh..." she said, breaking away from me suddenly. "Sorry, I cut your tongue."_

"_You did?" I moved my tongue around a bit and tasted blood in my mouth and laughed. "Heh, guess I'll have to watch that huh?"_

"_Hmm..." she looked at me inquisitively. "I like the taste of your blood." She said after a moment._

_For some reason this didn't strike me as strangely as it might have, oh, say a month ago. "Really? Why?"_

_She shrugged. "I dunno. It's like your smell, just in taste form. I like it."_

"_I have a smell?"_

"_Yeah." She nodded enthusiastically. She leaned in to take a good sniff of my hair. "Like fire and the wind... and kinda like that tea you're always drinking, like spicy."_

_For some reason I felt my cheeks burn slightly. "Oh, well... cool, I guess."_

_She grinned and then shifted so she was behind me. Before I could ask what she was doing I felt her slide her fingers through my hair at the back of my scalp, slowly, softly and goose bumps flared up on my skin. "I always liked your hair." She commented._

_I recalled her asking to taste it at one point, back when I was still an asshole to her. "I like yours too. The dreads, they suit you." I murmured, suddenly feeling rather drowsy. It used to soothe me into a state where I could almost fall asleep when Stork would run her fingers through my hair like that, but with Wasp doing it... god did it feel good; it sent shivers up and down my spine. _

"_I used to have a braid at the back." Wasp said conversationally. "That's how I got my name. Well, my new one. Sketcher said it looked like a stinger, so he nick-named me Stinger, for when I was in the Brawl Cage and stuff. And then Rainer came up with Wasp, for my regular name."_

_I grinned a bit. "Stinger... I like it. You've...ohhh..." I melted into her a bit and cleared my throat. "You've brought this Brawl Cage thing up before. What is it?"_

"_Oh." Wasp's voice sounded dreamy suddenly, like it did when she brought up the jungle. "It was one of my favourite ever things. There was this club called the Mosh Pit. They always played all my favourite songs, all the best bands. _Runlords_ played live once there; that's how I got my t-shirt. It was an incredible show. The singer broke down and bawled on stage and he just like really grabbed onto you and wouldn't let go. But anyways, the cool thing about this club was they had this huge cage thing, like a ball of chain-link, about twenty-five feet across. And they'd let about twenty to fifty people in and blared all the really rough songs, the ones that make your chest just want to explode, you know? And then we'd all brawl."_

"_That sure sounds like a you thing to do." I said with a grin. "Were you any good?"_

_I could practically feel her proud little grin. "Thirty seven times undefeated champion."_

"_Wow, remind me never to piss you off." I said and she giggled. Then she was silent for awhile, running her fingers methodically through my hair and I sank in against her, totally at peace and relaxed. It really made me feel good to know she and I could spend time together and it didn't always have to be an angst-fest, that we could just hang out and be idiots together and enjoy one another's company over the good things too. It made me feel this strange, ecstatic sort of happiness I'd never felt before._

"_Tell me something about you now. From your past life." She said after a while._

"_Hmm..."I said, thinking. "Oh, you'll love this. I used to have a pet jackal. Actually on Saharr we called them Dirt Devils, people think they're sort of a pest because they're clever little bastards and impossible to get rid of. But I always liked them. I saved one as a baby and she lived with me for a bit. She'd come whenever I whistled for her, even if she was out in the desert somewhere. I used to let her sleep in my bed."_

"_Lucky!" Wasp breathed. "Wow... what you name her?"_

"_D'Arcy."_

"_D'Arcy." She repeated then suddenly held out a dragon figurine in the palm of her hand; she'd brought it to me from her collection, a gift in exchange for her new machete, even though I insisted she didn't have to give me anything. She was adamant about it though, pressing me to think of a name for the little she-dragon. "D'Arcy?"_

_I grinned. "Yeah, I like that."_

"_See I knew you could think of something." She said, pressing her face to the back of my neck. "...Can you sing me a song?"_

_That one caught me off guard. "No." I laughed. "Sorry to disappoint, but I don't sing."_

_I felt her pout. "Why not? I like your voice. It'd sound good signing."_

_God damn I was pathetic; my cheeks heated up again as I turned to her a bit. "You do? Man I've always hated my voice, my god damn accent. Been trying to get rid of it for years." My mother had always had a strange accent, and that's how I learned to speak too I suppose. And then of course it got smattered together with the stupid Saharrian accent and now I was stuck with this stupid thing, some weird combination of the two. _

_Wasp brushed her cheek against mine. "I like it though. It soothes me." She explained and I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. _

"_Really?"_

"_Yeah." She licked my cheek. "Why do you have such a hard time believing me?"_

"_Sorry, I don't. I just never heard that kinda stuff from anybody before."_

_She bumped my shoulder with her forehead; she reminded me of a large cat sometimes. "Nobody ever told me they liked my eyes before either." She said and my pulse kinda picked up, feeling sort of stupid for how awkward I'd been about that last time. I turned to her and brushed some of her hair out of her face._

"_Yeah, well, I do you know. They're really sort of alluring, you know? Beautiful, really..."_

_Even in the semi-darkness I saw her pale cheeks turn colour and grinned to myself; ha, so I could get her too. Although I wasn't lying or anything; her eyes used to freak me out, but now that I was so much closer to her they just seemed so exotic to me, two different pools full of different stories and feelings, each offering a different world to stumble into and bask in. I really did like them._

_She leaned in abruptly and kissed me softly. She moved back just a bit so I could feel her lip ring brush my chin when she spoke. "Nobody ever called me beautiful before." She said, sounding like this shy little girl all of a sudden and personally I thought it was adorable._

"_Really?" This surprised me. "Well, you are you know, in this really unique way. Like I dunno, you seem sort of like this angel to me a bit, this unearthly creature from the jungle."_

_She smiled. "See this is why I like your voice."_

_I laughed and then tucked my hand to the back of her neck and kissed her again, because I really liked her lips too, lip ring and all. I cut my tongue again on her needle-sharp fangs but I didn't really care and of course she didn't either, since she seemed to like the taste of my blood so much and all. She shifted until she was sort of spread out under me and pushed her hand against my stomach again, tracing my indented belly button before trying to tickle me again when I least expected it and I had to break away from her to nip at her ears, a truce to get her to leave me alone. Then I just stretched out beside her and she curled up like a little kitten against my chest. She kneaded at my stomach gently. "Please?"_

_I sighed, pretending to be irritated and tried to think of something, because I'm a sucker for that girl, what can I say? Then I cleared my throat and gave it a shot; I wasn't so afraid of looking like an idiot in front of Wasp, even if she did make me nervous as hell:_

"_Long as I remember, rain been comin' down_

_Clouds of mystery pourin' confusion on the ground_

_Good men through the ages, tryin' to find the sun_

_And I wonder_

_Still I wonder_

_Who'll stop the rain?"_

_Wasp was quiet for awhile before she pushed her head up under my chin. "...See?"_

"_See what?" I asked awkwardly._

"_I knew you'd sound good singing." She said and my cheeks burned again, but this time I didn't really care._

"_Yeah, well I'm not gonna make a habit of it or anything but... I guess for you I can make an exception _sometimes_."_

"_Yay." She said. "Although I like the rain."_

"_I know you do."_

"_Where'd you hear that? I've never heard it before."_

"_Oh it's old... there was this old guy out at Tent City, where the race tracks were. And he'd just sit in the front of his tent and play old records all day. People said he was playing the same records like thirty years ago. The guy was ancient. But he'd only play that song every once and awhile, and every time he did, within half an hour, it'd start to rain. Like it could have been clear skies all day and then after that song it'd start pouring. I dunno, maybe he just had bad arthritis and could feel it when a storm was moving in, but I always thought he knew when they were coming. He'd been hit by lightning. Twice. So I dunno, I thought maybe that made him one with the storms."_

"_That's so cool." Wasp breathed, enthralled. "I wish I could do that. I wonder if I were to-"_

_I cut her off, hand over her mouth. "_No_." I told her firmly and when she pouted at me I just kissed her in response._

If I'd have known that was the last time I would be with her I would never have fallen asleep that night.

* * *

There wasn't very much I could appreciate about my body.

First of all there was the whole insomnia thing, which I'd read wasn't really a physical illness but rather a symptom of some deep-rooted psychological issue, but I blamed my stupid head for that, because well, you know me and my destructive avoidance tactics by now.

Then there was the whole body structure thing in general. I did kinda like how slight I was because it made me feel like the merlins I'd been so attached to, thin-boned little things with talons like razors. But it sort of depressed me that at seventeen I was roughly the same size I'd been when I was eleven. My puberty had been half-assed at best and I'd never seemed to have gone through that whole growth spurt thing that made your skeleton heavier, gave you those few extra inches in height guys like Varan and Falshade seemed to have gained so easily.

However there were couple things I was proud of about myself; I had a pretty high pain tolerance for one thing. And then of course there was the way my body seemed to be able to slip into some sort of survival mode, conditioned by years in the desert. While my teeth had been sore I'd felt hungry all the time, because I knew there was food in the fridge, I just couldn't eat it and it drove me crazy. But down here, where I knew there was slim to no chance they were going to feed me it was like my digestive track just slowed right down; I didn't feel hungry and surprisingly I didn't have to take a piss either. It took a good stretch of bad nights to make me feel achy and exhausted usually, unlike Falshade who just needed one rough night to stagger around, confused and drowsy, for the rest of the day. I didn't feel so tired down in that cell either, a well of energy just waiting for me to tap into it if needed in my guts. I didn't even feel that thirsty, even though I knew that was going to be the most pressing of matters all too soon. All my bruises simply throbbed dully, easily ignorable and it was almost like my body was built to do this, keep itself going when it had no real reason to.

But there in lay the problem; sure my body felt fine, but it didn't take long for me to start losing grip on my sanity. I'd always been like that; on the nights I couldn't sleep I had to do something, anything, or I went right bat shit. I'd separated myself from people too long and my loneliness crept up from some dark place in my chest and just tore me apart while I was down there in the dark, alone with only my own mind, my worst tormentor. If I wasn't being neurotic about the others or what these guys were going to do to me, my mind wandered to uglier patches, going over all the things I tried so hard to ignore. I couldn't force myself to memorize equations or scientific names, my escape back at the Academy, and with no one around to at least hear breathing or snoring, which always comforted me during those long nights on the _Merlin_, when the reassuring presence of the others had been enough at least to give me a feeling of security, I just started to lose it. I'd go through random bouts of hysteria, the chains feeling too tight and making me claustrophobic until I could barely breathe. My mind started playing tricks on me; every now and then I thought I could hear voices in the distant, laughter, screams, whispers in the dark. Or I'd start to see shapes flitting through the shadows, bones rattling in the corners or stunted little creatures coming up to sniff at me until I kicked them back. I started falling through old memories too which all seemed to get smushed together, mixing up timelines; I had visions of myself following after Falshade as he walked on and on, seeming not to notice me behind him; he was his current age in these images while I would vary through different ages, seven or twelve, times when I hadn't known him. I had hallucinations of the others in the desert with me, except they didn't recognize me when I tried to talk to them. Once I was even stumbling along under a huge, tangled canopy of trees, getting caught in vines and tripping over roots and I ran into Wasp, except I knew she wasn't Wasp right then; she was still Wickett in that memory, staring at me with wide, foreign eyes before trying to cut my heart out. I knew I couldn't have fallen asleep, but I started to think that my mind didn't need me to be in comatose before it started playing these little movie-reel images in my head. Maybe after all these years of too little sleep it decided to skip the middle man and just give me vivid dreams while I was fully awake.

At one point I realized I'd started talking to myself. Time seemed to have melted together and I couldn't remember the moment that had just past nor was I really aware of what was going on even while it was happening, and I kept forgetting what I'd been saying. But by that point it was like my mental filters just tumbled away, like I was drunk or something, and things just spilled out involuntarily with no consent from my conscious mind. I think I started crying a few times, even though I kept telling myself damnit don't you break down, not here, not with your enemies all around you. But I couldn't control it, I'd just start sobbing hysterically now and then without even knowing exactly why. I started singing to myself too, tunes I didn't think I knew, but there they were, more often than not some of Fraggle's punk lyrics that must have been ingrained subliminally into my memory after all these years. But once or twice I recognized some of Wasp's music, that song she'd had playing the first night I'd gone to her in her room. I'd start telling myself over and over I was alright, pinching my arms to remind myself I was still alive because my body was so good at preserving itself it was completely numbed, like I was already dead. I'd argue with different aspects of myself too, like I had a split personality, snarky Angel having it out with frightened Angel, destructive Angel beating back the Angel in me that tried to understand things, like why I had to be afraid of myself and cut myself away from anyone who ever mattered to me. And the Angel that remembered better times would laugh like a real basket case about things I wasn't even sure had happened to me or not anymore, without warning and for no reason at erratic intervals.

Then the others started showing up and I knew I was pretty much gone.

Fraggle showed up first, stretching out beside me where I lay on my back on the cold stone floor, arms pulled back towards the wall. And then we just started slinging all these bad jokes back and forth and laughing like a couple of lunatics.

"Okay so, what'd ya get when you cross a grease monkey with a regular monkey eh?"

"I dunno, what?"

"Evolution's missing link!"

I snorted and we both choked up with laughter, going on and one with like that, coming up with some of the dumbest and raunchiest jokes ever and playing that blonde wave-length game I'd always made fun of him and Stork for. Eventually though he got up, saluted me and wandered off again and I was still laughing to myself when Stork suddenly appeared, staring down at me and wearing a t-shirt I recalled her giving me for Christmas some years back with a caption that read 'I'm a guy, what's your excuse?'.

She sat down on my torso and then just started talking, asking me over and over if I was hungry and I kept telling her no, because I knew the moment I said yes she'd get up and leave on me:

"Are you hungry?"

"No. Why are you wearing my shirt?"

"You never wear it. What, you don't like it or something?"

"Well no, it's cool and all, but-"

"Are you hungry?"

"No."

"Okay. So something weird happened to me."

"Oh yeah, what?"

"Are you hungry?"

"No, Stork, I'm not. So what happened to you?"

"I'm not sure exactly. My hair's all blonde now though. You'd get a kick out of it."

"Like pure blonde?"

"Yeah."

"What happened to the black?" her hair was still black-and-blonde right now.

"Are you hungry?"

"Are you just gonna keep asking me that?"

She grinned deviously. "Maybe."

I rolled my eyes. "Look I don't have the energy right now, if you're just gonna be a pain then go away."

"Remember that time I flushed the toilet while you were in the shower?"

I scowled. "Yes, unfortunately."

"Are you ever gonna get me back for that?"

"I thought I already did."

"Are you hungry _now_?"

"No, damnit!"

"Well I was just saying it like a motivational thing. Like you have to get out of here if you ever wanna get me back."

I gave her a strange look. "What's that supposed to mean? I'd be outta here right not if it weren't for these." I shook my wrists obviously.

"Did you ever think maybe they're a psychological thing?"

"...No, I'm pretty sure they're real. I can feel 'em chafing me right now, actually."

"Whatever. I just mean it's gonna be up to you whether you get out of here or not."

"...What do you mean?" I asked slowly. "What do you know that I don't?"

"Are you hungry?"

I lost my patience. "IF I SAY YES WILL YOU LEAVE ME ALONE???" I exploded and she gave me a sad look before vanishing, just like that. I let out a sigh and dropped my head back onto the stone, my head spinning like mad.

I don't know how long I lay there, fuming over her and wondering what in hell she meant and then zoning out, getting lost in the cesspool in the back of my mind again when I felt someone's fingers walk along my collar bone and my eyes snapped open.

"_Wasp_?"

She grinned her werewolf grin. "Hi."

I pushed my face into her shoulder. "God am I ever happy to see you." I muttered brokenly. She stroked my hair soothingly, humming to herself.

"Is everyone else alright?" I asked after awhile of just absorbing the feeling of comfort that I got from her presence.

"Yeah. I guess so. Like we're all a little shaken up. Serious shit is really starting to go down now you know."

"Yeah I figured."

"So what about you? Are you okay?"

"I've had better days." I admitted. "But I'm alright now that you're here."

She made that humming noise again. "I can't stay too long though."

"Oh, alright." I swallowed down the bitterness that crawled up my throat. "...Am I going crazy?"

She cocked her head. "I don't know. Are you?"

"Well I'm not sure. I know you can't be here... but yet here I am talking to you. I think I must be losing my mind a little bit."

"Maybe it's a coping mechanism." She suggested simply and this sort of made sense to me. She looked at me and grinned, putting her hand to my chest and pushing me back against the wall, pressing the pads of her fingers into my chest. "You still remember what I told you?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I think it's going to be important. So just, you know, hold on."

"I will." I assured her. She smiled.

"I know there's strength in you. I have faith. But I have to go now, okay?"

I felt my throat close up slightly. "O-okay. Uh... will you come back?"

She gave me a sympathetic look. "Sure I will." She leaned in quickly and licked my forehead before straightening up and loping off into the dark. Whatever good feelings I'd had from her being there simply flooded right out of me like a serious sugar crash and I hugged my knees to my chest, feeling miserable; especially when I touched my fingers to my forehead and felt only my own feverish skin.

* * *

I was hunched up against the wall, utterly alone now. I guess I'd been alone the whole time; I wasn't so far gone that I truly believed the others had actually all been done here hanging out with me, but I'd been too lonely and desperate and deranged to force myself to accept that. I'd wanted their company so I basked in the figments of my own imagination, not really giving a fuck. My mind had been cold hard facts and pure logic for too long, time for a bit of a break from routine, a bit of a mental meltdown vacation.

Anyways now even the others weren't here anymore, leaving me purely alone in that cell once again and, to be brutally honest, I was trying to distract myself, if you know what I mean. My throat was too sore and rough to keep talking to myself, my stomach was so empty it felt like it had simply collapsed against itself and was just a cold, hollow place now and my mind was just so out of it and stretched thin that if I didn't do something to put an end to the numbness that had consumed me I was going to tighten my own belt around my throat until I asphyxiated. And so I was trying to find a shred of comfort or at least normality in doing, well, you know, what we guys will do when we're alone. Although it wasn't working out so well; it wasn't easy with this chains first off all and I wasn't really in it so eventually I just gave up and chewed on my tongue and knuckles instead, trying to anchor myself to the pain, keep inside my own skin.

It ashamed me to admit it, but at this point, I just wanted to slip out of it and die. I couldn't stand the thought of staying down here much longer, I didn't want another minute of this. It made me want to cry with frustration when I thought of waiting down here for the others to find me, because god only knew how long that would take and I couldn't do this anymore, the solitary confinement was killing me slowly, devouring any will I had to keep going. And it was stupid, because for years I'd clung to being alone, it made me feel at least tolerant of myself if I wasn't around other people. But I'd never really liked it, it was a coping mechanism, some sort of escape method I didn't really understand and yet clung to like a bad addiction. And then of course I'd gone and stumbled into Falshade's world of friendship and mayhem, and gotten all tangled up with Wasp and being away from them now, years out of practice of being a lone creature in the world, it was tearing me apart. Being alone down here with nothing but my own mind was just torture, all the little demons I'd locked in the back breaking free and shoving all the things I'd been running from down my throat. I felt like I was stuck in limbo between purgatory, a state of nothingness, and absolute rapture, my brain on fire, and I just wanted it all to stop, everything to shut up and let me sleep for awhile... and if I couldn't sleep then just let me die.

But I couldn't bring myself to just give up either; any time I closed my eyes and prayed for death I thought about the others, who I knew were coming for me, even if I didn't want them to get hurt trying to rescue me. I knew they were out there, maybe even right now, looking for me because if it was someone else and I was back with them that's what we'd be doing too, we wouldn't give up on anyone. It was Gargoyles' rule number one: nobody got left behind. If there was any way we could try and save them you better believe we'd do it, throwing our very lives away if we had to. Falshade's father had died to protect his squadron and I think in Falshade's mind that was really the only way to go, and he'd take it if he had to, without argument or regret. And you know, it was the best way to die in my mind, exchanging your life in place of someone else's. Would I do it for a random stranger? Eh... maybe not. Depends how I felt at the time. But for my friends? Oh fuck yeah, wouldn't even have to think about it. So because of all that I just couldn't bring myself to give up; I wanted to see them again, even if it was just for a little while, and not as fabrications of my own warped and deteriorating mind but as my real, solid, breathing friends. I couldn't just give up on them; that would be in violation of Gargoyles' rule number two anyways.

And then there was thoughts of my mother, who'd just up and quit, thinking she had no one to tether her to the world even though I'd held my heart out in my trembling hand to her all my life. No, she was too selfish to stick around and I'd always, always promised to never end up like that. I had people who meant the whole damn world to me and even though I hated them right now for tying me here when death would have been such a nice relief, I refused to let them go. Wasp told me to hold on and I'd promised I would; god I hope she knew I was, because it was killing me.

I don't know how long I'd just been sulking to myself about all that when I heard footsteps beyond my door. At first I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me again but then a shaft of light spilled in under the door and it was shoved open roughly.

Carrion stood there in the gloom, eyes narrowed at me, a wicked little grin on her thin lips, which looked like they'd been chewed up and torn by her own sharpened teeth. I straightened slightly, ignoring the fact that my belt was still undone and tilted my chin stubbornly, somewhere in my demented chest actually pleased to see her, because at least I knew she was real and hey, maybe she'd come to drag my off somewhere, another fight maybe or some form of torture, which, honestly, at this point didn't really frighten me; hell it would have come as a welcome distraction, a chance to stretch my cramped muscles. Or hey, maybe she'd come to end my misery. That'd be nice too.

"Oh come on, they sent _you_?" I heard myself say, my conscious mind seeming very far away from my actual thought process. "I thought I was at least a _little_ more important than that."

She gnashed her teeth at me aggressively. "Do you think I want to be down here? I have better things to be doing then catering to _you_." She stepped into the room, sticking her Flare crystal in a bracket near the door. "You know what's pathetic about you humans? How fragile you are inside. You walk around like a plague in this world and yet it is almost too easy to eradicate you. Your bodies are frail, your muscles puny and weak, your reflexes slow. It's almost amazing you're able to stay on top of the food chain. And then there's the upkeep too. A month without food and you wither and die. Ten days without sleep and your brain shuts down. And only three days without water and you keel over dead." Here she held up something and shook it in front of her tauntingly; it made an obvious sloshing sound and all of a sudden I was having a hard time ignoring how dry my throat was.

I snorted. "Yeah, you really think I'm gonna drink that? What's in it, cyanide?"

She dropped the wooden tumbler to the floor and a bit of liquid splashed from the top. "For some reason the Master wants you alive." She spat at me. "And so she insisted you drink this."

"I thought I made it clear to the other idiots how I feel about this Master of yours." I said snidely. "You might as well turn around now and save yourself the trouble; I'm not drinking it."

She strode forward until she was close enough to me to crouch down and remain out of my kicking range. "You'll die if you don't." She taunted, her voice like twisted metal, nails on a chalk board. "And then what oh what are we going to tell your little friends? They'll be _so_ disappointed..."

"You leave them out of this." I snapped. She let out that screeching laugh of hers.

"Is that a soft spot in your armour? You can act as tough as you like and I can still get to you. That's another pathetic thing about you humans, you and your bonds."

"I dunno, sounds to me like you're a little jealous." I countered. "It's gotta suck, doesn't it? Being the first of these little stem-cell experiments to actually _work_ and now here you are talking to me, pathetic as I am and all. No one gives a shit about you, not with those perfected little cretins they've got running around. You're doing _servant_ work for god's sake. So how does that make you feel?"

She seized me by my throat and smashed me back into the wall. "You know _nothing_." She snarled and to be irritating I yawned.

"I dunno, seems like I've struck a nerve. Remember now, you can't kill me, your Master wants me alive. Which makes me think, you know, you don't seem to be afraid to die; you don't have to be, you're almost, _almost_, indestructible, aside from all the defects and what not. And yet you're afraid of this Master of yours, you bend to whatever she says. Like seriously, what can she _possibly_ do to you? So _now_ who's the pathetic one, huh?"

She let out a shriek and beat me around the head a few times with the back of her curled hand. "YOU KNOW NOTHING!!!" she screeched again. Abruptly she let me go and backed away, eyes smouldering and turned on her heel, stomping out the door. In the hall I heard several things smash as she clomped away, screaming and cursing the whole way.

Oh ho, I'd struck a nerve alright.

I slumped back and eyed that tumbler, torn. God I just wanted a drink so badly right then, more parched then I'd ever been wandering about the desert. My tongue felt dry and thick in my sour mouth and I had a dull headache pulsing away in the back of my skull from dehydration. Hell I knew how important water was; back in the desert you didn't last more than two days without it. I wanted to feel that water spilling down my throat, even if there was something bad in it. But then... that'd just be giving in, wouldn't it? They'd made it clear already, they wanted me alive, they had something in store for me. Maybe they wanted to use me to bargain with or something, hell I had no idea, but I knew if they wanted to keep me alive it definitely wasn't a good sign. Fuck they could use me against the others for all I knew, and I'd never be able to live with that. So in that case I shouldn't drink it, because it was just playing into their hands, giving them more opportunity to do what they wanted with me. And it would prolong my suffering too; a temporary relief from thirst sure, but that meant I'd be able to survive down here longer, in this state between life and death, my mind fractured, body corroding away.

But then... the longer I stayed alive the better chance I had of getting back to the others. I mean it was a slim chance but it was still something and I had to grasp it, had to hold on, damnit I'd promised Wasp and I needed to see her again, I had to tell her something that had been steadily growing in my mind. And I wanted to help Falshade in all this, his nightmares come true, that had always been my goal, not to be the hero really but to stick by him and help however I could. That's what I was meant to do, as his wingman and his best friend, his brother. There were things I had to tell him too and I just didn't want to go out like this.

I thought hard, racking my aching brain. WWFD, what would Falshade do in this situation? It was so conflicting, torn between not giving up and not giving in. Which one won out, was the lesser of two evils?

Well, if I weighed my options like this, pride, selfishness and shame aside, just pure cold logic, if I stayed alive I was a tool to the enemy against my friends, a weapon, and my friends might get killed trying to save me. And that was the last thing I wanted.

I stared at that cup for a long time, my body's own need attacking me now, the barriers finally breaking and I could feel the pain in my side and anywhere I'd been beaten, the throbbing in my head, the ache in my stomach and the all-consuming thirst in the back of my mouth.

And then I got angry; these fucking assholes, taking me from my friends and putting me through all this shit and then just trying to prolong it, thinking I'd just be easily dragged along like a dog on a leash? Fuck that, fuck them, fuck this whole god damn thing, if I died down here it would suck, it would fucking suck, sure, but at least I could die with the knowledge in my head that I hadn't given in to them, hadn't gone along with their plans, the stubborn asshole to the end.

I snapped my foot out and kicked the cup over, the sound of water spraying all over place making me want to puke.

"You sure that was a good idea?" Falshade was leaning against the wall beside me, examining Sliver casually.

"Would you have done anything different?" I asked pointedly, slumping against the wall again moodily.

"Good point." He looked up at the ceiling, thinking about something. "Hey you know that dream I had, where I saw you all die?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well you cut your own head off. That's how you died. You asked and I thought I should tell you."

"Oh... alright." I swallowed and hated to think that somehow, that seemed fitting of me.

He stood there silently for a moment before whipping Sliver out to dig the tip into my throat, right under my chin. I looked up at him, eyebrow cocked.

"What's up with you?"

"Angel... look you know if you try to hurt them I'm going to have to kill you. You know that right? That's my job, about time I did it right. So just..." he was looking at me fiercely, mouth a thin, hostile grimace but there was something shining desperately in his eyes. "I don't wanna hurt you. You're my brother, Ange."

I swallowed. "I'm not going to hurt any of you. Why would I? You guys are all I've got." I thought of Caspia and her non-verbal warning then for some reason: '_If you hurt him, I will kill you.'_

Like mother like son I guess.

He sighed and lowered his sword. "Alright." He didn't sound like he believed me as he faded away and I rubbed at my neck uneasily, checking for blood.

I thought back to when I'd suggested to Wasp that maybe the voice was a sort of subconscious, self-inflicted thing, some of her past torment and confusion and doubt coming up in the form of the voice, haunting her. I mean psychological stuff can surface in weird ways after all... but thinking back on that it made me wonder, if everything the others kept telling me all this time, and the fact that I could see them and talk to them in general, was all my own psychological stew of issues surfacing then what, exactly, was my subconscious trying to tell me? If Falshade was warning me against hurting the others...

Then what in hell was back there that made me so dangerous?

And how did I yank it out before it hurt the ones I loved most.

* * *

I knew I was in serious trouble now.

Dumping over that water seemed to have broken the dam and my body had quit on me, all the shields that had been protecting me from the decomposition of my insides brought down and now I could practically feel myself breaking down and rotting away. My stomach felt like it was trying to digest itself, desperate for something, anything. My entire body was aching and trembling, a feeling of overwhelming exhaustion consuming me. I felt nauseous and dizzy, my head swimming and pounding with every thrum of my pulse. I felt like my cells were slowly decaying, one at a time, from the lack of water, just drying up and cracking, my bones being chipped away. My mind seemed to have died too, finally shutting up and just flat lining, no thoughts crossing it, leaving me alone with my wrecked body and the hope that either someone, anyone, would come for me or I'd die soon. I knew I must be dying at this point anyways; I'd gone too long without water, I could tell from the way my heart was struggling to push my blood around. Shit... god damn fucking _shit_, I _hated_ this, hated that I wanted to die so badly and hated that it hadn't happened yet.

"Well you're not looking so good are you?"

I glanced up, not having enough energy to raise my head. I didn't recognize who was standing before me this time and I heard myself groan; shit, not only had I been seeing people I knew when they weren't there, now I was seeing strangers too.

"Who're you?" I croaked.

He grinned slightly, pushing his shock of white hair back from his face. He seemed to be older then I was, but not by too much I suppose. His skin was dark, darker than mine by far and his eyes seemed to leap put from his face, bright, piercing blue in colour.

"I wouldn't expect you to recognize me, although I think you know who I am by now." He said, sounding teasing in a sort of playful way, like he was my friend and he was just trying to ruffle me a bit. At the same time though he looked concerned and sympathetic and it reminded me a bit of Falshade, they way he'd act when trying to cheer me up.

I stared at him for a long time, taking in his features again when something suddenly clicked... the eyes...

"...Rainer?"

He grinned widely. "Yeah."

I sat up stiffly. "What... dude, what are doing here?"

"I came to check up on you; Wasp asked me too."

"She did?"

"Yes. She's really worried about you, you know."

"Man I'm worried about her too. She's alright, right?"

He laughed slightly and came over to sit next to me. "Yeah, she's fine, for the most part. She misses you though."

"She misses you too... have you ever, you know, come to her like this? Like I can see you and everything... does she ever see you?"

"No." He said, pushing his hair back again; it was longer then even mine. "No, I come to her when I can through Shadowfax, but other than that... you're the first one I've ever actually stepped over and talked to."

"Stepped over?" I furrowed my brow. "Like... come here again, from the dead? Are you a ghost or something?"

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."

"Well it's just, I don't believe in ghosts and shit like that, and I've been seeing a lot of crazy shit lately, so... but then I've never met you before, so how can I be talking to you?"

He shrugged. "I guess it's up to you to decide."

"Maybe I'm like on the threshold." I mused. "Like between life and death. Fuck I feel like it anyways. So maybe that's why I can see you."

"Maybe." He agreed. "So I've been watching you for awhile you know."

My pulse stirred slightly. "...You have?"

"Yeah, ever since you started hanging around with Wasp."

"Ah." I swallowed. "Uh..." I trailed off awkwardly. He glanced at me and laughed.

"Dude its fine; I like you, you know."

"Oh. Uh, cool..." I cleared my throat. "You know she was in love with you. Did she ever tell you that?"

He sighed. "Nope. And I didn't do anything about it. Sort of wish I did now of course but... well I guess it doesn't matter. Besides, I'm gone now. And now she's got you."

I felt my cheeks burn. "Yeah, but... she can't love me, she told me so. Like you were the only one for her, I mean."

He gave me a look. "And how do you feel about that?"

"Uh..." That threw me off. "Well, it's... it's fine, you know. You were special to her, I wouldn't want to get in the way of that. Besides, I told her I couldn't love her either."

"Hmm..." he seemed to think for awhile. "But that was a while back, wasn't it? What about now? You still think you can't? Or maybe you only said that because you didn't know things would get like this with her?"

I wrinkled my nose at him. "What'd you mean?"

"I'm just saying, if you're human, which you are, Angel, if you're human inside then you can fall in love with someone, whether you want to or not, whether you think you can or not. It happens, my friend. It's just one of those things that happen."

"Jeez you talk just like she does." I muttered. He looked at me and frowned sympathetically.

"Sorry here I am just bombarding you with stuff when you really don't look up to it."

"Nah it's fine, man. I'm glad to have someone to talk to. I'm going crazy down here..." I sighed and pushed my face into my knees. "...I wanna go home."

He rubbed my shoulder comfortingly. "I know. You just hang in there."

"I'm trying to. So you really just..." I trailed off. "She really was in love with you, you know. Like I can see it in her eyes when she talks about you; you meant the world to her."

He made a humming noise, his eyes shining sadly. "Yeah... did she ever tell you how I died?"

"...No."

"She told you about Fli though huh?"

"Yeah, I know about her."

"Well... Buzzard, this guy who owned her I guess you could say, he used to send her to this one guy who'd beat her. The guy paid him well for her so he kept sending her, he didn't care how bruised she was when she came back. And one night we found out she was in the hospital because he'd just been that drunk and that pissed off that he threw her down a flight of stairs. She broke her spine. Paralyzed. And Wasp... something snapped in her. And she went and hunted down this guy and killed him. And he was a good customer of Buzzard's and it pissed him off that she killed him so he sent some of his guys after me, to get to her. He was like that; he'd hurt you without ever having to touch you."

I stared at him, heart contracting. "...Jesus she thinks it's her fault, doesn't she?"

He nodded unhappily. "Yeah. And I can't get through to her about that. I can't talk to her, even now. I can just watch over her... listen, I need you to tell her. She listens to you. That night you told her I'd want her to be happy, she listened to that, she got it. So can you just make sure she knows that, that I'm not mad at her, never was? Like I understand why she did what she did and what happened, that wasn't her fault."

I nodded. "Yeah, I'll tell her if I ever get the chance, I promise."

He grinned at me gratefully. "Thank you." Then he looked me over seriously. "Listen, you gotta hang in there, Angel. Don't let go of who you are. And I don't mean all this shit that you make yourself think you are. You gotta hold on to _you_."

"...I don't know who I am. I don't think I ever have."

He looked unhappy again. "Well you're going to have to figure it out soon. Wasp's been trying to tell you this all along and now it's important, so important."

I glanced at him. "...Something bad is gonna happen to me, isn't it?"

"Only bad if you tell yourself it is."

"...What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"You and Wasp talked about good and bad. I trust you to know where you stand on it. So remember that."

I smothered an irritated noise. "Listen, I don't wanna get all nasty with you or anything, but I'm really not in a good mood right now; I don't feel well at all, and all of this cryptic bullshit isn't helping with my headache. Why can't you guys ever just flat out tell me what I need to know?"

"Because then you'll never learn anything for yourself."

"Okay, now you sound like Varan." I muttered and he laughed good naturedly, mussing up my hair. Then he looked towards the door and stood up. "They're coming."

"Great." I said wearily, sinking back to the floor, worn out.

"You scared?"

"...A bit."

"That's okay." He assured me. "Just don't let them see that."

"They won't."

"Good boy. You take care of yourself now." He said like he was leaving after a casual visit or something and not leaving me in the bottom of a dungeon with the enemy coming to get me.

"Yeah, keep an eye on Wasp for me." I called back and he nodded before fading into the darkness. Around then I heard the footsteps echoing, getting closer all the time and I suppressed a noise of annoyance; damnit, guy can't just die in peace these days.

Keys rattled in the door once again and then it was pushed upon and I got the feeling I was finally honoured with a visit from the Master herself.

I guess my mind had burnt out to the point that it didn't really stun me as much as it would have if I were in the right frame of mind to see her standing there, Master Cyclonis back from the dead. I mean fuck, who else could it be, right? Strange things had been happening all over the place after all. Plus she just had that aura to her that made me feel like I had a wedge of cold iron stuck to the roof of my mouth; she seemed to radiate cold, malicious cunning if not particularly anything else. She was this alien little thing, a stalking, venomous sort of creature and it left no doubt in my mind. I mean there'd only been one little girl in the whole history of the Atmos who could exude that sort of immediate feeling of foreboding.

She seemed to glide over the floor as she strode into the room, Halo and Carrion behind her, looking so submissive I wanted to laugh for some weird reason. She stopped a little ways in front of me and her thin lips curled, mimicking some sick sense of glee. It made my blood boil slightly when I noted she had violet eyes, darker then Falshade's and void of all the shining life that was ever-present in his, but they were the same hue and it disgusted me; she didn't deserve to share anything with him.

"Hello, Angel." She said, her voice reminding me of the slither of a sidewinder and sounding like a perverted little girl at the same time. It gave me the creeps a bit to be honest but I bit that back, fed up with this bullshit, too far gone to care anymore. She didn't scare me.

"Ah, so _you're_ the bitch." I said, my voice hoarse and scratchy.

She emitted a robotic sounding laugh. "What's this? No formal introductions?" she taunted, feigning upset.

"Well I'd shake and all but..." I shook my wrist, rattling my chains. "You know."

"Oh well, I'm sure we'll have lots of time to get to know one another." She said nonchalantly. "In fact I want you to take a walk with me, if you don't have anything _better_ to do."

Never thought I'd meet a girl who annoyed me more than Stork. I hacked up a laugh, sounding more like I was coughing up a chunk of my intestines; like I was capable of walking... "Do you _really_. Well _I_ want _you_ to turn your skinny little ass around, march the mutant parade out of here and go bother the rest of the Atmos, because maybe _they'll_ have the energy to deal with you. So tough."

She laughed again and I grit my teeth, hating it. It sounded more like a mocking bird then anything, only copying things, going through the motions and not really feeling anything. I really hated myself right then, recalling my age-old indifferent front, doing the same thing.

"Well we both can't have what we want, can we?" she asked, leaning over me. "And the thing is, I _always_ get what I want. So you're going to walk with me or I will _make_ you walk."

I looked up at her and felt a stir of anger in my gut, my die-hard stubbornness back for one last go. And it was sort of pathetic but I was pretty proud of myself for hauling myself off that floor; I mean I took it for granted all the time, so easily picking myself up whenever Stork tipped my chair over backwards or when Wasp pounced on me. But today it felt like climbing a mountain, muscles searing as I bunched my legs under me, gritting my teeth and pushing myself off the floor, away from my little grave, despite the rest of my body screaming at me to just fall back down and wait for the end. And once I was off the floor had to fight to stay upright, straining to keep my shaking limbs still, but I did it, I was up, and what was more I noted I was taller than Cyclonis and that gave me fresh heart. Glaring at her I cracked my neck like Wasp always did, tilting my chin formidably, hands clenched at my sides to keep my arms from shaking. And for all the torturous thoughts that ran through it, my mind was always good for one thing, no matter how sleep deprived and aching the rest of me was, and that was my ability to always think of something stubborn and sarcastic to say, even if it was my last words. Fuck it if it was my undoing; I was dead one way or another anyways.

"You'll _make_ me huh?" I said, voice ragged and scratchy but there it was, the cold, cutting way I could sound when I really had to and actually with the hoarse tone of my voice I sounded pretty tough, considering my current state. Points to me. Locking my knees so my legs would stop trembling I continued. "Well let me paint you a picture here, girly: the thing is you've already tried to get me to fight one of your mutated hell-spawns and I didn't, fact aside that it wanted to crush me. And then you tried to get me to drink some water, which I didn't despite the fact that here I am dying of dehydration. So you can threaten to kill me and torture me and leave me down here to rot all you want, but the thing is, I don't really care what happens to me. The only thing that might _possibly_ make me do _anything _is if you had one of my friends down here with a knife to their throat. Now, I'm not gonna go out of my way to call you bright or anything, but you've gotta have a few more brain cells then oh, say, shithead over there." I waved my hand at Halo, who made a move in my direction. "So I'm going to take it for granted that you already knew that. And yet you haven't done anything like that, which tells me you don't have any of my friends. And the really funny thing about all of that is you've tried to catch them and kill them and you haven't. You keep sending you little over-developed stem cells after them and not only do they manage to slip through your grasp, they continue to kick your fucking _ass_. How's _that _make you feel? Fact of the matter is, you're not gonna catch any of my friends, and so in effect, there is _nothing_ that you can do that is gonna make _me_ do _ANYTHING_."

I folded my arms over my chest, glaring daggers at her. And for a second something twitched in her face and I got some satisfaction out of the fact that even she had nerves to be struck and I, ever the sharpshooter, was able to strike them. But then she just smiled at me and clicked her fingers.

God damn fucking Paralyser stones...

I crumpled, body completely stunned and saw Halo step over me, unclasping the shackles from by bloodied wrists and dragging me along once again by the scruff of my neck.

But not before Cyclonis leaned into my face and I wanted so badly to spit in her awful violet eyes and couldn't even do that, which believe you me was _extremely_ frustrating: "Told you so." She whispered, face split with a spiteful smile.

Okay, so my whole big rant there kinda imploded, as it turned out she _could _make me go. But I took comfort in the fact that at least I'd fought stubbornly right to the end.

And I suppose it was sort of pathetic that that's all I had to take comfort in.

I was getting sick of finding myself chained and tied to various places; whatever this new horror they'd dragged me off to face was, I apparently was meant to face it strapped to a cold, metal table, like an animal in a science lab or something, waiting to be vivisected.

"Wait outside." Cyclonis instructed and Halo nodded and left. I looked around, my vision constricted to a very small patch, lit up by bright lights like in a hospital or something. Shit I really wasn't liking the looks of things right now. My skin prickled uneasily and I thought of Shade and his fear of medical offices; I wasn't sure exactly where I was but this sure felt like an operating table and right then I understood his phobia completely.

Cyclonis leaned over me and sneered. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself now?"

My jaws were unglued enough that this time I was able to spit a jet of saliva at her and she jerked back out of the way.

"I see." She said, her voice taking on an uncanny undertone. "Well then I suppose I might as well just get this over with; I have other things to be doing you know." She pulled down on a lever and suddenly the table started to move, turning slowly until it was standing vertically before her, restraints digging into my skin as the held up my weight.

She came towards me then with a pair of scissors in her hand and I struggled, really not wanting to know what she planned to do with them. However she simply grabbed the hem of my shirt and cut it, dragging the scissors all the way up, slicing my shirt down the middle. When she reached the top she clacked the scissors shut against my throat as if to taunt me and then stepped back, examining me baldly.

"Like what you see?" I said snidely, fighting against my restraints, hating the way she was just staring at me.

She looked up at me from under her brow. "Hardly." She said coolly. "Hmm..." she leaned in, pressing one pale, frigid hand over my left pectoral and I had to fight back a shiver. "You're almost too thin... although I suppose I could always make an incision through your rib cage..."

"Get off of me!" I snarled, trying to kick at her, but of course my legs were restrained. I had a bit of a Wasp-inspired moment and lunged at her, jaws snapping shut _really_ close to her cheek and she pulled back, glaring at me.

"It's almost a pity this procedure doesn't hurt more." She hissed, backing off, out of the ring of light and I heard a second lever snap down. Then there was this whining, grinding sound, metal and hydraulic pumps shifting in the dark. And then, lowered down from the ceiling like some wicked mechanical spider, this large, robotic arm came to a halt in front of me, steel shining like the wire of a snare in the light, dried blood flecked over the sharpened metal.

"Oooh now we're breaking a sweat aren't we?" Cyclonis jibbed, standing just within the light. I ignored her, completely focused on the piece of machinery barely a foot in front of me, equipped with a scalpel.

"You didn't think I'd go and get my hands dirty with your blood did you?" she cackled as the machine started moving again, closing in the space and I fought like mad, trying to find some sort of weak spot in those restraints, thrashing against them while my heart hammered against my ribs and that scalpel got closer and closer. I mashed my back up to the table behind me, trying to find more space when there was no more. I leaned back, exhaling, trying to shrink back and make myself smaller desperately.

I felt the tip of the thin blade grazing my skin and fought so hard I felt muscles tearing in my limbs, shoulders being practically dislocated. Then the scalpel actually dug in and it shredded me as I kept fighting but the machine never stopped, pushing the blade further into my flesh, slicing through muscle and I slammed my jaws down tight, clenching my teeth. I tried to distract myself, biting my lip so hard it started to bleed; _come on, Angel, you've dealt with worse than this_... I thought of the time Varan caught me off guarded and smashed his broadsword, by accident of course, into my ribcage, cracking two of my ribs, or when I crushed my hand while switching to land-mode and catching my fingers and the runner boards of my Slip Wing as they clashed shut.

I felt the blade scrape against bone and it made me feel ill, a shudder clattering down my spine. Seeming to have gone as far as needed the arm moved down, dragging the scalp through my flesh, my blood running down to my belt and I flinched, trying to pull myself back, knees jerking as I tried to kick out at that machine. It had a good six inch incision scored into me before it finally jerked back and I sucked in a lungful of air, cold sweat snaking over my skin. I reminded myself that Falshade had been torn open way worse than this and sucked it up, swallowing down my pain, blocking it out. Shaking my bangs from my face I glanced over at Cyclonis, who was attaching some new device to the mechanical arm. She looked over at me and smirked.

"That was the easy part." She informed me. Then she held something up in her spidery fingers. "Do you know what this is?" she asked patronizingly.

I stared at the shard of crystal she had in her fingers, dark red with a wane light pulsing at its core. It took me a moment before I recalled Wasp's words, saying that Halo and the others, they had crystals in them, a second heartbeat, digging her fingertips into her chest in demonstration.

Cyclonis must have seen the horrible dawning on my face. "Ah so he does know." She congratulated sarcastically. She placed the crystal in the grip of the piece she'd attached to the end of the arm, a spindly mechanical hand. She stepped back and snapped down the lever once more and the arm came to life, moving back towards me.

"No!" I shouted, thrashing against my restraints again, ignoring the pain that shot through my muscles, heart beating so wildly it hurt; do not, _do not_ put that thing in me!!!

Cyclonis started laughing as the machine closed the last of the distance, crystal flickering as if it could sense my energy, my blood. I lurched back, trying to flip the table back now, desperate to do anything if it meant keeping that crystal away from me.

But that table just wouldn't let go and those sharp, metallic fingers stretched out and brushed against me like they had a mind of their own; two peeled back the tissue on either side of the incision that had been drawn into me and a two others held out the crystal towards the gap that had been torn open for it. I struggled, trying to dislodge the crystal but that wicked machine had a hold of me and wouldn't release it.

I heard Wasp telling me how god awful it had felt to have Arcana's hands inside her, what seemed like a lifetime ago on the bridge. And I understood her so brutally right then; I could feel the cold edges of that metal _inside_ the muscles of my chest, forcing that crystal in deep and it was the singular most horrible feeling I'd ever felt. Flesh being pushed back, nerves throbbing and painting a picture of touch in my mind around that crystal and those sharp pieces of metal as they moved against my shredded muscles, crystal throbbing as if it had a life of its own. I felt it connect with my ribs, pushed in tight before the whole arm moved back, fingers making a gut-wrenching slicing sound as they pulled free from my chest. Panting and heaving I felt bile rush up my throat and splatter all over the floor, nauseated by the feeling of that crystal as it rested against my ribs, pulsing away, wedged tight in place by my severed muscles. I felt like there was something alive under there, some large, horrific parasite burrowing a nest into my flesh and it made my chest constrict, fingers twitching like mad, desperately wanting to tear free of the restraints on my arms and tear that thing out of me.

And then it was like an explosion went off in my chest, a feeling like roiling fire rushing through my entire body, blazing light invading every little pocket, filling my veins until I thought they might burst with the pressure and I'd bleed to death from the inside. Every inch of my nerves were on fire, feeling like they were being electrocuted over and over again with every throb of that god damn crystal and I couldn't help it, my brain felt like it was going to rupture and ooze from my eye sockets and I didn't have any self-control in that instance and I let out a howl, an agonized sound that tore from my throat. I felt like my body was being ripped apart, muscles wracked with spasms, eyes blinded by a glare of harsh white light.

I felt the restraints let go and then felt solid stone under me, rattling my head on my neck. In my mind it flickered that I should get up and run, moron, run! But my legs weren't working and my skeleton felt like molten metal and the thought slipped away again, simply melted into nothing.

I was barely aware being dragged back to my cell as the jolts started to wane then flared back up again if when I least expected it, pummelling me, my senses feeling heightened to sickening proportions so every touch made my skin itch and sing with pain and the footsteps that were echoing on the edges of my conscious sounded like they were tromping through my head, pounding behind my eyes.

The last thing I was aware of, outside the turmoil going on inside me, was someone's scornful laughter and then crashing into the stone of my cell, tumbling over myself and coming to a crunch against the wall where I curled up and prayed for the end, god damnit make it _stop_!

As my head continued to boil and split it occurred to me my hands were free and my twitching hand jumped to my chest, prepared to tear that thing out.

Except there wasn't a gash anymore. My fingers bumped skin and a tight little spot of scar tissue. No fresh blood, no incision. It was completely healed over.

...That crystal was _inside_ me, under a layer of muscle and skin, sitting comfortably over my ribs, _inside_!

Thoughts of a certain type of beetle in the desert that would burrow into open wounds and live in them as they healed came back to me and I remembered having to pick one out of a cut on my knee as a kid, realizing one day why it wasn't healing. And fuck right then that crystal, still beating away, truly like a second heart beat, made me think of those god damn beetles and I choked on my own bile as it burned past my teeth, all that was left inside coming up and out. I dug my blunt fingernails against my skin, prepared to tear open a new cavity and dig that crystal out with my bare hands. And I did feel my skin peel and scrape back slightly for a moment, a trickle of blood sticking between my fingers, before there was a heated sensation below my fingertips, skin going hot for a second and then the little patch I'd scratched into myself was gone, healed up too.

I don't know if it was the disgust and hopelessness being churned into toxic rage in my unsettled stomach or if that crystal was providing me with energy that had seeped from me during my days lying in the darkness, but I was able to get to my feet a lot easier this time. And it was all too easy to start beating my forehead against the wall, teeth clacking together with each blow, smashing again and again and again because damnit I didn't want to be awake anymore, my body was burning up and shattering inside and I felt so god damn sick I just wanted to slip out of it, just for awhile, give me some god damn peace for a little while...

And I guess the powers that be finally decided to grant me something because one particularly good smash I staggered back, feel and cracked my head back against the stone floor. And that about did it.

* * *

**Part Two: Stockholm Syndrome**

_**And when I let him in I feel the stitches getting sicker/ I try to wash him out but like they say, the blood is thicker/ I see my mother in my face, but only when I travel/ I run as fast as I can run but Jack comes tumbling after**_

_**-Half Jack, the Dresden Dolls**_

_**Sitting in the dark I can't forget/ Even now I realize all the time I'll never get/ Another story of the bitter pills of fate/ I can't go back again, I can't go back again/... the other me is dead, I hear his voice inside my head**_

_**-Dead Memories, Slipknot**_

I woke up to the feel of someone's mouth pressing against mine.

My eyes snapped open and I scrambled back from the creature that had been hunched over me. It took me a second to recognize Wasp.

"I'm sorry, did I startle you?"

"Yeah..." I rubbed the back of my head; evidently healing faster didn't spare you the inevitable headache that comes with crunching your skull into stone.

She cocked her head, taking me in critically, frowning. "...Something's off about you." She commented at last.

"Yeah...Wasp they got me. They put one of those fucking crystals in me." My hand jumped toward my chest and instead I snaked my fingers through my hair, tugging on it roughly. "Hey... maybe you can get it out?"

"Hmm..." she hummed and came closer. She stretched out her skeletal fingers towards the mark on my chest, but the moment she brushed my skin she withdrew her hand like she'd been burned, growling uneasily. And it sort of hurt a bit when she did that, flinching back from my skin. Then I remembered; '_god damnit Angel, she's a figment of your imagination._'

She looked at me as that thought ran through my head. "...What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well you are. You can't be here, Wasp, you're with the others. Besides, I wouldn't want you to really be here, they'd get you too, or try to hurt you or something."

She wrinkled her nose. "You were happy to see me before." She commented, sounding hurt.

"I am happy to see you." I assured her quickly, scooting closer to her, ignoring the fact that yeah, she wasn't really there, I wasn't actually seeing her. She grinned a bit but didn't look like she believed me.

"So how're you feeling?" she asked after a bit.

"Shitty." I said. "I feel gross." She hummed sympathetically, pushing my greasy hair back a bit. "But how's everyone else?"

"I thought I was just a figment of your imagination." She pointed out. "How would I know?"

"Humour me."

"We're alright."

"Thank you."

Wasp's ears pricked slightly. "She's coming for you." She said after a moment and I groaned.

"God damnit... I suppose that means you have to go, right?"

"No, I'm going to stay here."

"Really?" I perked up at this thought.

"Yeah. I think it's important."

That made me feel nervous for some reason, but I didn't have time to ask about it because the locked clicked and the door swung open once again.

She was alone this time and was grinning with self-satisfaction, cocking her head and placing her narrow chin in her palm mockingly, examining me. "Well we seem a little more lively today don't we?" she taunted and I stood beside Wasp, whose ears had gone back aggressively.

"Can't help but notice you don't have your little entourage. You sure that's a good idea, what with me being so much livelier and all?" I asked, because despite the aching in my bones and muscles and my upset stomach I did have a lot more energy right now; maybe that nap had done me some good. I'd only just realized they hadn't chained me up last time and I was already plotting to make a break for it.

She laughed condescendingly. "Was that a threat? I assure you their presence is no longer needed during my visits with you. But don't take my word for it; go on, try and run."

I grit my teeth uneasily, muscles twitching. I knew it wasn't a good sign for her to simply invite me to try and get out of there, but then it wasn't really an opportunity I wanted to pass up either.

"Be careful." Wasp told me when I made a half-step motion indecisively. Wasp... god I wanted to see her again, not just some damn fabrication of my lonely mind but really see her and hold her and kiss her. That was motivation enough and after a moment more of standing there, torn, I bolted forward.

I wasn't more than three steps when I felt like I'd been tazered, a jolt of blazing electricity tearing right through my chest and into the middle of my spine, joints popping painfully. My legs simply abandoned me, refusing to work and I crashed into the stone, flinching and twitching, biting down hard on my lip as every inch of muscle in me felt like it was being torn apart, bolts of electricity piercing right into my bone marrow.

"You see?" Cyclonis asked haughtily as Wasp crouched next to me, stroking my arm as the spasms slowly died down and I was able to breathe again. "I have complete control over that crystal in your chest and in effect I have complete control over _you_. You couldn't attack me or run if you tried."

My eyes narrowed and I tried to push myself back to my feet and another assault of lashes tore through me, paralyzing me. Wasp growled, standing over me protectively.

Cyclonis laughed. "Oh this is going to be _fun_."

My blood was on fire I was so angry; I _hated_ her, hated the way she was just toying with me, hated being beaten down like that, hated fucking everything about this place. She wasn't getting the better of me that easily, no fucking way.

I was up, fast, and made a lunging motion at her, sinking my teeth into my tongue when the paralyzing pain tore through me a third time, crystal pulsing madly in my chest. I felt like I separated my knee when I took another step forward, every tortured muscle straining to keep me upright, nerves screaming to just drop and curl in a ball. I felt like my mind was shattering when I lifted my shaking arm, fingers stretched out to strangle her and the spite died in her eyes and she took on an edge of cold fury instead.

I was blinded abruptly as my head erupted into pure agony, a high, keening sound screaming so piercingly in my ears I felt my teeth crack. I fell to my knees, clutching at my head, feeling blood trickling from my ears. It was like my brain was rupturing, one huge aneurism, over and over, that piercing sound growing sharper, more intense, and I felt my nose shatter.

"STOP!!!" I howled, my vision going red as blood vessels burst in my eyes. "_OH PLEASE_, _STOP_!!!"

I felt the pain drain out of my head slowly, seeming to flow out with the blood that was dripping from my nose and running down my throat. And then I was just hunched up in a pitiful little ball on the floor, choking for air.

"I hope you've learned something from all of this." Cyclonis hissed at me and her voice seemed to shred apart my throbbing brain. "I'll give you some time to let it sink in before I return again." Her footsteps jarred my head and the slamming of the door was enough to make me whimper where I was cradling my aching head on the floor.

I flinched when Wasp's imaginary finger's touched my temples gently. "Poor Angel Cakes." She breathed, stretching out beside me, rubbing my temples soothingly.

"Pl...Please don't... call me that." I wheezed, shaking and trying not to vomit.

"You don't like it?"

I tried to snort and instead ending up coughing up a wad of blood. "Fucking hate it."

"Oh." Wasp touched a finger to my nose as I felt an itching sensation, shattered bone knitting back together. "Well just Angel then... can you listen to me for a second?"

"Yeah, sure." I said raggedly.

"Don't try anything like that again. She'll just keep hurting you. We're coming to get you; all you need to do is hang on."

"I am." I assured her. "Or, I'm trying to. But what am I supposed to do, just take it if she comes down here and does that again?" I felt wretched and weak for being frightened by that notion, but I never wanted to feel that sort of pain again.

"No... I doubt she'll do that unless you do something stupid. She's going to try and brainwash you, Angel, and you can't let her." Wasp suddenly sounded desperate, grabbing my hand and squeezing it tight. "You can't let her get to you, okay? You've gotta hold on. You told me you didn't want to be like your father so don't, don't forget that. Don't let go."

I nodded. "I won't."

"...You're not a bad person, Angel. You're not the monster she's going to try and make you out to be. I know you have trouble getting that through your head sometimes, but if you can't accept it for yourself yet at least accept that I said it, okay? If that'll give you something to hold on to I mean."

I grinned sadly, pushing her hair back from her face, stroking her ear softly. "Wasp, you're all I really want to hold on to as it is."

She blinked at me then smiled. "I'm glad I mean that much to you. But you should hold on to things for yourself too, in case I can't always be here."

I nodded but didn't tell her the thought of her not being there terrified me. "Okay, I'll try. Hey, how about you tell me about Peter Pan and Wendy? I never knew much about that whole story."

Wasp grinned enthusiastically, rolling to her back and picking up my hand, drawing shapes and symbols in the air above us to illustrate her words, pressed against my side so that I was almost able to believe it was her warmth against my side that eventually put me to sleep.

* * *

Something weird was happening to me... like I mean aside from all the other stuff.

I was sitting, hunched up in the corner of my little cell, my morbid little home away from home, trying to crush myself as far back against the wall as possible. The fact that I was no longer chained up let me keep a bit of my sanity, allowing me to pace and keep my body, still pulsing with a dull pain every now and again when that crystal decided to throb particularly obnoxiously, distracted for the most part from the wracking aches that travelled up and down my bones. But eventually I'd started to feel dizzy and had to sit, and now I was acutely aware of the entirely new type of pain that was shooting at sharp little intervals along my limbs, making me feel restless. To distract me I found myself, for some reason, singing some of Fraggle's drinking songs softly, not quite sure why I was able to remember them so well. Then again he'd decided to pounce on me on a few occasions, howling them into my ear and telling me to lighten up when I tried to beat him off me, so maybe they'd been ingrained into me.

I didn't look up when the door creaked open this time. My new tactic was complete lack of acknowledgement, pulling a bit of a passive-aggressive thing this time, taking a leaf out of Varan's book, since my last more aggressive stunt had almost earned me a ruptured skull. She had nothing on me, there was nothing she could do or say that was going to get a reaction out of me.

I focused on my kneecap as she strode into my cell, stopping a little ways in front of me.

"Well this is odd." She said after a moment and I didn't even lift my gaze. She waited for a moment before continuing on her own anyways. "You seem larger to me somehow... interesting. I'm wondering if perhaps the crystal has encouraged your body to release some repressed hormones."

I blinked at my knee, still ignoring her, although her statement sent a spike of intrigue through my mind. That pain in my limbs... was that possibly growing pains? Muscles stretching to accommodate a suddenly larger skeleton? I glanced at my feet; my cargos seemed slightly shorter, not bunching quite as far over my boots. I thought of Varan teasing me suddenly, all that time ago, saying I still might get a growth spurt and I squelched down my laughter at the pure irony down in my throat. And to be honest, for a brief second I kinda hoped maybe I had grown a bit; I was sick of the others laughing at me, what with all their Cupcake jibes and what not, and it was just embarrassing to be about five inches shorter than a certain Faerieshian I'd started spending a lot of time with. But then I bit the inside of my cheek, ashamed and disgusted with myself. If I had grown some it was all because of that god damn crystal; fuck, I'd rather be my short, scrawny little desert punk self then be all crystal-enhanced and lose everything else.

"I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what the full extent of its influence will be." Cyclonis was speaking again and stared at my fingers now, peeling back some of the dried blood from between them. "I came down here hoping to have a bit of a chat with you, and since it seems you've learned your lesson, it looks like that will be possible after all."

'_Well isn't that just fantastic.'_

"You know it didn't take me long to figure out who you were."

I ground my teeth. She didn't know anything.

"It's not a pleasant feeling, is it?" she asked, feigning sympathy. "I mean you've been running from who you are so long, hiding it well, and yet here you are anyways; I saw through it all."

I knew that was coming; I'd figured it out long ago. I mean yeah really, why, if they were just taking prisoners for kicks, take me when they could have had Fraggle or Varan that much easier? No, they'd singled me out and now I knew why; with Master Cyclonis back at the head of some psychotic army once again, why wouldn't she want to get a hold of me? I swallowed down the nauseous feeling in my throat. God, my father, one half of my set of genes, had been her personal attack-dog, betraying his squadron and butchering them at her command, at her side when she called him, always, protecting her. Fuck that made me feel so sick, just god damn filthy inside. I felt like I could feel all the weight of the blood that had been spilled in my father's name, now passed on to me, a product of him, carrying around his murderous DNA in my veins. I didn't really deserve to breathe at all; how many people out there had lost their children, or their parents, siblings, friends, lovers, what fucking have you, to my legacy? So why did I get to live when they didn't?

I felt Wasp's fingers grip my scalp, pushing through my hair, heard her voice in my head: '_Don't you start thinking like that. You've never personally killed anyone, have you? Never just slaughtered people for no reason. That doesn't make you like him. You're trying to put it all right, remember? With Falshade, as a Sky Knight. You can keep breathing; you deserve to.'_

...Was I trying to put things right? Or had I just gone and done the Trials, signed on with Falshade, to escape myself? And could the two be the same thing?

"You always made it a point to do things on your own." Cyclonis' voice broke into my thoughts. "And it made me curious; say you hadn't decided to tag along, for whatever reason that you did in the first place, with Ravenscroft. What would you really have done? Just been a rogue with the idea in your head that you were balancing things out? That you were doing the world some good?"

Good question, actually. I don't know what I would have done. I just knew I couldn't hide out in the desert anymore, there were tumours growing in my brain and the only escape from the pressure that I could see was just go to the extreme opposite of anything my father had ever been. Maybe it really was fate I met Shade there; I mean, I'd had a shot at being his brother and lost it when I was younger. And yet it had come back around, he got shoved into my room and now almost four years down the road I was calling him my brother anyways. And really... what else would I have done without Falshade?

Cyclonis laughed like she could hear my thoughts. "That brings around another question entirely. Why'd you join Ravenscroft in the end, despite all your other plans and doubts? What was it about him that so fascinated you? I've seen you, you know, time and time again, chasing after him in the end even if you acted like it pained you. So what is it that you find so addictive about him?"

Three simple words: he saved me.

From this. From _you_. From these thoughts in my head. I felt like a wretched little whelp around Shade sure, what with his morals and compassion and pure, brave heart. But I didn't feel so god damn lonely with him, he chased all the monsters out of my head, even if I didn't deserve it, he'd put some warmth back in my soul, something nobody else had ever done. He gave me a purpose really, gave me a chance at redemption, always held his hand out to me no matter how often I snapped at it. And by doing that, I dunno, he'd put this subconscious thing in my head that made me want to look out for him, try and find some way to possibly pay him back for all he'd done for me. That's why I hated him half the time, was nasty to him and disobeyed direct orders; he was just so much god damn better than me and I idolized him for it. But it just made me think that I was never going to be that good, never going to be able to make things up to him, and every time I snapped at him or ignored him or hurt his feelings I just put myself further in dept. And I only did that because I felt some sort of warped anger in me, directed at myself because of him, even though he did nothing to deserve it, and it came out like that when I didn't want it to. It was a vicious fucking cycle and I didn't know how to break it.

And that's when I felt it all of a sudden, this feeling like something sliding through my chest cavity, spreading out slightly. Like a tendril.... _shit_.

"Is it simply your devotion to him? Or does guilt play some sort of role in all of this?"

I cracked my knuckles a bit, flexing my fingers, curling a fist and then releasing it. No way, she was not doing this to me. Fuck yeah I had issues, who fucking didn't? But I could deal with those myself, and she was not going to fucking dig her fingers into them like that.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand." I said then, surprising myself. Shit, so much for keeping my damn mouth shut. "You can act like you really know all of us and whatever, but it ain't gonna work. You don't know shit about anything, and for whatever reason I chase him around is my own god damn reason, and you'll never understand it."

"And why's that? Don't tell me you're going to use the argument 'because I've never had friends'. That seems like a rather pathetic excuse."

"Alright, then how about the argument that you're a psychotic, bitchy little reanimated corpse and no one would ever _want_ to be your friend?"

I clenched my jaw as a lash of pain tore through me, hot with her aggravation. "So you're telling me it isn't guilt that drives you, that self-loathing doesn't haunt your every step, that you're a pathetic little insect who chases after Ravenscroft, hiding in his righteous shadow in the hopes that you'll absorb some of the overbearing goodness in him?"

Ouch; bitch knew how to play ball.

"Nope." I said, only half a lie, because, despite all that other stuff having a ring of truth, I don't think I hid in Falshade's shadow.

"And why not?" she asked, almost sounding genuinely curious.

I looked up at her through my bangs, eyes flashing. "Because I haven't done anything wrong."

I was pretty proud at how convinced I sounded. I didn't like wallowing in the idea that I was some abomination, I really didn't. I dunno, maybe emo little teenagers liked engulfing themselves in angst, but seriously, when you really have a good reason to feel like a stain on the surface of humanity, it's not enjoyable at all. It stole sleep and peace right from my fingertips, made me feel repulsive among my own friends, my skin crawling with the feeling of dried blood and maggots when they did something nice for me because god damnit I couldn't convince myself that I deserved it. And yet Wasp had been drilling it into me, trying to get me to believe it for myself, there was nothing wrong with me, I was my own person, totally separated from the blotches that were my parents' failed existences. And I wanted to believe it; fuck I wanted to believe it, I remember using every one of my birthday wishes and shooting stars to make myself believe it, that one day I'd wake up and realize I could be a good person, I didn't have to be haunted by this, that I'd deserve to be with my friends and I'd change it all, make things right, wash the blood from my skin, wring the darkness out.

So maybe if I told it to Cyclonis and made it sound sincere, maybe I'd finally start to believe it.

Her wane face split into a grin and she leaned forward, looking right into my face, something glinting in her eyes, chess pieces sliding into checkmate. "So why do you think you're mother had such a hard time believing that?"

The whole not giving a reaction thing was blown entirely to the wind right then and faster then she expected it I lunged forward, forehead connecting with one good solid crack with her nose. And this time I almost had my fingers at her throat when the pain seized me and threw me back, a rough cry torn from my throat as I was certain I felt my skull breaking apart, digging shards of bone into my pounding brain, tearing up nerve junctions. I couldn't see her anymore, completely blinded by raw agony, but I heard her, inside my head, her words digging in like shards of ice, tearing fissures into my lobes: "_I'll be back_."

I pressed in against the wall, flattening to the floor like I was looking for a pocket of novocaine somewhere among the cracks in the stone, breathing uneven and jerky.

"I told you not to antagonize her." Wasp said sadly, touching my jaw.

"Shut up!" I snapped. She jerked back, surprised. "You guys keep telling me all this shit and it's getting on my nerves, because it's evidently not helping!"

I wanted to take it all back the moment I it was out of my mouth.

Wasp stood up without another word but I caught a glimpse of the hurt in her eyes before she turned and vanished into the shadows.

"Wasp!" I cried, not caring that the volume of my own voice hurt my still aching head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!"

_Yeah, like you didn't mean it when you used to say you hated her, told her to drop dead whenever possible._

I pushed myself into my corner again, hugging my legs and hating myself. "Damnit." I whispered, blinking back the hot tears that prickled in my eyes. Illusion of my own mind or not, I hated that I'd gotten mad at her; I mean whatever she was, real, hallucination, I didn't know anymore, she was just trying to help. And now she was gone and I wanted her back so badly. Shit, would she even come back? Had I chased her off for good? Oh god, please no... I needed her around, I would lose my mind if I didn't even have a figment of her to talk to.

"_But_ _you should hold on to things for yourself too, in case I can't always be there_."

Right... she was right. I needed Wasp's support but I didn't want to totally depend on her; that wasn't fair to her, and I needed to seriously grow up a bit, try and get a grasp on my own issues. Cyclonis was trying to pick my brain apart, warp me somehow, and I wasn't about to just hold out all these opportunities to her.

Rainer told me I needed to hang on to who I was... so who was I? Well, I was a bastard for being pissed with Wasp, for starters. I was Stork's worst tormenter and the bane of Falshade's existence, and yet... I was his brother, too. That was something. If Falshade could call me his brother then... I dunno, I must have done something right along the lines. I was a Sky Knight, but that didn't really hold much value to me. I took more pride and substance in the fact that I was a Gargoyle. I was damnit, and sure I pissed the others off and was nasty and cold, but I was a Gargoyle all the same, and they... they were my family. And when they needed me I did what I could to look after them, even if I wasn't very good at it. Did it count that I tried? I mean... I'd tried to keep the others together after losing Stork, tried to take care of Shade and cheer up Fraggle, keep everyone organized. And... I dunno, I must have done something right with Wasp the other night when she came to my room, seeking comfort from me for once. At least I hope I had. She'd seemed better the next day, and Rainer said she'd believed me and everything when I told her how he'd feel about all of it, so... And I mean I had my nice guy moments, making Stork her throwing axes and doing assignments for Shade, writing chapters out for him in point form notes, as neat as possible, so he'd have an easier time reading it. So... so what came of all that? I was an asshole sure, but I could be a good friend when need be? I was a Gargoyle and we were trying to save the world despite all the odds and what people thought of us. That... despite all my doubts... I still had it in me to look after and care about the others, even if I couldn't really care about myself.

Man I hoped that stuff counted for something.

So I sat there, hunched in my corner once again, trying to reason things out, draw a picture in my head of who I was and give myself a reason to cling to that, trying to convince myself I had a right to exist.

And all that time, along with the slow, lengthening of my skeleton, I tried to ignore the feeling of those tendrils, back in my chest, that weed growing from seed again, jabbing thorns into my heart.

* * *

I keeled over, trying to make myself sick, fingers in the back of my mouth.

I must have fallen asleep, and when I'd woken up I remembered the reason I always felt so frightened of falling asleep in the first place. I'd always had this fear that if my brain was inactive long enough, giving reins fully to the subconscious part of my mind, something would rise up back there and spill down into the rest of me like ink, blotting out who I was and rewriting me as someone else.

And this time I woke up to find that it hadn't been an entirely irrational fear all along.

The tendrils had spread, pushing up around my ribs and taking up space contentedly in my chest, curling tight so it made it hard to breathe. And then it had sent little chutes upwards, snaking under my collar bone where I couldn't reach it and crawling slowly up, up, towards my head, curling around my jaw bone and digging in under my temples. Even now I could feel it, growing larger, pulsing away with a life of its own, slithering through me, pushing aside muscle and veins and making its own little nest inside my body, like maggots in a carcass.

And fuck I wanted it out; I'd been tearing at my skin, trying to grasp it through my flesh to tear it out, biting at my arms and shoulders like a dog with mange, clawing at my temples and now I was trying to make myself vomit, thinking maybe I could force it out that way, or at least my stomach acid would scorch it back through the membranes it was hiding beneath, tucked up like it belonged there, carving more and more of me away to make space.

"It's so much easier if you don't fight it." Cyclonis informed me casually, examining her fingernails in a mocking fashion of the way I so often did, leaning against the wall next to me. I hadn't even heard her come in this time, she'd just simply appeared and I was wondering if she, too, were a figment of my imagination.

"Fuck you." I rasped.

She issued a low laugh. "You don't get it yet, do you?"

"Get what?" I snapped.

"It doesn't matter how much you hate me, how much you try to fight this. That crystal's influence is spreading on its own, and it will continue to until your whole body is bound to it. There's nothing you can do to stop it."

"No." I growled, clawing at my chest now, trying to dig my fingers into my skin like I was a real meth addict. "You're wrong."

She laughed again. "Oh Angel, I'm _never_ wrong. But don't believe me; wait and see for yourself. But would you like to know what the truly hilarious thing about this is?"

"I'm dying to know, really." I said sarcastically, watching my skin grow back over the lines I'd scored into myself.

"None of this would have worked, you know. Not on any of your friends, not on you, even, if you hadn't let it. That's why I picked you, you know. You were all too perfect for this."

I stopped and looked up at her, unease flickering in my chest. "And how do you figure that?" I asked, tone low and threatening.

"The crystal's influence would have failed to take over you if you hadn't offered it the fuel, hadn't given it a place to rest. I could see the crack in your mind all this time; and now my crystal is festering away in there and there is _nothing_ you can do to stop it."

My insides froze and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to refuse to accept her words. The Oracle's words echoed in my head _"You must learn to overcome this darkness... or it shall overcome you."_

And Wasp had been trying to warn me all along...

I shook my head. No. I might not have listened to the Oracle, but I'd taken Wasp's words to heart. I could still beat this back. I had too much to hold on to, did I ever see that now; Wasp and the others for one thing, and that line, that basic thing Wasp had told me to hang on to, the one dividing me from all the things I'd been terrified to be. If nothing else my god damn pride and stubbornness was going to see me through this; I'd never wanted to become any of those things. I'd rather die than become like that.

As if she could read my thoughts Cyclonis laughed again, this one more high pitched with sadistic delight. "Sooner or later you're going to learn to believe me. But see for yourself, if you don't want to take my word for it." She reached into her cloak and pulled out a square, flashing object, holding it in front of me. "Take a look at what you've become."

I swallowed nervously and turned my head, refusing to look. I felt something jolt in my chest and then my body was moving on its own accord, chin tilting back towards her and the small mirror she had held out in her hand.

My eyes stared back at me, my mother's icy grey eyes, like the sky in November locked into her face. Except... they weren't just grey anymore; etched in among my irises were lines of red, breaking up through the grey like veins of metal in stone. Cracks of crimson glowed through my waning grey eyes, like something that had always been beneath was finally breaking through to the surface.

"You see?" Cyclonis whispered. "We can't out run who we are. He's always been a part of you, Angel, like the dark side of the moon, lying in dormancy, waiting. Waiting for me to draw him out. It could almost be an elaborate display of Fate, couldn't it? Perhaps this, in the end, was why you were drawn to Ravenscroft; you were meant to be his undoing."

"_NO_!!!" I shouted, grasping the mirror and throwing it against the wall with all my strength so that it exploded into a million wicked little pieces of silver. Cyclonis glanced at the shards, seeming unperturbed, and issued a tsking noise.

"That's seven years bad luck, you know."

I was on my feet, shaking like mad. "I will _never_ hurt them, you hear me? _NEVER_! If that's what you intended to use me for all along then you might as well kill me now, because I'll _never_ betray the Gargoyles, ever! Kill me right fucking now because I am never going to be your little puppet!"

She smirked at my glowering form. "My, your loyalty is touching. So you want me to kill you, is that it? But Angel, wouldn't that be going along the same lines as your mother? Giving up on the people who love you?"

I clenched my fist, forcing that thought down. "No. This would be more like going along the same lines as Falco."

"But in the end, it's the same. You either abandon your friends or betray them. Neither of them seem very _noble_ to me."

Yeah, but at least my way's the lesser of two evils; ain't that always the case, in the end.

"It's sort of pathetic that it took you this long to get your priorities in order." Cyclonis continued, her voice mocking thoughtfulness. "You've always had your back turned to your friends, never letting them in. And you've never made it an effort to pull yourself out of this nosedive either, even when they tried to help you, even when you've seen this future coming, however hard you tried to avoid it. Face it, Angel; you are _weak_. Only now do you see what matters most to you, and it's too late to take it back. Maybe if you would have fought a little harder, swallowed down your own self-pity, things could have been different. But you didn't, and now here you are, exactly like your mother. You really are like her, however hard you tried not to be. And deep inside, under your brittle layer of lies and ignorance, is him. You are only one or the other now."

I sank back to the floor, clutching my head. Weak... I _was_ fucking weak. I'd always been weak. I'd revelled in my own self-destructive tendencies because I was too afraid to try and change things, just like my mother. But I'd never known what to do to change it. How could I change who I was? I couldn't just ignore it, plough through life like I wasn't this ugly remainder of some bloodthirsty monster from the past. I mean I'd joined Shade, become a Sky Knight, but what sort of change did that make? Hadn't he been just a part of a squadron too in the beginning? Even if I tried not to follow in his footsteps I ended up following them! And telling the others, asking for help as I drowned inside myself, what would that have ever achieved? Even if they did accept me, like the accepted Varan, so fucking what? It didn't change who I was, didn't change anything. I'd still have this darkness in me, a permanent stain inside and eventually it all would catch up with me, I could never do enough to balance things out, to change what he'd done.

...But then... I did make one effort. I did do one thing my mother had never done.

I'd turned to Wasp.

And Wasp had told me it was what was inside our hearts that counted. And in my heart I knew I never wanted to be like him.

That had to count for something.

I looked back at up at her. "Well then I'm weak then. But it's a far cry better than being anything like you."

Annoyance flickered in her eyes for a moment before she shrugged, moving towards the door. "You tell yourself all the little lies you have to." She called to me over her shoulder. "In a few days, it's not going to matter."

Wasp snarled at her as the door closed before rushing over to me, falling to her knees beside me. "See? See? I knew you had it in you!"

I grinned at her weakly. "I dunno, maybe that's just me being stubborn."

She grinned crookedly, brushing some of the hair from my face before she backed away a little, eyes flaring wide. "...What's wrong with your eyes?" she asked in a hushed voice. She hesitated and then came closer again, leaning over me and looking into my face. "...They're going all red."

I bit my tongue, my stomach clenching uneasily. "I...I know."

She blinked at me and then trailed her fingers over my neck as if she could see the vines snaking beneath, like my skin had gone a different colour where they lay underneath. Her hand rested over my chest and she looked worried. "That crystal... it's poisoning you."

"...Yeah, I know. I can feel it, reaching up into my head."

Wasp chewed her lip uneasily. "I didn't think about that..."

I sat up a little straighter. "What do you mean?"

Wasp looked me in the eye seriously, desperately. "Don't let go. Don't let it consume you. We're coming for you, don't give up. We'll find you and we'll fix this."

"What are trying to tell me, that she's right? That it's going to take over whether I want it to or not?" I demanded, feeling panicky all of a sudden.

"...Yes."

* * *

Wasp words had set something into motion in my head, a final tumbler falling into place on some sort of dead lock.

As the hours dragged me through varying degrees of darkness I knew what was happening, slowly, inside. Those tendrils pushed up further, right into the meat of my brain, and anything they touched turned to ice, no longer a part of me. My conscious mind was shrinking, closing in around me, leaving me with echoes of the past and my own conflict, bouncing off the slowly tightening walls.

I tried to push it back, fuck did I ever try; I fought it with everything I had, summoning up mental images of flames or Wasp's machetes, hacking at those vines, trying to throw a shield against the energy, shoving it back. I grit my teeth and focused on it like mad, as if I were trying to develop telekinesis or something, imagining dragging that thing out, burning it out of me with my own energy. However my efforts only seemed to slow the process; ever so slowly it kept spreading, black, toxic water flowing further into me, soaking into muscles and bone marrow, eating up space in my head, blackening me from the inside.

That god damn darkness, now with a life of its own.

And it was all my own damn fault; I recalled Varan once telling me, as if he were a really Zen guy or something, that negative thoughts only attracted negative vibes. I hadn't believed any of that voodoo crap at the time, but now it seemed like it had come back to bite me in the most literal of senses. I'd fed those shadows all these years, turned my chest into an oily cesspool, clogging up my veins with toxins and tar and forming tumours in my head. Had I really not known what to do about it, or was I just too fucking weak and blind to see it, to do anything about it? Anything that I'd spoken to Wasp about, any help she'd tried to give me, it was all too little, too late. Rainer told me to hang on to who I was, and I knew the answer now; I was a god damn coward, I dragged myself through life trying to avoid my own shadow, clinging to my friend's presence desperately and yet always being too disgusted with myself to accept them completely. I sought loneliness and self-torment to avoid feeling like a worthless piece of shit and couldn't bear to be honest with the others, as if I didn't trust them at all. But I _did_ trust them; I just didn't think, once they knew it all, they'd be able to trust me.

I just... I just didn't know what to do anymore. I could hold onto the others all I wanted, and if Cyclonis had just been trying to brainwash me I believed rather fiercely I would have been able to ignore all that. Her remarks would have stung and pissed me off, sure, but I never would have started collapsing like this. Hell I was too headstrong for that, if nothing else, and with thoughts of the others in my head, that would have broken down anything she could have thrown at me. And as soon as I got out of here I'd really start working on myself, break down some walls, throw out the bones in my closet, move on at long last and maybe one day be able to bask in the sun and feel like I really deserved things, that I was worthy of my brave-hearted friends, that I grow past everything else, like Varan had. And maybe... maybe I'd be worthy of someone like Wasp too. Maybe I could just start my whole life over; hell I was only seventeen, I had years ahead of me yet, and I didn't want to face them like this.

But that crystal was consuming me inside; it had already intertwined its energy with my body, that much was obvious. I was just like Halo now and it disgusted me. And now it was reaching into my head to, blacking out everything that kept me going and leaving me with all the things I hated about myself instead. Cyclonis was picking at the scabs of my brain to speed up the process, turn me against myself, and there was nothing I could do to stop that crystal until it was torn out of me for good. Which wouldn't happen unless... unless the others found me. And hell, I didn't even know where I was, how on Atmos were the going to find me?

And, I dunno, maybe I would or maybe I wouldn't be able to fight back those probing tendrils from my mind if I didn't have to sit with the fact that I'd let it all in, invited it right into me. I'd let all this happen, for all my efforts and running in the past I'd just failed. And I'd be dragging Shade and the others down with me... that was the part that really hurt.

I remembered imaginary-Falshade warning me that if I tried to hurt them he'd kill me. And I really hoped he would. If this was what I was going to become, if this was what I was now... then I'd rather be dead. And if anyone ought to do it, it was Shade.

I felt someone shuffle over beside me and looked at Wasp hazily. She smiled a bit and brushed my jaw, a look of sad resignation on her face. I wanted to tell her to smile, wanted to tell her that I'd tried, baby I'd tried, but I couldn't make myself completely believe I had so I didn't. I wanted to tell her I was sorry, even though I knew it wasn't really her and she'd never hear any of the words I uttered down here and I didn't think that one words was enough to cover everything. Not by a long shot.

"Hi." I said instead, taking her line today. She grinned a bit and didn't say anything. I straightened and looked at her critically. "What's up?"

She gave me a sad look and stretched her mouth wide before closing it again, digging a finger into her throat.

"...You can't talk anymore?" I breathed and she nodded, giving me a sad little smile. My throat constricted and I felt like I wanted to cry. "Wasp... I... I'm losing. It's closing up on me. And I hate it, I've been trying to keep it back but it just keeps spreading, I can't stop it. I _hate_ it, hate myself. What am I going to _do_?"

She frowned and pressed in against me, grabbing my hand and threading her fingers through mine. My hand was cold, numbed, like it wasn't attached to me anymore. Or like I wasn't attached to it. She pushed her head under my chin slid into my lap a bit, curled up against me. And, I dunno, maybe it was because she'd lost her voice and I wanted to make her smile, or maybe because I was just losing it and wanted to cling to something other than the knowledge that I'd destroyed myself and was slowly becoming something I'd been trying my whole life to avoid. Fuck did I ever hate that thought, it made me want to start bawling my eyes out and throw a gigantic fit, smashing anything in range. But all I had down here was stone walls and however hard I tried to beat against them my fingers and wrists just healed again and again while the stone remained undamaged.

I just wanted something other than that.

So I started singing this song I'd heard Stork time and time again sing in her off-key baby voice to her Hornet, her voice rattling through the exhaust system.

"You are my sunshine... my only sunshine." I muttered, stroking Wasp's hair and thinking about how god damn true that was. "You make me happy when... skies are grey. You'll never know... how much I..."

I choked, unable to keep going, unable to hold back the bitterness and anguish any longer. It occurred to me that Wasp was a manifestation of the brittle, drowning hope in me, the part of me that tried to hold on, because fuck, what better to show me what to hold on to then Wasp herself? And now that she couldn't speak it just showed me that that part of me was fading, it had never been strong enough it was dying and soon I was going to be worse than dead. I wouldn't be me anymore, I'd lose everything, forget my friends and anything that ever mattered and sooner or later I'd wind up dead, because Falshade... Falshade would have to kill me. I'd be killed by my own brother.

Wasp vanished as I completely broke down, the finality of it all snapping something in me. It had always taken the real ending of the situation, the sight of the dead end in my mind, to break me and once again I found myself, only when things couldn't be taken back, choking and bawling and wishing I could take it all back, change it. It killed me to know whether I wanted to or not, and I so desperately wanted it not to happen, I was going to lose everything, I was going to be swallowed up by my own over-fed inner demons and become what I'd been trying to avoid all my life. I was never going to see the others again, I was going to be used against them, and I was never... I was never going to even tell them that I loved them, or goodbye, or that I was sorry, or anything. I was just going to fade out, a star dying in a far away constellation, just like my god damn mother and he was going to rise up from underneath, a horrible, black moth breaking through the cocoon. I'd never wrestle with Stork again, I'd never spar with Shade or annoy Varan until he cracked into making me brownies, never going to hear Fraggle's maniac laughter or... hold Wasp again. And I was going to tarnish their memory of me while doing it. This was worse than just giving up and dying. This was realizing you were going to become everything you hated, and you'd brought it all on yourself because you'd never been as strong or brave as Falshade or Wasp and you'd never just killed yourself when you had the chance and saved everyone the misery.

"I wish you guys could hear me." I whispered. "I..." What would I tell them?

I'd tell them goodbye.

And maybe... maybe they'd somehow know. Or maybe I should at least try, for my own benefit, before I forgot them all completely and lost myself, just so... just so I'd know I had. And you know maybe... maybe us being Gargoyles and all, always so close, able to read one another's body language and the looks in each other's eyes, maybe they'd just know what I would have said anyways.

I cleared my throat a bit and tried to think of something sincere, something that they'd say 'yeah, that's what Angel would say'. Because I wanted to cling to whatever part of me was left for as long as I could.

"...Fraggle. Look man, I'm sorry for all those times I complained about your music." I murmured after awhile, lying on my back on the stone floor and looking up at the ceiling, trying to sum up their faces in my mind, think of better times. "I mean it's not... it's not all that bad. Some of its kinda okay. So just... I dunno, just pick a song for me and play it extra loud, alright?"

I could almost hear him say '_yeah eh, will do_', salute and all and it made my chest seize up.

I thought of Varan next and wasn't really sure what I'd ever say to him. "Varan, I'm sorry for all those times I made you make me brownies." I muttered at last, because he'd get that, he'd hear all the things I didn't say in those words. "They were just really good fucking brownies."

Varan always had seemed like a short and to the point kinda guy. Long goodbyes just weren't his thing; he was too sensitive.

Next was Stork... fuck this one would be tough. "...Shit, Stork, there's so much fucking stuff to say sorry for: I'm sorry for the time I put that spider in your bed, I'm sorry for the time I dumped all that vegetable oil into your skimmer's engine, I'm sorry for always making fun of you and bugging you when you were PMSing and I'm sorry for the time I scrubbed the toilet out with your toothbrush... I dunno if you ever knew about that one." I swallowed. Those were the big things I could think of. "But you know, all the other stuff... I don't wanna say sorry for that, because you and I had too much fun pissing each other off to be sorry for it. You... you're my best friend, you know, and you're like my evil twin too..." my throat closed up, clogged and aching and I couldn't keep talking anymore, it was too hard to say it all. But I kept thinking it, hoping they'd get the message all the same. '_...I'm going to miss you, Baby Girl.'_

These next two were going to be the hardest; I started shaking uncontrollably, tears rolling from the corners of my eyes as I squeezed them shut, trying to blot out the darkness, no more darkness... '_Falshade... I... I'm sorry for being an asshole to you when you were only trying to be my friend. I'm sorry I wasn't a very good friend back. And I'm sorry I didn't say 'I'm sorry' or 'I love you' or how much you mean to me more often. Because... you fucking saved me, Shade. ...And I'm sorry I never told you it was Caspia who was supposed to adopt me, that I really am your brother. I'm sorry I didn't go with her way back then... I'm sorry I missed out on being your brother. I would have been the best big brother to you. I'm glad you ended up in my room at the Academy. I'm so fucking glad. I wish I would have told you all that sooner.'_

I'd never believed people when they said they were heartbroken or any of that bullshit, but right then I really felt like mine was ripping in half, breaking and shattering inside me. My whole chest was aching, stomach in a tight knot, the tears uncontrollable by now and I didn't care, I was too far gone, too torn up and worn out and miserable to try and stop any of it. What was really the fucking point of stopping it anyways? This was all I had left now.

'_...Wasp... oh god, Wasp. I'm so, so sorry for all those times I said I hated you, for all the time I wasted being mean to you. I was stupid, so fucking stupid, I didn't see you. But now I do and you... you are so fucking special. So god damn special. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it... I wish I would have had more time with you. And... I'm not sorry that you can't love me, because I know how much he meant to you. But... I am sorry... that I never got the chance to tell you I've changed my mind... never had the chance to say..._

_I love you._

_My beautiful jungle girl.'_

* * *

I barely heard the door creak open. My mind has been closed off to a small rift of oozing grief and self loathing, faces of people I can barely remember trailing through my vision, long forgotten voices fading in my head.

Her voice sounds somehow sympathetic, sincerely sympathetic, as she crouches in front of me, violet eyes piercing into my ruined head. "So how about you and I take that walk now?" she asked lowly and I felt myself rising from the floor, body under some other control now, the larger part of my brain that has been corroded and altered into something darker, more sinister thing, something that seems familiar to me, the other side of the coin, my alter ego, my own shadow come to life.

The fresh air in the corridor startled me, such a change compared to the stale, heavy air of my cell, clotted and thick with sadness and forsaken hope. Cyclonis led me along, through the twisting tunnels, dungeons lining the walls and it occurred to me, in the tiny sliver of me that is left, that I recognized this place, something about here is reminding me of something I should know.

But there isn't enough of me left of figure out what. There are only basic things now, wane thoughts and fragile emotions, drying out and cracking in the heat of the blackness that has consumed me.

"It will go away soon." Cyclonis assured me and by now I truly believed she could hear everything in my head and I don't have the energy to be disgusted. "You be free of all those useless things that weigh you down. You'll see."

I recalled a time when I needed all those things, those biting, depressing feelings, to anchor me to the world, because at least pain lets you know you're still alive and it's better to cling even to the bad things then to have nothing. But for the life of me I couldn't tell you why that was anymore.

This must be the blackness. Wasp told me about it and now I'm in it, and thinking back on it, yeah, things were a lot better when I was what I was. Anything had been better than this.

Cyclonis led me on and on, up winding staircases and down long corridors and although my joints felt weak and disconnected I felt an insistent energy pushing me along. I don't even care where I'm going anymore.

Finally though she led me onto a wide balcony, looking out over the devastated landscaped, the infected skyline looming and roiling before us. She leaned on the black onyx railing with a self-satisfied sigh while I looked out at it all vacantly, even though this too I recognize. "You can watch all the storms being born from here." She informed me after a moment. Then she looked at me critically. "Well where are your clever words today?"

I shrugged. I don't know. Probably wherever the rest of me went, hopefully back to my friends, my spirit residing with them, maybe watching over them like Rainer did for Wasp, keeping them company in the dark hours of the night.

She smirked. "So this is what has become of Angel Thaenshar. I told you so, didn't I?"

"You did." I agreed, leaning on the railing too; the wind feels good on my face, even if it is sulphurous, reminding me of another lifetime.

"If only your friends could see you now." She went on, eyes glinting with spite. "What would they think of you? What would _Falshade _say?"

I flinched, not wanting to think about it. Wasp came up beside me, grasping my hand, trying to convey her age old lesson, don't let go Angel, don't you let go.

"They'd be disgusted with you, wouldn't they? They'd never want you back now, they'll never trust you again. That's all you've got going for you, isn't it? In all this wretched world they're all you've got and now you've lost them too."

...Yes. That's why I already said goodbye.

Wasp was shaking my arm, voice long gone, beginning to fade on the edges, her image flicker: '_No Angel no, we still love you, hold on, hold on!!!'_

"You could have been saved. Don't act like the opportunity never struck." Cyclonis' voice was louder then Wasp's feeble pleading in my head. "But you pushed her away, that blue haired woman. And she let you go. She was sick of your mother and she got sick of you too. She never wanted you. She could see it; no one could help you. You never wanted to be saved."

'_Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold-_'

"You've wanted this all along."

And it was gone. Wasp's mouth stretched in a scream and she simply dissolved, wiped free as the last shred of Angel Thaenshar was crushed and devoured by...

By Angel Thaenshar.

I killed myself in the end anyways.

And stepped into the skin I'd never wanted to wear.

But somewhere I must have known it was coming.

Because if fit me so very well.

Cyclonis turned to me and smiled, eyes flashing maliciously. "Now that suits you so much better. I've missed those eyes. So tell me, where now does your loyalty lie? With no one left in the world, who do you follow now?"

"...You."

Her mouth curved over her gleaming white teeth, psychotic triumphant shining through. "That's right. And who am I?"

"..._Master_."

"Yes." Her voice came out like the hiss of a viper, fangs sunk to the gums in her prey. She moved to me and brushed my bangs from my face, her skin as cold as mine. "My Dark Angel."

**I am the self-proclaimed queen of torture and misery. Beat me if you must.**

**The song I used for Angel to sing was Who Will Stop the Rain by CCR, one of the most epic bands that ever did play, and just goes to show our generation has nothing on the music from the good ol' days. **


	26. When Worlds Collide

**26**

**When Worlds Collide**

**A/N: Cyclonis: Just Like You Imagined by Nine Inch Nails**

**Dark Angel: The Monster is Loose by Meatloaf**

**Dark Angel & Cyclonis: Sweet Dreams by Marilyn Manson**

**Falshade vs. Dark Angel: Had Enough by Breaking Benjamin**

_**Are ya motherfuckers ready for the new shit? Stand up, admit tomorrow's never comin'**_

_**-This is the New Shit, Marilyn Manson**_

_**You had to have it all/ Well have you had enough?/ You greedy little bastard/ You will get what you deserve/ When all is said and done/ I will be the one/ To leave you in your misery/ And hate what you've become**_

_**-Had Enough, Breaking Benjamin**_

**x.x.x Dark Angel x.x.x**

Looking down over the pit in the earth he tilted his head curiously, watching the barred doors roll open slowly. The moment they rattled open far enough groups of a half dozen Blitzkrieg each poured out of their appointed holding cells and clashed into one another in the middle of the pit, snarling and shrieking like demons as sharpened teeth sunk into flesh, attacking each other all at once in one large cluster.

"We do this with every new batch." Zodiac was at his side suddenly, looking down with interest, chewing at his tongue hungrily as if he too wanted to be down there in the thick of the carnage. "To weed out the weaker ones."

Dark Angel continued to watch as ruined bodies were trampled and thrown to the side to make room for the surviving Blitzkrieg to continue fighting one another, fingers sinking into eye sockets, throats being torn wide, limbs snapping and jaws breaking. "...How many are we keeping?"

"Twelve."

"Out of the whole batch? Seems like a waste, don't you think?"

Zodiac gnashed his teeth. "The reproduction process has become so simplified by now we don't have to worry about sparing any extras. There will be another batch this size ready for tomorrow, and besides, the Master wants only the best; last thing we need is another one like Carrion."

Dark Angel smirked. "They're impressive, considering they don't even have weapons yet... they don't really even seem to care that their killing their own kind." He gave Zodiac a look. "You never had to face the pit, did you?"

Zodiac made a growling noise. "I didn't have to." He hissed. "My skills were unprecedented." He reached out slowly and drew a finger along one of the dark scars that stretched across Dark Angel's cheekbone. "Or have you forgotten?"

Dark Angel bared his teeth at him. "Well you didn't kill me, did you?"

"I may still get a chance." Zodiac vowed, sounding smug; Dark Angel quirked an eyebrow questioningly. "The Master wants to speak with you. You're coming with us today; consider it your test flight. If you should perform poorly the Master has promised you to Carrion and I. And then I _will_ have my turn in the pit."

"I look forward to it." Dark Angel assured him snidely, turning on his heel and striding from the precipice that overlooked the Blitzkrieg's pit, which now was clogged with torn corpses and severed limbs as the remaining eighteen Blitzkrieg stalked from side to side like caged wolves now that there was so much less of them. Boots striking of the solid stone floor Dark Angel stalked along the corridor, rubbing at his face irritably where Zodiac had touched him. He didn't like the arrogant Blitzkrieg at all, but Zodiac had been assigned to him, his personal guard dog, keeping an eye on him constantly as if he was just waiting for him to make a break for it. His Master still didn't trust him...

Gritting his teeth he entered the Heart Chamber, coming to a halt several feet behind his Master, who was preoccupied as usual with the large crystal before her. Cutting a small segment from one of the facets she turned, ignoring him completely, and opened her hand, allowing the shard to float above her palm. She then focused her attention at the far wall, where a small bird was fluttering hopeless on the floor, one wing dragging, broken, over the stone. She narrowed her eyes, fixating on it and holding the crystal shard out, a reddish glow seeping from her fingertips. The crystal shard started to tremble violently and the bird made a screeching noise at which Dark Angel flinched, watching the poor thing stuggled, his heart pounding unsteadily. But then the crystal shard exploded into an array of thousands of glittering pieces, cascading to the floor as a wave of red energy dissipated in the air and his Master lowered her hand, turning her back without a second glance at the bird.

"Get rid of it." She instructed to a nearby Blitzkrieg, who stalked over to the small creature, snatching it from the floor and shoving it head first into his mouth, jaws unhinging like a snake to fit the entire creature in whole. Dark Angel tried to ignore the crunching sounds as he directed his attention to his Master, who brushed the crystal dust from her pale hands and turned to him.

"Walk with me." She said, moving past him and back out into the corridor and he followed behind her obediently like her second shadow.

"I trust Zodiac has already informed you of today's attack?"

"He did."

"Good." She paused, turning to him to take him in. "I'm sending you with them; I have a bit of a job for you." He straightened to show he was listening. "You see I've become rather fed up with Halo's failures in the past; he has done his work for me and I no longer require him as my General. I'd like you to accompany them today, and should you perform well I'm hoping to grant you his position instead."

"I'm honoured."

She grinned wickedly. "So you should be; it's no minor advancement. You'd be the commander of all my Fleets, all my Blitzkrieg, you understand."

He nodded, pulse stirring. He knew what she implying; he would be the one to lead her armies into this war, leading the attacks that would wipe the Sky Knights from the face of the planet.

"I'm placing a great deal of faith on you, Dark Angel. You understand this, don't you? To disappoint me would be devastating for you."

"I understand." She narrowed her eyes at him. "_Master_." He added quickly. She nodded approvingly. "So what is the purpose of today's assault?"

She smirked, laughing under her breath and turning to keep walking. He strode along, barely a step behind her, listening as she explained. "Well, you see, there is a certain squadron out there that has been slowly growing on my nerves lately. I trust you know which squadron I am referring to."

Something hitched in his breathing and he swallowed slowly. "...The Gargoyles."

"Correct." She paused once again to look at him, eyes glinting maliciously. "I would have them obliterated, you understand, if it weren't for one member of their little team in particular. She is of great value to me and yet due to Halo's incompetence she has continued to slip through my grasp again and again."

"If I may ask, Master, how is she valuable?"

She looked back towards the Heart Chamber. "You undoubtedly noticed my failure with the crystal moments ago." She looked up at him again. "I am about to confide in you, because I find myself extremely frustrated by this fact; I do not have complete control yet over the full potential of the crystal's destructive force. If I did believe me, none of you would be of any use to me; I would be supreme ruler of the Atmos as we speak."

Dark Angel nodded, taking the subtle hint; they were all disposable.

"I believe the girl is the key to unleashing the crystal's power. With her I can wield the crystal completely, so securing my place in supremacy over this wretched world." His Master continued, her mouth curling as if she could already taste the deliciousness of utter domination. She looked at him seriously. "Understand this; I need the girl alive, and as unharmed as possible. If I were to lose her the one responsible would be punished with a fate worse than death."

Again Dark Angel took the hint. "I understand the importance of the matter. This girl... how will I recognize her?"

His Master's voice took on a dark, seductive edge. "You know the one I mean." She whispered, something cunning dancing in her eyes. "She has green eyes, very unique green eyes. Beautiful almost." She leaned in towards him suddenly, speaking into his ear. "You remember those eyes don't you? They never did look at you with very much affection."

Dark Angel's chest seemed to seize, his heart rate picking up again. In his mind he could see them, sea green eyes shining with laughter and stubbornness.

"Were you jealous of him, perhaps? Of the way she'd look at him and never at you?" His Master continued, her voice a sly whisper. "You were always second to the both of them, you know. They called themselves your best friends, but did they really act like it? They didn't need you around; you were disposable to them."

Dark Angel swallowed, hand curling at his side and uncurling slowly. He remembered that feeling, the paranoia and frustration with the two of them, always feeling on the outs. But then... it wasn't always that way...

"If you retrieve the girl for me, once I am finished with her I will give her to you and you can do what you wish with her." Cyclonis promised enticingly. "Would you like that?"

An entirely different pair of eyes sprang into his mind then, one a dark, earthly brown and the other a brilliant shade of amber, staring down at him, something like joy flashing across their surface, a dragonfly skipping over a pond. Those eyes held both suffering and outlandish beauty and if he recalled they could look absolutely deadly as well, piercing right through their enemy's flesh. But... he recalled them looking at him with something much different than that and felt hands ghosting over his skin, someone's voice other then Cyclonis' in his ear. He shivered and broke away from her, stepping back.

"What of the others?" he asked, ignoring her last question and she furrowed her brow at him, annoyed by his reaction.

"The others?"

"The rest of the Gargoyles. Surely they won't let the girl go without a fight."

His Master blinked at him as if this answer should have been obvious. "The girl is the only one with any use to me; kill the others. They've been a nuisance to me for too long."

Under the pulsing of the crystal in his chest Dark Angel felt a flicker of something, unease and alarm trickling through his veins.

His Master cocked her head curiously as if she could sense his sudden uncertainty. "I have something for you." She told him then, pulling something out from her cloak and holding it out in her hands. He stared at it, an adamantine crafted headpiece glinting in the grim light of the corridor.

"It belonged to your father." She explained, reaching up to place it on his head and suddenly he felt like she'd placed a huge, unwanted weight on him, his skin burning anywhere the cold metal touched him. She pulled a few strands of his lank hair over the edge of the headpiece and looked at him critically. "I consider it something of an heirloom... it suits you." Her voice almost had a taunting edge and he grit his teeth, wishing he could take it off.

She was watching him, waiting, and after struggling for a moment he coughed up his voice.

"Thank you, Master."

* * *

He heard Zodiac's boots scraping on the floor at the last minute and turned to catch what the Blitzkrieg threw at him.

"Seems like we don't have any newer weapons to waste on you." He said as Dark Angel examined his sabres, each equipped with a flickering red Firebolt crystal.

"Well that's alright; personally I find your newer weapons are of poor quality anyways."

He caught Zodiac's daggers as the slashed towards him and threw him back. "You seem to forget that my weapons have tasted your blood in the past; I wouldn't be so quick to insult them, because they might just taste it again." He snarled.

Dark Angel turned his back on him strictly to annoy him, strapping his sabres to his back and looking over the fleet of Nightflyers, waiting for their riders to launch the assault. He heard Zodiac leave and leaned against the wall, gritting his teeth. He didn't like this. Images of the girl his Master so desperately wanted kept flitting through his mind, brief flashes of lightning over the deserted wasteland of his head; her jumping on him and attempting to beat him around the head, pulling at his hair and biting into his shoulder, her leaning on him and laughing obnoxiously and one strange memory of her flinging her arms around him tightly, even though he was bleeding all over the place. These images seemed detached from him, like they were flashback from a past life, some strange form of déjà vu, but he recognized them anyways. They felt familiar to him, made something stir in his chest that he didn't understand. He had a hard time believing his Master when he saw those images... this girl, she must have meant _something_ to him before, and he must have meant something to her as well, before he'd been throttled and died in his own chest.

And then there was that other set of eyes as well, the ghostly feeling of someone's fingers twined through his in the dark, a feeling of yearning in his stomach. It wouldn't leave him alone, this feeling of a haunting presence following him, whispering words he didn't understand into his ear, tugging at him. Something from his past, the before-Angel, the Angel that was in a coma in the very back, most secluded corner of his mind, something from then knew these eyes, something had stirred at the mention of the Gargoyles and he couldn't just ignore the feeling that these people, they'd been something important to him from before, they were locked in a time capsule in his head, buried but not forgotten.

'_Kill the others._'

But...

One more image flared up in his mind, the blood splashing of over the stone walls of the pit as the new Blitzkrieg, barely out of their comatose state, ripping each other apart ruthlessly, mercilessly. They hadn't even stopped to think that this was their own kind they were killing, clones of themselves. They hadn't even stopped to ask why. They'd just done it, all too happy to butcher one another.

And somewhere inside, this made him sick. Their sole purpose was to destroy, it was what they'd been bred for. And now it was his purpose too.

Running his hand over the handle bars of his new Nightflyer, he glanced over at the stockpile of explosive devices lining the walls, ready to be grabbed as soldiers made their way to their skimmers. He moved towards them and looked them over, fingers brushing the crystals that protruded from the surfaces. Glancing back at his ride he felt his hand close around one of the devices.

... Just in case he changed his mind.

**x.x.x Varan x.x.x**

"_You really don't want to talk to me, do you?"_

_I jumped and turned to find Roo, hands on her accentuated hips, standing a little ways behind me at the entrance to the little alley I'd just skirted down. God when had that girl grown up? I mean before I'd left she'd just been this skinny little rail, mane of tangled brown hair cut short like a boy's and she certainly didn't have a figure like that._

_I cleared my throat awkwardly. "I'm not avoiding you or anything."_

"_Riiiiiiiiiiiight." She drawled, smiling mischievously and striding towards me. "Jeez though you know, you up and leave me on my lonesome after we lost Shade to the Sky Knight brigade, and now I actually have to keep _girl_ friends thanks to you, and you finally get back and can't even take a little bit of time to hang out with me?" she pressed in a bit closer, feigning a look of hurt. "I thought I was a _little_ more important than that."_

_I snorted. "Heaven forbid you finally start spending time with your own gender. And maybe the reason I up and left was because you kept beating me up when we were younger, did that thought ever occur to you?"_

_She cracked a grin, punching my arm playfully. "You know usually girls beat up on guys because they like them. Did that thought ever occur to _you_?"_

_My tail scuffed the pavement as I swallowed nervously. "Um..."_

_She laughed, her tinkling little pixie laugh that didn't suit her new punk persona. "So what have you been up to? What's it like being a big hero?"_

"_I wouldn't know, you'd have to ask one." I told her. "I've actually become more of a mother, believe it or not."_

_Roo laughed. "Oh man that sounds like you alright. So you're looking after those little punks huh? That's adorable."_

"_I wouldn't go so far to say that." I said wearily. "But what about you though? How have you been?"_

"_Oh, you know, I've been alright. Kinda lonely lately though, brothers are all off having lives of their own, and with you and Shade off saving the world... oh Thane's engaged eh? The wedding's next spring."_

"_Seriously? Wow, nice for him." _

"_Yeah I suppose so... it's just weird you know, thinking about him getting married; I mean he's not much older then you. And then he's gonna start having kids and everything... I'm gonna get dragged into babysitting, I can see it now."_

_I laughed and mussed up her violent orange hair sympathetically. "Well then you'll know how I feel."_

_She grinned again, pushing my hand away playfully. "Hey, yeah, we can start up a support group, Babysitters Anonymous." She looked up at me, the little flecks of gold shimmering in her dark brown eyes and something stirred in my chest. Roo had always been my little ally, my misfit-in-company. She'd been out of place in her world of older, tougher brothers, chasing after them and scrapping her knees trying to keep up, more like a puppy to them then their little sister. And I was just a skittish little newt from the get go, always shy and awkward, and Roo grabbed on to that, sensing companionship in someone not as overbearing and reckless. I was someone whose hand she could grab, pulling me along after Shade and her brothers, someone she could strike off, no longer the weakest of the pack. And I could play off her energy, her zeal and childishness, just I did with Falshade's, letting it infect me and influence me and shake off some of my anxiety for awhile. She and I acted as each other's sanction when the rough-and-tumble ways of our wild-boy counterparts got to be too much. Despite her energetic, spunky attitude there was something deeper and softer about Roo too, something that noticed things that I did, like shining pebbles and bird feathers, all the little treasures offered up to children from the tangled grass and dusty earth. I mean once her brothers grew up a bit and deemed us secondary friends, she still stuck with Shade and I and the two of them got along as thick as thieves, coaxing me along into some harebrained adventure or other. But she'd always clung to me too, twirling about me and showing me the hidden, sensitive side of her she was too proud to show her brothers. _

_And then of course there was that year Falshade was at the Academy. During that time we were each other's only friend and she barely left me alone long enough to get any training in with Owhl. She used to drag me out into rainstorms and bring me home-made cupcakes, always decorated differently, which she wouldn't let me have until I told her at least three things that were brilliant about her on that given day. And sometimes, always when I was least expecting it, she'd kiss me on the cheek before running off, laughing like a lunatic. _

_And then I just left, without thinking about the nervous, budding feelings I had for her or what she was going to do without me, her only remaining link to childhood, her last ally._

_I felt pretty bad around then; I mean I would have gone with Shade regardless, that was just a given. But perhaps I should have spent more time with her, taken into consideration all the little messages she sent me, or should have at least said goodbye. _

"_Hey what's up with you?"_

"_Hmm? Nothing." I scuffed my foot. "Just thinking."_

_She quirked an eyebrow. "So I meant to ask; what with you flying around being a big hero and all, you must meet a lot of girls. Got yourself a girlfriend?"_

_I felt my cheeks burn. "No." I said, tail flicking annoyingly. "Come on, you serious? If girls are watching me I assure you it's not because they want to get to know me."_

_She frowned. "You're talking about the whole scales thing? What's the big deal with that?"_

_I shrugged; I didn't feel like getting into that right now. "What about you then?"_

"_What, do I have a girlfriend?" she laughed and I rolled my eyes. "Nah, and I don't have a boyfriend either. There's not a good-looking guy on this terra... well not anymore anyways."_

_I gave her a look but she ignored me. "Hey, wanted to show you something." She said, sitting on a nearby crate and unlacing her shoe, a high-top the stretched all the way to mid-calf and was as orange as her hair. Man she would have gotten along well with Stork..._

"_It's not another tattoo, is it?"_

_She laughed. "I wish. Man mom freaked when I came home with this, I'm not allowed anymore tattoos or piercings until I'm out of the house." She wrinkled her nose a bit, silver septum hoop flashing in the sun. I dunno, I'd never been really into the whole facial piercing gig, but I didn't mind hers so much. The tattoo though I wasn't too sure about._

_She dropped her shoe on the ground and I had to grin at her stocking, striped orange and blue. Oh yeah, she and Stork would have been the best of pals. She pulled her sock off as well and then stuck her pale little human foot out towards me, wiggling her toes. "Ta-dah!"_

"_Ew, human feet." I said and she kicked at me, pressing her toes against my knee and spreading them wide like little tiny fingers. I cocked my head and felt a smile spread over my face when I looked at them more closely; all five little nails were painted with a coat of shiny, forest green._

"_I've been keeping them like that you know, waiting to show you." She said, her voice hushed a bit and I glanced at her. She took her foot back and pulled her sock back on half-heartedly, looking up at me. "Do you ever miss me?"_

"_...Yeah, sometimes. I miss having you around to help me out; I'm still stuck with a bunch of rowdy kids you know." I said quietly, my tail holding still for once._

"_I miss you too. A lot. When I'm all by myself, or listening to my friends go on about boy bands. Sometimes I kinda wish I would have come with you guys. Seems like a lot more fun than being stuck on this bloody rock."_

"_You... you could, you know. Shade would say yes, and the others wouldn't mind. Hell, Stork would love having you around."_

_She shook her head, pulling on her shoe and ignoring the laces. "Nah. I don't know any fancy sword moves or anything."_

_I sighed. "You girls are so indecisive."_

"_Oh, hey now!" she said, pretending to be annoyed, smacking my arm and standing on her crate. "Damn did you ever get tall."_

"_Maybe you're just shrinking." I teased, still feeling a bit bad. Why hadn't I ever thought to see if she'd want to come along? What was so different with her then my friendship with Shade?_

_She snorted and then tilted her head, looking like she was considering something. Then she let out an exaggerated sigh. "You're going to have to be closer for this to work." She said and before I could ask what she meant she reached out, grabbed me by my vest and pulled me in closer, pressing her soft, warm lips to mine. _

_At first I was completely dumbstruck, paralysed by shock. I mean I'd never been kissed in my life and Roo's boldness took me by surprise. But then it was like something melted in me, all nervousness gone and I tucked my hand around her waist, careful not to slice her with my claws or pull her off her crate by accident. She leaned in closer when I hesitantly kissed her back and I could feel her heat on my skin, her delightfully warm-blooded body pressed to my cooler one, feeling better than any ray of sunshine._

_I don't know how long we stayed like that but eventually she broke away and smiled at me, no longer her suggestive, mischievous smile but the one I remembered when she was just a pint-sized little girl, running after us boys and grasping my hands, tugging me along to find fossils and bird's nests with her. I smiled timidly back._

"_Well I guess I won't hold you up any longer." She said, hopping off the crate. _

"_...I didn't mind. I really did like seeing you, you know." I told her honestly and she smiled again, moving in to hug me, briefly but tightly, and then skipping back, her laces flopping around her feet._

"_Yeah, I'm glad I got a chance to see you too. Any idea when you'll be back again?"_

"_No idea. You know how Shade is, everything's a spur of the moment decision with him."_

"_Yeah, but that's what makes him fun." She pointed out. "Anyways, I'll see you around then, Var. Don't let those kids get you too down."_

"_Oh they're not so bad I guess." I said, not lying, not really. I loved the little buggers anyways, so what was I really going to do? "Take care, Roo."_

"_Yeah, you too." She turned and moved back down the alley before pausing and turning back to me. _

"_I'll keep them green, you know." She called. "Until you get back."_

**.x.**

"Hey, what's up with you?"

"Huh?" I looked up at Stork, who'd prodded me with one of her wrenches. "Oh, nothing, just thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing."

"You sure? You kinda sighed and looked all nostalgic for a second. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I shifted slightly, trying to chase thoughts of Roo from my head. I'd been thinking about her a lot lately, and I wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe I'd just been trying to think of happier memories, since nothing but depressing things had been going on lately. But I think deep down I was wondering if I really would see her again, ever go back to Vatican sometime, or if she'd just end up keeping her toenails green forever. Or until she met someone else I mean. I wasn't so arrogant to think she was totally committed to me. I mean hell, we were close friends and everything, but it had been one kiss, we'd never really made anything official. All I had to go on was a promise of toenail polish. Like what was supposed to happen if I did go back? I could see myself being terrible in a relationship anyways, what with my awkwardness and insecurities.

And that might not ever happen anyways. I'd almost died as it was, just a few days ago, and things were steadily getting worse. There wasn't really much room to look at any future plans or relationships. All I could do was dream and wonder and wish maybe I'd had the guts to do something differently in the past.

"You're thinking about Roo, aren't you?"

I started and stiffened, tail flicking to the side uneasily. "...What makes you think that?"

"Dude, I'm a girl, I have what's called female intuition." Stork explained, holding out a hand. "I need a size thirteen." I dug the wrench out of her tool box and handed it to her and she continued. "I'm just saying I've started to really notice lovesickness when I see it. And, no offence, but you don't have a good poker face, if you know what I mean."

I sighed; Stork knew me too well. "I wouldn't go so far to say I'm lovesick. I don't even know if I'm _in_ love with the girl. That's the thing, I'm wondering if I'll ever get the chance to figure it out."

Stork made a sympathetic humming noise and patted my knee. "Falshade wouldn't like to hear that sort of pessimism. Cheer up a bit, Varan, I mean... this ain't over yet, anyways."

"Yeah, I know." I scratched at my side, itchy below my bandages. "I've just been thinking about that sort of stuff lately."

"Well, you know, I'm all ears about it. I can be a girl sometimes if you need me too, you know."

I grinned a bit. "I know. Thanks Stork, but I don't even know what I think about it all, you know? Makes it hard to talk about."

"Alright well, you know where to find me. Hand me that exhaust pipe, would you?"

I dug said pipe out of the open crate next to me and handed it to her. The two of us were camped out in the hanger, avoiding the cacophony of the bridge, where Fraggle and Wasp kept swapping records back and forth, blaring their selected music as loud as it could go, their collective coping device. Falshade had gone through with Stork's suggestion and just yesterday we'd stopped by a shipping yard and found an old, roughed up skimmer which we were able to buy for cheap. So now Stork was working avidly at patching it up for me, making it as top-notch as possible with what we had on hand; it already looked a lot better than the hunk of scrap metal we'd picked up, I had to say. I'd joined her to keep her company, as it was my skimmer she was working on after all, and had been given the role of wrench monkey for today.

However I also had an ulterior motive to sticking around down here, other than avoiding Wasp and Fraggle's music; while she'd seemed to have gained most of her strength back, running around the _Merlin_ and as obnoxious as always, we all were still a little worried about Stork and we'd been discreetly trying to keeping an eye on her between the four of us. Although I think Stork was on to our game, because she'd almost seemed annoyed with me when I insisted on sticking around in the hanger, but she'd needed a wrench monkey and let me stay anyways. Until now though she'd been a little crabby, until she'd picked up on whatever distress I'd been radiating. Stork had always amazed me that way; despite her stubborn attitude and how nasty she could be when it came down to it, she'd always been perceptive and rather sensitive to our feelings.

"Do you like her though?" Stork asked after a moment.

"We're still talking about this?"

"Yeah, 'cause it's got me interested now, and it's better than talking about all the other shit that's been going on."

She had a good point there. "Well yeah, of course I do."

"Dawww." She teased and I rolled my eyes. "We ought to start a whole teen romantics support club or something. I mean now you've got this whole long distant thing, and with Wasp..." she trailed off. "Well I just mean the girl seems lonely and... well hell I don't know anything about what was going on with Angel and her, I'd been away."

"I wasn't exactly too sure about them either." I agreed, heart contracting unhappily.

"...You think she's in love with him?"

I shifted uncomfortably; god that was a weird concept to think about. "You're the one with the female intuition."

Stork snorted. "Yeah, well it gets a bit warped when it comes to crazy little Faerieshians." Then she sighed. "Forget it, I don't wanna go into that, it makes me too sad. I feel really bad for her."

"Yeah, me too..." I trailed off and sighed. I was worried about the poor girl; she wasn't nearly as cheery as she usually was, only looking vaguely interested in anything when training was mentioned, or when her music was blaring away. Other than that she just sort of staggered miserably from place to place or stayed holed up in her room. Falshade didn't seem to be doing too well either; I could barely get him to eat anything, which I took as a bad sign, because usually he'd eat anything you put in front of him... except broccoli. I had a suspicion he was blaming himself again for everything that had happened, losing Angel, Stork's whole disaster and my injuries and had shut down a bit, constantly brooding and not very talkative. It upset me that much more to see the others distressed, even though of course I couldn't blame them, and for the life of me I didn't know how to help them, especially since they were rejecting all advances of sympathy.

"So note that I'm adding spikes and what not to your armour, to make your ride look as tough as you." Stork said, poking me to get my attention, changing the subject and trying to cheer me up. I grinned.

"I had noted. Although last thing I need is too look more intimidating. Seems to be giving off a false message don't you think?"

Stork snorted. "Nah. I could put tassels and pink racing stripes on this thing and you'd still make it look tough."

I pulled a face. "Please don't."

"As if I'd put any skimmer through such torture." Stork said. She leaned over to adjust something under the runner boards and some of her bangs fell into her face and around then she threw something of an abrupt and disarming fit. She sort of shrieked in frustration, swore under her breath angrily, shoving her bangs back and hurled her wrench at the wall.

"God _damnit_!" She seethed, sitting back and folding her arms around herself, scrunching into a little ball and radiating annoyance. I blinked at her, trying not to look too frightened.

"Uh... so that was quiet a mood swing. Anything _you_ wanted to talk about?"

She sighed irritably. "It's just... the god damn hair! And I know, I know it's just hair, I know, but... well it's like a principal thing, you know? I see the hair and it just reminds me of... of everything." She wrung her hands a bit before her eyes fell on her tube of grease, balanced on the edge of another one of her many toolboxes. Before I knew what she was doing she lunged forward, grabbed the tube and squeezed a glob of grease into her palm, clutching her bangs and smearing the oily substance over the strands, turning them a dirty shade of off-black. Then she looked at me for approval, face torn and conflicted.

"...You know we could always get you some hair dye." I muttered. "It seems like a cleaner solution, anyways."

She laughed, looking like she'd rather cry. "Yeah, I guess we could... Varan can I talk to you about something?"

I swallowed, feeling a little disarmed; I knew girls could change their mood at the drop of a hat and everything, but Stork's sudden plummet into distress had me unnerved and concerned. And while Stork and I were close and trusted one another with some of the stuff we wouldn't say or do around the others, I'd always thought Falshade was more of her confidante about anything personal. If she ever bothered to reveal anything personal at all, a rare occasion indeed.

But I nodded anyways because I was worried about her and she was my friend. "Yeah, of course."

She blew out a sigh, cleaning her greasy hands with her oil rag distractedly. "It's just... well I don't wanna mention anything to Shade, because I know he's all worried about me and I don't wanna give him any extra excuses to be all protective and nervous and shit, you know? Like he's got enough shit going on, and you guys are seriously annoying me, acting like I'm going to drop dead any second." She gave me a look and I tried and failed to look like I didn't know what she was talking about. "Like seriously, I feel fine..."

"...But?" I prodded gently after a moment.

"But... well the whole hair thing got me thinking. And mind you this theory is gonna sound real sketchy, but what with all the shit going on anything sounds believable, so... anyways. The thing is... Cyclonis has black hair, Wasp told me all about her when I asked. She has black hair, Varan, and now I don't anymore because she's not..." Stork swallowed, looking ill. "...she's not inside me anymore." she pulled a face. "God I hate that thought, it makes me feel so god damn dirty inside, you know?"

I nodded. I was still having a hard time digesting everything that Wasp had told Fraggle and I, once I was awake after all that had happened the other day. I mean... it just didn't seem plausible. But then, they'd apparently found a crystal that they could bond to people, create mutated soldiers with it from scratch, so...Stork was right, anything seemed possible now. But just the thought that she'd been among us, all along, watching everything, it was a whole new level of shock, extremely hard to swallow. I couldn't imagine how poor Stork felt. "But Stork, listen to me for a second here; you didn't know. How could you have? Who in a million years would have thought 'oh hey, I think I've got Master Cyclonis' soul hibernating in my body somewhere'? Like you're acting like you were enabling her, and you weren't, so just... don't be so hard on yourself."

"I know." She wiped at her face roughly. "But it's hard not to think like that, you know?"

I nodded again. "Yeah, I know. Anyways, so what about the whole hair thing? What are you getting at?"

"Well... I just... look, they never found Cyclonis' body, and now we know why, don't we? She didn't exactly die, she just sort of ... fuck if I know. But then I came along and she's inside of me. And... the thing is... they never found Aerrow's body either."

I blinked at her, unease curling tightly in my chest. She looked up at me, a frightened sort of certainty in her eyes. "...Varan you saw that photograph. You know I've got his eyes."

"...Lots of people have green eyes, Stork, it doesn't mean..."

"Varan you don't get it!" she said, her voice taking on a neurotic, shrill edge. "They found me in the god damn Scar as a baby! Exactly a year after Cyclonia fell, they found me in there, in the ashes, it's why they named me Feonix! And they brought me to Finn because I had Aerrow's god damn eyes! Stork told me, they all saw them, they saw Aerrow's eyes in my face! And they never... no one ever knew who my parents were. And it's all making such god damn sense; Aerrow and Cyclonis, neither of their bodies were ever found, and then I magically appear in the Scar, with Aerrow's eyes and apparently Cyclonis' hair!"

I gawked at her. "...They found you in the Scar?" I repeated dumbly.

She nodded miserably. "Yes. And the thing is... Angel said it before, if Shade's dreams are telling us the Storm Hawks have a role to play in this, that somehow they're connected to this, then how? We were missing the link... and I think I'm it. Think of it, I was raised by Finn, I'm the only one of us who has any connection to them. And if I've got Aerrow's eyes... then it makes me think that somehow... he's in me too."

I'd never felt more completely dumbstruck in my life. "Stork... I don't see how..."

Stork shook her head, biting at her lip, burying her face in her knees. "And the thing is..." she continued, interrupting my rambling. "What if he gets out of me too? What if I'm just this thing, this shell carrying them both around, and if he comes back then I'll just..."

I snapped out of my confused stupor then, my heart aching at the sound of the brittleness in her voice, no longer her bold tone but just a scared little girl, lost in the world. I leaned forward and looped and arm around her carefully, leaning against her and talking to her cheek because she had her face hidden from me. "Stork, listen to me. I don't know what's going on, how Cyclonis ended up in you, or if Aerrow's somehow in there too, but I know you, Stork, I know you're more than just a shell. So you might have his eyes, you might have had the black hair, but you know what, you've got your own blonde hair and your own freckles and laugh and smile and you're your own person. Inside it's just you, and Cyclonis was just renting some space, you know? And if Aerrow's in there that's all he's doing, you're still completely our girl Stork outside the two of them. Whatever the fuck is going on, we'll get through it, we'll figure it all out, and in the end you'll still be Stork, you're always going to be Stork. And the Stork I know is too brilliant to just fade away."

She peeked up at me from over her arm, emerald green eyes shining with tears. She sniffled. "...You think so?"

"Definitely." I pulled her up towards me, ignoring the pain that sang through my taught, burnt skin and cradled her a bit. She accepted my gesture of comfort eagerly for a few minutes before gently pulling away, wiping at her face and smudging grease onto her cheeks.

"Thanks Varan." She said quietly. "It's just... it's been eating me up for ages that idea. I feel like I'm having an identity crisis, and just so much is falling into place the more I think of it. Shade says I was in that dream, and the Lightning Claw, that was Aerrow's move, somehow he's still a part of all this, and I don't know what that means for me. I feel nervous all the time, like I'm all of a sudden just going to have another brain attack and this time I won't wake up."

I made a sympathetic noise and rubbed her shoulder, careful not to nick her soft skin with my claws. "We'll figure it all out. You're not going to stop existing, so don't worry about it."

She blew out a shaky sigh and grinned a bit. "...Yeah, I know we will... you really think I'm brilliant?"

This was coming from the girl who proclaimed her own brilliance about thirty seven times a day.

"Yeah, I do, and the others do too."

She grinned with a bit more enthusiasm this time. "Cool beans. I think ya'll are brilliant too."

I grinned too, ruffling her hair. "Well, thanks. But you know, and I mean you don't have to do it right yet, but you should tell Shade about this. If we are missing puzzle pieces in all of this mess then we really gotta start putting together the ones we do have. He needs to be on the same page. And I know you don't want to worry him." I interrupted as she opened her mouth to argue. "But Shade's never been one to want to pass things off just so he won't be worried about them. And besides, he wouldn't like knowing it's eating you up like this. That boy cares about you a lot, you know, and he'd wanna make sure whatever you're going through, you'll have all of us by your side, you know?"

Stork wrinkled her nose, looking conflicted. "You know, you're the only one who can get away with being so cheesy and sentimental." She informed me after awhile. "If it were anyone else on the planet I'd have to beat them up for being so mushy."

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. "Yeah I know. It's because I take so much bullshit from you guys you know, it makes it that much more amazing that I can still be so patient and caring."

She laughed and punched my arm playfully, being careful to avoid any sore spots. "Yeah yeah, whatever. Seriously though, thanks." She said earnestly, smiling at me. "You're little lovey-dovey motivational speeches always do the trick."

"Well at least I have some other skill outside the culinary field."

She snorted and scuffed a spot of grease from my new/used skimmer. "Well, the angst-fest is over, back to work." She said, reaching for her wrench again before remembering it was lying on the other side of the hanger. "Hey, wanna be that much more amazing for me and go and grab that?"

I heaved an exaggerated sigh but got up, edging around the other's skimmers and the parts she had littered over the floor to retrieve her wrench.

"Thank ya darling." She trilled when I passed it back to her and was about to ask me something else when Falshade cut her off, his voice echoing over the intercom.

"Hey guys, were almost at our terra, you wanna come up here for a bit and..." he trailed off suddenly and Stork and I exchanged a look. She got up from where she'd been sitting on her knees in front of my skimmer and I stood uneasily, tail twitching. We waited with baited breath until Falshade's voice finally picked up again, a hard edge in his tone:

"The both of you get your gear on; they were expecting us."

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x **

"Okay, ready?" I called to Wasp from the other side of the bridge. She nodded and I threw the Striker crystal for the umpteenth time at her. She held out her hand like a telekinetic and narrowed her eyes, focusing on the crystal as it sailed towards her. About a foot in front of her it slowed to a halt in mid air, quivered for a second and then fell to the floor with a clatter.

"Damn." She said, scooping it up and tossing it back to me.

"Well I'd consider it a feat that you can stop it at all; I can't do it." I reminded her positively.

I'd gotten sick of mulling over the Prophecy, trying to find something, anything, that might tell us where to find Angel, going over notes I'd made about things from my dreams and what they'd meant symbolically and my field guide as well until my head started to hurt so bad I felt sick. So I'd gone looking for Wasp, since Varan and Stork were busy in the hanger and figuring she could use a distraction as well as I could. I found her in Angel's room of all places, curled up tightly on his bed, murmuring to her dragon figurine incoherently, nose buried in one of his shirts. I lured her out, figuring it was unhealthy for her to be so depressed and clinging to whatever part of him still remained around the ship like that, and dragged her to bridge with me. And now here we were, an hour later, trying to pass the time and distract ourselves from our worry and misery by practicing her new found skill. It had taken us awhile for her to be able to get any sort of hold on the crystal's energy at all, making it slow down and then stop altogether, and now she was trying to have enough control over it to get it to come straight to her outstretched hand, slowing its momentum dramatically.

Fraggle's ears perked up as the last song on his Bad Hair Day record played itself out and the needle scratched against the rim of the disc. "Oh, you're turn there, eh."

Wasp turned to the record player at around the same time I threw the crystal at her and it bounced off her shoulder.

"Oh, shit, sorry!"

She made a face at me, picked up the crystal and chucked it back at me. "Take that!" she said, grinning deviously. The crystal missed me by a mile, because her aim was atrocious.

"Ah ha, ya missed me." I taunted, retrieving the crystal. "That's like what, Falshade seven, Wasp zero?"

True I'd hit her that many times completely by accident but she seemed to think it was funny and I was glad to see her at least a little more perky then she'd been earlier. And I kinda thought it was funny too. My whole distraction thing was actually working quite well, I had to hand it to myself.

Wasp hopped over to the record player and put Fraggle's record back in its sleeve carefully, pulling out one of her own. The two of them had come to terms with their shared sense of comfort that they got from their appointed music and had made a deal with the other; Fraggle was allowed to play once of his records all the way through, then Wasp one of hers, and then back to Fraggle. I had to admit they had the volume up a little too loud and I definitely preferred Fraggle's more uplifting, punky music selections then Wasp's, but not all of her underground metal bands were so bad. Some of it I even liked.

"Take it away, StraightJackit!" she crowed happily as her abrasive music kicked up and then she turned back to me, bouncing about slightly to the chugging guitar notes and motioning for me to throw the crystal once again. I threw it at towards her and she stuck her hand out again while still crashing her head about to her music. The inactive crystal flared to life and slowed as it had done time and time again, but this time kept moving forward until it was pressed up right against her palm and her fingers were able to close around it easily.

She blinked in surprise before grinning wildly. "I did it!!!"

"Hey, awesome!" I said while Fraggle turned to see.

"Ya did? Hey, maybe it's your music there eh, something of a motivational thingy."

Wasp's eyes widened. "You're right!" she turned to the record player. "StraightJackit Parade you are my muse!" she spun around a bit, a few strings of crystal energy crackling around her. "_My_ _foxy babe's got rabies, sounds like lunch to me, she's all teeth and leggy, I'm gonna eat your spleeeeeeeeeeen_!!!"

"Yeah, that's inspirational stuff right there." I said and Fraggle laughed.

"Ah, you know, it's ain't such bad stuff, eh. Although I can only handle so much screamo."

"Same here; it's gotta be tasteful." Wasp agreed, holding the crystal out to me once again and I decided not to ask her what drew the line between tasteful screamo and the grating, regular kind. "Hey, maybe you should try now, Fal-Shade. In case it comes in handy, you know?"

"Try the whole crystal thing?" I clarified and she nodded enthusiastically. "I dunno, I don't think just anyone can do it."

"Well that's what _she_ said too, but I dunno, I think you could if you tried. All you have to do is lock on to the energy." Wasp went on as if it were the simplest thing in the Atmos.

"I don't even know how to do that." I explained.

"Hmm..." Wasp said, seeming to be thinking about how she could explain it to me. "You know how the Oracle said she could see our auras?"

"Yeah..."

"Well that's kinda what I mean by energies. I can't see them, but I can feel them, and you probably could too if you tried." She said, taking my hands and holding them just over her cheeks carefully, releasing me. "Feel it?"

"...I don't know what in hell I'm feeling for here."

Fraggle snorted. "Stop feeling each other, eh." He said and I whipped my hands back. Wasp pulled at his ear playfully.

"No no no, we're not actually touching each other." She said and I felt my cheeks burn for some stupid reason. Then she held her palms a little ways from Fraggle's back. "See, I can feel Fraggle's energy; I always liked yours, it's all vibrant and cheerful."

"Really?" Fraggle looked down at himself as if he could see it. "You know what there, eh, it might be a female thing you know. Like sometimes I think Stork can do it too, eh. Like you girls, you know when something's up and whatever, you pick up on that stuff, eh. Starla was really good at it too."

"See, Cyclonis mentioned something about that too." Wasp said, moving her hands over his head and along his ears until he flinched back, snorting with laughter; his ears were sensitive. "But you know, the whole female intuition, mothering instinct thing... I dunno. Sure maybe girls are a bit better at it, but like you guys seem to have it too. Like a nurturing side I mean, something that cares. And you guys can pick up on stuff; Falshade always knows when someone's upset."

I scratched at the back of my head, face still hot. "I do?"

"Yeah, eh." Fraggle nodded, going along with Wasp. "Like that's what you do, eh, you and Varan, you're always trying to take care of us and stuff."

"I like it about you guys." Wasp went on conversationally, smiling. "That you're all so nice I mean, that you look out for each other."

I smiled now too, grabbing her around the shoulders. "Well, that's what friends do. You're the one who said it, that's what sets us apart from them."

"Well that and we're just awesome, eh." Fraggle added and I laughed. We passed through a layer of clouds and Fraggle perked up with interest. "Oh hey, terra dead ahead, eh. That's our stop, isn't it?"

I looked over at the map, checking our heading. "Yeah, that should be it. Remember, approach with caution."

Fraggle nodded and eased off the throttles a little, although even from here I got the feeling it wouldn't matter; that terra looked pretty deserted, more than likely another abandoned mining terra. I felt my good mood plummet and bit down on my tongue, squelching a depressed sound in my throat. Shit... this was the fourth terra on our list of coordinates, and if it was another bust... that left one terra, and if it was unoccupied too, then what? I said we'd keep looking, there wasn't anything else to do _but_ keep looking, because I wasn't going to give up on Angel, ever. But without the coordinates we were back at square one, no leads, no where to begin looking, and we'd be wasting time. Angel's time. I felt a swell of panic in my stomach and tried to fight back the feeling of hopelessness that had become a constant occupant in my veins and limbs, waiting to reach up and strangle me when it was least appropriate.

Wasp stood next to me, sensing my distress with whatever sort of perception she had. She nuzzled against my shoulder like a cat, rubbing against me comfortingly. "There's still a lot of Atmos out there." She murmured. "We could still get lucky."

I nodded, ruffling her hair. "I know." I went over to the wall and pressed the intercom button to tell Varan and Stork we'd arrived at our destination. "Hey guys, we're almost at our terra, you wanna come up here for a bit and-" I cut myself of, darting from the wall and back to the windshield, looking out at the terra once again. "Fraggle, stop!"

The _Merlin_ jerked to a halt so suddenly I was thrown up against the windshield slightly, banging my forehead. I ignored it and kept looking out towards the terra, only about half a kilometre away by now.

"What's up, Chief?" Fraggle asked uneasily.

I focused on the movement I'd seen on the terra's surface, trying to pick it out once again. Then the clouds shifted and a blade of sunlight speared down onto the terra, reflecting sharply off metal wings as they snapped open, a whole horde of Nightflyers taking off, heading straight for us.

"...It's an ambush." I breathed, heart hammering.

"Of course." Wasp said, sounding eerily calm. "Stork knew our coordinates; Cyclonis knew where we were headed next..."

I could have kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner. "_Shit_!" I seethed, backing away from the windshield. "Alright well fine then, they want a fight, they got one." I stepped back to the intercom. "The both of you get your gear on; they were expecting us." I instructed. "Wasp, go get your armour on; Fraggle, you go _ape shit_ on those bastards, alright?"

"Right, eh." He said, gritting his teeth and tightening his grip on the controls. "I believe I've got a score to settle anyways..."

I clapped him on the shoulder and darted to my room, heart pounding in the back of my mouth as I clipped my armour on in record speed and dashed to the hanger.

Varan and Stork were waiting for us, looking weary but determined and I suddenly remembered that Varan was still healing after our last attack and Stork... well she seemed fine, but her energy still didn't seem up to its usual par. I felt nervous all of a sudden about letting them come with us, and it must have shown on my face.

"Don't you dare tell me to stay behind, unless you wanna end up singing in the sopranos." Stork growled, face set doggedly.

I sighed. "Alright, alright. But if you start feeling like you're in trouble you fall back and you can take the topside Blaster, alright?" I met her challenging stare. "_Alright_?"

"Fine." She relented after a moment.

"Varan's skimmer's all good to go?"

"Yup, she's ready to give some hell." Stork assured me, rubbing the handle bars affectionately.

"Right... Varan, same to you, I know you can look after yourself but you're still pretty roughed up. If it gets to be too much..."

"I'll come back and do what I can." He promised and I nodded gratefully; I knew he was a tough guy and all, but I was worried his injuries might compromise his movements and against these guys you really couldn't afford to be down on your game.

The bay doors rolled open and we started up our skimmers, watching the sky ahead of us become clotted with the swarm of Nightflyers, ready for the attack.  
"You guys listen; if you can, catch one of them. Not one of the Berserkers but a human, bring them back here." I said, an idea crawling into my mind. I didn't like it much, but if it meant finding out where Angel was...

"What? _Why_?" Stork asked before taking in my meaningful look. "Shade, they're not going to trade him back for a foot soldier..."

"I wasn't planning on doing hostage negotiations." I told her, something cold creeping into my voice. "We're going to _make_ them tell us where they've got Angel." I wasn't much one for torturing anybody, and I didn't know how cruel I'd be able to be, even to one of those guys. However I had faith that someone like oh, say, Wasp, would be a much more persuasive, especially if it concerned finding out where they'd taken Angel. God I'd hate to be any poor bastard she caught a hold of...

Thinking of Wasp struck me with inspiration just then and I leaned over to catch her by the arm as she was about to chase after Stork down the run way. "Wasp, can you help me with something?" I asked quietly.

"Sure."

"Listen, I've gotta keep an eye on Varan, in case it looks like he's getting into trouble out there. So can you just keep one eye on Stork for me? I know she says she's fine and I know she can handle herself, but..."

She looked at me, smiling grimly. "Of course."

"Thank you. And, you know, look after yourself." I added and she nodded.

"No worries."

"Okay." I blew out a sigh and leaned on my handle bars. "You go ahead and sick 'em."

Wasp cracked her psychotic, werewolf grin and took off with a shriek of laughter, machetes flashing wickedly in her hands. "_SOUNDS LIKE LUNCH TO MEEEEEE_!!!"

Yeah, now that seemed inspirational.

I took off, doing a quick scan to see where the others were before charging forwards to meet the first line of Nightflyers as they poured down on us like murder of crows, hurling bolts of red energy left right and center and attempting to overwhelm us, a whole plague of great, black locusts.

I met one head on, blocking his blade as it swung towards me and throwing an elbow into his face, stunning him long enough to meet him with a second blow to the face, this time with my boot. He keeled over the side of his Nightflyer, which started to plummet, losing altitude, and crashed into a second Nightflyer below. I felt a strange combination of calm and overwhelming fury rise up in me, a sort of controlled rage that let me keep my head this time, keep everything in perspective, and still absorb strength from the anguish and wrath that churned into liquid fuel in my guts. Everything that had happened coming back up on me and putting fire in my chest; I was ready to hack these guys to bits, so god damn sick of them springing on us whenever they pleased, hurting my friends and taking them from me, trying to ruin everything good in the world. I had a whole lot of anger to take out on these guys that had gone unrequited last time too and I was prepared to sink to the whole vengeance thing, teach them a serious lesson about messing with _my_ god damn squadron.

I hurled a bolt of energy at a Nightflyer that was coming up to side-swipe Varan while he was distracted and then rolled to the side as someone tried to slice my arm off, coming in low to attack me. As my skimmer flipped under his I slashed upwards with Sliver and felt it bite through metal as it hacked both port side wings off. The Nightflyer plunged past me and I turned, about to charge into the midst of a group of about seven that were closing in on Wasp, when something roared overhead of me, so large and fast I was buffeted by the air current, my Ultra pitching right over itself in a summersault and I was nearly vaulted from my seat. I looked up to see the _Merlin _racing by overhead, Fraggle turning her to side so suddenly I heard the rudders screeching in protest, the broad side of her hull crunching into a horde of them. Skimmers exploded into hundreds of pieces and riders jumping ship to avoid being crushed, Fraggle hollering the whole time: "WOOOOOO, TAKE THAT YA BLOODY HOSERS!!!!"

"Okay, Fraggle, when I said go ape shit I meant keep in mind we're out here too." I told him over my intercom, watching soldiers and busted up skimmers alike plummeting down into the clouds below, smoke trailing acridly.

"Oh sorry eh, I almost get'cha?"

"Pretty damn close." I agreed. "Anyways, just keep an eye out for us, alright?"

"Gotcha." He said before ploughing into another group of them and I took off, looking for Varan in the mess of skimmers and bodies, in case he could use a hand.

"SHADE, LOOK OUT!!!" I heard him yell from above me a few moments later and looked up to see something flying through the air, pulsing and heading straight for a group of Nightflyers that were dead ahead of me.

Ah, shit.

I wrenched my handle bars upwards and threw my throttles into overdrive, tipping nearly vertical as I accelerated like mad, desperate to put some distance between me and that explosive before it went off.

The shockwave caught up to me a few seconds later, blasting me upwards and I had to go into a wild barrel roll to avoid colliding with the other Nightflyers that had been higher up, flipping and rolling between dozens of them as we all were rattled about by the force of the explosion. Shrapnel was propelled like rockets among us, spearing into engines and flesh alike; I felt something strike off the underside of my Ultra but it must not have penetrated the armour because my ride thankfully didn't start smoking or shuddering below me. I almost got my wings clipped off when I narrowly avoided one Nightflyer, metal screeching against metal and then I was free of the tangled mess of them, high above the battle field so I could watch all the little bits that remained of both Nightflyers and soldiers drop down like a rain of carnage into the Wastelands far below.

"Shit I'm sorry!" Varan said remorsefully, pulling up beside me. "I didn't see you down there until after I threw it."

"Well you're the second one of us today to almost kill me." I said, but I was grinning to let him know I was just teasing. "It's alright Var. You doing okay?"

"Side hurts like hell, but I'm fine, can still move alright and everything." He said, looking down at the mass of Nightflyers that were blocking out the sky below us. "Jesus, Shade, look at them all... why are there so many? You'd almost think they really wanna finish us for good this time."

Unfortunately that probably was the case.

"Numbers don't mean anything." I reminded him, although yeah, they did really help. "We'll get out of this. Just watch for us before you throw another one of those things; we don't need to lose anyone else."

He grimaced and I spied Stork and Wasp among the swarm of Nightflyers, fighting close to one another. Then I saw Halo making a beeline for them from off to the side and before I knew what I was doing I had my skimmer in a nosedive, picking up more and more speed as I dove down like a shooting star, keeping my steering locked onto his skimmer as I got closer and closer, wind screaming in my ears.

He was almost on top of Stork, halberd raised high to slice her when I crashed into him like a meteor, the front end of my Ultra pounding into his so hard I felt his Nightflyer crumple below me. Blood erupted up into my face as he howled, arms crushed under the mighty force of my skimmer slamming into his. The front end of my Ultra caved slightly under the impact and as I rolled free I saw a thin trail of smoke curling from my engine, but my meters were reading fine and my skimmer was still aloft so I hadn't received that much damage. I watched Halo and his skimmer drop down out of sight and couldn't help but smirk.

"You scared the shit out of me!" Stork snapped, smacking the back of my head as she flew by, slamming her axe into the grill of an oncoming Nightflyer, jerking it so violently that its rider was pitched over the handle bars and down into the open sky. "Don't just come out of nowhere like that!"

And here I was foolishly thinking she'd been scared that I might have gone plunging into the Wastelands.

"Right, next time I'll just let you handle him." I said sullenly, hurling another bolt of energy at some oncoming skimmers.

She was about to say something when that horrible, piercing voice exploded in our ears: "WELL LOOKIE WHO'S BACK!!!" Carrion screeched, pulling up close to us and raising her hammer as we wheeled about, alarmed by her sudden appearance. "Hmm, who shall I smush first, the Sky Knight or his little girlfriend?" she cackled in sadistic delight. "Eeny, meeny, miny-"

"MO!!!" Wasp howled, crashing into her Nightflyer from out of nowhere, throwing her impending strike to the side with one of her machetes and diving in with the other, aiming for Carrion's exposed ribs.

Carrion let out an enraged shriek. "WHY-WON'T-YOU-_DIE_?!?" she screamed at Wasp, coming back in with her hammer, which Wasp dodged. The wings of their skimmers were locked together and she leapt back from her seat onto her starboard wing, machetes crossed in from of her challengingly.

"Weird, I was going to ask you the same thing!" she said, sounding sincerely fascinated, and Carrion lunged at, sweeping out with her hammer in attempt to literally knock Wasp's legs out from under her. Wasp jumped over her swing and crashed into her, hands wound in her shirt, jaws lunging for her throat, snarling. Carrion flipped her over top of her and raised her hammer to bring it down on Wasp's head.

I rocketed over head, Sliver knocking her hammer's blow to the side and my boot coming out to catch Carrion in the neck, snapping her head to the side. She shrieked and lunged after me, forgetting about Wasp and attempting to make the jump to my skimmer. She had a hold of my wings when Wasp sprang forward and seized her, hauling her back, fangs sunk into her narrow shoulder. I rolled to the side, tearing my skimmer out of her grasp and circled back around. I had to get one of them to realize if they didn't unlock their skimmers they were very shortly going to start plunging into the Wastelands and since they were both bent on killing the other I figured I was going to have to knock Carrion from their locked wings, or dart in to catch Wasp quickly if I had to. I flung a bolt of energy at Carrion, who snarled and turned to me, raising her hammer and I only just avoid getting my wings torn off as she swung wildly at my skimmer.

Wasp, who was bleeding I only just realized, hauled herself up onto her wings and looked like she was about to throw herself at Carrion again when she froze, ears standing up from her head, and turned around, looking out at the rest of the battle. "...Angel?" I heard her call out incredulously.

"WASP, LOOK OUT!" Stork screamed at her, only just looking over from where she'd gutted another Nightflyer with her axe, but her cry came too late. Carrion thundered into Wasp, blasting her from her wings and the two of them went tumbling into the open air. Stork dove down after the two of them, flinging a throwing axe at Carrion and yanking it back when it stuck in her shoulder blade, hauling her off Wasp with a sickening wrenching sound as her axe pulled free of Carrion's plummeting form. Stork continued her dive to catch Wasp, oblivious to all else, and that's when I caught sight of Zodiac closing in on her from out of nowhere and I my vision went red.

I was speeding towards him, ready to crash into him and tear him to pieces. How was he still fucking _alive_??? He'd taken Angel away from us and now he was going after Stork once more and it set something off like an explosion in my chest. I was going to make him suffer, I was going to chop his god damn _head_ off for tangling with my best friends.

I met him just as he was reaching out for Stork, thundering into him and slashing out with Sliver, catching his daggers and throwing them to the side, slamming a punch into his jaw with my free hand. I heard him snarl and then the claws on his other hand were coming at me and I twisted, blocking with Sliver and then turning my arm until my muscles sang with pain, reversing my block and attempting to slice into his exposed throat before he had time to catch my blade.

But then something blasted into the side of my skimmer so hard I was sent spinning to the side, my leg throbbing with pain, having almost been crushed with that blow. Shaking my head to get my senses back I looked up just in time to see a red blade coming down at me and got Sliver up to block it, my elbow bending back a bit with the force. I looked into the face of who was attacking me, prepared to deliver a good kick into their chest while I had their arm out of the way and then felt my entire body freeze, blood turning to ice in my veins.

His eyes were burning fiercely as he leered down at me. But they were the wrong eyes... those weren't his eyes, they weren't his pale grey in colour. They were a deep, bloody crimson, gruesome orbs leaping out at me from the wrong face.

But it was still his face.

"A...Angel?" I choked out, my body completely numb. What was wrong with his _eyes_?

His other sabre came out of nowhere, nearly diving right into my ribcage, and I only just managed to block it, so stunned I could barely function. He wasn't as hesitant though; he slashed out at me again with his other sabre, which I caught with the armour on my forearm, feeling it bite into my flesh and I shoved it back, yanking my skimmer away from him, wondering why in hell he was attacking me.

He chased after me, slashing at me again, honestly trying to hack me apart and that kicked my fighting instincts into play, even if the rest of me was still reeling in utter shock. I caught his sword and flung his arm out to the side, diving in with Sliver, aiming for his controls. He caught my attack with his other sabre and slammed his boot into my collar bone, sending me tumbling back, almost right off the other side of me skimmer. Swallowing down my pain I caught him by the wrist when he slashed down at me and shoved him back, standing on my skimmer and leaning into his face.

"Angel, it's me!!!" I shouted at him, shaking him. "Stop it!!!"

He gnashed his teeth at me as if he didn't even recognize me and slammed the hilt of his sabre into my jaw so hard it almost knocked it out of socket. I fell back to my skimmer, pain and shock disorientating me and I wasn't able to wrench my ride out of the way fast enough as one of his sabres plunged into my engine compartment.

"FALSHADE!!!" I heard someone cry out as my ride started to shake and dip to the side. Shit shit _shit_! I tried to pull up, looking for the _Merlin_, but it was way off on the other side of our aerial battlefield; I'd never make it that far.

Then my eyes fell on the terra, a lot closer then the _Merlin_, and I yanked my steering around, aiming for it, opening my throttles wide to get every last bit of speed from them as I could before my engine choked, sputtered twice and then died on me. I had enough momentum to coast along, getting closer to the terra, before my Ultra's nose started to dip and then my skimmer was picking up speed, decreasing steadily in altitude. I heard that horrible whining sound as my ride plummeted and tried to keep the front end of my skimmer up, leaning back hard on my controls.

I had just barely made it over the edge of the terra when my ride completely gave out on me and went into a nosedive, the ground rushing up to meet me. At the last second I managed to wrench my controls upwards once more, lifting the front end of my skimmer so that the underside and not the grill would take the brunt of the hit and then I crashed down hard onto the terra's surface, vaulted from my skimmer as it punched hard into the earth, metal squealing as it scraped along and crumpled, the entire thing tumbling over itself about four times before it slid to a halt, completely totalled.

I rolled over myself twice before similarly sliding to a stop, getting chewed up by the stone and landing in a crumpled heap about fifteen feet away from my wrecked Ultra. I groaned, pushing myself to my feet groggily as I heard Stork trying to reach me desperately from my radio.

I only made it a step towards my ride before I heard another skimmer touch down behind me and then was bowled over, someone tangled up with me as we tumbled over one another before being slammed down hard into the rock as I was pinned under my attacker.

I barely managed to get Sliver up in time to catch his sabres as they came down on me in an X, forcing my elbows back into the terra below me, muscles straining to hold him off as he snarled down on me, sun flashing off the strange headpiece he was wearing.

I struggled, heart jackhammering against my ribs painfully. "Angel!" I wheezed, wind knocked out of me. "Angel, snap out of it, it's me, it's Falshade!!! Don't you recognize me???"

He stared down at me, face like stone, eyes blazing as if I were the enemy, as if he hated me. But then something passed over him briefly and he snapped his gaze out to the battle that was still raging not very far away and he abruptly backed off me, sheathing his sabres in one fluid motion before grabbing me by the front of my shirt, hauling me up with an alarming strength and slamming me into a pillar of rock, pressing in close so the both of us were out of sight.

"Listen to me now and listen closely because we don't have a lot of time." He hissed, glancing over his shoulder at the battle again before leaning in close to me, staring right into my eyes seriously.

"Angel, what-"

He pulled me forward slightly and then slammed me up against the rock once more with an uncanny amount of strength for his thin arms. "Listen to me, Falshade!" he snapped. "Cyclonis is after Stork! She needs her and she'll stop at nothing to get her, do you understand?"

I didn't think I could feel anymore stunned then I already did, but his words hit me like a freighter. I felt panic sluice in my veins as I stared at him. "_What_? _Why_???"

"I'm not _exactly_ sure... this crystal that's she's using to do all of this, she doesn't have complete control over it yet, and she believes Stork is the key to possessing it fully. Don't ask me how because I don't know, but that's why she's after her and she will kill all of you to get her!"

I swallowed, throat constricted. "So what are we going to-"

He snapped me a look and shook me. "You're in over your head now, Falshade! You can't win this war! My suggestion is you hide, you hide Stork somewhere and you pray to god she doesn't find you."

I jerked away from him, shaking my head, trying to fight back his words. "No! I can't just give up on this, can't just let her win!" I snapped at him, wanting to push him away. He ground his teeth so hard I heard something crack. Jesus since when had he been this tall? He was almost as tall as me now and his bones, his fine bird bones, seemed thicker somehow, his narrow, boy's shoulders wider, his jaw line harder, not quite as slight as it had always been.

I forgot all about what he'd been saying as I looked over him, taking in that helmet again and the way it shoved his bangs out of his face, revealing those awful scarlet eyes, gleaming away unfittingly in his face. "...My god, Angel, what have they done to you?" I whispered, trembling as I reached out to touch his cheek. He snapped at my hand like Wasp did when she didn't want to be touched and snarled at me.

"Don't, Falshade." He growled. "Just don't." He looked out over his shoulder again as another one of Varan's explosives went off, demolishing more Nightflyers. "Listen, I've got an explosive device rigged up in my skimmer. Halo's already fallen, they'll fall back if I go down too. In a minute I'll set it off and you guys get out here. Run, Falshade."

I shook my head, overwhelming desperation taking over me and I grabbed his shoulders, shaking him slightly as if I could wake him up, snap him out of it. "Come with us." I pleaded.

He looked at me, something flickering briefly in his blood red eyes before his face hardened. "...No."

"Yes!" I shouted at him. "Come on Angel, you're still one of us, you've told me all this and you recognize me, it's still you in there and we can save you, we can fix this if you just come with us!" My voice was breaking by the end and I shook him again, harder, trying to reach him desperately, begging to find some shred of my best friend, my brother, in this guise he was wearing now.

He stared at me for a few moments, looking confused, conflicted. Then he looked down at his boots as if he couldn't bear to meet my eyes anymore. "...I don't know who I am now, Falshade." He muttered and there was something in his voice, something that sounded so much like the old Angel, my Angel, that it made my heart seize. But then he looked up again abruptly, eyes blazing once more, face set in an expression of utter contempt. "But I know I am not your ANGEL ANYMORE!!!"

His fist connected so solidly with the bridge of my nose I cracked my head back against the stone, blood starting to flow almost immediately. My knees gave out and I crumpled down to the ground, feeling like my whole heart was being torn apart. He turned his back on me and started to stride back to his Nightflyer and I heaved myself to my feet again, anger and betrayal driving me and I was ready to grab him, shake him, beat the living _shit _out of him and physically drag him back to the _Merlin_, put all this right, and then beat him some more for being such an idiot, a selfish, callous, traitorous idiot. I dove after him, catching him by the shoulder, my other arm coming around to slam a punch of my own into _his_ god damn nose and see how _he_ liked it, that son of a bitch.

But his reflexes were faster then I remembered and before I even realized he'd done it he ripped one of his sabres out of its scabbard and sliced right into the underside of my arm, tearing through skin and muscles. I recoiled with a yelp, clutching my arm to stop the bleeding and he turned on me, slamming a furious kick right into my chest and sending me reeling backwards, losing my footing and falling back into the dirt. He stood over me, one boot pressed hard into my chest so I couldn't regain my lost breath and leaned down to look me right in the eyes. "Run, Falshade." He told me, his voice hollow and cold. "Run. Because if I see you again, I will kill you."

And then he was gone, back on his Nightflyer and leaving me there in the dirt to choke for breath and try to fight back the tears that welled up in my eyes, fury and heartbreak consuming me as I pounded a fist into the stone, hating him, hating what he'd become and hating him all the more for not letting us try to fix it.

And fuck does it ever hurt to hate the people you love most.

I wanted to puke, I wanted to break down and bawl, I wanted to chase after him and beat him to a pulp, I was so god damn angry, the bitter taste of his abandonment clogging in my throat, the look of hatred in his eyes and how easily he'd seemed to accept turning his back on me, on all of us. Everything was pounding hard at the base of my skull but I felt strangely calm too, blunted of all feeling, as I watched him steer his Nightflyer into the largest group of remaining Nightflyers and at the last moment leap off the back and plummet into the sky as if he'd accepted the idea of his own death while his skimmer exploded, the blast taking out all others within a twenty foot proximity, shrapnel spraying like buck shots.

And then far below I watched Zodiac catch him, hauling him back onto his Nightflyer and start shouting out to the others to fall back. And as if the two of us were still connected I felt his gaze burn into mine as he looked back towards me where I was still crumpled on the terra and I heard his words echo in my own voice inside my head, promising him the same thing:

If I have to...

If you make me...

_I will kill you._

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

I wrenched one of my throwing axes back towards me and watched it slice through the neck of the poor bastard it had been hooked in, slowly tearing right through to the other side and I felt sick again. But then, I was getting better at this, I was more used to it; these guys were evil, sadistic sons of bitches who'd just as soon kill me and my friends as look at us. So what did I really owe them, right? It was more the gore if anything that was bothering me now.

Just then I heard another blast and whipped around, making sure none of my teammates were dropping down among the scattered pieces of skimmers. I'd lost track of them in all the pandemonium, getting separated from Wasp after I'd caught her and deposited her back on her Gremlin and I'd seen Falshade go down but I had no idea what had happened to him after that. And man forget about Varan, for a guy with a mohawk like that he sure didn't stick out much. I couldn't see any of my guys falling among all the others who'd been taken out by that explosion so I turned my focus back to my own well being and slammed my battle axe into the front of a Nightflyer that was racing past me, cutting almost clean through it like a hot knife in butter.

Around then I became aware of the call of 'fall back!' echoing between the enemies. I glanced back, watching groups of them hightailing it out of there, less than half remaining then there had been before. Oh ho, snap, score another fine victory for the Gargoyles. That'd teach them, those slimy sacks of-

Okay so, you know that phrase, don't count your chickens before they hatch?

It has an annoying amount of that thing called logic that I so hate.

I watched as, while her cohorts fled into the skies, Carrion made one last ditch attempt to try and do us in, flying in close to the _Merlin_ as Fraggle continued to fire rounds like mad after the retreating Nightflyers. She dodged one of his blasts and swooped in next to the port side engine, something soccer-ball sized in hand that she jammed against the _Merlin_'s hull before rolling free and gunning it.

Which pretty much let me know _exactly_ what she'd just stuck to our ship.

"FRAGGLE GET TO THE TERRA!!!" I screamed into my radio and then did something incredibly stupid (what else is new) and threw my throttles wide, pushing my Hornet for all she was worth towards the _Merlin_, eyes locked on the bomb as it started to pulse, glowing increasingly brighter. Oh _fuck_ that thing must have been packed to the ass full of god damn Leecher crystals, and with all the energy the engine was giving off it was only a matter of time before they absorbed their capacity and then-

I felt someone's arm wrap around my waist, almost pulling me right back off my skimmer and I turned to start hacking with my throwing axes at whoever's body that arm was attached too when I realized it was Varan's voice roaring in my ear.

"NO, STORK, NO! ARE YOU BLOODY _STUPID_???"

"VARAN, THAT THING IS GONNA-"

Well, I don't have to say it; let the bomb do the talking.

Varan and I both flinched as the roar of the explosion clashed against our ears. A huge shockwave of purple energy burst from the side of the _Merlin_ and tore the engine to shit in its passing, setting off some of the crystals inside the turbine. Almost immediately the _Merlin_ started to keel, the remaining engine struggling like mad to support the bulk of the wounded ship as she started to lose altitude faster than her remaining forward momentum could push her.

"FRAGGLE!!!" Varan and I shouted as the _Merlin _started to go down, picking up speed all the time. I suddenly remembered Stork telling me what had happened in the final battle of the Atmos, of the _Condor_ plunging into the Wastelands and Stork attempting to go down with her like a good captain.

Varan and I started to gun it at the same time, chasing after the _Merlin_, the same thought apparently occurring in our heads at the same time; Fraggle wouldn't give up on the _Merlin_, not in a million years, not even if his life depended on it, and if he didn't make it to that terra he was going to end up buried in the ruins of his good ship on the floor of the Wastelands.

And he didn't have a sky ride to bail out on, even if he wanted to.

Looking at it like that, Varan and I might just have to pull a Piper to get that stubborn fuzzball out of there.

He did make it to the terra, barely and with way to much speed; and man if I thought watching Shade go down was rough, seeing the _Merlin_ smash into that terra was just torture.

She had too much forward momentum still, and as objects in motion tend to stay in motion, she barrelled along the terra's surface, metal screeching and squealing against the stone. She ploughed through a few rock pillars and slid along on her side at one point for five teetering seconds and oh god I thought for sure she was going to roll onto her roof and that'd be the end of it, we'd never flip her back over after that. But Fraggle apparently had some brains in that blonde head of his after all and must have yanked the steering hard in the opposite direction, the rudders pushing against the earth and nearly being torn off, but managing to push the _Merlin_ back onto her belly. She came to a crunching halt against a large rock formation, smoke billowing from her damaged engine.

I think I must have stopped breathing, because I almost passed out for a second there before I sucked in a lungful of air with a squeaking noise. Varan was hanging in the air just behind me, struck dumb, eyes stretched to frightening proportions.

"Oh _god_..." I croaked.

"St...Stork, go and get Shade." Varan instructed hoarsely. "I'll... I'll go check on Fraggle."

I nodded and tried to get over my shock enough to steer towards the terra, trying to block the scar that the _Merlin _had scored into the surface from my vision. Shaking I dropped into a bit of a messy landing and spotted Falshade's Ultra, totalled, a little ways away. Falshade was sitting on one of the bent wings, fingers tangled in his hair, staring at a fixed point with a brutal expression on his face. I shut off my engine and strode over, feeling slightly hesitant in light of that look.

"...Falshade?" I called out carefully and he looked over at me slowly.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly and I nodded, moving over next to him and running a hand over his crumpled runner board.

"I'm fine... jeez your poor Ultra... what's wrong? You look seriously-oh my god!" I cut myself off, voice going high when I noticed the blood that was staining his shirt. "What are you doing just sitting here like an idiot???" I demanded, hitting him in the shoulder for being such a dumb-ass and taking his arm carefully, turning it over with a hiss. "Oooh, Shade... jeez, are you _trying_ to bleed to death?" I asked, tearing a strip from his ripped sleeve and knotting it messily on the largest part of the gash. He watched me without much interest and I could practically feel vibes of fury and hurt radiating from him. I tried to give him a look but he was avoiding my gaze.

"Come on, let's get to the _Merlin_... or what's left of her, anyways." I said, tugging at his arm until he slid off his wing and trailed after me sullenly.

God it literally hurt to see the _Merlin_ like that, as if it were one of my own friends that was beaten up like that, crumpled there like a dead bird, wings tangled and broken. "You poor baby." I murmured, touching her damaged hull gently as we made our way around to the runway, avoiding chunks of metal that had been torn free during her landing. Bile rose in my throat when I took in her butchered engine, the gouges that had been scraped into her hull.

We entered the hanger to find a nasty scene unfolding; among the ground zero that had once been my at least moderately organized tools and parts stood Varan, trying to keep a desperate hold on Wasp, who was struggling against his burly arms like mad, spitting and snarling like some feral beast, shrieking incoherently and frothing at the mouth.  
"LET ME GO!!! LET ME GO!!!" she was howling, actually trying to bite Varan through his scales.

"Wasp, _stop it_, that _hurts_!!!"

"LET ME GO!!!" she screeched again and then caught sight of Falshade. "WHY DIDN'T YOU GET HIM???" she screamed at him. "WHY DID YOU LET HIM GO???"

I had no idea what the hell she was freaking out about, but I didn't like the way she was attacking Falshade. I stepped in front of him protectively and tried to keep my head in all of this madness. "Wasp, calm down, please! What's wrong with you?" I demanded and she just ogled at me, eyes stretched wide.

"LET GO OF ME!!!" She snapped at Varan, pushing against him with her feet and fighting against his grasp ferociously.

"WASP KNOCK IT OFF OR I'M GOING TO HIT YOU AROUND THE HEAD SO HARD YOU'LL WAKE UP IN A HOSPITAL!!!" Varan roared and that got to her. She froze and went limp so suddenly he dropped her by accident.

"No hospital..." she whimpered and Varan sighed.

"Look, come here, you're bleeding." He muttered, heaving her up again and she held still obediently, aside from the shaking of her limbs, as he checked out the wound at the contour of her neck and shoulder. "Jeez are you ever lucky you were wearing this." Varan muttered, tapping her metal throat guard pointedly. "Or that could have been your jugular."

I moved closer to take a look hesitantly and pulled a face at the wide bite mark that was oozing blood over Wasp's collar bone. "Oh god, Wasp."

"Don't move." Varan instructed, looking queasy all of a sudden and picked something out of Wasp's shoulder with his claws; one of Carrion's sharpened, off-coloured teeth.

"Ewww." I groaned as Wasp took the tooth from Varan and examined it passively.

"I told you." She said, dropping it to the floor. "Breakable." Her boot came down on it hard and it crunched loudly, turning to powder under the heel of her boot.

"...Come on, let's check out the bridge." Varan muttered, turning from her and the rest of us followed after him in a morose silence.

The bridge was a disaster, chairs, books and navigational devices thrown everywhere, the record player a sparking, shattered mess on the floor where it had tumbled from its shelf. The windshield was cracked in several places and staring through it blankly at the wall of rock we'd come to a halt against was Fraggle, hands still wrapped in a death grip around the controls.

"...Fraggle?" Varan called out carefully. "Are you okay?"

"...I'm gonna kill 'em." Fraggle wheezed, a hard edge in his voice that I had never heard there before. "I'm gonna kill every single one of those battery-powered HOSERS!!! NOBODY MESSES WITH MY GOD DAMN SHIP, EH!!!" he exploded, releasing the controls so he could clench his fists tight. "GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKING SONS OF A DIRTY-YEOW!" he cut himself off with a yelp, clutching his side. "Owwww, serious pain, eh. I'm going down." He fell to his knees with a groan and Varan darted over next to him.

"Take it easy." He told him, prodding his ribcage carefully. When he brushed over one spot in particular Fraggle flinched and whimpered to himself. "Shit, I think you've got yourself some broke some ribs there, buddy." Varan muttered and I winced in sympathy; he must have been thrown against the steering hard during impact, punching the controls right into his ribcage.

"I don't care." Fraggle growled, getting to his feet shakily. "I'm gonna kill them, ribs or no- ow-ha-howwww, oh _fuck_ that hurts!"

"Go lie on the couch and don't move around so much. Nobody's going off to kill anyone just yet.... Falshade are you bleeding _again_???" Varan demanded, only just having noticed. "Jesus, would it kill you to say something???" he righted one of the chairs and jabbed a finger at it. "Sit."

Falshade stayed where he was, something strange and deadly glinting in his usual peaceful violet eyes. "...You might as well tell me now, Wasp." He said abruptly, his voice a dead-pan. "It doesn't really matter anymore; not like he's keeping it much of a secret."

Wasp was huddled on the floor, knees drawn tight to her chest. She looked up at him slowly, something torn in her expression. "... So then why-"

"I just want to hear you say it." Falshade said hollowly. "I just want to know for certain."

Wasp swallowed and looked like she might cry, no longer as fierce as she had been down in the hanger fighting against Varan. She met Falshade's cold stare and closed her eyes, breathing out a long sigh. "...His father was the Dark Ace."

Silence swept over the five of us as Varan, Fraggle and I looked from her to Falshade, confused and frightened. "...What... what the hell are you guys talking about?" I asked hesitantly after several moments of foreboding silence stretched past.

Falshade let out a humourless bark of laughter. "So that's why she picked him. Out of all of us, that's why she wanted him."

"But now do you see?" Wasp demanded desperately, springing to her feet. "Do you see why he never wanted to tell you? I never thought it'd be such a big deal to you, but he thought-"

"Yeah, well, you know what? You're right, I might not have thought it was a big deal, might not have... but then he had to go and... and..." Falshade trailed off and dug his fingers into his scalp, biting down on several swear words all at once, turning to kick one of the chairs.

"...Are you talking about Angel?" I asked slowly, feeling so nervous and stressed out it was making me feel sick.

"Yeah, Stork, we are." Falshade said sharply and I took a step back, stunned by this nasty side to him I'd never seen before.

"So, what, he was out there? Just now, he was there?" I demanded, looking from him to Wasp and back again, desperate for some freakin' answers. Ever so slowly Wasp nodded.

I gawked at Falshade. "Well why didn't you get him??? Falshade why did you just let him-"

"He didn't want to come."

"..._What_?" I said, completely out of my mind now. "He didn't want to come??? Why the fuck not, why didn't you-"

"BECAUSE HE'S NOT ANGEL ANYMORE, STORK!!!" Falshade exploded so violently I actually flinched. "HE'S NOT ANGEL, OKAY??? Fuck, you think I just _wanted_ to let him go??? I _tried_ to get him to come back and he didn't _want_ to! And then I was gonna _drag_ him back and look the fuck what he thought of that idea!!!" he lifted his arm to display the blood-soaked strip of his sleeve that I'd tied over the gash.

I felt like my whole world was crashing down around me. "W-what do you mean he's not... what... what are you _talking_ about?"

"They've put one of those crystals in him." Wasp said then, her voice small and vacant. "She's brainwashed him."

"Apparently wasn't that difficult." Falshade muttered and Wasp snapped him a look.

"And what is that supposed to mean, Falshade?" She demanded. "You think he just wanted to become like that? Listen to me, that crystal has taken over his _mind_, the part of him that's Angel, it's trapped in there somewhere! It's not him, Falshade, he'd never do that to us on purpose!"

Falshade's face was still livid but his eyes were agonized. "...Angel or not, whatever they've done to him, the thing is, he's on their side now, she using him against us. So what am I supposed to do, just let him kill us? He will, Wasp, he said he would!"

"But he didn't! Falshade he didn't, he's still in there!"

"Yeah, and if she doesn't kill him today for leaving me there then she's going to make him worse, he won't recognize us the next time!"

"So what are you saying, we're supposed to just kill him like he's one of them?" Wasp snapped. "You're just going to turn your back on your best friend???"

"Here's a question, Wasp; if it were anyone but Angel would you have such a problem with that?" Falshade snapped right back and I gaped at him.

"_Falshade_!" Varan hissed as Wasp simply stared at him, something like disgust in her eyes now, titling her chin formidably.

"Yeah, I would. So let me ask you; why all of a sudden is it so easy for you to just forsake him?" she countered and I clutched my head, wishing I could block this all out, wake up from a bad dream and make it all go away.

"BECAUSE HE ABANDONED US!!!" Falshade shouted, fury mixed with heartbreak in his voice. "You think I like the idea of fighting him? You think I like it at all, having this idea in my head that he's out there trying to _kill _us and to defend myself and the rest of you I might just have to try and kill _him_??? Don't you start throwing that bullshit at me!!! Don't you fucking blame me if I have to defend myself, because he made the first move, not me!!! I don't know what they did to him, but you know what? I really _do_ believe that whatever it was that made him like this, he didn't want it to happen; I know he'd never intentionally turn on us, I _know_ that, okay??? But the point is it happened, he's on their side now, under Cyclonis' thumb, and you know what he told me? Cyclonis is after Stork, she'll stop at nothing to get her, and using Angel against us is one of the ways she'll do it, because how the fuck are we supposed to react towards that? So we gotta pull our heads out of the fucking sand and realize, Angel or not, he'll kill any of us to get Stork. And I'm not going to let that happen!"

I felt like my chest had imploded in one swift motion, all my insides dropping right out and leaving me with a hollow, brittle body under a head that was reeling and spinning and was way too heavy. "Wh...what? Cyclonis... she... why?" I choked out and Falshade looked at me, his face crestfallen.

"Whatever this crystal is that they're using... Cyclonis doesn't have full control over it yet. And she thinks you're what she needs in order to achieve it."

I pressed my fingers into my temples until my head started to hurt, sinking slowly to my knees on the floor. "...But...that doesn't make sense... I..."

"She doesn't have full control over it yet???" Fraggle demanded suddenly from his place on the couch. "You've gotta be shitting me, eh... I mean look at what they can already do with it... if that's not even its full power, eh..."

"Exactly." Falshade muttered. "What will she be able to do once she does have full control? We can't let her obtain that, and there's no way I'm letting her have Stork, or any of you for that matter. About time I did my job properly."

"Don't make me into a Damsel in Distress, Shade." I spat coldly, my voice finding words on its own. "I can fucking look after myself thank you very much!"

"Okay, this has to stop, _now_!" Varan said sharply as Falshade rounded on me. "Would you guys fucking listen to yourselves? This is exactly what the Prophecy was warning us about! The Oracle said our bonds were going to be tested and we're just going to lie down and give them up for this bullshit? Angel even asked, what's big enough to tear us apart? I don't think it's this, this is just pathetic!"

"Bit ironic that it was _Angel _who asked that." Falshade seethed and Varan fixed him with the coldest expression I'd ever seen on his usually placid face.

"Yes, Falshade, because Angel knew _exactly_ what was going to happen ahead of time." He said sarcastically. "Listen, you're right, Cyclonis is using Angel against us because how in hell are we supposed to fight back against our own friend? But we can't just let her win like that, and if you abandon him for us and try to kill him you're abandoning yourself too, Shade, you won't be you anymore and then we're as good as lost. There's a reason all of us are here and we can't give up on each other, or ourselves, because if we do then we might as well just hand the Atmos over to her! The Oracle told us our bonds are going to be one of the most important things in all of this and we can't just forget about them. Look I know you don't want anything to happen to us, and I don't either. But if we let this happen, turn against each other like the Prophecy said then the rest of it is going to come true as well. We never wanted to kill anyone before... even when they wanted to kill us. So I mean yeah, the rest of them are fair game now, even I'll admit that, but... Wasp is right, Angel's still in there somewhere and if we just give up on him we're giving up on ourselves too. You'll never be able to live with yourself, Shade, if you hurt him. So just... please stop shouting at each other, because we're all we've fucking got."

Falshade looked at him for a long time before his defensive front of anger just seemed to snap and all his hurt flooded to the surface, betrayal and fear and hopelessness overwhelming him and he dropped to the floor like I had, drawing his knees into his chest tight and pushing his face into his kneecaps as if to hide from all of us.

"...I'm sorry." He said brokenly, his voice small and far away. "I'm sorry you guys... I just don't know what to do anymore."

I crawled over next to him and bumped him with my head gently. "Shade, when have we ever known what to do?" I pointed out softly. "Listen, I know you're Sky Knight and everything, but that doesn't mean you have to handle everything on your own. Fuck, you never had a problem with letting us help before, so why start now? We're all in this together, you know."

Falshade sighed. "I know."

"I'm sorry I shouted at you." Wasp added dolefully, moving over as well and crouching on his other side, pushing her nose into his hair. "You scared me though; that didn't sound like you. We can't lose you. But I know... I know what he did must of hurt. I know what it feels like to have someone turn on you. So I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry I shouted at you too. And said what I did, that was a bitch move, I'm sorry." Falshade muttered mournfully.

"It's okay." Wasp assured him, stroking his hair. "For the record, I'm not just defending him because it's him. Varan's right, if we lose sight of each other, we lose sight of ourselves, and we can't afford to let you do that, Shade. We need you."

"I know... I'm sorry, I just... anyways no, you defend him; I need to keep all of that in mind." Falshade snorted messily. "And Stork, I'm sorry I blew up on you back there..."

I shrugged; I mean god, how many times had I blown up on him, right? "Look, it's fine, it's been a rough day."

"See this is all I wanted." Varan said quietly, sounding considerably relieved. "Now look, the two of you are still bleeding and poor Fraggle's sitting over here with broken ribs, so now that we've got all our nastiness out, can I do my job and look after you guys?"

Falshade sighed and got up stiffly, wiping at his face and sitting in the chair Varan had stood up for him finally; Wasp pulled herself onto the table, knees tucked into her chest. Falshade looked at me worriedly as Varan inspected his arm carefully. "Are you okay, Stork?"

"Hmm? Yeah, sure, whatever. There was a serious amount of mechanical abuse today, but I can get over that..."

"You know that's not what I meant."

Oh right, he was only referring to the whole Cyclonis out for my blood so she could gain complete control over a crystal that had the potential to bring the entire Atmos to its knees thing. You know, that little thing.

"I dunno... I'm still in a state of mind fuckery about that. When I figure it all out I'll let you know."

Falshade sighed. "They're going to come back for us... fuck we're sitting ducks out here, stranded like this."

"...You guys could take Stork and get outta here, eh." Fraggle said suddenly, sitting up and wincing. "Owww... Like, I dunno, go and get a hold of the rest of the Legion and tell them what's the haps and figure something out."

"What about you?" Falshade asked as if he were seriously considering the idea and I felt outraged and appalled. What, did I not get a say in this or something???

"I'll stay here, eh. No way I'm leaving the _Merly_ behind; captain goes down with his ship, eh."

"Then I'm staying too." Wasp declared. "I'll be your body guard, Fraggle."

"Heh, we'd make a good team eh, Fuzzbucket and the Psycho."

Wasp giggled but I was putting an end to this crap right now. "No! We are not splitting up! That is Gargoyles rule number fucking one, nobody gets left behind, damnit!!! Jesus, we just had a big pow-wow about not breaking apart emotionally and now you guys are seriously considering doing it physically??? That is some serious bullshit, man! And once again, Damsel in Distress is NOT a role I am going to play! Fuck all this Cyclonis-is-after-me shit, I can look after myself you know, I'm not completely incompetent, and I'm not leaving any of you guys behind to die on my god damn account! I'll fix the _Merlin_, everything will be fine, so smarten up or I'm going to start beating people's skulls in with my ratchet set!"

I crossed my arms, putting on my best don't-you-mess-with-me-right-now-unless-you-wanna-have-your-face-torn-off look and stamped my foot finally. The others stared at me for a few seconds before Fraggle piped up "Did you honestly, in all seriousness, use the term 'pow-wow' just there, eh?"

In another fine example of Fraggle's mastery of comedic relief, we all burst out laughing because fuck, with all the other shit going on that _so_ wasn't worth laughing about, we really fucking needed it.

* * *

I didn't like how comfortable I was becoming with the whole sneaking into Shade's room in the middle of the night thing by now, but yet here I was, standing outside his door once again. It was late I knew, but I just hadn't been able to sleep, ripped up inside over everything. I didn't even know where to begin thinking about all this Cyclonis stuff; it's like my mind wouldn't let me, because if I did, if I really grasped the reality of the situation, I was going to fall down and break apart inside, just lose it. And then there was this whole Angel thing... I hadn't seen him out there, so maybe that's what was making it so hard to believe that suddenly... suddenly he was on their side. I mean the guy was a vicious, snide, annoying asshole but... but he was our friend, he was a Sky Knight, he... deep down I knew he cared about us a lot, I'd seen it in his eyes on those few rare occasions. He loved us and we loved him and now... fuck the thought that he'd betrayed us, just turned his back on us, that hurt man, it really fucking hurt. I had to believe Wasp was right; Cyclonis had done something to his head, they crystal had him possessed, whatever he was right now, that wasn't our Angel. But still it just... how were we supposed to fight back against something like that?

I wanted to be with Shade because of all of that, because I was messed up and freaked out about the news he'd given us and because that look on his face just kept haunting me, the agony in his eyes at having his best friend turn on him, and having to face the notion that he might just have to...

I shook my head, blinking like mad to stop any would-be tears and knocked on his door softly.

"It's open." I heard him say and I stepped into his room.

He looked mildly surprised. "Hey, is everything alright?"

"That question's getting hard to answer lately." I said, sitting next to him.

"Hmm... hey, look... I really am sorry for snapping on you like that and being an asshole about everything earlier. And I know you can look after yourself, I didn't mean to be condescending."

I smiled; see that, that right there, is why I love that boy. "It's alright, you freaked out, that's all. Even the mighty Falshade freaks out sometimes you know."

"Apparently." He said, giving me a half-hearted shove. "So, seriously though... I mean not that I'm not happy to see you or anything, but you don't usually just drop by and visit at one in the morning. You sure you're okay? It's gotta be really weird to be you right now."

"Well..." I sighed and fiddled with a hole in my jeans distractedly. "No, I don't think I'm okay. Like shit, that whole Cyclonis thing, that's freaky as all get out. I don't like it at all... I don't like that I'm suddenly what's going to decide if she gets control of the Atmos or not."

I mean yeah, you know, I'm an arrogant little bugger and everything, I make a big deal out of me, but I hated that I was suddenly the centre of attention because of something like this, you know? It was a huge fucking deal, and it was making me paranoid slightly too; I kept thinking I could hear noises down in the hanger, as if some crack ninja assassin was coming to abduct me or something (which I'll admit is a part of the reason I came up here in the first place. Like yeah, I can look after myself, but that didn't mean I didn't get scared or anything). I still couldn't really digest everything properly, the idea that Cyclonis had first been inside me and desperate to get out and now she wanted me back? It was seriously messing up my mind, trying to absorb all of this. I felt lost, I was scared, I felt brittle inside like anything might just suddenly trigger a break down, like there was a whole wall of stress waiting to collapse in on me like a tidal wave, drowning me. And I didn't know what we were going to do, about this or about Angel, or whoever he was now. It just fucking sucked, man, to be terribly blunt; it was one big suck-fest.

Falshade made a sympathetic noise and wrapped his good arm around my shoulders, the other in a sling against his chest to let it heal without bothering the stitches Varan had neatly sewn into his skin. "Yeah, it just... it's fucking insane, isn't it?"

"You can say that again. I just... shit Shade, I don't know what I'm going to do. All it takes is one slip up and bam, I'm the reason the whole Atmos is under Cyclonian reign. And as if I didn't fuck up enough by bringing Master Cyclonis back from the fucking dead in the first place..." I seethed, feeling shaky and teary inside.

"Stork, you're being stupid. You had no control whatsoever over Cyclonis being inside you like she was, you didn't know, nobody did. Like who'd have thought of that sort of thing anyways? And they're not going to get a hold of you. We're not going to let them, okay?" Falshade assured me comfortingly.

I nodded, rubbing at my nose. "Yeah... it's just hard to keep telling myself that constantly."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." He agreed, rubbing my shoulder.

"Look, I was talking to Varan earlier and he thought I should mention it to you, just so we're all on the same page... I... this is kinda dumb of me and everything, but... I dunno, I get the feeling that Aerrow's in me too. I've got his eyes, you know, and I mean come on, they didn't find his body either, what are the odds that somehow he ended up in me too? Maybe I'm the link to how the Storm Hawks are connected to this. I still don't know what that means if they are, but..."

Falshade seemed to consider this. "Well... I dunno, it was hard enough believing the Cyclonis thing, but thinking all this time there's been three of you cooped up in here?" He poked my ribs playfully. "I dunno Stork... like I'm not saying I don't believe you, it's just..."

"Hard to swallow." I nodded, understanding. "Yeah... hey, you wanna know why I ended up getting stuck with my dumb real name in the first place?"

"Sure."

"They found me in the Scar as a baby. In the ashes. That's why they named me Feonix."

Falshade's eyes widened and he looked distracted suddenly. "...In the ashes..." he muttered slowly, clutching his head.

"What?"

"Well... I told you I saw what I thought was a baby in some ashes in my dreams once, right? Well say that symbolizes you... and then now you might be what Cyclonis needs to fully utilize this crystal? Like that's a lot of stuff that adds up, if you think about it, connections everywhere... huh, maybe you really are the link, the missing piece."

"Yeah but... it still doesn't get us any closer to what it all means, which is sort of the important thing." I pointed out. "Like say if Wasp was right, the monster that ate my head being the manifestation of the evil, or maybe like, Cyclonis herself, why would she destroy me if she needs me? What's that mean?"

"Hmm... I dunno." He ran his fingers through his hair with a sigh. "It's too late to be thinking of this kinda shit... but you know, thanks for telling me, cause you're right, this way we're on the same page."

"No problem." I leaned against him. "Sigh. So, what about you then, are _you_ okay? Like you really didn't look good earlier."

He wrinkled his nose, mouth cinching. "Yeah, well... it's just... man I feel like an idiot for yelling at Wasp like that; she's right, I know, Angel's my best friend, I can't just give up on him... but at the same time, he doesn't see it that way, he told me... he told me next time we see each other he'll kill me, Stork. So I just... I dunno what to do. I need to protect you guys, and if it really comes down to it..."

I felt my heart seize and pushed my face into his shoulder. "He said that?" I whispered and Falshade sniffled.

"Yeah... but I mean... shit I dunno. If this is all because of that crystal, we can still change it... I just don't know if I can focus too much on that when he's attacking us. My priority is you guys, the ones who are still on my side, and whether he wants to be or not, he's not on our side anymore... like if it were just me, yeah, I could focus on getting him back. But it's not, it's all of us out there, and shit happens..." he sighed. "Fuck, I don't know anymore. I just feel wrecked about everything. It's fucking... I wanted to stop all of this before it happened, you know? That's what I set out to do and I've fucking failed, because it's happening anyways, and what's worse is you guys are paying for it. That's what kills me."

I really couldn't bear to hear the heartbreak and misery in his usually so optimistic voice. God I felt bad for him; Angel was his best friend, his brother Sky Knight and now he was warped into this... thing that just wasn't him anymore, whether he'd wanted to be (which I really didn't believe; not even Angel would sink that low) or not. Falshade felt betrayed by one of his closest friends and worse, said friend had also promised to kill him. I mean yeah I'd thrown some nasty things (literally and figuratively) at him over the years, but that was the worst of the worst. And that aside he was just as clueless about everything as always, no idea what to do as the walls of his nightmares were tightening around us all, and he was beating himself up for it bad, which I didn't think was fair. I mean, hell, what did any of us know about what was going on, right? Why did he have to take all the blame?

I blame the next sequence of events on the fact that I just felt so god damn bad for him and I wasn't half as good at cheery, motivational speeches as Varan.

Without even realizing what I was doing I lifted my face from his shoulder and leaned towards him to press my lips right up against his.

I felt his entire body stiffen with utter shock for a few seconds before he hesitantly moved in towards me, hand brushing my neck uncertainly and his warm mouth moulding firmly around mine. I think it took us about half a minute of being stuck in this awkward 'are we gonna take this further or not?' state of limbo before we both seemed to snap out of it and tore away from each other, staring at each other with wide eyes.

"Whoa..." Shade muttered, glancing away from me as I felt my face heat up like crazy. "Did we just..."

"I'd like to take the last minute of my life back, please." I said, voice embarrassingly squeaky.

"You just-"

"Don't say it!!!" I interrupted, throwing up my hand. Maybe if we pretended it didn't happen, we could just go on our merry little way, la di da di da...

A goofy grin crawled over Falshade's face suddenly and my cheeks somehow got even hotter. "_You _just-" he started to say in this really sing-songy voice but I threw up my hand again to stop him.

"No! No no no, no Shade, it didn't happen, you're mistaken! Don't say it!"

"Yes it di-id, you totally just ki-"

I put my hand over his mouth desperately. "Stop it! Look maybe if you don't say it, it will magically be forgotten about and we'll never speak of this evil again!"

He gave me a look, eyebrow cocked, and we stared at each for about five seconds before we simultaneously burst out laughing. Oh fuck, I mean come on, me and Shade??? Nooooooooo way, man. Like yeah, Falshade's an amazing guy, he's charming and funny, thoughtful and sensitive and just generally fun to be around, and, I'll be honest, he's pretty good looking too. Like I won't lie, I make it a point never to tell them this but I thought all my guy friends were good looking; I mean hey, I'm a girl, I know a good looking guy when I see one. Fraggle was just adorable, in that sweet, non-threatening way girls like while still pulling off a bit of a punky look, Varan was tall and strong and pretty damn handsome, mohawk and all, and the fact that he was just such a sweetheart really closed the deal (Roo knew a great catch when she met one). And I mean even Angel was pretty sexy, although you totally didn't hear that from me, what with his angular features, alluring eyes and tan skin. You know, when he wasn't being an asshole (or being turned into the enemy). And then Falshade was just roguishly handsome, what with his messy hair, bright, expressive violet eyes and that boyish smile of his. I'd seen more than a few girls watch him walk by on terra streets and it made me sort of proud, in this younger sister-ish way. It was like a 'yeah, those are my fine looking boys you're drooling over', sort of thing.

All that aside though, Falshade was my best friend, kinda like the perfect older brother to me. I'd always seen him like that; I mean we had our spats but he was always there for me and we could still be all rough and tumble with one another but really caring with each too. I felt safe and happy when I was around Shade, and I'd never really looked for anything more than that from him.

Although if you were to ask me 'well, why not?' I wouldn't have a good answer to give you for the life of me.

The two of us finally stopped laughing and I leaned against him again. "Oh man, we're so retarded."

"You're only just realizing that _now_?" He asked, pretending to be shocked.

I hit him playfully and said. "Look, just so nobody's getting the wrong idea here, I did that to try and cheer you up. Don't ask me _why_ I thought that would work, I had like, a momentary lapse in sanity."

"Ah." He said with a brief nod. "Gotcha." Then he glanced at me seriously. "Although... it worked, you know."

I blinked at him. Whoa... what did he mean by _that_? "Hey, Shade, look, you're a great guy and all, but-"

He laughed and held up a hand to stop me this time. "Don't worry about it, I'm not getting any ideas. You're my best friend, Stork, and I don't think I'd want to trade that for anything."

I smiled, butting him with my forehead. "See, this is why you're brilliant."

"I do what I can."

"Ahem?"

"Yeah, yeah, you're brilliant too." He said, giving me a nougie.

Ah, you can never hear that enough.

I cleared my throat, glancing at his alarm clock. "Hey... I hate to seem like a baby here, but is it cool if I stay up here again? I know it's dumb, but I'm getting spooked down in the hanger." Yeah I know, the whole Damsel in Distress speech was suffering because of this but seriously, if I can be tough and look after myself in battle, is it such a crime to have a moment of weakness and need for company in the middle of the night when you think there's someone (and there really was someone in the big picture of my reality) out to get you in the dark?

If you said yes, you're a filthy liar.

Falshade's face softened. "Yeah, sure you can. Although I thought you said my room smells."

"Well, it does, but I'm getting used to it." I informed him, feeling rather exhausted all of a sudden. I felt a sense of security around Shade and it allowed me to feel tired, because suddenly I wasn't so afraid to fall asleep. He must have felt the same way, or was just plain wiped out anyways, because he got up to shut off his light before flopping down onto his bed next to me with a low groan.

"Here." He passed me his pillow 'cause he's so gentlemanly and whatever, and because when not being plagued by nightmares that kid can sleep anywhere, pillow or no pillow.

"Thanks." I snuggled in under his blankets. Hey, you know what, his room didn't really smell so bad after all. It was kinda comforting actually, as weird and probably gross as that is. "Just to warn you though, if you start snoring I'm gonna kick you until you stop."

He laughed softly. "Yeah, right back at you."

"I don't snore!" I said, affronted.

"Well we'll just see about that, won't we?" he teased and then yawned, shifting next to me. "Anyways, good night Stork."

"'Night, Shade."

**x.x.x Dark Angel x.x.x**

He felt his feet leave the ground, his body being lifted as if there were some sort of hook caught up in his rib cage, constricting his chest cavity and making it nearly impossible to breathe.

Her eyes seemed to bore right into his skull as she glared at him, watching him struggle for breath like a dying fish on a hook. "I was certain I made it clear how very important the task was that I gave you." She said, her voice deadly calm with an edge of steel. "And I was also quite certain I made the punishment clear if you should fail."

He had to fight to suck enough air into his lungs to get the words out. "Forgive me, Master, my sky ride-"

"_Do not lie to me_!!!" she snarled, something deeper and unearthly echoing her words. "You set an explosive device in your skimmer! Do not take me for a fool, because it will be the last mistake you ever make!!!"

He felt some external force seize him and throw him back hard into the stone wall and then abruptly release him, letting him fall to the floor in a heap. He barely regained his breath when the pain tore into his head, setting his nerve endings on fire, gouging in like a drill to the very center of his brain. He clutched his temples, jaws locked so he couldn't even cry out if he tried.

"According to Zodiac your appearance had the desired effect on Ravenscroft." Cyclonis said, approaching his quivering form. Every syllable she spoke reverberated in his pounding head, shattering his mind, each coming louder than the next, a terrible wave of agony. "You are lucky that was the case; it means you still have use to me. Otherwise you would consider it relief when I finally handed you over to him and Carrion."

"I-I'm s-sorry..." he choked out, clawing at his head. Oh god _please_ just _stop_...

She didn't appear to hear him. "The fact that you did indeed attack Ravenscroft tells me you still may prove useful yet... however you seem conflicted on where your loyalties lie. It would seem the crystal has taken a proper hold on you. Impressive, in a pathetic way, that your ties to the others haven't been completely been severed. I suppose we'll have to do something about that..."

The pain started to fade at an excruciatingly slow pace and he gasped at his place on the floor, trying not to be sick. "T-Thank you..."

"Oh I'm not finished with you yet. I have to insure there will be no further failures from you. Besides, I've been meaning to test this experiment for awhile, and you seem like a worthy candidate."

He felt himself lift from the floor again and he tried to get his feet under him as she strode down the hall, tugging him along by some invisible leash. She stalked smoothly through the dimly lit corridors, trailing deeper and deeper down into the heart of the terra. The air turned colder around him as he stumbled after her, losing his footing every now and then and being dragged forward by the thread of energy that was connecting him to her. At one point she turned and led them through a room lit only by a few dim lights that glowed eerily through the tanks filled with green liquid. In each circular tank a new Blitzkrieg was suspended eerily in the viscous fluid, tubes down their noses and throats, wires attached to their bodies, giving off readings onto the small monitors fixed to each tank. They were in varying degrees of development according to each row; some were still fetal in appearance, hollowed and wraithlike, alien creatures that sent a shiver down his spine. Others were nearly full grown, resembling their vicious brethren; some where even beginning to move, surfacing from their hibernative state. One had its eyes open and watched as Cyclonis led Dark Angel by the rows of tanks, black eyes grotesquely wide and curious; the sight haunted him, made him feel like he was looking into the eyes of the dead.

Cyclonis didn't even give a flicker of acknowledgement to any of these new creatures as she strode purposefully to an area near the back of the nursery chamber. Here she finally stopped before a space where the floor had been replaced with a large grate, which shone slickly in the dim light. She turned to Dark Angel as he stared at some of the machinery nearby, which looked like over-grown surgical equipment.

"No doubt you remember your meeting with Kronos when you first joined us here?" she asked him, something in the edge of her tone that sounded excited, like a gleeful child; a sick, sadistic child.

"...Yes." he said slowly and then flinched when the pain ripped into his head once again. "Master, master!" he added loudly and the pain receded.

"He was not the first of my specialized creations." His Master continued as if she'd never paused to punish him. "I'm creating a few of my own, ah, custom, shall we say, Blitzkrieg, a little surprise for our friends the Sky Knights when they meet them in battle. I've been trying to think, what would give someone an extra edge, a rather nasty shock to any who happened to come up against them? Obviously Kronos will be quiet useful; imagine him released on an entire terra already bathed in bloodshed?"

Dark Angel recalled the way the massive, mutated Blitzkrieg had tracked him due to the reek of bloody coming off him and fought back the urge to shudder; he'd be a marauding, rabid, killing machine.

Cyclonis grinned wickedly as if the same image had come to her. "I've had a few more ideas; extra limbs would be something practical, wouldn't you say? However this latest one I think would be quite useful indeed during aerial combat, and I can't think of anyone it would be better to test it on then you."

He swallowed uneasily, wondering what grisly mutation his Master had in mind for him and the only thing that kept him from flinching back from her hands as she grasped his wrist was the knowledge that his fate would be much, much worse if he were to run. He watched fixatedly as she snapped shackles around his wrists calmly while he struggled with himself to stop his limbs from shaking. Once the metal cuffs were secured she backed off the grate and clicked her fingers.

Three figures stepped from the darkness, gender indiscernible as they were wearing thick, bleached lab coats, stained here and there with faded brown splotches; dried blood. They're heads were shaved bald and they had masks over their faces as well as if they were working in a quarantine zone, the air unsafe to breathe. They didn't even look at him; they only had eyes for his Master.

"We're going to try out experiment eleven today on this subject; I trust all the procedures necessary have been completed?" Cyclonis asked and one of the masked assistants nodded, moving to the wall and turning a crank several times until Dark Angel felt his feet lift from the floor, hauled upwards by the chains on his wrists. A second assistant darted forwards and snapped clasps shut around his ankles so he couldn't move, muscles stretched uncomfortably. The third moved in front of him and cut his shirt down the front, pulling it from his torso. He tried to meet their eyes, but the assistant refused to look at him, as if he wasn't even there. This was all routine; the subjects didn't matter them.

One of the other two moved back in and prodded at his side for a second before locating a vein and injecting something. He flinched, surprised by the sensation and heard his Master chuckle.

"It's simply a preparatory drug, Dark Angel. It'll allow your body to accommodate the changes. Unfortunately it also heightens nerve sensitivity; oh well." She taunted with mock empathy.

He felt one of the assistants come up behind him and twisted his neck to try and see what they were doing. He felt a stinging sensation and heard a slight scraping noise and assumed he'd just had another incision drawn into him with a scalpel over his left shoulder blade. Another was scored over his right. He heard the assistant move back, the grating rattling under their boots slightly as a second approached him and reached for his back. He felt something dig into his skin as the assistant's fingers pushed something into the incision made on his back, digging in under her flesh slightly. Judging by the way the crystal shard in his chest pulsed suddenly at the contact, he could guess what it was.

A second sliver of crystal was inserted into the other slice in his back and then the medical workers backed away from him, standing behind his Master slightly. She was grinning, watching him with fascination as if she was waiting for some sort of spectacle to begin unfolding. "I designed those crystal pieces myself you know." She told him conversationally as if she were commenting on the weather. "My control over the crystal is not so impartial that I cannot influence its creational powers."

Dark Angel swallowed uneasily, a cold sweat on his skin, a feeling of paranoia stirring in his chest. Then it was as if a jolt tore through him, the two shards flaring to life. They started pulsing in time with the one in his chest, which suddenly had a life of its own and was growing hot under his skin. Then it seemed to branch out, sending little tendrils of heat, two veins that stretched and wormed their way through him right to his spinal column and then all the way to where the two shards sat atop his shoulder blades. When the lines of heat connected with them a second jolt stabbed through his muscles and then he felt a shuddering feeling spread through his upper body. He felt something expand slightly, jab out and connected with his skeleton and then harden on either side of his spine. And then it started stretching, growing beneath his skin and the sensation made him feel as if he had eels moving under his flesh and it made him feel sick. It crawled along either side of his back, rooted to the places on his shoulder blades and pushing outwards and downwards behind his organs, just on the outside of his ribcage. It felt like he had a tree embedded somewhere under his skin, branches slowly spreading out and growing larger, pulsing and still glowing hot against his skin from the crystal's energy.

Finally these branches stopped spreading, pressing up from the inside against his skin slightly, as if testing the level of resistance. He felt like he had sharpened sticks embedded there, trying to tear their way through his skin.

Then there was an itching sensation as he felt things starting to spin together and bind to these stick-things on either side of his back. He twisted again, trying to see what was going on, and was able to pick out a defined ridge under his tan skin, two curving shapes protruding from the rest of him like he had two broken bones that were jabbing through his flesh.

But then the itching changed; he could feel something growing around these two ridges, a familiar ache of muscle being stretched and altering itself, but that was nothing compared to the increasing pressure against his skin as whatever these two things were forming under his flesh started to take up more space, bound down tight by his skin but pushing for more space.

Around then he started to panic as he felt his chest cavity being squeezed steadily tighter, as if some giant snake were wrapping itself around him to crush the life from him. He glanced down at himself and watched with horrified fascination as his ribs stuck out, defined as if he were extremely emaciated as his skin was stretched and pulled taut around the expanding ridges on his back. He heard a creaking noise and realized it was his skin being pulled too tight, stretching painfully against the opposing pressure. He felt his ribs crack with the strain and bit down hard on his lip to squelch down on the burning pain.

Then he felt a slight tearing feeling, a slight release of pressure and glanced back a third time, horrified to see a split in his taut skin, a spray of blood gushing free and dripping down to the floor; now he understood what the grate was for. Beneath his ripped skin he could see something dark, trying to push the rest of the way free from his body.

He grit his teeth as his skin split again, this time further down his back on the opposite side, the dark thing beneath growing too big to be contained beneath his brittle layer of flesh. He could feel a tingling feeling as his body attempted to heal, the crystal in his chest still acting on his cells and causing them to regenerate at a heightened pace, fighting against his strained skin to form a slight membrane over the tear, but it was split open once again as the things, whatever they were, under his skin continued to take up space, even though there was no more space by now. He squeezed his eyes shut as his ribs snapped in several places, spearing into flesh, his back searing with pain.

And then he felt the skin on either side of his back tear apart all at once, two long rips tearing down the sides of his spine as the objects that had been growing beneath burst free, shooting out into the sudden expanse of space and he felt a howl escape him as agony tore through his shredded flesh, muscles and bones aching from the strain, crushed ribcage just one throbbing mass of pain. Blood splashed out behind him and dripped down into the grate, running in thick rivulets down his ruined back and the two little crystal splinters clattered to the ground, thrown free of his body.

He felt the clasps on his wrists release by some external signal and he fell forwards, grate cutting into his arms as he groaned and tried to suck enough air into his crushed squashed lungs, his head spinning dizzily. Blearily he was aware of something dark flopping down on with side of him, hanging next to his cheeks. He glanced at the foreign thing on his right, touching its slick surface, which was wet and sticky from his own blood. He felt the touch of his fingers register with this appendage and it occurred to him vaguely that this thing was attached to him, it was part of his body now.

He rubbed his fingers over the ridge of bone incredulously as the pain began to ebb from his tortured body and feeling continued to spread through these new attachments. His thumb brushed over the dark coating and pushed some of the gossamer material back from the skin and he realized what it was made of; feathers. Sleek, black feathers.

He heard his Master laugh darkly and looked up at her from his trembling place on the floor where the grate was pressing into him. She gave him an uncompromising, final look. "Now you will have no further excuses should your sky ride fail you again." She assured him. "Keep this in mind; there are ways I can punish you that you cannot even imagine."

He nodded weakly and she smirked, looking thoroughly pleased. She lifted her hand and he was lifted once again from the ground by that external force. She spread her fingers wide and felt the two appendages on his back flare slightly as well, mirroring her movements. She titled her head, examining the work and then laughed once again, eyes gleaming spitefully. "Every time a bell rings..."

**"Look Daddy! Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings!"**

**If you don't know what that quote is from then for shame (XD kidding of course). If you do then this is my ironic greeting of 'Tis the Season to ya'll. I'm just a horrible little person ain't I?**


	27. The Fight Song

**27**

**The Fight Song**

**A/N: I am sooooo sorry for the late update. I wanted to get an update up before I left on my trip to but I epically failed. Anyways here we go, an extremely late update.**

_**Are you ready to go? 'Cause I'm ready to go, what you gonna do, baby, baby?**_

_**Are you going with me? 'Cause I'm going with you.**_

_**-When Worlds Collide, Powerman 5000**_

**x.x.x Finn x.x.x**

There were few things left in the world that could actually spike my interest anymore. I had a theory about that actually: when I was younger and so full of energy, zeal and egocentrism, to the point that it annoyed everyone around me, I guess I'd taken that sort of permanent sugar-rush mentality for granted. I mean how could I not? It was just so natural to me to be like that. So I guess I thought it would always be there, an endless well of spunky attitude, and I hadn't bothered to pace myself, to put some away for saving like loose change in a jar. Rainy-day savings, isn't that what people called it?

And now it was raining all the time in my head and I was trapped outdoors like a dog no one wanted, dripping with my own misery and no rainy-day savings of younger-Finn energy to pull me out of the storm.

And so now I moved through day after day, not remembering when I last slept or ate, what time it was, what day of the week, like I was wandering down a long hallway, doors on all sides, closed to me. And I only kept moving because I kept telling myself one day one of these doors would open and Feonix would be there again and maybe then the rain would clear for a little while. Things like the flag popped up like a beacon of hope on the mailbox and knocks at the door were the only thing that caused any sort of curiosity, setting off brief, horribly aching excitement in my chest like a sputtering engine. And then I always came crashing back down; just a neighbour checking in on me, just one of Feonix's old mechanic magazines in the mail because I was downright afraid to end her subscriptions, as if this would sever her last tie to me. I had a stack of magazines, still in the plastic casings, in the back of my closet, waiting for her eager fingers to leaf through them and growing less expectant every day.

Sometimes I wished I could just lie down and hibernate somewhere dark and lonely, like beside those magazines in my closet, and wait but not long for her to come back. To build some energy back up.

But I couldn't. I was never very good at just tuning out the world.

So when the knock came, furtively, almost hesitantly, at the front door, I vaulted down his stairs with the same reckless, destructive hope in my chest, ready to crash and burn later when it turned out to be someone else I didn't want to see. Honestly you'd think be now I'd have learned, wouldn't let myself get built up like that anymore.

But I do anyways, I can't help it; I paused with my hands around the door knob, like a child about to open their last present on Christmas, wanting to savour the hope, the trembling thrill even though they wanted nothing more than to just tear it open. Because in these little moments I felt like myself again. I felt alive.

And then I opened it.

It wasn't Feonix. But it was enough to blow a hole in my chest anyways.

For a moment we just stared at each other. Just stared, no emotion between our gazes besides utter disbelief. And something stretched between us, looking for a receptor pad somewhere, to dock and connect.

Finally Stork cleared his throat and shuffled awkwardly. "Hi Finn."

I blinked and gawked, not ready to believe I was seeing who I was actually seeing. "St-Stork." God that name sounded foreign. "What... what are you-"

"That tracker idea of yours was a long shot, you know." Stork interrupted. "I actually forgot I even had the receiver for it. Crazy idea. Stupid. But I mean that was always your style."

"Tracker?"

"Yeah. It worked. I found her. I met her." Stork scratched the back of his neck and then shot me a look caught somewhere between amusement and reproach. "Why in the name of all things sane did you give her my name?"

Something twisted violently in my guts. "F-Feonix?"

"Yeah. Found her in the Wastelands. Spent some time with her, actually, while her arm was healing- she's alright, she's fine, don't pass out on me or anything." He added when I felt myself get weak at the knees.

"Is she... is she here? With you?"

"No. She left about a week ago. Really gave me something to think about, that girl. She's a special one alright. Or just plain crazy. Takes after you."

"Left? Where? Is she okay? Where's she been?" I demanded. Stork held up a hand for mercy, twitching slightly at the violent urgency in my voice.

"Yeah, she's got a little squadron of her own out there. She's fine, don't worry. Hot-headed, brash, obsessive, unhygienic... but fine. She's out to save the world with these little friends of hers."

"Save the world?"

"Yep." Stork shifted uneasily. "That's actually, um, why I'm here."

I looked him up and down edgily. Still lanky, still gawky and awkward, still green... but god he looked old. Hollow. Much like how I felt, deep down in my bones. But it was good to see him; Jesus was it ever good to see him.

"What do you mean?" I asked, feeling apprehensive while a dreading excitement built in my veins at the same time, making me tremble slightly. It was a horrible feeling and I loved it.

Stork blew out a long sigh and glanced up at the sky, scratching his neck so hard I heard his nails scraping his skin away. "You were right, Finn. All those years ago, you were right." He said at last. "She was the thing that was meant to bring us back together. It just took talking to her to make me realize."

I stared at him, trying to fight down his brittle hope about what Stork was implying. "You mean...?"

Stork looked at him and his eye twitched just once. But it wasn't a paranoid twitch; it was more like some sort of grudgingly determined tic. "Something's out there, Finn. And it's coming for all of us. And Feonix is out there with a bunch of other teenage lunatics trying to stop it. Playing the heroes. Playing us."

Something like the sun was rising in my hollowed shell of a body, warming everything that had been frozen, chipping away at the black casing that had solidified around my soul. Red, hot energy was whooshing about in my veins, no longer the semi-solid slush of blue blood that had been sloshing around there purposelessly. I could feel it, right up in the back of my skull, buzzing away, waking up. And the winter started to clear from my heart, the rainclouds broke apart to let in some light.

And for the first time in three years a grin broke my stony face; it was cracking and straining, but it was a grin nonetheless. "So what the hell are we still doing here then?" I asked and then abruptly flung my arms around Stork's narrow chest, squeezing him so tightly I could hear the hammering of his heart through his ribs.

Stork inhaled sharply, stiffening up like petrified wood. But, after a moment, he moved his arms around me clumsily, not entirely wrapping them, more so that they just hovered over my back slightly, but the gesture, the message, was clear enough anyways.

After a long moment I released him and thumped him on the back good naturedly and Stork cracked a nervously little smile. "Please don't ever do that again." He said nasally.

I thumped him again, his shoulder this time. "No promises. Seriously, what are we waiting for? The others... where are they?"

"Umm... we're going to have to do some recon." Stork said.

"Righto, then let's get this freak show on the road! Give me two seconds, I'll go get my skimmer ready... you got enough fuel for your ride? Wallop and Atmosia are pretty far."

"Oh I didn't take the Storkmobile." Stork said and I recognized the darkly excited tone that entered his voice; hell I'd missed that tone. I furrowed my brow for a moment before it dawned on me.

"The...you brought the _Condor_?"

"Old girl needed to stretch her wings a bit." Stork said, grinning.

My heart gave a joyous little kick. Home sweet home.

"Oh, and Finn." Stork called as I turned to go and grab my crossbow from where it, too, had been hibernating in my closet. I paused to look at him, expecting a shaky 'I missed you, man' or something along those lines.

"Yeah?"

Stork fixed me with a steely stare, the one expression in the world that could really get the point across to me (Piper's scowl had been easily ignorable), and it always gave me the creeps.

"Never give my name to anybody ever again."

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

I flipped the visor down on my welding mask and flicked a sparker in front of the stream from my blow torch. "Okay, don't look." I said distractedly, moving to start welding the strip of metal over the long scar torn into the _Merlin_'s roof like I was applying a large bandage or something. I stopped when I realized Wasp was watching the blazing blue sparks with the utmost of fascination.

"Wasp, I said don't look!" I snapped, flipping up my visor again. I might not have been so annoyed with her if this weren't the sixth time I had to hack at her about it. "Jeez are you _trying_ to blind yourself?"

"No." She said, sounding offended and I reached out to push her jaw to the side with one finger.

"Keep your eyes shut and look over that way." I instructed and she heaved a sigh as if this were some huge chore but did what I asked while I welded the scrap metal to the rest of the _Merlin_, which was starting to look like an old, hassled chop-shop reject instead of our hardy little airship. I sighed, feeling bad for her; I know ships don't actually feel pain and whatever, but still, she didn't deserve this. She was still young and had bite to her, she didn't deserve to look like a patched-up antique.

And _yes _I am aware that she is not an actual real living thing!

Then again I suppose the numerous scars and patches gave her character; they were hard-won battle scars and they gave the enemy something to think about, making her look so tough and what not.

Read above note about living things and how yeah, I _know_ the _Merlin_ isn't one, thanks.

I was going on day number two of extreme mechanical overhaul, and as much as I fucking love machines of any kind, altering them and bringing them back to full health, this was just starting to depress me. I'd first had to scrape Falshade's Ultra back together, which actually didn't take so much time or effort; for the most part the internal mechanisms had been fine, it was just all body work that really needed attention.

Then of course I'd started work on the _Merlin_, starting with whatever was the worst of the damage; I mean hey when someone comes into an emergency room all banged up you gotta look after the most serious injuries first, right? And the most serious injury on the _Merlin_ was her desecrated port side engine, poor baby. It had taken the worst of that bomb our dear friend Carrion had so kindly stuck to her and it turned out the whole thing needed to be replaced. This procedure is not so simple as you might think, oh no; like man if this were an actual medical situation then replacing engines is like fucking brain surgery. It's not just like changing a tire, removing the old, sticking on the new, tighten some bolts and you're good to go. No. It was a long, tedious process in which I had to disconnect the whole damn thing and then attach a new one, piece by piece, all the while re-attaching fuel lines and wires to their appropriate places. It took about five hours and by the end of it I was ranting and raving away, not of course at the engine or the _Merlin_ because I loves my shiny little machine friends, but at just about everything else, from my poor fingers for getting crushed several times by heavy engine parts, to Falshade for being stupid enough to walk under my working zone and not expect to have one of my tools drop on his head. I mean jeez, come on, you learn pretty quick that you're supposed to wear god damn hard hats in construction zones, god. Evidently the two of us must have forgotten momentarily about that whole... uh, _incident _that transpired in his room the other night, because we had no problem shouting and cursing at each other, neither of us really making any sense and by the end of it we both just scowled at each other and stormed off. Well, _he _stormed off, I just went back to repairing the engine in a very huffy manner.

In the end Varan had to physically drag me inside by the end of the day because I was prepared to pull an all-nighter to fix up our faithful little bird, even though, you know, I had next to no visibility out there. I actually did appreciate it deep down, because I was wiped out and my hands were sore and raw (but of course I didn't tell him that and put up a big stink instead, as per my usual style). I was up bright and early this morning, barely stopping to shovel down some of the waffles Varan made before I was right back to work, focusing now on the rest of the damage that had been inflicted on the _Merlin_. And so here I was, still at it and reaching into the afternoon by now, and to be honest for there just being one of me, I've got to say, I think I'd accomplished a lot in just two days. Not enough yet, but a lot.

Wasp, having the best nose and ears of all of us, was acting as our sentry, positioned on the roof to warn the others of the slightest hint of enemy scent on the wind. But I mean three hours of sitting around doing nothing while you're friend plays around with shiny bits of metal has a way of distracting your average Faeire and by now she was also acting as my companion and volun-told wrench-monkey. She'd picked up on the different tools pretty quickly, even though she gave them all her own made-up names that she insisted suited them much better. When I wasn't reminding her not to burn her own retinas or stop rolling so close to the edge of the roof I was actually glad she was up here; first of all I didn't like how miserable she'd seemed lately and was pleased I was able to cheer her up some and keep her busy. And secondly it was just nice to have a friend around, particularly one who didn't natter away as much as Fraggle or Shade. I mean yeah I liked their babbling but jeez guys just don't realize that when I'm working they seriously have to shut up or go away. Wasp and I worked away in near silence, just enjoying each other's company and occasionally throwing out random words, a rather lazy round of the Word Game.

I finished the seam I'd been welding and lifted my mask again. "Okay you can look now." I told her. "Oh and I just thought of a good one: idiosyncrasy."

"Intravascular." Wasp supplied, rolling onto her back and staring up at the thin wisps of clouds in the sky. "Rain, rain, go away..."

"Me thinks it's already gone." I told her and she clawed at my leg playfully.

"It's your turn." She prodded and I hummed thoughtfully while tightening some rivets along a seam in the _Merlin_'s hull.

"I words suck." I concluded. "I can't think of very many good ones."

"Really?" Wasp seemed surprised by this. "I can think of plenty: intertwined, immaculate, inquisition, interception, infatuated..."

I leaned over and smacked her gently across the butt to stop her. "Alright, alright, no need to show me up, miss Smarty Pants." I said and she pouted at me, moving away as if I'd actually hurt her. "Oh come on, I didn't hit you that hard."

"You _spanked_ me." She pointed out, a grin crawling over her face.

"Indeed I did." I taunted. "And there ain't nothing you can do about it."

Without warning she pounced on me like a large kitten and pinned me to the roof, growling playfully and tickling me so that I squealed with laughter before I could catch myself.

"Ack! Back you little beastie!" I cried, trying to roll out from under her. Wasp laughed and slumped to the side, allowing me to escape her grasp.

"Beastie." She giggled.

I dusted myself off. "Not that I don't enjoy spending up close and personal quality time with you or anything, but I got work to do you know." I reminded her, even though I liked messing about with her. I realized we'd never really done anything like that, didn't wrestle or tease each other like I always did with the guys. I really did enjoy being with Wasp though, in the short little periods of time when it was just the two of us. Maybe Falshade had been right, maybe I had needed some sort of female companionship deep down. Maybe Wasp did too, and maybe these little moments of the two of us just hanging out being crazy little idiot girls was good for us both.

Wasp allowed me to go back to my work, stretching out in a ray of sunlight like a cat and closing her eyes, although her ears stayed pricked and alert for the slightest sound on the wind. We went back to our silence for awhile until Wasp opened her eyes again, watched what I was doing momentarily and then started speaking in a strange voice, as if she were still considering her words as they came out her mouth. "Back in the jungle there were these little cats. Ocelots I think they're called, and they were like little jaguars basically. But they have bigger ears and wide eyes." She opened her own eyes wide in demonstration. "But they're fierce little things." She pushed back the sleeve of her jacket and pointed out one scar in particular to me. "That's what happens when you climb an ocelot's tree."

I looked at the pale scar for a moment before asking "Any particular reason you brought this up or were you just bored?"

"Oh well I was just thinking about stuff and it occurred to me... you remind me of them." Wasp said with a grin. "Little jaguar."

"And you'd be the larger variety then, huh?" I asked, letting the short comment slide. I mean what was the point of arguing; Wasp was a good seven inches taller than me.

Wasp shrugged. "Maybe. I was thinking about what happened the other day, when you kept saying you can look after yourself?" I wrinkled my nose at the memory and Wasp mimicked my expression before continuing. "Well I was thinking about that, and other stuff. I know you can take care of yourself, Stork. Like I said, you're a little jaguar, all the fight and fierceness in a smaller pelt." She smiled at me. "But... we still worry. Things happen and we don't want anything bad to happen to you. You're our girl, Stork, we love you lots. So I just wanted to tell you, even though I know you can handle yourself, I've got your back. I'll look out for you. Just in case."

For some reason it wasn't as insulting hearing it like that and from Wasp. Maybe it was because I felt I didn't have to fight for my pride with her like I did among the boys. "Thanks Wasp, and you know, I've got your back too, always. We girls gotta stick together."

Wasp grinned. "Yes." She was quiet for awhile before she started up again. "You remember how I met you?"

"How could I forget?" I replied. I mean jeez, I'd had the scare of my life being jumped by those guys, feeling stupid and ashamed being caught off guard like that, and those guys freaked me out, they had a sickness in their eyes, a perversion that made them dangerous, like rabid animals. And Wasp's entrance wasn't any more reassuring; she'd torn those guys apart, bones cracking among the pounding rain and they ran for it while I stood there frozen. Yep, that was one night I wasn't going to forget in a hurry.

"You weren't there when the Oracle mentioned destiny, that we were all brought together for a reason..." Wasp continued. "But I felt drawn to you, somehow. I wanted to come along with you, when you invited me to. I think I felt somehow you were important, that I should watch over you. It's...weird. See... before there were people in my life who... cared for me, looked after me when I was lost and scared." Her voice took on a soft, distant tone and I stopped my work completely, focusing on her intently. She was shaking a bit and she seemed to be trying to explain something she thought was important. "And... they died. I was alone again, until I met you that night. So lately I wonder... I wonder if I'm meant to continue the cycle, somehow, return the favour. Like they protected and cared for me, and now it's my turn to do the same for others when they need it. I mean here I am with you and Shade, trying to save the world, but it's even more than that. I feel like... that was why it was my destiny to meet you, on that night. The Oracle told me I was to guard the ones I loved, and that's what I feel I should do. What I want to do. I've come to realise over the years that the people you love are so, so important, and that I'd give anything to make sure they were safe and happy. So maybe that's my part in all of this; maybe I'm you're guardian, kind of, somehow."

I felt a little overwhelmed with all that she'd said, wondering what had brought all this on. "I... I never really thought about things like that." I said after awhile. Had I too met Falshade that fateful day at Finch's for a reason? I thought about my current circumstance; Cyclonis was certain I was what she needed to unleash total destruction on the Atmos. Maybe some larger fate had had a slight hand in all that went on, my joining together with the others in an effort to stop that very thing from happening.

"Maybe I look into it too much. I don't necessarily think everything happens because that's how it's meant to be, that our fates have been decided and what comes to be must be." Wasp carried on slowly. "But I _do_ believe that everything happens for a reason. There is always cause and effect, things will get balanced out, eventually. After all these years... I really have to believe that, believe it's not all some big, sick game. So maybe that's why I was meant to be with the Gargoyles. To look out for you when Falshade can't... and Angel too."

I glanced at her, examining her carefully. Her face looked sad but certain too, a set sort of determination, a grasp of something. "Everything is so messy though." I muttered, feeling some of my own brittle and uncertain emotions surfacing. "Angel's after me; how can you look after both of us?"

Wasp seemed to think about it for awhile. "There's that part in the Prophecy: Bonds thought unbreakable will snap, and that other bit, eaten from the inside... I think that means Angel and Falshade. Cyclonis wants to pit them together, to break Falshade. She's threatened by him; she knows he won't let anything happen to you. And if he has to fight Angel, it's going to be bad for both of them. One of them might die, and the other... he'll be ruined, forever. 'All eyes will turn inwardly blind'... see she's trying to find a crack among us, break us inside. If Falshade concentrates too much on protecting us, being _that_ type of Sky Knight, he'll lose sight of himself, of the type of Sky Knight he already is. Angel's already lost sight of himself, and if they both are consumed by this blindness... bad things will happen. To both of them."

"So what can we do to help?" I asked. This made sense to me... damn how could I not have thought of that? The Prophecy was trying to warn us, lend us a hand in this mess and Wasp seemed to be the only one who was remembering that. "Try to keep them from fighting each other?"

Wasp considered this and nodded. "That seems like a good idea... again, I know you can look after yourself. Falshade just wants to be there for you in case, and so do the others, and so do I. If one of us were in trouble you'd wanna keep an eye on us too, wouldn't you?"

I nodded here. "Yeah, good point." I relented.

"I think... I think there's a way to bring Angel back." Wasp said. "If we could just get her influence out of him... Falshade may forget about that though. But... maybe that's how I'm supposed to play a part. Falshade has you to worry about, the whole Atmos on his shoulders. I don't, not really, so... I can focus on Angel. I... I need to be able to save him, Stork. I... I think my number was up once before. I was meant to die. But I didn't. And so maybe that means I have a purpose to be fulfilled here, that's why I was given another chance. And maybe that purpose is to save him. I mean if everything happens for a reason... then it's got to mean something that he told me all he did."

My head was reeling; I'd never seen this side of Wasp, this open, wounded girl with so much clarity on these frightening, confusing thoughts of hers. "Wasp... if you think that's what you have to do... look I want Angel back too, I really, really do. But I don't want to lose you too..."

Wasp looked at me and grinned reassuringly. "I don't die so easily, don't worry, babes. If there's one thing I'm good at its staying alive."

"Good." I said. "But I've still got your back. It'll be a mutual thing between me and you; we'll look out for each other. Warrior sisters or something corny like that."

"I like that." Wasp said with an enthusiastic nod. "The jaguar sisters."

I smiled. "Can I be a teenage girl for a second and ask you something?" I asked and she pricked her ears with interest.

"Sure."

"Okay... well... I'm just wondering about you and Angel... do... do you think you...er, you know, have like, feelings for him?" I strung out stupidly, a rare side of me rearing up inside, a curious, girlish side that was suddenly fascinated by the notion of romance. I mean I loved my friends to death but I'd never really experienced that sort of love, that more-then-platonic type. Suddenly I was really curious about it; what was it like, to have _those _kinds of feelings for someone? Was it much different then what I already had with my friends, just with kissing and hand holding and shit like that? Or was it something slightly different, not necessarily deeper or stronger but something that branched off a bit from the type of die-hard love you can have for your friends?

Wasp looked up at the sky and for a while I wondered if I'd stepped too far and she wouldn't answer me. But finally she spoke, her voice hoarse. "I don't know... I... I had strong feelings for someone before. I don't know if these feelings are the same as that. I don't know if they _should_ be the same as that."

I nodded, not knowing what to say. Jeez I really didn't know much about Wasp's life, before I stumbled into it. She'd... loved someone else? I wanted to ask her a bunch of questions, like I was the younger, awe-struck sister and she was the older one, full of tales about territories and feelings I'd not yet wandered into. I didn't want to pick at old wounds though and kept my questions to myself.

Wasp turned to me. "What about you?"

"What do you mean what about me?"

She grinned mischievously. "Well I'm just curious; what about you? Do _you_ have any feelings for anyone?"

I scowled at her. "I, my friend, happen to be above such hormones."

Wasp giggled. "I see. What about Falshade? You must have been close to him lately..."

I felt my face grow hot and cursed myself. "And, uh, what makes you think that?"

"I can smell him on you." Wasp said casually and my face got even hotter.

"Er... that was nothing, I just stayed in his room 'cause I was being a baby." I said, coughing awkwardly.

"Aww." Wasp cooed; evidently Angel's just _brilliant_ sense of humour had rubbed off on her a bit.

"You looking for another spanking there, girly?" I threatened and she giggled, settling back into silence.

I went back to my work, patching up another rip in the hull and mulling over what Wasp had said. I think she was onto something, about Falshade and Angel. I mean over the years Cyclonis had witnessed how close they were, how close we all were. It made me sick to think she'd seen all our tender and secret moments all along, the spinning of the threads that had drawn us all so close. And now she was trying to turn those threads into nooses; she saw our bonds as a threat and she was trying to corrupt them. She'd taken over Angel already; I refused to believe that whoever he was now was even the slightest bit of him. That crystal had possessed him, it was an evil thing in Angel's skin, that was all. And that's how she meant to get to Falshade; Falshade thought he had to look out for us, for me, even if it meant fighting Angel, who'd already promised to kill him next time they met. If he had to defend us, or even himself, things could happen by accident. It was going to ruin everything I realized; to fight Angel was unfathomable really, and that gave him an edge over us. He didn't recognize us, and so... we'd really have to defend ourselves against him. Cyclonis had us all on this twisted carnival ride, spinning our heads about until nothing seemed to be what it had been anymore. It was clever, in a disgusting, horrible way and I clenched me teeth, hating to think I'd been the key to this plan, what allowed her to seek out and pick us apart, finding the flaw and exploiting it in our tight-knit friendship.

Wasp was looking at me as I pushed my bangs out of my face irritably. "You okay?"

"Yes." I lied, trying to push away my guilt. "Hey, let's move on shall we? Can you think of any good J words?"

Wasp seemed to ponder this with the utmost of importance. "Hmm...jugular? Jurisdiction? Jaundice?"

All these words were coming from the girl who described my socket wrench as 'the twisty thinger.'

"Don't take all of them on me." I griped. "Uh... jubilation, ha! And there you were thinking you were so...what?"

Wasp had stiffened suddenly, her ears springing up from the sides of her head like radars, twitching intently. She stood up slowly and strode past me, sniffing and listening.

"Wasp?" I said when I couldn't take the tension anymore.

Wasp suddenly started laughing; it started out a low hacking noise and then rose steadily in eerie volume. "Fucking _idiots_!!!" she cackled. "They can cloak there scent sure, but I can smell burnt fuel from miles off!"

I stood up now too. "What do you mean? Are they out there?" I demanded.

Wasp turned back to me. "I can hear engines on the wind; lots of them. And they've cloaked they're scent again, but I can smell the machines... and there's only one kind of riders I can think of that don't have a scent. Unless you can think of something. Maybe I'm all wrong?" She asked me seriously, no sarcasm at all, just honestly curious.

Unfortunately I couldn't think of anyone else it could be either.

"Which way are they coming from?" I asked, plucking my radio form its holster in my belt. Wasp listened and huffed in deeply a few times before pointing of into the distance.

"That-a-way." She said and I glanced at the sun to get my bearings.

"Falshade, you read me?" I said into my radio, standing beside Wasp and combing the skies neurotically.

It took a moment for him to answer me back. "Stork? What's up?"

"Never take my wrenches again, got that?"

"Yeah, gotcha. Get back to work."

"Yessir." I said sarcastically, replacing my radio. "Wasp, go and get your gear on, I'll be right behind you."

Wasp was looking rather confused. "Why would Falshade want your wrenches?"

"It's Gargoyles' code." I explained hastily, doing some last minute repairs on the hull. "You know that old saying to remember the directions, Never Eat Shredded Wheat? Well ours is Never Endanger Stork's Wrenches. Any letters that I leave out are the directions we've got enemies coming in; east and south, in this case. Clever, no?"

"...What if they're coming from the south west? What would you say then?" Wasp asked, fascinated.

"I'll tell you some other time." I said tersely. "I'm going to act like I don't know anything's going on. You go tell Fraggle what's up and then run down to the hanger and get ready to give them hell; after the boys' signal, okay?"

Wasp saluted me. "Roger. Take care." she said, taking off across the roof and jumping down to the deck. I turned back to my work, flipping down my mask again and sealing off another hole in the _Merlin_'s skin, keeping my ears trained for the sound of incoming engines. We'd worked out our whole plan this morning; in case of an attack we needed to have some sort of surprise in store for those jerks, especially when the _Merlin_ had still been out of action. With any luck those idiots would think they had the element of surprise on us poor unsuspecting children, rather than the other way around. They had numbers sure, but we Gargoyles had brains in those pretty heads of ours, believe it or not.

I glanced out in the direction Wasp had pointed and through my tinted visor I saw black splotches appear, tiny specks at first but getting steadily larger and more menacing. Yeah, it was them alright, coming back to finish the job. Or so they thought anyways. I figured around now was when I should pretend to look panicked and run for the deck as well, when I noticed two things: one was in the distance, beyond the pack of Nightflyers, was a god damn battle cruiser. Evidently they must have come prepared in the off-chance that we'd managed to patch up our ship (which, I being as amazing as I am, had indeed done). I swore to myself and then noticed that second thing, which happened to be a large jagged scar over by back rudders in the _Merlin_'s roof.

Now the reason I'd worked at repairing the engine first was obviously because a ship can fly with holes in her hide, but without any engines she's just a good-looking hunk of useless metal. However that was a nasty tear in her defences, and what with it being so close to the rudders and with that battle cruiser leering down on us, one good hit in that spot was going to seriously cripple her; it was her Achilles heel at the moment, as it were.

Abandoning the rest of my tools I scrambled over, dragging a sheet of scrap metal, blow torch in hand. I could hear those engines approaching loud and clear now as I crouched down next to the gap and fitted the sheet metal over it. It was sort of a wimpy defence at best, but at the moment it was all I had time for, it'd have to do.

I flicked my sparker in front of the jet of oxygen from my blow torch, hands shaking slightly with my anxiety and set to work, trying to be as fast as possible while still doing a half-decent job. Out of the corner of my eye I could see those Nightflyers coming in fast, growing in size all the time and tried to block them from my mind, focus Stork, come on girl...

However I defy anyone to stay focused when explosions suddenly rip through enemy lines and I did have to look up when I heard the first blast go off. The shock wave buffeted me a moment later as shocked cries and yells went up from our attackers as a good chunk of their comrades went plummeting into the cloud layer below, Nightflyers belching smoke and parts spraying through the air like giant chunks of metallic hail. I spotted a second object come flying into their midst and cracked a grin as it too exploded ferociously, consuming clumps of Nightflyers and sending the wreckage spiralling to the Wastelands far below.

Okay shall I let you in on our oh-so-clever plan already? It was Fraggle's idea actually, which came as a huge surprise to us at just how good it actually was and left the rest of us thinking 'why the hell didn't I think of that'? Anyways he said what we oughta do was have one or two of us hide out away from the _Merlin_ and wait for directions of enemy whereabouts from the rest of us; once they had them they'd fly above the incoming swarm, who'd hopefully be focused on the _Merlin_ and nothing else, and wait until the opportune moment to drop a shitload of Varan's explosives on them. Ingenious, no? I mean sure it's probably been done before but hell it was sure working, that was the important thing. Score one for the Gargoyles.

The barrage of explosives kept on coming and most of the idiots seemed to be in total disarray, looking around like mad and trying to dodge the explosives as they continued raining down on them. Some of them even ran smack into each other's rides, which was just hilarious. I mean come on, these guys were supposed to be intimidating? Psh, right.

Then however I saw one Nightflyer rocket upwards and realized it was Halo, on to our little game. Moments later Varan and Falshade came plunging down into the fray from where they'd been circling high above and Halo shouted orders as his troupes, pointing his halberd at the two of them. Some of them got over their shock enough to give chase, hurling charges at them and closing in, and that was Fraggle's cue to come in with the reinforcements. Some of the suckers looked genuinely stunned as the _Merlin_ rumbled to life and started to rise from the terra, coming in for the second wave.

Not as stunned as I was, however. Did Fraggle not know I was still freaking out here??? I nearly slipped from the _Merlin_'s roof in shock as she rose into the sky and turned with Fraggle's usual grace in the direction of the fleet of Nightflyers. I finished the last of the now really messy seam I'd been welding and then tore my visor off, getting to my feet to make a run for the deck; if I stayed out here any longer I was going to get torn loose by the slipstream.

The _Merlin_ keeled slightly and I fell hard, skidding along the roof and only just grabbing the rudder in passing, dropping my visor in the process. Man Fraggle was lucky he was injured because at that moment I could have-

I didn't have time to finish that mental threat because at that moment a missile of red energy tore past just over my newly blonde scalp and I decided to finish cursing that blue maniac later. I scrambled back to my feet and dashed across the roof of the _Merlin_ as she crashed into the battlefield, flinging crumpled Nightflyers from her side as she ploughed through, returning fire as she went. Ha, suckers, bet they most certainly didn't expect her to be back in fighting shape so soon. I was going to demand some serious applause later.

If Fraggle hadn't swung the _Merlin_ around like he did just then I probably would have been a goner. But he did, yanking the steering around to get a better shot at a cluster of Nightflyers, and when he did I was able to see the incoming skimmer approaching out of the corner of my eye just in time. The guy had an ugly, shit-eating grin on his face, arm outstretched to scoop me right from the _Merlin_ like a crow would a helpless baby bird from its nest. I saw him at the last moment and going on sheer instinct alone I cocked my arm and hurled the only thing I had in my hand at the time at him, being so used to having my throwing axes. As it were I had my blow torch right then, but that worked just as well; he had no time to react as it came careening towards him and the metal oxygen cylinder smashed solidly into his nasty looking face. Blood sprayed out around him as he tumbled off the back of his Nightflyer, which continued on its trajectory and careened into a second Nightflyer just on the _Merlin_'s other side, taking that one out too. Huh, two jerks with one blow torch...

Jeez though, if I kept up this whole impromptu weapons thing I wasn't going to have any damn tools left.

Not waiting for another asshole to try and snatch me up I dashed to the edge of the roof and leapt down, the wind catching me and shoving me back so I thudded hard into the windshield as I dropped down to the deck. Fraggle evidently didn't expect me to appear out of nowhere like that and jumped as I peeled myself from the glass and darted onto the bridge.

"Shit, where did you come from?" He demanded.

"Heaven didn't want me." I said sarcastically, scowling. "You mind maybe next time getting the all clear from the rest of us before charging off into battle?"

"Well excuse me, just trying to keep us from getting killed here, eh." He muttered irritably. I noticed him wince when he hauled on the steering and suddenly recalled his broken ribs and forgot about being annoyed with him.

"Shit, you okay? Does it hurt to fly?" I asked, coming over beside him in case he needed help, although fuck, what was I really going to be able to do?

"I'll be alright, eh." He said through gritted teeth. "Wasp wrapped a Frost crystal to me quick before she took off, side's all numbed up, eh. Gonna be paying for it later though..."

I rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. "We'll get you some whisky or something later, sound alright?" I said, going against Falshade's strict 'no booze for the pilot' policy and Fraggle laughed.

"I'll hold you to that, eh. Now get your ass out there already."

"You owe me a new blow torch!" I informed him over my shoulder as I hurried down to the hanger, strapping on my armour and snatching up my axes in record time. Then I was speeding out of the hanger and was nearly decapitated not five feet off the runway. Jeez these guys just don't give you an inch do they? Luckily I was able to go into an abrupt barrel roll and then swing back around and hack the guy's port side wings off before he had any idea who he was messing with.

"Saw you nail that guy with your blow torch!" Falshade was beside me suddenly, Sliver shredding an engine to pieces while I took care of another Nightflyer on our right with my battle axe. "Suppose I'll have to think twice before I say you throw like a girl."

"I _do_ throw like a girl!" I said indignantly, kicking at him before hurling a charge of energy at another oncoming Nightflyer. "Any sign of...?"

Falshade glanced at me, chewing on his tongue. "No." He said curtly. "Will the _Merlin_ be okay?"

"She should hold up." I said and then we had to split up momentarily to hack apart a few more skimmers, slicing off wings and any of the pilots' appendages that came in too close. I grimaced as some guy's severed hand actually rolled off the side of my wing before dropping into the sky below and then swung in close to Falshade once again. "But, you know, the sooner we can get out of here the better."

Falshade nodded. "Right." The both of us looked over as we heard Wasp shriek with laughter off in the distance, watching her whip her machetes out in two different directions and skewer two separate pilots at the same time.

"Jesus..." I muttered, looking away from the sight of intestines being whipped from the two pilots' split bellies as they dropped down below, lifeless.

"You get used to it." Falshade said quietly and I gave him a startled look which he didn't return, taking off into the thick of it again. Was he fucking kidding me? I felt unnerved then, thinking of what Wasp had said about Falshade losing sight of himself. I mean I hated those guys too and everything but...

I swallowed down the queasiness that stirred in my stomach and sped off too, clashing with a group of Nightflyers, swinging my battle axe in mighty arcs to cleave off wings and limbs alike. This is how it had to be I reminded myself; they'd brought on the blood and violence, not us. They'd made it this way. It was kill or be killed now, and I wasn't going to go down at the hands of these assholes, no fucking way.

A dark shadow passed over me and I looked up as that battle cruiser closed in, its volleys of cannon fire added into the mix now. Fraggle dodged the first few shots but ended up catching one in the _Merlin_'s flank, blasting away all my hard work in one fell swoop, metal patches flying free. Now that just pissed me off; I'd fucking worked my ass off for two days just to have some asswipe come in and blow it to pieces!!!

These guys were in for it now, man.

I wrenched my Hornet around and chased after the cruiser, slamming my axe into any idiot who got to close and not caring so much about the blood anymore; I was way too angry to give a shit. It added further salt to my wounds to know these guys wanted _me_, that's who they were supposed to be after, and yet they were still going after the _Merlin_ strictly to be bloodthirsty sons of bitches. Like fucking bullies on a playground. And I was gonna show them that I was _not _putting up with that kinda bullshit, not for a second.

I wasn't exactly sure what I intended to do; I mean against that monster I was just a little annoying insect. I swung my battle axe down at one of the engines, meaning to severe it from the rest of the ship and barely made a dent. But, stubborn little thing that I am, I kept hacking away, venting all my stress and frustration and cursing those murderous jerks again and again with every blow. I bashed away at that damn engine until large chunks started to carve away from the rest of it and I had to dodge out of the way of angry sparks. Still in a fit of insane, maybe a little irrational rage (I mean yeah I was kinda blindly attacking an inanimate machine here) I stubbornly moved on to the next one; hey man I had some serious anger issues I had to work out, weeks of stress and anxiety and sorrow just churning to hate in my veins. I was just so pissed and sick of everything about these guys I probably would have kept going until every last engine was a diced into itty bitty pieces. Hell I'd take down that entire cruiser by myself, single handed and everything.

However as it were I never did get that far, because something suddenly slammed hard into my side, sending me reeling backwards and almost flinging me from the seat of my Hornet. I righted myself, grasped tight to my battle axe, which I'd nearly dropped, and then looked around for the sucker I was going to beat the shit out of for his oh-so-clever choice of actions there.

Then I saw him and felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.

For moment to I didn't even realize, as I was just so stunned to see him there that nothing else registered right away. But then it occurred to me that he was hanging there right in front of me, thousands of feet in the air, and he wasn't riding a skimmer. I blinked twice, in total shock. Then I saw two black shapes on either side of him push down in the air, moving at his sides, keeping him aloft.

...Wings.

That... that bloody bitch had sutured _wings _to him.

Like a real fucking angel.

Except I imagine if there really were angels they wouldn't look as wicked and deadly as he did right then. It was like a totally different person glaring down on me, some completely unfeeling, cold creature with Angel's face and burning red eyes. And I hate to admit it but it just completely stunned me to see him like that, struck me right dumb, a poor little mouse hypnotized by a cobra's stare.

However he didn't seem to have the same effect on Wasp.

I don't know where she came from but just as he moved in to grab a hold of me she came flying out of nowhere, lunging over me and then crashing right into him so hard the two of them were sent spinning backwards through the air. Angel must have been shocked by the impact and apparently forgot to flap for a moment or two, causing them both to plummet several feet, but then those horrible black wings flashed like blades in the sun and he was rising again. Wasp was hanging from him, one foot tangled up in his belt and a fist clenched tight in his shirt as the two of them struggled with each other in mid-air. His forehead crashed into her nose and her teeth found his shoulder and the both of them were snarling like rabid animals, entangled in each other so tightly and so close it almost could have been intimate if it weren't for the rage between them.

I realized then both how serious Wasp had been when she'd said she'd keep Angel away from me, to protect me and to keep Falshade from having to deal with him, and how much it was agonizing her to fight with him. I could see anger on her face and the violent intent in her limbs but I could also see something glinting in the corners of her eyes, an ache on her features and desperation too. She shook him and beat him around the head, clinging to him determinedly as he tried to shake her off and the whole time he just glared back like he didn't even recognize her, like he'd like to see her fall to her death.

I recalled the way he'd looked at her so tenderly back on the bridge, all that time ago now and it practically broke my heart to see him like that now. It just fucking killed me and I felt a bitter wave of despair and a terrible rush of fury at the same time. I hated Cyclonis for doing this to both of them, to all of us, I hated, hated, _hated_ her, I hated all of this, I even hated Angel in that moment; didn't he fucking see the hurt and love mixing in Wasp's off-set eyes? How could he not even feel even a little bit of _anything_ towards that??? How could she have made him so impervious to everything, wiped his memory clean of everything that he'd ever cared about? What the hell had she _done_ to him?

Wasp's hand closed around the band of metal that was wrapped around his head and yanked it free as he clawed at her neck. "THIS DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU!!!" She screamed at him and at that moment his feet found her stomach, kicking into her guts and sending her reeling back into open air before she plummeted, his headpiece still clutched in her hand. Falshade caught her farther below, grabbing her and pulling her tight to his chest, cradling her as they both looked up at him, their faces torn and anguished, the two people who loved Angel most.

I could have burst into tears as I felt their agony pierce my chest. If it were any other situation I would have. But right then sorrow got churned into red hot rage in my guts and I plunged after him as he dropped towards them, totally oblivious to their pain. My throwing axe left my hand and in one fluid motion sliced through the top of his right wing, cutting through muscle and bone and coming clean through again. Wing rendered useless by, ironically, the very weapon he'd designed for me all those years ago, Angel dropped from the sky like an injured bird, blood and black feathers swirling in the air around him as he floundered.

And it was seeing him drop like that that suddenly made my blood run cold with fear. In that moment it was like he was Angel again and I was chasing after him without even thinking about it, thrown into a nose dive to catch up with him. It didn't even register how stupid it was, or how much I'd hated him a moment ago or that it wasn't even really Angel (I had to make myself believe that wasn't Angel, because even he could never be that cruel, that cold, that hollow); I just knew I had to catch him before he splattered in the Wastelands. I heard somebody shout after me but I ignored them, hand outstretched in front of me to grab him.

I managed, somehow, to catch a hold of his wrist, hanging halfway off my skimmer to keep a hold on him. I pulled out of my dive and he looked up at me, face completely blank for a moment and I just stared right back. I dunno what I was thinking, that maybe somehow if I just held his gaze long enough he'd remember who I was and it all could be taken back, he'd return as our Angel.

But then he blinked and his face changed into a completely startling look, his mouth twitching into a deranged grin, scarlet eyes gleaming with satisfaction. It was like a wolf closing in on his helpless prey and I watched as the wound on his wing began to heal over while his hand reached out faster than I could react and grabbed me by the shirt, rising into the air to tear me from my skimmer and bring me back to his Master.

And then suddenly he was blasted back from me, nails scratching me in passing as he tumbled backwards through the air, remnants of blue energy crackling around him. Totally stunned I watched as another crossbolt hit him square in the chest; wings crumpling he dropped from sight like a fly that had been swatted from the air. I stared for a moment then whipped around, looking for whoever had come to my aid when it suddenly occurred to me, like a blow to the head, that without Angel on our side, nobody among us used a crossbow...

Sunlight glared square into my eyes off the reflection of the _Merlin_'s hull and, turning away and blinking furiously to clear my vision, I felt a skimmer roar by over head. Glancing up I blearily I picked out a shock of blonde hair being whipped about in the wind and heard someone shouting profanities after a group of Nightflyers as this newcomer bore down on them, firing more blue crossbolts as he went. I stared for a moment, completely bewildered, when my jaw suddenly dropped open, my stomach seeming to fall right out of my body, and one hoarse word managed to stagger out of my sorry mouth:

"..._Dad_???" I choked.

"Oh shit!!!" I heard Fraggle's voice over the radio suddenly. "They got reinforcements eh! We're screwed!!!"

I heard the blast of a horn and turned slowly to take in the new airship, which sped towards us, sunlight dancing off the emblem on her hull and I think if I would have been in a safer place to do so I would have simply fainted; I almost peed my pants, that's for damn sure.

"That's not an enemy ship..." I murmured. "That's..."

Somebody else's voice suddenly spoke from my radio and I think I actually stopped breathing completely: "Thought you might need some help, Mini Me."

I stared at the speaker like it had suddenly come to life and licked bitten me. My mind could not handle this much bewilderment, seriously..."St...Stork?" I wheezed into the radio, a mixture of utter disbelief and a deadly rush of pure joy tearing through me at once.

"Yeah, it's me. I thought more about what you said and decided we weren't ready for retirement, not just yet."

I stared at the _Condor_ as she bared down on the enemy battle cruiser, cannon blasts punching into her in rapid succession and I quiet suddenly let out a whoop and was laughing so hard it made my eyes stream. It took my breath away to see that old beauty flying in, to our rescue no less, and I felt on top of the world right then, like I could do anything, kick Cyclonis' ass and put all of this right with one hand tied behind my back. The _Condor_ was here. Stork was here and I had a good reason to believe that my dad...

"Uh-oh. The Terradon's with you, right?" Stork's voice interrupted my mental raving and my euphoria evaporated in one unpleasant jolt back to reality. I wheeled about, trying to locate Varan, and found him cutting off a skimmer that had been on a path right for a dark skinned woman on a Heliscooter who had her back turned. Unfortunately she turned around in time to see Varan with his broadsword still held high after dispatching that guy and must have got the wrong impression. To be fair, from her position, I couldn't blame her.

"Shit!" I said, speeding towards them as she lashed out with her energy staff, which must have surprised Varan because he only just managed to block her attack. "Piper, stop! He's not trying to- Falshade, _no_!!!"

Falshade joined the fray then, coming to Varan's aid and slashing at Piper with Sliver, an attack _she_ just barely managed to block. The three of them we're going to kill each other via friendly fire in a moment if someone didn't stop them.

"Knock it off!" I shouted, ramming my Hornet in between the three of them. "Stop attacking each other!!! Piper, the Terradon's on our side, Falshade, _she's_ on our side, leave each other alone god damnit, we've got bigger problems on our hands!"

As if to accentuate my point we all had to scatter as a blast of cannon fire tore past us and they apparently got the message because they all went after the right enemies then and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey, new guy!" Fraggle evidently had gotten over his initial misgivings and was taking advantage of the fact that suddenly we had allies in this fight. "What say you give me a hand tag-teaming that son of a bitch, what say you eh?"

"Uhhhh..." Stork's nasally voice sounded unsure. However he put his awkwardness aside and he and Fraggle turned on the enemy ship, each taking one of its flanks and hammering the shit out of it with a mighty volley of cannon fire. That ship might have given the _Merlin_ a bit of a tough time but now she didn't stand a chance with two kick-ass ships out for blood.

I turned my attention back to the battle, feeling like I'd got some kind of second wind. I totally decimated one Nightflyer, my axe tearing it right in two. My foot found another guy's chin, cracking his head to the side and sending him tumbling from his ride. The gore and the bloodshed might have bothered me deep down and truth be told I was glad it did; I wouldn't like to be like these guys, who actually seemed to enjoy ripping people apart and stealing their lives from them. However I will admit I'm kinda of a violent individual with a side of crabbiness and man I'd just had it with these guys by now. Seeing the _Condor_ arrive, knowing we had allies in this, it seemed to knock all the hurt and anguish seeing Angel like that had pumped like lactic acid into my limbs, weakening me. I was back on my game and with a bloody vengeance too and I figured it was high time I got these guys back for all the grief they'd been causing me, from sending me crashing into the Wastelands to working for hours on end to fix up our beloved ship just to see her get shredded up again.

And, you know, okay yeah, I might have wanted to impress the Storm Hawks. Just a _bit_. Cut me some slack, jeez.

Anyone I came across who wasn't on my team ended up being extremely sorry for even trying to cross me after that; I hacked skimmers to bits with my battle axe and hurled my throwing axes with an accuracy and strength that I'd never known I possessed. I was proving a serious fucking point here; they weren't going to take me prison, they didn't stand a chance. I didn't let them anywhere near close enough. I felt a rush of brutal satisfaction every time my axe head crunched through metal and occasionally bone, chopping through those bastards like they were a thicket of ugly weeds. I heard another one of Varan's explosives go off farther away and turned to see him lash out a one guy who made a lunge from his skimmer towards him. His claws dug in deep into flesh and shredded the guy's chest open. I swallowed uneasily and was almost relieved to see Varan look at his now bloodied hand with revulsion. Still a soft-hearted peacemaker at the core at least, just thrown into circumstances that demanded he put aside his gentle nature, just for a little while.

Wasp, on the other hand, showed no evidence of the girl who'd spoken of so many strange and heart wrenching things earlier, nor the girl whose face shone with grief as she tried to get through to Angel. Now she was a deadly, savage creature, a side of her that both awed and frightened me; she showed no mercy, clearly venting her pain and rage on any poor sucker who she set her sights upon, jagged machetes tearing through flesh and bones, severing limbs and spilling innards all over the place, leaving a red rain of bloody gore to plunge down below her.

Falshade seemed to be in a similar state, tearing past through the attempts of any would be attackers and sending them, in one state or another, to fall out of the sky like bats retreating from the sun. I always had to admire Falshade's skill; after all he'd taught me almost everything I knew about fighting, he was no novice. He might have sucked at the written side of his studies at the Academy, but he'd always been at the top of his classes in any of the physical tests; he and Angel. He could set up parrying attacks that opened an opponent's defences wide if he wanted to, but he could also beat the shit out of anyone he wanted without them even getting one shot at him. Today he seemed to be going with the latter style, not giving them anything on him.

I slammed my axe down on the backend of a Nightflyer whose rider had tried a desperate retreat (well I am pretty frightening, what can I say?) and heard a long, low groaning noise pour free from the agonized battle cruiser. I turned back to see it starting to sink into the clouds, listing badly and limping in the sky, smoke staining the clouds a nasty grey as it struggled to stay aloft. I could see crewmen taking flight from their doomed ship as Stork and Fraggle continued to give her hell from every angle, refusing to let up. I smirked, feeling no remorse for the loss of that great, mechanical brute, when I had a weird feeling in my stomach. I cocked my head as I watched the skimmers that had fled their dying host speed past us and tear off back the way they'd come, disappearing into the sudden cloud cover that seemed to have rolled in out of nowhere. I furrowed my brow at the odd looking storm clouds... those things weren't natural. Some sort of crystal creating them perhaps, making cover for these guys to escape?

"Shade? My Storky senses are tingling... something about this seems weird..." I said into my radio and watched as Shade paused in his chase to look about at the clouds and those continuing to flee the ship like they expected it to-

"FRAGGLE! GET THE _MERLIN_ OUT OF HERE, NOW!!!" Falshade was hollering urgently into the radio all of a sudden. "RETREAT YOU GUYS, GET OUT OF HERE!!!"  
"What?" I shouted, confused, as Fraggle said at the same time. "I'm going where, exactly?"

"ANYWHERE, JUST GET AWAY FROM THAT SHIP!" Shade shouted desperately and I saw him turn his back on the sinking ship and fleeing pilots, grabbing at Wasp's arm in passing. "Come on, gun it, _now_!"

I still had no idea what was going on but I took off in hot pursuit; I'd be stupid to ignore Falshade when he sounded like that. I caught up with Varan and the we converged alongside Wasp and Shade, the four of us tearing into the cloud layer that continued to tighten around us like a smothering blanket. I heard the _Merlin_'s battered engines kick into overdrive as Fraggle sped after us, trying not to lose sight of us in the cloud cover. I could only hope those who'd arrived with the _Condor_ had listened to Falshade's warning as well and weren't far behind; I didn't want to get separated from them, not even for a moment.

Suddenly behind us there was a roaring sound that put some of Varan's larger explosions to shame. It was like the entire sky was lit up by an exploding star, the clouds blazing to life around us, lit up by the explosion. My Hornet bucked furiously in the resulting shockwave, nearly pitching right over for one terrifying moment.

Then there came a second sound, a sharp crackling like a blazing fire and I felt every hair on my body stand up as if I'd been electrocuted. I glanced over my shoulder and was nearly blinded by the sight behind me us; charging after us like a stampede was a torrent of brilliant red forks of lightning. It was like a giant trail of dominoes collapsing as electricity was channelled through the storm clouds, closing in behind us, so near I could feel the enormous heat, and my skin prickled as little strings of static danced over my armour.

"HURRY UP!" Falshade shouted, throwing his throttles wide open. We gunned our rides for all they were worth, my legs searing as my engine began to overheat. Like gigantic pythons the shafts of lightning chasing after us as if they wanted to engulf us, swallow us right up. There was a wetness under my fingers and I barely realized that I was squeezing my handles so tightly my palms were bleeding and still I pushed it, faster, faster, come on baby...

Suddenly we burst free into pure, blazing sunshine like we were tearing free of some sort of thick membrane. We slowed and were almost ploughed flat as the _Merlin_ exploded from the dark clouds not a moment behind us, the _Condor _on its rudders.

And not a moment too soon either.

There was a clap of thunder so loud it sent all four of us still on skimmers tumbling back through the air with its force, deafening me and seeming to shake the sky with its volume. The raging bolts of lightning hit the barriers of the clouds and seemed to implode, sparks of electricity spraying free, crackling menacingly and stretching towards us like greedy fingers grasping for something just out of reach.

And then it was like the clouds were all sucked back and collected inwards, seeming to dissolve into thin air as if they'd never existed, leaving us with nothing but a tingling of leftover static in the air.

"Did everyone make it out?" Falshade demanded, looking over us urgently, his voice distorted in my ringing ears. "Anyone hurt?"

Panting and choking for breath we shook our heads and he seemed to sag in relief. "Fraggle what about you, you okay man?"

"I'll live, I think." His voice floated back weakly over the airwaves. "Sh...shit, eh. Thought I was gonna lose the bloody engine again there... fuck thought I was a goner for a second."

"What... what in Hell was that?" I gasped, prying my fingers loose from the death grip they had on my handles.

"It must have been something meant to finish us for good." Varan said hoarsely. "In case we were up for a fight."

"But how could they create a something like that? I dunno about you guys, but I've never seen anything like that before, not even in the movies!" I said, my heart hammering faster than a jackrabbit's.

"It's her. Cyclonis. She's gotta be using that crystal to make weapons now too..." Falshade looked to Wasp here for support, who nodded solemnly.

"I felt it in those clouds... it was the same sort of aura as the Berserkers have, kinda of." She mused, wiping at her bleeding nose and licking the dark blood from the back of her hand.

"Shit..." I breathed. "Whether she needs me for complete control or not she's obviously able to manipulate that crystal really well by now...

"Tell me about it." Falshade muttered and looked back towards our distant battlefield, eyes flickering strangely. "I mean just look at what she's done too... _him_."

"Black wings." Wasp murmured. "It wasn't just symbolism..."

I swallowed. "Did you see... did you see if he was alright? Did he get out of there?" I whispered. Last I'd seen of Angel he'd been injured, and without a sky ride he might have...

"Zodiac had him." Falshade said, grim and distant.

"Right well... come on, let's go back to the _Merlin_." Varan coaxed and we trailed after him back to our faithful little ship, thoroughly batter and bruised but not finished; not our bird.

Fraggle let out a sigh of relief when we came onto the bridge as if he couldn't really believe we were all in one piece until he saw us with his own eyes. Then he slid to the floor, clutching his side and groaning. "Fuuuuuuck, eh."

"It didn't help so much did it?" Wasp asked remorsefully, fondling with his ears comfortingly while Varan unwrapped the bandages she had hastily bound to Fraggle's ribs.

"Nah, it worked alright." Fraggle said with a forced grin. Then he looked at me pointedly. "I'm taking you up on that whisky there though, eh. Need it to help me sleep after that." He jerked his thumb back the way we'd just fled for our lives.

"Yeah I might just join you on that one, come to think of it." I said, ignoring Falshade's disapproving look. Fraggle chuckled a bit and then we all looked up as someone cleared their throat from behind us.

They must have come over from the _Condor_ without us realizing; there were the four of them standing in our doorway, looking a little out of place. The others held perfectly still, staring back at these strangers with an awkward silence and they looked right back. For a few moments everyone just stood stock still and took in each other. Then I forced my legs to start moving and approached them, moving like a zombie.

Finn took a step forward and I felt my throat close up like I was about to start bawling, my eyes starting to sting. Then I sprang forward to close the distance and sank into my daddy's arms for the first time in nearly four years. I sucked in a messy breath of air, inhaling his familiar, comforting smell and let myself just collapse against him. God I didn't realize just how much I'd needed this until I was finally there in his arms again. And then it was all shaking loose inside, my fear and misery and anxiety, it all washed out of me and was absorbed by him. Maybe all parents have that sort of ability, this aura they carry with them that is able to soak up their child's woes and heartache like a sponge, replacing it with a delirious feeling of warmth, that everything was going to be alright; I'd felt traces of it when I'd hugged Falshade's mom too. I wondered absently if you could ever grow too old to be immune to it and told myself no; it was just something that would always be there, a basic instinct right in the roots of your heart.

I clung to him for ages as he ran his fingers through my hair like he used to when I was a little girl, holding me tight. "My girl..." he breathed and I smiled, a few tears spilling over the edge. I was his girl alright, and he was my daddy and I was so, so happy to see him again at last.

"Stork told me what happened." Finn said at last, breaking away and touching the scar on my collar bone gently, where Varan had removed my stitches from only a few days ago. I felt a stab of guilt at the look of deep concern in his blue eyes. "Jesus, Flea..."

I sniffled a bit and to deflect the barrage of worry I was sure to have gotten from him I cleared my throat and looked over at Stork, who shifted uneasily.

"So, what, you went and tattled on me?" I asked with false reproach and he rolled his eyes.

"And here I was under the impression that you'd be happy to see me. My mistake."

I cracked a wild grin and threw my arms around his thin frame and he grunted with surprise. He touched my back briefly before brushing me off uncomfortably. "Alright, alright, I get the point." He said stiffly and I swatted at him playfully before glancing at the other two Storm Hawks. I knew they were really practically strangers, but they felt so familiar to me, like I'd known them for ages. They too looked haggard and aged, like Finn and Stork did, but their faces hadn't changed much from their photographs'. I suddenly felt rather awkward, a little shy, if you'd believe it, uncertain on how to proceed here.

Luckily Piper saved me the trouble. She stepped forward and extended a slender brown hand. "Hello Feonix." She said in a voice that I instantly liked; there was something really friendly and melodic about it. "I'm Piper."

"I know." I said dumbly, shaking her hand and she smiled. Good she was gorgeous, despite being ravaged by grief and loneliness all these years. She had a pretty, elven face with bright, shining eyes the colour of tangerines and flowing midnight blue hair. It was longer then it had been in the photograph, tied back in a messy bun, but a few bangs escaped and danced over her elegant face. She still wore an orange headband though, just as she had in the photo, the same hue as her eyes.

"And I'm Junko." The remaining Storm Hawk added, stepping forward, an adorable grin plastered on his large face. He was a Wallop alright, standing even taller than Varan and with thick muscles standing out from his body. The horn at the end of his muzzle seemed a little larger to me then it had at the time the photo had been taken, but then as far as I knew Wallop's horns grew with age. Maybe it was just because I was finally seeing the gentle giant up close. He extended a large hand to me as well but he didn't seem to be able to contain himself when I grasped it and pulled me into a crushing hug that almost popped my poor lungs. "Gee, you know, last time I saw you I could hold you in one hand!" he exclaimed after releasing me and I felt my cheeks heat up. "You don't seem so much bigger since then..." he mused and I swallowed down my pride because heck, compared to a Wallop anyone was a midget.

Finn was looking me up and down, seeming concerned and weary but he was grinning now too, an expression of his that I'd sorely missed. It was infectious, an overjoyed, playful look with a hint of cockiness around the edges. "What happened to your hair, Flea?" he asked and at the second mention of my old pet name I felt a little of my senses return; great, thanks Dad, just throw out the nickname there in front of my friends and everything, not like they don't bother me enough as it is. Thank god Angel wasn't here... wait, I take that back. I'd give anything for him to be here.

"It's sort of a long story." I said and heard Falshade utter a coughing noise behind me. I glanced back at the others, finally remembering that the poor buggers where just standing their awkwardly, witnessing all of this and I coughed a little, wiping at my runny nose. "But that can wait. Alright, intros, because everyone's looking a little edgy." I cleared my throat and turned to the others. "Guys, these are the Storm Hawks." I said. "Junko, Piper, Stork and my dad, Finn."

Varan, Fraggle and Falshade all seemed to be having a bit of a fangirl moment and were a bit speechless. Then again I had to give them credit; everyone's idols growing up had been the Storm Hawks, they were legendary heroes and now here they were standing on our bridge after bailing us out of a battle, it had to be a little overwhelming. Wasp however apparently wasn't so impressed by this fact, as she knew next to nothing about Atmosian history; she was, however, very impressed by the site of these new, fascinating specimens before her.

"Have you ever gouged anybody with thing?" She asked excitedly of Junko and I pinched the bridge of my nose while he looked a little uncertain, running a thumb over his horn.

"Uh, well, no, I don't think I have." He said honestly and Wasp seemed disappointed.

"And Storm Hawks, these are my friends, the Gargoyles." I countinued, stepping over next to the others. "Er, you sort of met Varan." I said to Piper, who gave said extremely skittish lizard a very apologetic look.

"Yes, I'm so sorry about that." She said sincerely. "Just, um... well old habits I guess."

Varan grinned nervously. "It's alright, no harm done. Besides, I understand how it must have looked from your end." He reassured her.

"Oh, phew, good, no hard feelings." I said, nodding and rubbing Varan's shoulder to try and get him to relax a bit; his tail was flicking from side to side like mad. "And this is Fraggle, our carrier pilot." I went on, waving a hand at him.

"Yo." Fraggle said with a bit of a salute and put a hand to my face with a sigh. "Nice moves back there, eh. Beauty of a ship." He added to Stork, whose eye twitched.

"Uh, yeah, same to you." He said awkwardly.

"This is Wasp; she's our crystal specialist, Piper." I added and Piper smiled warmly at Wasp, who, naturally, was distracted.

"Green is my favourite colour!" she declared to Stork, who gave her an uneasy look. "Can I taste your skin?"

"No, Wasp, no tasting." I told her sternly, holding her arm in case she decided to maul him or something. She seemed put-out by this but stayed where she was, much to Stork's obvious relief.

"And this is our Sky Knight, Falshade." I concluded, moving over next to him and hoping he'd get his mouth working again or else he was going to look like a pretty stupid Sky Knight indeed.

Luckily he seemed to have recovered his voice. "It's an honour to meet all of you." He said earnestly and I couldn't hold back my eye roll, even though had I been in his position I would have probably said something fancy like that too. But hey, all those times he teased me for 'gushing', it was time for some pay back.

"You guys are his heroes; he's had a poster of you on his wall since he was like, six." I said and he glared at me.

"Excuse me, _who's_ the one with the Farley Throttle mini-shrine?" he hissed at me and I scowled.

"I don't have a god damn shrine!"

I saw Stork move a hand over his mouth to hide a grin, obviously pleased that there was indeed someone who could irritate me, the master of all irritating-ness. Again, thank god Angel wasn't here. But you know, not really of course.

Finn was looking Falshade up and down critically and I saw him swallow nervously. "So..." Finn said at last, standing in front of Shade. "_You're _the reason my daughter's been off gallivanting around the Atmos for the last three years huh?"

"Dad!" I squawked indignantly; oh dear lord do _not_ let him get the wrong impression here and go into the whole father-mode thing with Falshade.

"Er..." Falshade faltered; behind me I could hear Fraggle trying and failing to smother his laughter and made a mental note to find a non-bruised spot on him later and punch him.

"Oh Finn leave him alone." Piper scolded then, coming to Falshade's aid. Finn cracked a smile and clapped Falshade's shoulder good naturedly.

"I'm just kidding with you, man." He assured him and Falshade grinned slightly back.

"Thanks for helping us out back there." he directed to all four of them.

"Thanks for telling us to get out of there when you did." Piper replied.

"Yeah, any later and we might have been human popcorn." My dad added. See where I get my lovely sense of humour?

Stork was scowling, eyelid jumping neurotically. "Yes isn't it fantastic? Just like old times." He griped then glanced over us Gargoyles briefly before turning to me. "Wasn't there supposed to be another one of you lunatics?" He asked and I felt my throat shrivel up at the reminder of our missing sharpshooter.

"He's...MIA at the moment." I explained shortly. I didn't feel like adding that my Dad had actually shot him down back there, or that he was on the opposite side at all really. As much of a jackass as he was, I didn't want their first impression of Angel to be that he was (unintentionally) one of the enemy.

We got curious looks from the Storm Hawks but they didn't press the matter anymore than that. We were once again plunged into awkward silence before I finally spoke up once again. "Well, um... I'm just going to throw this out here, but we maybe should get out of here, you know, in case they come back to see if they really did finish us or not. Plus the _Merlin_ probably needs some work again, we should find some place to set her down."

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea." Falshade agreed. He glanced at the Storm Hawks uncertainly. "I dunno what you four had in mind, if you've got somewhere else to be or not..."

"Well..." Piper looked at her squad-mates and then back to us. "We actually were looking for you; Stork said you guys are trying to get to the heart of what's been going on and... we thought maybe you could use some help."

I stared at Stork. "You seriously went and gathered everybody up?" I asked incredulously and he shifted uncomfortably, seeming way out of his element here.

"Well, uh... yeah. I thought about everything you said, you know, before you left and... well I guess I had something of a revelation. You had a point you know, believe it or not. About the whole Storm Hawks thing." He strung out awkwardly after awhile. I felt a grin crawl onto my face and I suddenly wanted to lunge at him again, hug him tight and laugh until I couldn't breathe anymore. Just seeing the four of them there, finally back together and ready to fight again, it really got to my heart. It was like suddenly we had a fighting chance in this mess; I mean we had the fucking Storm Hawks back, man! Nothing could stop us now.

"Right, well you guys find some place to settle down then, we'll follow you in the _Condor_." Piper suggested to which Falshade nodded and turned to Fraggle to check on him. I watched the Storm Hawks start to file from the bridge and felt my chest constrict.

"Hey, you guys won't need me for anything over here, will you?" I asked abruptly and Falshade quirked an eyebrow.

"Uh, I don't think so..."

"Okay, well then if you don't mind, I think I'm going to go with them." I jabbed a thumb at the Storm Hawks and Falshade glanced at them and then me again before smiling softly.

"Yeah, you go catch up with your dad, we'll be fine without you." He said and I flashed him a grateful grin before taking off after the Storm Hawks. I caught up with Finn and hopped onto the back of his skimmer behind him. He appeared startled for a moment but then smiled widely and ruffled my hair briefly before following along after the others out of the hanger.

Man did it ever feel great to be back on the _Condor_; my fingers were practically itching to run themselves all over her but Stork gave me warning look and I kept my hands firmly behind my back (well, except for a brief moment in which I molested his ship when he wasn't watching).

The other Storm Hawks seemed to know Finn and I wanted some more time together and left us in the hanger, making up excuses of things that had to do. Finn had me in a crushing hug the moment the hanger doors slammed shut and I melted into him, allowing my emotions to overwhelm me and I cried quietly into his chest. I heard him sniffle a bit too and he pushed his face into my hair like he did when I was little. He seemed a little worse for wear then I remembered and it made upset and I squeezed him a little harder, if possible. God it really took being wrapped so securely in his arms for me to finally start to comprehend how much I'd missed him deep down. I mean hell for thirteen years he'd been the only constant person in my life, he'd taken such good care of me and made me feel secure and happy every single day of my life. It had been hard to be away from that, even after I met the others and wasn't so lonely without him. And to see him here, in his old ship, among his best friends, it made me feel so god damn good inside; this was where he was meant to be, I could tell from the spark that had taken over his blue eyes, the thing that had always been missing about him. I'd seen it in Stork's face, a sort of peace, a look of completeness about him. They could run from it all their lives but they eventually had to realise that this is where they were meant to be.

"So... how have you been, kiddo?" Finn asked me eventually, holding me at arm's length and eyeing me up and down with a mixture of pride and concern. "You know I think you've gotten taller since you left."

"Well it has been three years." I pointed out, unable to keep the smile of my lips. "I've been good, Dad. Although lately things have been kinda crazy..."

"Yeah, no kidding." Finn glanced at the bay doors as if he could see the madness that had taken hold of our world raging through them. "Stork said you were trying to stop whatever is going on out there... I suppose I should have known you'd end up doing something like that. But of course I knew I couldn't let you try and do it on your own."

Something shone fiercely in his eyes and he cracked a grin that I had never seen on his face growing up, but remembered it so very well from that photo. He was suddenly his younger self, reckless and stubborn and prepared to take on the world alongside his friends. It filled me with joy and hope to see that long-forgotten look on his face; it made him look much younger.

"So I was right." He went on, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and drawing me in tight, giving me an affectionate nougie. "I knew you were meant to bring us back together."

I made a muffled squawking noise. "Oh Dad, please, it wasn't because of me that-"

"Oh yes it was! Do you think Stork would have ever come and gotten us if it weren't for that talk you two had? None of us would ever have come along if it weren't for him reminding us of who we are; we might have been ready to just give up on everything, but that didn't mean the rest of the Atmos was ready to as well. It just kept on going and now it needs help again. What kind of Storm Hawks would we be to just ignore that? What would Aerrow have thought?"

I looked at him in surprise; after all he and Stork had both gone to great lengths not to say that name, ever, and now it just came spilling out of him. Finn still seemed to wince as the name came out of his mouth, but he said everything with a clarity and determination that made my entire body tingle with fresh hope.

"And why did Stork remind us of all of that? Because of you, Flea. And so here we are now, ready to help you punks out however we can. We're where we're supposed to be."

Wasp's words came back to me from the day I'd joined back up with the others. 'Maybe Stork had to spend some time away from us'. I did a bit of a double-take; holy shit, had all that destiny crap really been right? I mean if I hadn't crashed and spent that time with Stork then he never would have gone to Finn and the others... I didn't know yet if they had some bigger role to play in this whole war, as Falshade's dreams had hinted at, but that aside, they'd gotten back together and that was really important. It'd been what they needed all along, and I'd had a hand in that, somehow and completely unintentionally. It seemed like a series of coincidences when I looked at the bigger picture, but really, what had been the chances of me surviving that crash, or of all people Stork finding me down there via an old radar system that might not even have worked? I thought about Wasp's beliefs on things, that when things happened, they happened for some reason or another. Maybe there had been some grander scheme behind it all?

Finn was watching me expectantly, still smiling away like an idiot. "So..." he said, touching a lock of my bright blonde hair. "When am I going to get to hear this long story of yours?"

At the thought of all the bad things that were going on, everything we still didn't understand and all that had happened, I felt some of my elation evaporate. "Dad there is some serious shit going down out there." I said slowly after a moment. "I need to talk to all of you about it, and trust me, it's not going to make a whole lot of sense. But we really need your help; we think you guys might be connected to this in some really important way."

Finn's face took on a more serious look and he nodded resolutely, showing me onto the _Condor_'s bridge. Stork was at his place at the helm, trailing along behind the Merlin. Piper and Junko were nearby; apparently they'd been waiting for us. Finn waved his hand at the table and they sat obediently, watching me expectantly; Stork had one ear trained on us from his place at the wheel. Junko pushed a large mug of tea towards me, which I accepted and then nearly gagged on when I took my first sip, so I put it aside with the excuse that I had to wait for it to cool down. I took a deep breath, tried to gather everything we knew and put it in some semblance of order, and began.

I started right from our decision to go to the Scar and went from there, trying not to leave to a single detail from the whole, messy story. I told them how bits and pieces from Falshade's dreams had matched up with the room we'd found in the old fortress, and about the guys who'd attacked us and how it turned out they were related to what was going on now. I left out Rex but told them about the decimated terra we'd found near there, explaining that it was the emblem that Wasp found that matched with the tattoo on one of the guys we'd fought outside the Scar (the others had gone into greater details about this revelation with me a few days after I'd gotten back). I briefly went over the battle we'd gotten into a few days after that, during which we'd been introduced to Halo and Carrion and how they'd known our names and all that shit. I also went over my crash in slight detail but that was enough to make Finn put his face in his hand and clutch at my shoulder, letting out a shaking sigh; Piper had rubbed his back soothingly at that point and I felt guilty all over again. I went over everything Stork had told me, which later connected to some things from Falshade's dreams, told what I could remember from memory of the Prophecy, and then came the hard part. The truth about why my hair had changed, and the part I was most nervous to tell; I mean how would they react to the news of their thought dead enemy, back from the dead? And that all along she'd been housed inside me, of all things?

It took me a long time to get it all out, and it was a little disjointed, as I didn't know all the details myself. I relayed what had happened to me before hand and then slowly dragged out everything that Wasp and Falshade had told me of what had happened while I'd been unconscious. I couldn't look at them as I said it; I could feel a cold stiffness move through all of them, like they suddenly went back to being the hollow shells they'd been before joining together again and it made me tremble all over. Stunned, chilly silence settled over them like a coat of frost and it only seem to break when I finally relented what had happened to Angel. At that they came back to themselves; Piper put a hand over her mouth, looking horrified, as if she could really feel our pain at the loss and dark metamorphous of our friend, and Junko even sniffled like he was holding back tears. Finn wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him and I wiped at my eyes, swallowing a few times to keep my voice from breaking.

"So, that's it, really." I said hoarsely. "Cyclonis can use this crystal in ways we never even thought possible; not only did she design that bomb-storm thing that went off back there, she... she was able to give Angel wings, somehow."

Finn stiffened next to me. "...He... he was out there? He was the one who had a hold of you?" he demanded, looking both enraged and ashamed.

"Yeah." I said miserably. "He's completely forgotten who we are now; last time he was able to recognize Falshade but he still attacked him, and now it's like he doesn't even know us. She's done something awful to him, she's poisoned his mind and... and I don't know if we can help him." I choked a bit here. "Wasp thinks there's a way to bring him back, but... but I don't know if we'll be able to do it! He'll try to kill the others if they get anywhere near him, and he's after me, he wants to bring me back to Cyclonis."

"What? Why???" Finn demanded as Piper and Junko started, shocked and even Stork glanced over his shoulder at me, eyes wide and twitching slightly. Shit, I hadn't gotten to that part yet...

"Well..." I swallowed uneasily and licked my lips nervously. "Last time, Angel was still... I don't know, he was still him, somehow, and he told Falshade that... that Cyclonis doesn't have complete control over this crystal she has yet. And she thinks that I'm the key to getting that control. I don't know why... maybe it was because her spirit was housed in my body and so somehow... we're connected." That thought made me feel sick right to my very core, like I'd drunken something toxic. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt Finn's fingers brush through my hair soothingly while Piper rubbed my arm comfortingly.

"Oh Feonix..." she murmured like she wanted to say something encouraging but couldn't think of it just yet. That name, that god damn name, snapped me out of my wretchedness a bit though.

"Please, for the love of god, don't call me that." I said, hiccupping slightly. "It's Stork. Just call me Stork."

Up at the helm, my name sake blew out a long-suffering sigh. "This is going to get so damn confusing." He droned melodramatically and I cracked a slight smile.

"Yeah, but what are you going to do, right?" I said and I saw his shoulders shake as he laughed softly to himself.

"So, let me get this straight." Junko spoke up then; I liked his voice too, come to think of it, it was childish and easy-going, like a complete mockery of his tough, frightening exterior. "Cyclonis doesn't have complete control of this crystal?"

"Yeah, apparently not." I said with a nod. "Which means we're in some serious trouble here; if this is what she can do with only partial control, what could she do if she _did_ get full control of it?"

"Well that's not going to happen." Finn said sternly. "There's no way she's getting a hold of you, Stork."

"You're like the third person to say that." I grumbled. "Not that I don't appreciate the optimism or anything, but I'm not completely incompetent, thanks. I had no intention of letting her."

Piper giggled a bit. "She really does take after you, doesn't she?" she said to Finn.

"I'm still not sure if that's entirely a good thing." Stork decided to throw in from the helm and Finn and I both scowled at him.

"You know I think they're all just jealous of us." I concluded and Finn nodded.

"Oh, totally. And can you blame them, really?"

Junko laughed and grinned big. "I missed this." He reported and the other three seemed to freeze where they were. I glanced between them all uneasily, wondering if perhaps they hadn't quite yet gotten over everything that had happened, they way they'd broken up and the sixteen years that followed. Maybe this was all happening a little too soon, any reminders or sentiment of how things had been in the old days. Things still seemed a little brittle to me, I could definitely feel some tension between them all and I suddenly felt worried that at any moment it might all snap and crumble apart and we'd be back at square one again.

But then Stork, after scratching neurotically at his neck for a moment, piped up "Yeah Junko. We missed this too."

* * *

"I'd like to see the copy of that prophecy of yours, if that's okay." Piper said to me after placing a stack of dirty plates on the counter. As it turned out, Piper was a vegetarian as well and had helped Varan with dinner, even going so far as to make the two of them some sort of weird vegetarian dish thing, once we'd found a place to stay. Stork and I had been hard at work since landing, patching up the poor _Merlin_ and it was one of the greatest things that had ever happened to me to be working alongside the legendary pilot on our very own ship; Fraggle had been downright ecstatic about it. Then we all sat down to dinner together in which the boys made awkward small talk with the Storm Hawks and I got a huge kick out of their gawkiness, me being the little brat I am and everything. I mean come on, these were the guys that could and did bring up all the raunchiest things you could think of when it was just us immature Gargoyles together (and, okay, admittedly sometimes I'd join in too) and had some of the biggest attitudes on the planet, usually not being the least bit shy or timid in front of anyone, and here they were acting like shut-in little school boys in front of the mighty Storm Hawks. It was kinda cute, actually, in a completely hilarious way. Then again I also blamed the fact that Angel wasn't here; that put a damper on the mood, especially after today's run in with him, and usually he was the one to get Fraggle going on about his unpleasant misadventures and sexcapades, which in effect would get Falshade to loosen up. And trust me, that boy might act all pure and saintly in front of company, but when alone with his perverted male counterparts he could play the part of idiotic, hormone-ridden teenage guy all too easily.

Anyways after that Piper continued to impress Varan by insisting to help with the dishes; actually Varan looked like he might just pass out from shock when she asked if she could help. Normally he had to either threaten or bribe us into helping out with any chores. It was amazing how quickly they seemed to get along, considering their first encounter hadn't exactly been pleasant and jeez you know, if Piper were like, twenty years younger and Roo wasn't in the picture I would have almost thought they could have had something of a thing. Still trying to give off the impression to the Storm Hawks that I wasn't _that_ much of a brat I decided to help out too, putting away clean dishes like I did it all the time (which I didn't of course).

I looked up at Piper from where I was putting away cutlery. "Yeah, of course. Do you think you might be able to figure some of it out?" It might actually help to have someone older and with an outside view on all of this take a look at it.

"Well, maybe not just that, exactly, but if I put that together with everything you've told me..." Piper trailed off, leaning against the counter thoughtfully. "Something about all of this is really bothering me. Like there's more to it, and I want to try and figure some of it out."

"Like the threads we're missing?" I asked and she nodded.

"Falshade's got some notes he made too, things from his dreams that he thinks are important." Varan added, passing me some more plates to go away. "Those might come in handy too."

Piper nodded. "I think so... you know as bad as this all seems to be I find a lot of it sort of interesting too, how everything is tying together; Falshade's dreams, everything the Oracle told you... which I'm super envious of, by the way." She added with a grin. "I would have loved to have spoken for just a minute with the Oracle."

"Yeah the more these guys go on about her the more I feel that way too." I huffed and Varan mussed up my hair sympathetically. "Anyways it's nice to find someone who doesn't find it all extremely annoying and depressing." I went on. "It's been driving us crazy for ages now."

"Well maybe that's just the scientist side of me." Piper mused. "I like trying to put all the pieces together, you know? I guess I'm a bit of a dork that way."

"Well I wouldn't worry too much about that, 'dork' doesn't even do us justice anymore." Varan said consolingly and Piper laughed.

"Anyways yeah, I think I'd like to take a look at all of that, if that'd be alright with all of you." She said again and I nodded, putting away the last of the dishes and drying my hands.

"Dude are you kidding, we'd love some freaking help with the whole thing." I said. "Maybe you should talk to Wasp about some of it too, she seems to get some of the stuff the rest of us miss. Anyways come on, let's go get all of it."

"Okay; thanks for dinner, Varan." Piper said with a smile.

"Yeah, thanks for helping me." Varan said. I made a smoochy face at him just to be annoying and he tried to whip me with the towel; I ducked out the door after Piper, cackling to myself.

Falshade and Fraggle were sitting with Finn and Junko at the table on the bridge, totally wrapped up in whatever story the two Storm Hawks were telling between the two of them, something about some old battle or other. I felt a prickle of jealousy for some reason as I watched them; all my life Finn had never brought up anything about his identity, let alone the Storm Hawks and any of their amazing adventures. But now here he was, going on and on to my friends like he'd never skipped a beat since the old days. Then again I reminded myself, this was a slightly different Finn then the one I'd grown up with; he wasn't mired in grief anymore, he'd finally pulled himself back into the light and was back with his best friends, where he belonged. I couldn't even feel slightly aggravated with him, not when he was like this.

"Okay so here's all our paperwork so far." I told Piper, pulling the sheaves of paper from their place on the bookshelf. "Er, don't mind the scribble." I added. None of us Gargoyles had particularly neat writing and we'd also gotten a little bored along the way a few times and had started impromptu games of hangman and Xs and Os on the various sheets of paper. Someone (Fraggle, I assumed) had even drawn a little cartoon version of Angel with a cupcake on his head, next to which Angel had scrawled '_fuck you, fleabag_'. Gee thanks guys, way to make us seem so diligent and mature and all that.

Piper was trying not to giggle as I handed her the paper. "Thanks." She said, looking over our jumbled mess of notes. "I have some books on the _Condor_ that I want to look through as well, so please excuse me for disappearing for awhile."

"Yeah no problem." I said with a nod. Piper headed out, our papers clutched in her slender fingers. I decided to go down to the hanger a little while later, where I wasn't entirely surprised to find Stork, tinkering about with my tools.

As the doors shut behind me I saw his ear twitch in my direction. "You should be ashamed of the state of your work space, you know." He informed me and I scowled.

"Uh huh, yeah, and you know why it's that messy? Because our pilot just happens to be a furry maniac who has never heard of the term brakes." I said peevishly. Okay that wasn't entirely true, but jeez if I had a specific little place to put everything to keep the place tidy I'd never find anything.

Stork grinned to himself. "So what's this thing?" he asked, holding up a little boxy thing from one of my piles of unfinished projects.

I furrowed my brow for a moment before I remembered what exactly that was. "Oh, that was supposed to be a motion sensor, it was supposed to sound an alarm if anyone walked by it, you know, to keep people out of my room. But I made it too sensitive I think; it started picking up on air currents every time the furnace came on. I kinda had to stomp on it to get it to shut up."

"Nice." Stork congratulated and I swatted at him half-heartedly. Then I looked at him seriously.

"Thanks, you know. For thinking more about what I said. I know I probably didn't say everything in the most intelligent way or anything, but... well it just means a lot to me, that you went back to the others, finally. And I think it means a lot to them too; someone had to get you guys out of your hidey holes eventually."

"Yeah, I know; never thought it'd be me though. I half expected Finn to snap one of these days and come and find us." Stork said with, only half kidding. He looked at me for the longest time before he added on "He was right, you know; you were what was supposed to bring us back together."

"I dunno about that." I said with a shrug. Stork did something weird then, however; he leaned over and pushed my bangs from my forehead to stare at directly into my face.

"I'm not so sure; it's a really weird coincidence that you happen to have Aerrow's eyes." He said quietly and I swallowed. I thought about bringing up my whole theory, that maybe I was housing Aerrow's soul in my body too, but it was way too complicated and I didn't want to get into it right now.

"I'm sorry about your friend." Stork added, settling back down further away from me, as if he'd suddenly remembered that, oh yeah, I was covered with germs.

I smiled grimly. "Yeah... but hey, maybe things will be different now, maybe we can still turn this all around; I mean, we've got the Storm Hawks now. That's gotta count for something."

"Oh I don't know about that; you and your little gang of basket cases seem to have taken care of things pretty well so far."

I felt a flourish of pride at that; I mean it's not every day that Atmos' most legendary squadron says that yours is doing a decent job.

After that we settled into a comfortable silence, like we used to when I was recovering at his underground base. We absent-mindedly worked with my equipment, touching up the other's skimmers and cleaning tools, our way of decompressing after a rather long day. I thought a few times about asking him what exactly had changed his mind about abandoning the hermit lifestyle he'd taken comfort in all these years, or what he'd said to the other Storm Hawks to make them come along with him. But I kept these questions to myself; I figured whatever had gone on between all of them had been a private sort of thing and should be left to them and them alone.

I dunno how long we just hung out down there, enjoying each other's company, when Piper returned, face flushed and eyes wide with excitement and discovery.

Stork and I looked at her. "What's up?" I asked, afraid to get my hopes up too high, less they be smashed to bits once again.

"Call everyone together on the bridge." She said breathlessly. "I think I've got something here; something big."


	28. Smells Like Teen Spirit

**28**

**Smells Like Teen Spirit**

"_**The crystal and the phoenix are linked." **__**-Piper, episode 4: The Code**_

_**So in a word, don't shed a tear**_

_**I'll be here when it all gets weird**_

_**If I ever leave this world alive**_

_**.x.**_

'_**Cause we find ourselves in the same ol' mess**_

_**Singing drunken lullabies**_

_**-If I Ever Leave This World Alive and Drunken Lullabies, both by Flogging Molly**_

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

We had to pull in chairs from the kitchen to be able to seat everyone at the table on the bridge. The Storm Hawks were sitting side by side on one side of the table, the rest of us on the other. Piper had our paper work spread in some random order over the table, as well as three books with scraps of paper sticking out to mark pages, and a piece of paper with her own notes written on it.

I could feel Varan's tail knocking against my shin now and again as it flicked from side to side under the table, betraying his brittle nerves. Stork was sitting rather tensely on my other side, picking at her fingernails neurotically, something I'd never seen her do before. Even Wasp seemed to be paying attention, sitting properly in her chair and waiting expectantly. I was feeling twitchy, my palms sort of sweaty. After a long day full of unexpected events, thrown into what was easily turning out to be the most stressful and depressing month of my life, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what exactly it was that Piper had figured out. It was almost ironic actually, since I'd been waiting all my life to get the straightforward message on what my dreams meant, and now that someone was here with a possible solution, I really wasn't looking forward to hearing it.

Piper cleared her throat and looked over all of us before she began, standing at the end of the table and pulling some of her papers towards her. "Okay, so as you know I wanted to get a better look at everything the Gargoyles had figured out so far, to see if maybe I could find some of the missing pieces."

"That is what you do best." Finn agreed with a nod and Piper narrowed her glowing tangerine eyes at him before continuing.

"Now since crystals are pretty much my life I was really eager to try and find out what kind of crystal Cyclonis could possibly be using. I thought if I did it might help us figure out how to reverse all the damage that has been done with it, maybe even destroy it. We could use it against these Berserker soldiers she's made..." Piper paused and looked at us pointedly. "And get Angel back to himself." She added and I felt my pulse stir slightly.

"So did you figure out what she's using, then?" Stork (our Stork) asked timidly after a few moments of tense silence.

Piper let out a long sigh and ran her fingers through her dark blue hair, which was beginning to fall loose from its tie at the back. "I... I think so, but... but it just doesn't seem possible, what I've found." She strung out uncertainly.

"Well nothing we've found out seems to be possible." I pointed out encouragingly.

"Good point." She cleared her throat a bit and opened up one of her books. "Well what I think I know goes way back, before the Cyclonian empire even came to power. The beginning of this whole mess started sometime back during the Vexienian dynasty, almost three thousand years ago." She glanced up from her book at the rest of us. "Do, um, any of you know anything about that time period?"

"...No." We all answered honestly. Hell the only history I'd ever been interested in was the old wars.

"I'll have to give you some background information then." Piper said. "There was a crystal specialist on Atmosia who I worked with who specialized in the time period, so I know quite a bit about it; it was actually a really fascinating point in history, as crystals were just beginning to be studied seriously, to try and find out how they got their energy and sustained it, and how the energy types could differ between crystals. There was one specialist in particular named Swift Hawthorne, who studied the tie between the energy produced by crystals and the energy produced by living creatures and the effect that one had on the other. See he believed that there was a link between all forces of energy and types of life; he was philosopher too you see and he believed that we could learn about-"

"Piper, while I'm sure we're all extremely fascinated by this, but could you maybe stick to the key points of your little history lesson?" Finn interrupted then and I saw Fraggle's mouth quirk slightly. Jeez maybe all squadrons got along just like ours after all.

Piper gave him an irritated look before continuing. "Fine. Anyways his pursuits to find a crystal that could bond its energy with that produced via cellular respiration-"

"Uh... what's that?" Junko interrupted this time and I was silently grateful that I didn't have to be the one to ask, because I had no idea what it was either. I was sort of glad Angel wasn't here to make the irritated noises in his throat he always did whenever someone asked a dumb question ('dumb' of course meaning something anyone who didn't spend their time reading text book after text book on insane scientific theories would ask).

"Cellular respiration is the production of energy in living beings." Piper explained. "It's a big, long, complicated series of steps but in short version it's converting gluten to energy, you see? Plants do the same thing in reverse; converting energy from the sun to gluten, and its called photosynthesis, see?"

"Look can we stop getting off track, please?" Stork (green Stork) asked in a long-suffering tone, which seemed to be the only tone he had, next to his paranoid one.

"I was answering his question!" Piper said indignantly. "I know this is all a lot of strange theories to be throwing at you all but just try to bear with me, okay?"

I liked this woman; she wasn't rude about her intelligence, unlike one scrawny little bastard I happened to know.

"Okay, anyways it was this pursuit that led to the discovery of the Infinity crystal." Piper went on and finally a name was tossed out that I recognized.

"Wasn't that supposed to be even more powerful then the Aurora Stone? Like the most powerful crystal ever recorded or something?" I clarified and Piper looked pleased that someone actually knew what she was talking about.

"Yes, exactly. The crystal contained the ability to channel its energy to that of a living organism, whoever was wielding it at the time. Such a thing had never happened before and so it was a huge event in the history of crystal energy. Since the Vexienian dynasty there has never been another discovery of any crystal that rivalled the Infinity stone; the Aurora stone was extremely powerful of course, but it didn't have the power to channel its energy to the wielder, you see."

"So what are you saying there, eh? That Cyclonis somehow got a hold of another Infinity stone?" Fraggle asked then and all present fidgeted uneasily; if that were true then this was seriously bad news.

"Not exactly." Piper said. "You see the original Infinity stone was destroyed by Hawthorne. You know the term, absolute power corrupts, absolutely? Well there were wars going on back then too, power struggles and the like, and every ruler at the time wanted to use the power of the Infinity stone for their own personal gain. Hawthorne decided the only way to make sure that the crystal's power was never used to harm anyone was to destroy it; unfortunately as he was the wielder of the crystal at the time, he too died along with the crystal, as the two were connected through the bond of energy."

"Well that sucks." Finn said bluntly and Stork, Fraggle and I laughed.

"It's not funny!" Piper said shrilly. "Hawthorne was one of the greatest crystal scientists to ever live, not to mention an extraordinary man! He gave his life for the good of the Atmos you know!"

Finn cleared his throat sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry. So what was the point of telling us all of that then, if the Infinity stone was destroyed?"

Piper seemed to struggle with her indignity for a moment longer before continuing once more. "Okay, we're going to jump forward in time a little bit here, about five hundred years. Many crystal specialists since Hawthorne's time had tried to follow in his footsteps, determined to find another crystal that held the same power of the Infinity stone, in order to learn more about the bond between natural and synthetic energy." Here Piper pulled over another one of her books and opened it. "There was a woman in this time period by the name of Nike, and she came up with the theory that there could be another type of crystal that held powers that differed slightly then that of the Infinity stone." Piper pushed her book into the center of the table so we all could look at a diagram drawn on the page. It looked to me like a broken up figure eight.

"Anybody know what that is?" Piper asked, as if we were sitting in classroom or something and not discussing the fate of the Atmos.

"A double helix." Varan said. "You know, like a strand of DNA."

"Exactly." Piper beamed at him. "This also happens to be the shape that the Infinity stone had, and since it was able to bond with the energy of a living being, that's why it was also called the Helix crystal, you see? However, Nike's theory that there was another crystal stated that, while the Helix crystal could channel its energy to a human, the crystal still had no effect on the biological properties of that human. Basically what she was saying was that the wielder basically became an extension of the crystal's power, just like our weapons today convert crystal energy for our use and are like an extension of the crystal's energy, you see? Nike believed that there had to be a different type of crystal that could fully bond to a living creature's biological workings, the cells and muscles, that sort of thing, and therefore could allow the crystal's energy to not only channel into this being but _alter_ it."

"So like Cyclonis is doing with those soldiers of hers you mean?" Stork (our Stork) clarified. "How she's able to make them stronger and heal faster?"

"And how she was able to give Angel wings?" I added and Piper nodded solemnly.

"Pretty much, yeah. Nike believed there was a crystal that could do such a thing, although it was never discovered." Here Piper turned her book sideways, so that the double helix was now lying on its side. "Okay, can anybody think of what that looks like?"

"A double helix on its side?" Finn said sarcastically and Piper scowled at him, but just as she was about to make a retort Wasp interrupted her.

"The eternity symbol." She interjected and we all turned to look at her.

"Yeah..." Piper breathed, looking at her like she was seeing her in a whole different light. "And what makes you think that?"

"Well it's supposed to be a never ending loop, you know? To like symbolize life and death and rebirth?" Wasp traced the curving edges of the helix. "If you sort of ignore the gaps and stuff, it looks sort of like that, if you ask me. But that's just my thoughts; it might be one of those pictures that people see a whole bunch of different stuff in, you know? Like I bet if you looked at it the right way it could be a butterfly..."

"No, Wasp, you're right." Piper insisted. "That's exactly what it's supposed to be, that's what Nike thought too; she was sort of a philosopher and stuff, so she looked at it like we as living beings, made up of DNA, make up the cycle of life and death, and so she had this profound idea that that was why the eternity symbol resembled the double helix... she was quite an interesting woman, she had extremely unique ideas... anyways I digress. My point of all this was that Nike named her hypothesized crystal the Eternity crystal. People since her time have explained that her reasons for naming it that was this; if you look at the eternity symbol you could say, in terms of living beings, that one end could represent life, the other end death, and the place where they over lap could be rebirth, old souls recycling back into new ones. Now some people don't believe that souls are recycled after death, so they look at this stage as evolution, a constant changing. Looking at it in terms of a non-living thing, example being a crystal, you could call the two sides creation and destruction, and explain that the crossover point could be looked at as a tie between the two, as one cannot exist without the other."

Piper pointed at one end of the figure eight and the other as she explained all of this and I was grateful for the visual aid, although I still felt rather confused. "So what does all that mean though?"

"Well to be plain and simple it would mean, according to Nike's theory, that the crystal would be able to encompass both ends of the spectrum, the ability to create and the ability to destroy, and the ability to influence living beings with both of these forces."

"Okay, I get all of that." Stork (green Stork) said. "But none of this has any point, because you said right from the beginning, nobody ever discovered an Eternity crystal, or even proved it existed."

"It doesn't mean people didn't try to find one." Piper argued. "I mean think about it, the Infinity stone was powerful enough, but a crystal that could be properly bonded directly to living things? Think of the possibilities! Cyclonis evidently already has." Here Piper pulled over her third book and flipped to a page near the back. "Right here it was recorded that even way back in the beginning of the Cyclonian empire, which was about a thousand years ago now, the Cyclonians went to great lengths searching for a crystal that contained the same powers as the fabled Eternity crystal. And because of present evidence, I have reason to believe they found one."

"It sure adds up to look like that." I agreed.

"Yeah I'm not going to argue that; I mean Angel said it way back in the beginning, nobody ever found a crystal that could bond with living creatures the way this crystal obviously is allowing Cyclonis to do, but this Eternity crystal sure fits the bill if there ever was one." Varan spoke up. "But there's one thing I don't understand here; this Hawthorne guy, way back in the day, the Infinity crystal channelled all its energy to him, no problem. But the whole reason we're not under Cyclonian reign yet is that Cyclonis doesn't have complete power over the crystal she has. I mean obviously she can use it, and I'm thinking if it's supposed to have the ability to both create and destroy then she's obviously got a good handle on the former. But why hasn't she got control over the other half yet? I don't get it. Not to tear holes in your theory or anything." He added to Piper, who waved a hand dismissively.

"No you're right, I thought of that too, which brought me to this part here." She explained, going back to her second book, flipping to a second marked page. "Now if you believe in the whole idea that the Eternity crystal is supposed to represent the cycle of life and death, you'll realize there are certain balances, obviously. Life and death, creation and destruction, if you look at any parallels you realize one can't exist without the other, and a certain balance between the two must be upheld. Nike assumed the Eternity crystal would work in the same way; balance had to be achieved before any one person could unleash its full power. However this would seem to be impossible; the wielder would have to have perfect balance between life and death, creation and destruction, you see?"

"Well then that would render the crystal useless, wouldn't it?" Varan asked.

"Not to mention if anyone could do that no way in hell it'd be Cyclonis. Even when using the creation side of things she's doing it to be destructive." Stork (our Stork) added.

Piper fidgeted here. "I thought of that too." She agreed, some of the confidence gone from her voice. "I mean that's as far as science and logic would take me, and even that was something of a stretch of the imagination. So I started looking over your notes." She explained, pulling over the piece of paper with the Prophecy scrawled over it; some specific parts had been underlined. Piper tapped a finger next to one spot in particular. "'Light and dark will be thrown together and the line between will be as grey as the ashes from which one will rise, what was will return...'" She paused here and made an uncomfortable noise in her throat. "That seemed to correspond with the whole idea of a balance, and it got me thinking... in our time now, what two parallels are we facing?"

"...Good and evil." I suggested after a few uneasy moments.

"Yes. We faced the same problem, seventeen years ago. And also, seventeen years ago, when we won the war against Cyclonia, both Cyclonis and... and Aerrow disappeared." Piper had a hard time getting Aerrow's name out of her mouth and I felt bad for her, for all the Storm Hawks; I thought about the Beast Keepers, losing their own Sky Knight, and felt my throat starting to close up. Stork's hand made its way to nudge mine comfortingly and I tried to shake those thoughts from my head for the time being.

"Now if you look at it like this... Aerrow could almost by a symbolic figure of the good side of things, and Cyclonis, obviously, one for the bad. Two opposites clashing together in a final battle, neither to ever be found." Piper pointed to a note I'd made. "Falshade you mentioned something about the Lightning Claw in your dreams, which symbolizes Aerrow pretty clearly to me. And you also mentioned something about that throne room in the fortress, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I recognized it when we went to the Scar..."

"I..." Piper swallowed uneasily a few times as we all watched her, waiting expectantly. "I think... I think what happened was the crystal, if Cyclonis had one in her possession, absorbed the two of them in that moment when they were fighting. It achieved a balance by doing so, and in effect, was able to create someone who was able to wield it completely."

Piper turned to look at Stork and I felt her tense up next to me, her skin going cold. "Stork... you know you were found in the Scar, right? A year after Cyclonia fell..."

Everyone's eyes were on Stork now and I could see her jaw clenching tight, trembling slightly with the effort. I reached for her hand this time and squeezed it and her cold fingers squeezed back more tightly then she'd ever allowed herself before.

"I... I know about that. That's why the dumbass legion named me Feonix." She said hoarsely, sounding like her throat was coated with sand.

"Right... and I was looking at this part here..." Piper's finger touched a spot on one of our papers. "Something about Falshade seeing a baby in a pile of ashes?"

"I _thought_ it was a baby." I corrected. "I wasn't sure-"

"And it also mentioned you usually see something else in the ashes, right?" Piper interrupted me.

"Well yeah, usually it's this glittering thing, like a shard of glass or something..."

"Or a crystal?" Piper suggested slowly and I could have kicked myself for not ever coming to that conclusion.

"Are you getting at something here?" Wasp asked. "Or are we playing a game?"

"No, this all has a point." Piper assured her, clearing her throat nervously again. "I... the second part of this line here, 'as grey as the ashes from which one will rise'... I think that means you, Stork."

Stork's hand was clutching mine even tighter now, as if she wasn't even aware of her actions anymore. "...And what's that supposed to mean?" she croaked.

"Think about it; you were found in the ashes, that's why they called you Feonix, you said it yourself. Falshade has seen a baby in the ashes in his dreams, as well as a crystal, and now this prophecy of yours is saying that someone is going to rise up from the ashes as a result of light and dark, good and evil, being thrown together. The Eternity crystal absorbed both Aerrow and Cyclonis and the two of them were combined together into one body. I don't think it was a fluke that Cyclonis' soul just happened to be housed in your body, Stork, and I don't think it was just her in there either; you've got Aerrow's eyes and I think he is a part of you too. The Eternity crystal created you from the both of them, and that means you are the one who is meant to wield it. And that's why Cyclonis is after you."

Silence fell on us like stone. Stork's hand went limp in mine and for a second I thought she might have passed out. We all were watching her carefully, waiting for her to say something, anything. Her eyes were stretched pretty wide and she'd gone pale under her freckles. Then she blinked and started laughing as if she thought this was some huge, elaborate joke.

"Okay, no, you've gotta be kidding me if you think I'm going to believe that. I mean fuck, I can believe in super soldiers and shit-for-brains traitors flying around on wings, I believe that Falshade can see the future and Wasp had a voice in her head telling her all this Prophecy stuff, I can even believe that somehow Cyclonis was housed in my body. But you can't honestly expect me to believe that Aerrow and Cyclonis didn't just end up bonded to me because of some fluke but that a _crystal_ created me from both of them. That's just a step too far. I mean do I look like a freaking crystal offspring to you? Do crystals go around walking and talking? Do they have skin? Hair? Teeth? I don't bloody think so."

"I know it's crazy." Piper said in a muted voice. "I'm not saying you're just some... some puppet or something made by the crystal to have a place to put Aerrow and Cyclonis, I'm just saying somehow from the two of them it was able to create an actual living person."

"Yeah but just like that? Just out of the blue?" Stork seemed to be desperately trying to find some fault in all of this. "It doesn't make any god damn sense!"

"Nothing makes sense anymore." Wasp pointed out quietly.

Stork was wringing the hand that wasn't dead and numb in mine. "You guys aren't getting this!!! I... I can't just be... well what does that even mean, I'm supposed to wield the crystal? How the hell am I suppose to do that? We aren't even sure we're talking about the right crystal here!"

"I can't see how it could be anything else, and if I'm right then you're linked to it." Piper explained softly. "Cyclonis knows that and that's why she's after you; because of her bond to you she's able to use some of the crystal's power, but without you she can't ever have full power over it. I think she must intend to use you like a channel in order to obtain the power..."

Stork was shaking all over as she slowly pushed her fingers through her hair, looking down at the table top. "...Fuck." she muttered and I rubbed her shoulder in a weak attempt at being comforting, but it was pretty pitiful; I was still reeling from this new information.

"Piper, are you sure about this?" Finn asked weakly from his place at the table.

"I don't want to be." She admitted miserably. "But so many things are adding up, it's hard to ignore the facts..."

"...If Cyclonis is right." Stork spoke up hoarsely, still staring at the table. "And if she were able to channel the crystal's energy through me... what could she do? With the destructive side of it in her control too, what could she do?"

"...I don't know." Piper said honestly. "She nearly wiped out the entire Atmos with the Aurora stone and her Storm Engine... and if the Eternity crystal is even more powerful then that..."

"Then we have to destroy it, don't we?" Stork said, a weird, robotic edge in her voice. "Hawthorne did it to the Infinity stone after all, to save the Atmos."

"Uh, problem here." Fraggle spoke up then. "We know all of this stuff now and that's great, but we're still missing a key point here, eh; we still have no bloody idea where she's hiding."

I scratched at my scalp, something worming away in the back of my mind and apparently I wasn't the only one onto something; while the others looked at each other, any hopes dashed, Wasp cocked her head as if thinking then turned to Varan. "Varan, you know that thing you're always yelling at us when we ask you for something?" She asked and Varan looked affronted.

"I don't _yell_ at you guys." He said indignantly.

"Yeah, okay, but what is that thing that you say? You know, when something's lost?"

"...Look harder?" Varan tried and Stork (green Stork) snorted.

"No no, that other thing." Wasp sounded impatient, but I had to give Varan credit here, I really had no idea what she was going on about either. "You know when someone yells 'Where the fuck are my goddamn boots?'" She carried on, doing a bad yet obvious imitation of Angel. "And then what's your line?"

"Uh... check the last place you had them?"

"Yeah, that sounds right." Wasp nodded. Then she fell back into silence and we all stared at her, aside from Stork, who seemed fixated by the table grain.

"...Where you going somewhere with that, Wasp?" I asked after a moment.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I was. Well I was just thinking, say you had something and then died. And then you came back, somehow, and wanted this thing, if no one had touched it, wouldn't that thing be in the last place you left it?"

"Wasp I have no idea what you're going on about!" Varan spluttered helplessly but that thing that had been nagging away in my brain suddenly exploded to the front.

"...Holy fuck..." I said and the others turned to me now as I snatched up the paper with the Prophecy written on it in Varan's hurried scrawl. I squinted at it, feeling more frustrated with my dyslexia then I ever had. After a moment I suppressed a growling noise and thrust it at Varan.

"Which line?"

"The one about infections, or something like that." I said.

"'Old wounds will reopen and the infection that has been festering beneath will spread over the world like a virus'..." Varan blinked as if understanding something suddenly.

"Maybe some of that wasn't symbolism." Wasp suggested, looking at me pointedly. "Maybe we were meant to take that part seriously."

"Old wounds?" Fraggle asked, slow on the uptake as usual. "What do you get from that if you take it seriously?"

"Fraggle think about it, what are old wounds?" I said slowly and he considered it for a moment before his brown eyes opened wide in realization.

"Scars, eh." He breathed.

I almost laughed at this point. "Exactly. The Scar. Jesus I can't believe it... don't you remember Angel saying that the place went on for miles underground? It didn't matter if the Legion was checking in on it twice a month, they never would have seen anything, it was all going on underneath!"

The Storm Hawks, who had been watching us go back and forth up 'til now, suddenly looked very alarmed. "But... but we searched the place, after the last battle, didn't we?" Junko reminded us.

"Junko don't you remember the tunnels that went into the terra? Who knows how far down it goes, there's no way they could have searched all of it..." Piper said slowly and then tugged at her hair in frustration. "Ugh, how could we have been so _stupid_?"

"No wonder nobody's been able to track down these bastards." I said. "We were looking in all the wrong places."

"We've thought we've been safe all this time." Varan muttered. "That's half the problem right there."

"God damnit, I've been telling people that for _years_ and nobody ever believes me." Stork huffed. "The moment you start thinking you're safe is when they get you."

"Evidently." Finn muttered sardonically.

"Well this isn't all bad." I said, trying to sound optimistic about one of the worst sorts of things to be optimistic about. "Well, yeah okay, this is bad, but I mean we've got what we need now, right? We've finally figured it all out, we know what is they're using against us _and_ where it is too. Now all we have to do is get a hold of the other squadrons and start making up some sort of action plan."

"...That's not going to be possible, Falshade." Piper muttered and I cocked my head, waiting for her to elaborate. She blew out a shaky sigh and then continued. "Just before we left to find you guys there was a gathering on Atmosia for any members of the Legion who could make it; only half the squadrons even showed up. It is absolute chaos out there right now; there's an attack almost every other day and if the squadrons aren't defending a terra they're trying to take care of the refugees. There are thousands of them, some who had to leave their terras altogether, and there's just not enough of us to help them. They're calling in reserves and pulling trainees out training they're so desperate, and there still isn't enough. These guys have us pinned, even if we could get all the squadrons together to try and make a plan, there's no way we could launch an assault, if we pulled those squadrons off the front to attack Cyclonia head on hundreds more people would die on their own terras."

For about ten seconds I just felt like lying down and giving up. The others looked crestfallen and defeated as we realized the bitter truth; despite all our efforts, everything we'd tried to stop had happened anyways. It didn't matter that we'd finally found out the secret behind my nightmares, that at last we had the information to put a stop to this once and for all; it was all too little, too late. It all had been in vain, everything, all the near deaths and close calls, losing Angel, everything. Even if we turned around right now and rode out to help the other squadrons, fought day and night to keep the terras of Atmos safe, Cyclonis was making more and more Berserkers while we had our hands full, and if she got a hold of Stork it was all over. We were outnumbered, disorganized and every day the Cyclonian masses were growing even stronger.

But then I remembered what the Oracle had said, about never giving up hope. I thought about what she said about my Dad too, that he watched over me, that he was proud of me. He was proud of me for going out to try and stop whatever it was I'd been certain was coming. So what would he think of me now? Now that I'd come so far and grown so much just to give up at the end, lose sight of it all?

I glanced at the others; they were watching me, waiting for me to say something, decide what we were going to do. I could see what they were thinking as if it was written clearly over their foreheads, shining like beacons in their eyes: '_We followed you this far, Shade, so what's the point of turning back now? We'll keep following you, right until the end._'

"Then _we'll_ have to do something about it, won't we?" I said after what seemed like a lifetime; Varan nodded slowly in agreement and Fraggle cracked his maniac grin, mussing up my hair. Wasp smiled wolfishly at me and I knew I'd made the right decision, come what may of that.

"Falshade..." Piper started but I held up a hand.

"No, listen. Look, the other squadrons have terras to defend, but we don't. That's why Cyclonis kept sending those guys after us, time and time again; we're the one variable in all of this. And she knows it too. And I mean you guys, back in the day, you guys were exactly the same way, you didn't have just one terra to defend, you defended the whole Atmos, you did all the things nobody else could. The other squadrons can defend the front and we can go and stop them right at the source... or die trying."

Finn looked over his squad-mates as if waiting for someone to say something and when none of them did he took it upon himself. "I like this guy; reminds me of Aerrow." He reported, grinning wildly at me and standing up as if to demonstrate his readiness to jump into battle with us. I felt my cheeks get hot; I mean shit, Aerrow was only my _hero_, no way I was anything like him (I'm sure if a certain someone were here he'd love to point out all the reason why that was, but as it were, he wasn't).

"You do realize there are only _nine_ of us." Stork decided to point out, although he sounded more like he was stating an unfortunate fact rather than arguing.

"So? Come on, are you the Storm Hawks or not, eh?" Fraggle jumped to my defence. "Dude my mom used to tell me stories about you guys all the time when I was a youngin; you guys single-handedly saved the Atmos on your first mission! Ya fucked up Cyclonis' plans time and time again and then went and had more adventures on the side, eh! This should be a walk in the park for you hosers." He paused here and must have remembered who he was speaking to. "Er, sorry eh, didn't mean to call ya'll hosers."

The Storm Hawks exchanged looks with each other, communicating silently. Finally Piper looked back to us, still trying to come off as logical in all of this, but there was a gleam of excitement burning in her pretty orange eyes.

"Well you know, we are a lot older then we were back then." She reminded us.

"Yeah but that just means you have way more experience than we do." Varan pointed out.

There was another moment's pause as the Storm Hawks tried to think of anything else they could use as an argument and when none came up Stork heaved a long sigh. "And so here we go, charging off into certain doom once again. Just like old times."

"That's a yes then?" I clarified, heart pounding wildly with a sudden flood of new hope.

"Trust me, coming from him that's as close to a yes as you're gonna get." Junko assured me and my face split into one hell of an untimely smile.

"Well that's settled; now all we need is a game plan." Piper said, cracking her fingers clearing off the table, seeming to be in her element. "Anyone got any good ideas?"

"Well I have a whole lot of flaws I'd like to point out." Stork said faking a tone of enthusiasm and speaking up before anyone else could. "First of all, what we need to know is if there's even a point to all of this; is there a way to destroy the Eternity crystal, on the off chance that we were actually able to _find_ it?"

All eyes turned to Piper, who tapped at her lip slightly, thinking, before turning back to her first book, flipping idly through the pages.

"There should be a way; Hawthorne used something called we call a Black Hole Procedure to destroy the Infinity stone. Basically it's a detonation of negative crystal energy, the exact opposite of the energy that is given off by other crystals. It consumes the crystal's energy and when the crystal is drained of all energy the integrity of the crystal itself is weakened and it simply breaks apart and turns to dust."

"Can you make something like that that will be strong enough to overpower the Eternity crystal's energy?" I asked and Piper gave me a crafty grin.

"I'm not the head of the Crystalogy Department of the Atmosian Science League for nothing, you know." She said confidently and Fraggle let out a whistle.

"Nice title there, eh. Do you get a badge or something for that?"

Piper laughed.

"So how do we get in to where she's keeping the crystal in order to destroy it? Not like we can just stroll through the front doors." Stork pointed and Piper gave him a look like he'd said something incredibly stupid (man if I had a dollar for every time I got that look).

"Stork don't you remember the first time we infiltrated Cyclonia? We went in through the pipes in the Wastelands. We can do the same thing again, there's so much smog cover out there they'd never even notice us! And if they have guards posted I'm sure Junko could get them to change their minds in a hurry."

Junko grinned and clenched his massive fists tight; shit I wouldn't want to be the poor bastard on the receiving end of one of his punches, that's for damn sure.

"Alright, that's all fine and dandy, but here's another problem with this whole brilliant scheme of yours." Stork interjected; evidently this was his specialty. "We know how to get into Cyclonia sure, but how do we find the crystal once we are in? Don't you remember what the underground of that terra was like? It's a subterranean labyrinth! Even if we had a map we have no idea where exactly she is keeping the crystal; we could wander around down there for days and never find it, if we weren't found and killed first!"

My heart sank a little bit; he had a good point. Angel had said the place went on for miles underneath us when we'd been wandering about in those tunnels and it had taken us ages to get out of there.

Fraggle suddenly perked up though. "Don't need a map, eh, we've got Wasp."

"We do?" Wasp asked, looking confused.

"Oh come on, eh, you're the one who went on that big rant the other day about feeling crystal energy and if you ask me there's gonna be one hell of an energy field down there to be feeling!"

"Jeez Fraggle, when did you start coming up with all these good ideas?" I asked and he hit me in the arm.

"Well he was due sometime." Varan said evenly and Fraggle rolled his eyes. "But he's got a good point; even if Wasp can't feel the crystal's energy from that far away, I have no doubt in my mind she'll be able to smell it."

I looked at Wasp. "What do you think?"

Wasp grinned her crooked, werewolf grin. "I think my nose and I can manage that."

I squeezed her shoulder gratefully and looked to Stork (green Stork). "Anything else you think could go wrong?"

"Oh don't get him started..." Finn groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Oh I could think of hundreds." Stork assured me in a dark tone. "But they're all a little far-fetched. But looking at what we've got... well... I'm still not going to say this is a great plan, not by a long shot, but... I think we could do it."

"I have a question." Stork (our Stork) spoke for the first time in quite a while I realized. She had a strange tone in her voice, sort of flat and dull, like her mind was somewhere else entirely.

"Okay, shoot." Piper invited.

Stork seemed to be fascinated by her fingernails for the longest time while we waited patiently, then let out a long breath as if steadying herself and looked at us, her face set solemnly. "If we _do_ manage to destroy the Eternity crystal... will I die?"

I don't think anyone was expecting that and we all reeled, flinching back from her. I felt my stomach clench so tight I thought I might puke; I hadn't even _thought_ of that, so wrapped up in everything else as I was. I looked at Piper desperately, fear pounding hard in my veins and building steadily in my chest, knocking against my ribs, ready to explode free and consume everything.

Piper fidgeted, staring at Stork with wide eyes. "I-I, um..." she swallowed and then shook her head a bit as if trying to shake away some terrible thought. "No." She answered finally, but the confidence that had been so strong in her sweet voice was gone, leaving a wavering of uncertainty in its place. "No, of course not, Stork."

"Hawthorne did, when he destroyed the Infinity stone." Stork pointed out, her voice casual and cold, like she wasn't even discussing the notion of her own death. I reached for her arm but she stepped away from me, refusing to meet my eyes.

"Yes, he did." Piper agreed. "But he was bound to the crystal's energy at the time. You aren't-"

"You just explained to me that I was created by the Eternity crystal. I'm pretty sure that means I _am _bonded to it." Stork interrupted.

Piper chewed her lip. "That was different, you aren't in direct contact with its energy..." she reasoned, but her argument sounded meek.

"Piper are you sure?" Finn asked, sounding hoarse all of a sudden, mirth gone from his face; he looked old and haggard suddenly, like he did in the photo I'd found in Stork's room.

"Yes... yes of course. I wouldn't even consider it if I thought it wasn't safe for Stork." Piper said but there was a worried look in her eyes as if she doubted herself.

"...I'm not going to do anything that'll put Stork in danger." I said sternly. "If there's a chance destroying the crystal will hurt Stork then we just won't do it. We'll try and take down Cyclonis and her Berserkers and then maybe find some place to hide the crystal or something, so that-"

Stork suddenly rounded on me, a deadly fire in her sea green eyes. "Excuse me? You're not going to do anything that'll put me in danger??? Is that it? Falshade you're suggesting we march into enemy territory, just the nine of us, and go up against all those Berserkers, Halo, Carrion, Zodiac, Angel _and_ Cyclonis who has at least partial control over possibly the most powerful crystal in Atmos' history and you're honestly saying you don't want to put me in danger??? I can't think of anything _more_ dangerous than this!!! That is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard you say, and trust me, coming from you that is a pretty big accomplishment!"

I did a bit of a double-take, mentally staggering, not sure what to say. "Stork, I-"

"I'm not finished!" She snapped. "Hiding the crystal isn't the answer, don't you see? There is always going to be someone who will use it wrongly, even if it's for the right reasons! No one is meant to have that kind of power, and the only way to put an end to it to make sure no one ever does is to destroy it! Otherwise this god damn cycle will never ever stop! Hawthorne knew that, that's why he destroyed the Infinity stone, he gave his life to try and protect the Atmos, just like your dad did, and Fraggle's dad, and Aerrow, and so will I if I have to! And don't you dare-" She cut me off before I could even get my mouth all of the way open. "-Try to tell me for a _second _that you wouldn't do the same thing, if it meant protecting your friends! That's why your dad did it, to save his friends, and you'd do it too, without even thinking about it! So where along the line did you honestly start to believe that we wouldn't do the same thing?"

"And you three!" She rounded on the others now, who flinched from her as she jabbed a finger at them. "I deify any one of you to tell me that you wouldn't give up your life in a heartbeat if it meant protecting one of us!" she waited for any of them to object and when they didn't she ploughed onwards. "Exactly. We're all risking our lives to do this as it is, Shade, and if destroying the crystal means I might die too, well then I die!"

She finally came to the end of her rant, breathing hard, arms crossed formidably and daring anyone to challenge her. Well all simply stared at her, completely dumbstruck, not a clue what to say. I knew, deep down, she was right; I'd give my life in a second if it meant that my friends would be safe. But the thing was, I never wanted them to have to do that for me. And I knew they all felt exactly the same way. They'd all already risked so much just to come along with me, time and time again pulling each other from the brink of disaster.

"...She's right you know, Shade." Varan said after a long time.

"Of course I am." Stork said matter-of-factly and despite everything I had to grin. "So what say you now, Sky Knight?"

I sighed and pushed my hair from my face; I knew what had to be done. "We've got to destroy the crystal."

"So we'll destroy it." Stork concluded firmly, leaving no room for argument.

"How long will it take you to make this Black Hole thing?" I asked Piper, who was looking at little overwhelmed.

"Um, let's see... well I just need the materials, and I know where to get them, and once I do... I can have it done in a day." She concluded.

"Okay, so two days from now then, giving you time to get what you need."

"Uh, excuse me? Listen kid, no offence here, but we barely have a plan scraped together here and it's a really faulty plan at that, and you want to launch it in two measly _days_???" Stork was looking at me like I was trying to convince him to jump into the cone of a volcano.

"We don't have a choice." I said resignedly. "You guys said it yourselves, terras are getting attacked all over the place, soon it won't matter if she has control over the crystal or not, Cyclonis will have the Atmos overrun. And the longer we wait the more time she has to make more weapons using what she can of the crystal. I mean look at what she's already done, I don't want to give her a chance to see what else she could cook up."

"Falshade's right." Junko said and I was kinda surprised; he didn't talk much and he never really sounded very assertive either. "There's no point in waiting, it's not like a better solution is going to come our way."

"Alright then, tomorrow we'll take the _Condor_ and I'll get what I need to make the detonator." Piper confirmed. "We should also see if we can get a hold of one of the other squadrons, to tell them everything we know, in case... well in case there has to be a second assault."

In other words, in case we failed; if we all died everything we knew that might be useful would die with us.

"I think we need a little more of a strategy here." Varan said then; his tail whipped me sharply when all attention was suddenly turned to him and he cleared his throat a bit. "What I mean is we can't just fly in their as is and hope for the best; we need every advantage we can get."

"Right." Piper nodded enthusiastically. "What can you tell us about these Berserkers? Knowing your enemy is always the best approach to defeating them."

"I always thought decapitating them was." Wasp mused and Stork turned a shade greener across the table.

"Well they can heal extremely quickly, especially these soldiers that she actually made from essence of the crystal." I explained. "The other ones, like Halo, can still heal a lot quicker then we can, and they're really strong too, but they're not as... efficient I guess you'd say."

"Okay, so what are their weaknesses?" Finn asked.  
"Well last time we realized that, er..." I hesitated, not really wanting to go into details; had the Storm Hawks ever had to be as brutal and gruesome in a fight as we had? Suddenly I felt uncomfortable explaining it all to them, thinking they'd be disgusted.

Luckily Wasp never seemed to feel uncomfortable about any subject. "They heal fast, but not as quickly as the bleed out." She explained. "If you go for their throats they die easily enough. And they don't like, regenerate limbs back, you know? Like one day, I cut off Carrion's arm and it didn't grow back, but what she did was pick it up and it like, sutured itself back on? It was pretty gross."

"Uh, Wasp? Let's keep details to a bit of a minimum, okay?" Varan suggested, looking a little green himself, but not nearly as bad as the Storm Hawks; Junko looked downright distraught from this grisly tale.

"But they asked me to tell them what I knew, and so I did!" Wasp objected.

"So basically you're saying they heal fast, but they're not indestructible." Piper interrupted and Wasp nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so. I mean basically they're just as brittle as you or me, they just heal faster. So if you got like a good shot at their neck, or cut off their head, or maybe even like ripped their abdomen open? Yeah I bet that would work... do you think they could heal fast enough to be able to stuff their intestines back in or would that kill them pretty quick?" Wasp asked us seriously.

"Okay, stop!" Stork groaned. "Please just stop, and I can assure you yes, that would probably kill them faster than they could stuff their guts back in."

"That makes sense." Wasp agreed with a nod after a moment of consideration. "I mean you have like, sixty feet of intestines don't you? If it all just kept slithering out I doubt you could get it back in... but what if they weren't actually severed? Could you walk around with your guts hanging out so long as everything were still in one piece?"

"WASP!!!" We all howled.

"I bet you could." She muttered to herself, pouting.

"Okay so basically a quick strike to anything major will put them out of action." I summed everything up in a considerably less grotesque version.

"Right..." Piper said, still looking a bit queasy. "What about blunt force? A good blow to the head or something?"

"Well if their neck snaps then they're done, so yeah, I guess if they're brain were damaged badly enough... see what I think how it works is if they're actually dead and like, everything has shut down, then the cells don't regenerate. But like if you just knock them down they can get back up."

"Aw, sweet, so it's like hunting zombies basically!" Finn said enthusiastically. "Well that makes things easier!"

"Yeah, but keep in mind these zombies can move fast, have insane reflexes, are super strong and are carrying weapons." I pointed out.

"Other than that though it's pretty much the same thing." Stork (green Stork) said sarcastically.

"So that means Junko should be able to take care of them then." Piper clarified, coming around to the purpose of her original question. "A good shot to the head or something..."

"Chest cavity too." Our Stork piped up, speaking to Junko. "If they suffocate they can't heal from that, so if like you collapse their lungs and keep them from breathing before they can heal..."

"Gotcha." Junko said with a grin, slamming his fists together; green energy ignited from the steel knuckles that had been sitting over his own thick fingers. "I think these will give them a run for their money."

Wasp's eyes opened wide. "What are _those_?" she breathed, completely enthralled.

"Oh, these are my Knuckle Busters." Junko explained, smiling. "See I'm not as strong as other Wallops, so my aunt gave me these to help increase my strength."

Jeez like he really needed a boost; weaker than the rest of his kind or not, he still had muscles the size of basket balls.

I thought Wasp's eyes might just roll out of her head. "Man, imagine being in the Brawl Cage with those..." she whispered, apparently talking to herself. "Can I see them?"

"No!!!" all four of us Gargoyles shouted at once.

"The _Merlin_'s taken enough of a beating without you thrashing her about from the inside, eh!" Fraggle insisted, protective as always about his beloved ship. As Wasp looked crestfallen I couldn't help but think of Angel; man he would have loved to get a good look at those monsters. My heart contracted painfully at the thought of him. Here we were talking strategy and making plans, which had always been his forte... he should have been here for this. I felt a wave of dread take hold of me for a brief moment then; I was going to be flying into the biggest battle of my life without my sharp shooter, my wing man, my brother at my side. And what was worse, there was a good chance I'd run into him as he was now, a deadly opponent indeed. It wasn't just that he was a good fighter, or that he had that crystal in him fuelling him with strength and hate either. I still had a hard time trying to lift my blade against him, as had been proven once again today when he'd moved in to attack Wasp and I.

Finn was speaking and I shook all the disheartening thoughts from my head, trying to pay attention to the task at hand. "So blowing these guys to bits would work too, wouldn't it?" he was saying and Varan nodded.

"Oh yeah, that one's tried and true. Thing is though I don't want to be using explosives if we're in such close proximity, not to mention it'd probably bring down what's left of the terra."

"Hmm, good point..." Finn agreed, rubbing at his chin.

"Oooooh right, that reminds me." Stork said suddenly, snapping his fingers. "This is the last one, I swear." He promised Piper when she gave him a tired look. "Here's the thing; Varan just said it, we're going to be in these claustrophobic tunnels miles underground, likely in the dark and wandering about trying sniff out where this crystal is. Literally. Now, ignoring the whole very possibly matter of cave-ins aside, what if they find us down there? And I don't just mean a patrol; they know those tunnels and we don't, if they caught on to what we were up to they could easily close off any of our exits, trapping us like rats."

I recalled how Stork, Wasp and I had had our retreat cut off down in the tunnels of that mining terra and shuddered at the thought of a whole army of Berserkers sealing off any possibly escape.

"Exactly." Stork nodded at my expression. "Not only would we never even reach the crystal, we'd probably all die within a matter of minutes. Fighting in tight quarters, in the dark, outnumbered... I don't even want to think about it."

"So what are you suggesting then? Or were you just going to keep going on this wonderful little tangent of yours?" Finn asked him.

"Well what I'm thinking is this; if they had their attention focused somewhere else, there's a better chance that we'd be able to get to where the crystal is unnoticed. We still might get found out of course, but it makes the odds a little better anyways."  
"So how do we keep their attention focused somewhere else, if we're in the tunnels?" I asked.

"A diversion." Varan answered for Stork. "Just like what they've been doing to us; keep their armies busy with someone else."

"Yeah but who, eh?" Fraggle asked. "You guys said it earlier, no one else can come and give us a hand."

"...So then we'd have to split up." I said, catching on and Stork nodded.

"Exactly. We've got two airships after all; some of us can go to where the pipes open up underneath that lead into the terra and the others can take the other ship and raise some hell on the outside to distract them."

I realized then how this would have to be: the Storm Hawks had been inside Cyclonia before, they knew where these tunnels opened up in the Wastelands below. We didn't. Stork would undoubtedly take the _Condor_, and Piper would be needed to detonate the Black Hole device. Finn and Junko would most likely stick with their teammates, and so...

"I'll do it." I said before I even registered that I'd made up my mind. "I'll stay on the outside."

Stork turned to me, her eyes stretched wide, mouth open slightly, but before she could even say anything Varan spoke up.

"I'll go with Shade. That way I'll be able to use my explosives, that'll get their attention pretty quickly."

"Then I'm going too, eh." Fraggle volunteered immediately after him. "The _Merly_ and I will give them something to think about."

"No!" Stork burst out and we turned to her. "We can't split up! There has to be something else we can do!"

It surprised me that she'd gone from so determined and stubborn about the fact that we had no choice to destroy the Eternity crystal, fact aside it might... kill her. And yet now she had a desperate, almost pleading tone in her voice, eyes glistening with something that might have been tears.

"Stork it's the only way for us to have a decent chance of finding the crystal without getting ambushed." I told her gently and she stamped her foot like she always did when frustrated and refusing to budge.

"Then I'm coming with you guys too!" She declared.

"...No, Stork."

Stork rounded on Piper. "Well why not? You gonna try and stop me? You might be a Storm Hawk and everything, but I warn you, I'm not afraid to hit a girl!"

"Stork, please, listen to me." Piper said, trying to sound soothing. "I know you want to be with your friends, but the fact is... well, to put it bluntly, of all of us, you're the one who has the best chance of destroying the crystal."

Stork blinked at her. "...What? Why?"

"Think about it; Cyclonis doesn't care about what happens to us, if we get into trouble they won't hold back on us. But she needs you, she won't let anything happen to you before she gets a hold of you. They'll only be trying to stop you, catch you, not kill you. That means you could practically walk right up to the crystal if they didn't catch you first."

"This is so stupid! I'd practically be walking right into Cyclonis' hands!" Stork argued fiercely.

"I dunno, she knows you know she's after you, I don't think she would expect you just to go waltzing in there." Varan mused.

"Oh yeah, and how long do you think that'll last for? As soon as they know it's just the three of you out there the jig will be up anyways! They know I'm usually with you guys, and they saw the Storm Hawks too, they're not going to believe the whole charade for very long." Stork said and I had to admit she had a point.

"Maybe not." Varan said evenly. "I mean last time Angel ran into Falshade he told him that we should run off and hide, or at least, you should. Maybe they'll think you're somewhere nowhere near there, in hiding."

"Too many maybes for my liking." Stork huffed.

"Stork, this whole plan is based on one big maybe." Piper told her.

Stork looked at each of us, trying to think of an argument, find someone to attack, but when she couldn't she made a defeated noise and put her head on the table.

"I just don't want to be split up. We should all be together. It's bad enough not having Angel." She mumbled and I rubbed her back soothingly.

"I know, but even if it means half of them will be occupied looking after us... we've got to do it right?"

"Didn't the Oracle say we can't split up? That's what Varan said she said." She said miserably.

"But she also said we gotta make some sacrifices and difficult desiscions, we have to be brave and depend on ourselves too." Varan added, managing to sound a lot more comforting then Piper had. Then again maybe that was just because we were used to Varan.

"And it won't be like you'll be totally alone either, Flea." Finn coaxed, reaching for her hand.

"Daaaaaaaaad!" Stork whined and Fraggle and I both had to suppress our laughter. "Would you stop calling me that in front of everyone? Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but jeez, I have a reputation to uphold!"

"A reputation as what?" Other Stork asked and she glared at him through her bangs.

"Finn's right though Stork, we'll be with you." Junko reminded her and she sighed.

"I know, and don't get me wrong, that does make me feel better about it, but..." she trailed off. We understood; it just wasn't the same as having your friends at your side. I almost wanted to go with her into the tunnels, because I hated the idea of not having either her or Angel out there with us, but I couldn't just ditch Fraggle and Varan.

"I'll be with you." Wasp piped up softly, running her fingers through Stork's sun bleached hair.

"You will?" Stork finally lifted her head.

"Yeah, I have to play search doggie, remember?"

"Oh that's right..." Stork gave her a weak grin and rubbed at her nose. "I still don't like this..."

"None of us do." I assured her.

"Yeah. But if it's what we gotta do... then that's what we gotta do I guess." She relented at last and I clapped her on the shoulder, trying to give her an encouraging smile.

"There's our girl."

"Okay so that's settled; Falshade, Fraggle and Varan with stay outside to wreak as much havoc as they can." Piper said, seeming relieved that Stork had come back around.

"Oh man are we ever good at that, eh." Fraggle said with a grin.

"So that means I should probably make a shitload of explosives before then." Varan said.

"Hey Junko can help you with that, he's pretty good at making things blow up." Finn said helpfully and Junko grinned sheepishly.

"And you guys will have the _Merlin_ too... if I recall the outlying gunners towers were torn down after the war ended, but they might have built some new ones, so I suggest you try and take those out first." Piper suggested to Fraggle, who saluted her.

"Gotcha, and after that I'm going straight for fortress, give her some new skylights, eh."

"It's probably a good idea for you guys to get some extra armour too. We need every added advantage." Piper added.

"What about you guys in the tunnel? You can't use explosives, but there's gotta be something you can use in case you need it." I said.

"Oh you leave that to me." Stork said, a crafty grin crawling onto his elongated face. "I'm an expert in the field of avoiding actually physical confrontation. Cyclonis isn't the only one with a few tricks up her sleeve."

I grinned, finally seeing why Stork had liked this guy so much. He had a kinda maniacal edge that I liked.

"I can help you with that, and maybe you can help me add some extra armour to the boys' skimmers." Stork said, enthusiasm flaring and I felt relieved. This night hadn't been easy on her, after all.

"You know, I just realized, you guys don't have a sharp shooter at the moment do you?" Piper said. "I'm just thinking one might come in handy... maybe Finn should go with you?"

I only had to look at Finn to know his answer. He looked apologetic but he was obviously not going to budge on his decision. "No, sorry, but I'm staying with Stork."

"Of course." I said, nodding with understanding. "I figured you would. I think we'll be alright without you." Although it wouldn't have hurt to have Atmos' best crack-shot sniper alongside us. But, as much as I'm sure he's incredible, I wasn't referring to Finn when I said that.

"Hmmm..." Piper hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe there's a way we can give you guys some accuracy without needing a sniper." She said after a moment. "We could make tracking missiles with some crystals... I doubt they'd be as powerful as your explosives, but they'd knock out a skimmer, no problem."

"Can you do that?" I asked, surprised. I'd never heard of such a thing, but it sounded cool to me.

"Yeah, I think I have a book that mentions them somewhere, they'll lock onto a heat source, and I'm thinking since those guys have so much extra energy thanks to those crystals, they'll definitely be producing more heat. We could put some in your crossbow too, Finn."

"Nightflyers' engines also radiate heat like a mother-" Stork glanced at her dad and cleared her throat. "Well anyways, they really give off a lot of heat, so they should pick up on that and not Shade or Varan's skimmer... and hopefully not the _Merlin_'s engine's either."

The Storm Hawks' Stork gave Finn a proud look as if our Stork were his daughter instead of Finn's, and for a terrible second I was envious of her for having both of them. Then I remembered that she might have had a father, where I didn't, but I had a mother where _she_ didn't and maybe _she'd_ been jealous of me before over that. At least we both had a parent to speak of; compared to people like Wasp or Angel we were damn lucky.

A few more ideas were bounced back and forth, anything that might give us an added edge, until things started getting a little too out-there (Fraggle broke his streak and suggested something about a plasma-spewing cannon or something like that) Piper glanced out the windshield as if only just realizing how late it had gotten.

"I think we've got all we can at the moment." She said. "We should get some sleep; tomorrow we'll go and get what I need for the detonator and then I guess we'll just... go from there."

I had a feeling I wasn't going to be able to sleep even if I drank a whole bottle of cold medicine (which, desperate, I did once back at the Academy and didn't sleep a wink because I spent the night bent over the toilet, much to Angel's amusement) but I was tired of talking about meagre attempts to give us the upper hand. At first it had given me hope, made me more optimistic, but the more we went at it the more uncertain and edgy I got about it all until I felt like my insides were squirming about under my flesh, making me nauseous.

"Right." I said with a nod. "So two days then, right?"

Finn nodded sombrely. "Two days, kiddies. And then it's Judgement Day."

* * *

As predicted, I couldn't sleep.

I'd tried, I really did; last thing I needed was to charge into battle completely sleep-deprived, making my reflexes slow and muscles weak. However the more and more I kept trying to convince my body to sleep because it was really going to need it, the more nervous I got, my skin prickling with unease. I just couldn't get comfortable either; my back would ache, my stomach would cramp, I'd get too hot and then too cold and I was itchy all over. Shit I hoped I wasn't breaking out in some nerve-induced rash or something...

After two hours I was driven from my bed, fed up with trying to sleep; it was just getting me more wound up anyways. I felt like I had to piss but evidently I didn't which just made me more frustrated and so I started pacing on the bridge, hoping maybe I'd tire myself out that way.

I started thinking about my dad then. Had he felt like this before any of his battles? Somehow I had it in my head that my father was way more calm and collected then I was. Mom used to tell me all sorts of things about him when I was younger, and I'd always pester her for more, until I was older and realized it pained her to talk about him, so I started asking less often. It was around then, I was maybe nine I guess, that I'd started making up my own little assumptions about him instead. I figured he was tall, like I hoped to be someday, and that he had the ability to make people feel safer just by being around them. I figured he would have listened to classic rock music; he would have been a cool guy like that, my dad. He was smart and had no trouble reading or writing, not like me. Everybody he met liked him. I figured he would have been good at sports too, and taught me all sorts of tricks. And he would have told good stories; Mom used to say he was a good story teller. She said weird stuff always happened to him, just crazy little misadventures he'd get himself into, and he could retell them so well it was like you'd been there with him. He'd be able to make my mom laugh and smile like no one else could.

I kinda slipped into that nine-year-old state of mind around then, playing out imaginary scenarios in my head, making up how things could have been. It's not like I had an awful childhood, far from it, but sometimes I just wished things could have been a little different. It made me feel guilty sometimes, actually. But I pushed the guilty feeling away and imagined my dad had been around when I was a kid, teaching me how to throw a perfect pitch and playing pirates and space explorers with me, like I used to play with Varan when we were young. We had wooden swords made out of sticks and tape and I used to trip over Varan's tail constantly, scraping my knees and palms to shreds. I started playing out this whole fantasy life where Angel had come to live with us too; he still would have had his long hair I imagined but his eyes would have been wide and curious, all the time. And my dad and mom would have really loved him too, and we'd have Christmas together and I could teach him how to climb trees and catch frogs and fireflies, even though I suppose he was older, so technically wouldn't he be teaching me all this stuff? Well maybe he could teach me stuff too; he taught me how to howl like a coyote before we lived on the _Merlin_. It was kinda cool 'cause if you were on the right sort of terra they'd answer you back sometimes. Yeah, Angel knew stuff, he'd have been a smart kid, so he would have taught me stuff too, and we could have started training to be Sky Knights together way back then, even before the Academy.

Maybe... maybe if things had of been like that none of this would have happened. He wouldn't have had this darkness in him the Oracle warned him about. He wouldn't have been poisoned against us. He wouldn't be so harsh and cold all the time.

I sighed and kicked Angel out of my imaginary childhood, feeling angry with him, even though it wasn't his fault. I just went back to living out all the things I wished I would have had with my dad, imagining my mom wouldn't look so sad all the time with him around.

It was thinking about this that suddenly jogged something loose from my memory. I remembered my mom would look especially sad sometimes, but that kinda sad that still has a smile turn up the corners of your mouth. More like a bittersweet thing I guess. And she'd be like this when reading this old wrinkled sheet of paper. I asked her what it was one day and she explained it was a letter from my dad. She told me I'd be allowed to read it one day, because there was a part in it my dad had written especially for me, for when I was old enough. My mom had promised I could read it on my sixteenth birthday, but I suppose I'd sort of missed that. In fact I'd completely forgotten about it until just now.

It took me years to realize what it really was; I guess during the old war Sky Knights and their squad mates would write these letters to their loved ones, things they wanted to tell them or wanted them to remember, and kept these letters on them at all times. If they were killed in the line of duty the letter would be brought back to whoever it was addressed to, for solace. It made a lot of sense to me. I hadn't been born yet when my father's letter came to my mom, but I'd seen it many times over the years. She kept it in a little wooden box in her closet with a few others things from her past. She told me it was her treasure chest and I could share it with her if I wanted, but I'd never had the courage to look through it. That's where the letter lived and sometimes she'd take it out and read it, and whenever she did she'd always tell me that Daddy said hi.

I sniffled and wiped at my face. I found myself pulling a sheet of paper from the shelves, scrounging for a pen. I sat at the table, in the dark with a patch of moonlight falling over the piece of paper. I tapped the pen against the table, my knee and knee and my forehead, trying to think of something to write. All I managed to get down was 'Hi Mom' and then I just couldn't think of anything else. What was I supposed to say? I'm sorry? I love you? None of that seemed to stretch far enough. I wondered absently what my dad had said to her. What he'd said to me. I felt my chest seize painfully when I realized with a jolt that I may never find out what he'd said; I might never read that part of his letter. In fact my letter might just end up joining his in the bottom of my mom's treasure chest for the rest of her life.

_It's not where you go when you die; it's who you leave behind._

God damn was that ever the fucking truth.

"Falshade? Is that you?"

I jumped at the sound of Stork's voice and peered through the dark to locate her. I saw her reach out her hand, feeling for me, and I grabbed it gently, directing her onto the couch.

"Hi." She said once she was seated.

"Hi."

"What're you doing?"

"Uh..." I glanced at my pathetic attempt at a letter. "Nothing, just trying to keep a hold on my sanity I guess."

"I thought you'd lost that a long time ago?" She teased, prodding me in the ribs and I smiled a bit, swatting her hand away.

"Yeah, around the same time I started hanging around with you. Very bizarre..."

"Indeed." Stork said, mocking surprise. "Very interesting..."

I gave her a playful shove. "So are you okay?" I asked seriously; she'd been pretty frazzled earlier and had spun through so many mood swings I think she broke her own record.

"No. But I'll live. You?"

"Same." I blew out a long sigh, trying to sort everything out in my head. "You know, it's funny. You guys are my best friends, most important people to me in the whole damn world. You guys followed after me, wanted to help me out even though everyone else thought I sounded like a lunatic. That means so damn much to me, you'll never know how much..."

"Are you going somewhere with this?" She asked after I trailed off. "Cause like, Shade, you know I love you, but I'm like PMSing or something and I'm all hormonal and if you get all sappy on me I'm going to cry and fuck I don't wanna cry anymore."

I laughed a bit. "Look out to any poor bastard who runs into you in two days time."

"Yes yes, beware the PMSing girl!"

"Deadliest creature on the planet." I agreed. "But, going back to being serious, yeah, I was going somewhere... it just... like I think about everything and... well I'm not really afraid to die. Well, maybe a bit. I don't want to, but if it happens... I guess I can accept it, if it does. But the thought of one of you dying, it makes me so shit scared I want to puke my guts out. And it makes me think that if I could, I wouldn't have met any of you guys way back when, because then at least I wouldn't be putting you in danger. I'd rather give up being happy with you guys if it meant you'd be safe."

I felt Stork's hand feel for mine and then take it, pulling it in under her chin. "Well it's a double-edged sword that way I guess." She said. "But you remember what Varan said? Despite all the bad things he went through, he wouldn't change them, so he could be with us. And you know, I agree with him. I wouldn't change anything about meeting you that day at Finch's. In two days time... well come what may from that. I'd rather die that day and have all those good times with the Gargoyles behind me then have never met you guys at all."

I swallowed; looking at it that way... I still couldn't bear it if I lost any of them. But I don't think I would have had anything worth looking back if I hadn't of met them.

It was one double-edged sword alright...

"...Shade are you crying?"

"No."

I felt Stork's hand on my face. "Yes you are!"

"Well I can't help it. I'm all torn up about this. I know this is what we have to do. It's what I want to do. But I'm still... I dunno. I guess this is the tough part about having friends, isn't it?"

"No, the tough part about having friends is sharing one bathroom." Stork stated matter-of-factly and that got me laughing. "This is just one of those inevitable things that happen, whether you like it or not."

"An ugly." Someone's voice agreed from the dark of the hallway and Stork and I started.

"Wasp?"

"Yeah. Sorry, you guys were having a private couch moment."

"No it's okay." I said, wiping at my face. "You couldn't sleep either?"

"No. And I'm lonely. Shadowfax isn't talking right now. I hope he's okay..."

"I'm sure he is." Stork assured her as she nestled beside her on the couch.

"I guess it's easier for a fight to be spontaneous; at least then you don't have to keep worrying about them." She said thoughtfully after awhile and I gathered she'd been listening to us for awhile.

"Yeah, I hear that." Stork said.

"But what if something happened during that fight, without warning? Like when Stork went down, remember, that was just... well it was bad because it's like we didn't even get to say goodbye." I pointed out, my throat closing at the mere memory.

"Yeah, but saying goodbye entails you're leaving; I don't want you guys to leave." Stork argued quietly.

"But then at least you know the people you cared about know what you wanted them to know." Varan's voice joined us now and Stork and I jumped again.

"God damnit would you guys quit doing that? You could at least knock or something!" Stork snapped.

"But there's no door." Wasp pointed out.

Varan sat down next to me. "I don't think Fraggle's asleep either, believe it or not, so he'll be out here in a moment, just to warn you."

"Thank you." Stork huffed.

"Well this was an epic failure; I doubt any of us are going to sleep for the next two days." I said.

"I don't mind not sleeping sometimes; it makes me feel powerful, somehow. Like hyper-aware." Wasp reported cheerfully.

"Kinda has the opposite effect on me, eh." As Varan predicted, Fraggle slouched in to complete the five of us, sitting between me and Varan. "Jeez too bad Angel wasn't here, eh, he'd finally have some company." He paused and seemed to think. "Or maybe he already did. You wouldn't happen to know there, Wasp, would you?" He called down the sofa, suggestive tone in his voice.

"Know what?"

"Fraggle, I suggest you drop it right now before I come over there and yank out enough of your fur to make a bath robe." Stork told him and he wisely heeded her warning. Instead I heard a slosh of liquid next to me.

"That better not be what I think it is." I said and I saw his teeth flash in the dark as he grinned slyly.

"Hey, I'm allowed, girly over there said I could and besides, it helps me sleep, eh."

"Oh bullshit, no way you're having a hangover on probably the most important day of our lives!" I said, trying to snatch the bottle out of his hand. In the dark, this wasn't as easy as it would seem.

"Battle isn't for two days, leave me alone eh, my ribs hurt and I'm freaked right the fuck outta my tree, eh."

I sighed, fought with myself for a moment, and then held out my hand. "Well fine, but you aren't finishing that whole thing by yourself."

"Alright, there's what I wanted to hear!" he cheered, passing me the bottle. That was the nice thing about Fraggle, he didn't mind sharing.

"Oh no, Shade come on, we've got stuff we have to do tomorrow!" Varan reminded me but I already had the mouth of the bottle on my lips and so I shrugged and took a gulp of it anyways. It burned like hell going down but I managed not to choke and passed it back to Fraggle. "The hell is that, peroxide?"

Fraggle laughed to himself. "Can't handle your liquor there, Chief?"

Insulted I snatched the bottle back and took a bit more just to spite him. The second mouthful went down a little easier. I saw Stork's hand wave in front of my face and passed the bottle to her. Fraggle and I watched and waited for a reaction as she obviously tried to be impressive and took a huge mouthful, and then proceeded to start coughing all over the place as we laughed.

"It buuuuuuuuurns!!!" she yowled, wiping at her mouth. Even Varan was chuckling a bit, but quietly so she wouldn't hear him.

"Want some Wasp?" I asked in Wasp's directions.

"No thanks, I don't like that stuff, it hurts my tummy." She said and I heard her rustle around in her jacket before, as predicted, the sound of a can being popped open followed.

"She's got her own poison there, eh." Fraggle said, taking the bottle back and offering it to Varan, who sighed and took it, taking a swig and handing it back.

"That's all I'm having so now leave me alone."

"Fine, more for me, eh."

And so we just sort of sat like that for the rest of the night, together in the dark. The bottle got passed back to Stork and I a few more times and other then the slosh of whisky splashing about in the bottle nobody made a sound, but that was sort of okay with me. I realized I'd needed this, just to have some quiet time with the others, nothing to worry about for just a little while. I was leaning into Stork's body height and playing some sort of weird game with Wasp, running our fingers over the bones in each other's wrists like we were soothing each other through our fingertips, Varan's tail resting over my boots, and I felt connected somehow to all of them.

At some point Fraggle must have been pretty far through his bottle because he started up one of his old drinking songs in an off-key voice which made the rest of us laugh and I think occasionally one or two of us would join in, until Stork and I totally screwed up one whole line and we all laughed so hard we couldn't breathe. It's funny, looking back on it I couldn't even remember what the line was we said, or how it was supposed to go, I just know it must have been funny at the time. Or maybe we were just five strung-out, frightened teens who had something to drink and not enough sleep and laughing was like novocaine and it made things feel okay, just for while. I do remember thinking that if I did die in the near future, I hoped the last thing I'd hear would be this, the memory of my friends laughing, because it was probably the best thing in the world to hear before slipping away from it forever.

I just wished Angel were there too.

"What's this?" Fraggle asked me at some point, holding up my unfinished letter. I wasn't altogether there, as Stork had fallen asleep against me and her body was nice and warm and that mixed with the whisky in my belly just put me in a delicious, soothed daze.

"I dunno. A letter I started."

"Ah, okay." Fraggle stumbled through half a lyric, hiccupped then asked. "So what's it say, eh?"

I stared at the sheet and shrugged. "It says 'Dad says hi'."

**Well boys and girls, Finn said it, the next chapter will be their Judgement Day. Or in other words, hoped-to-be incredibly epic and will most definetly be incredible long, uber battle scene that decides the fate of the Gargoyles and in fact, the whole Atmos. Kinda exciting, isn't it? It will also bet the third-last chapter of Gargoyles. So I kinda wanna go out with a bang. If I haven't lost you yet, then please stay tuned. **


	29. I Will Follow You Into the Dark

**29**

**I Will Follow You into the Dark**

**A/N: I am so incredibly sorry that it took me this god damn long to update. I meant to have this finished AGES ago but then life happened .. Anyways I hope this chapter is long-ass and epic enough to make up for my horrible lateness, and if you have any questions by the end of this mess feel free to ask and I will be glad to answer them.**

**This chapter is fondly dedicated to Alex, A.K.A the Blonde, Slightly Nicer Angel, for sticking by my side and always being there for me through thick and thin, like a genuine Gargoyle.**

**And now, without further ado...**

_**So do I. So do all who come to see such times, but that is not for them to decide; all that we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.**_

_**-an excerpt from **_**the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring **_**by J.R.R Tolkien **_

_**To the sound of a heart beat pounding away**_

_**-Re-Education, Rise Against**_

**x.x.x The Scar x.x.x**

Four of them stood, spines as straight as they could possibly stand, eyes fixated solely on their Master as she focused on the crystal levitating in front of her. Pale, spidery fingers curled around it, inches from its surface; she narrowed her violet eyes and summoned some of its energy, gleaming stings that flowed outwards to swirl around her palms. She stepped back, cradling the energy between her palms and then turned abruptly and unleashed it, hurling it into Carrion's chest and sending her flying backwards into the stone wall some twenty feet behind her with a shriek. The other three remained motionless as their Master stepped closer, peering around them at the fallen Blitzkrieg.

"Are you dead?" she asked expressionlessly.

Carrion pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the trickle of blood that snaked into her colourless eye. Cyclonis made an irritated noise and turned from the defective Blitzkrieg.

"You understand that would have worked if I had possession of the girl." She said, directing her anger at the three males before her. "Now tell me again why it is that I don't?"

"They had reinforcements, Master." Halo explained, staring at his boots and hating how he was taking the blame when it had clearly been a fault of the other two.

"Ah yes, reinforcements, and how many were there, exactly?"

"Three, Master. And an air ship."

"_Three_." Cyclonis repeated, turning her back on them and approaching her throne. "You do not have to guess that I am displeased."

Behind them Carrion started snapping her fingers one at a time, joints popping loudly; the sound distracted her from the ever-present ache that pounded in her defective brain. The agony was caused by a large tumour, an overgrowth created by the crystal during the time when the creation process was still based on trial and error. Roughly the size of her own fist, it accounted for most of her ever-present fury. The sound of her cracking fingers made Zodiac's teeth grind together.

"We could launch another assault, Master." Halo suggested after Cyclonis remained silent for a long time. "If we were to attack them now-"

"You are taking into the consideration they haven't already been destroyed by that Storm Cell I created for you, which, if you'll recall, was instructed to detonate _if_ and only _if _the girl was secured by you!" Cyclonis interrupted him furiously, turning back to him again, a dark aura crackling menacingly around her, her voice taking on that haunting undertone like some unworldly creature were speaking through her. "I should have your head on a pike for your stupidity! You could have ruined _everything_!"

Halo flinched despite his desperate attempts not to and next to him Dark Angel lowered his head so his bangs could hide his smirk, glad he was not the one facing his Master's wrath.

"Yes but Master I was not the one who detonated the device! It was one of the fools on board the gun ship, they should-"

"He has already been disposed of!" Cyclonis snapped. "Need I remind you that fool was under your command and therefore you are the one responsible for his blunder! And what are _you_ laughing about?" She demanded of Dark Angel. "You seem to be forgetting that if it weren't for your own stupidity during your last assault you would be the one in his position!"

That wiped the smirk of Dark Angel's face and Zodiac wisely held back his snicker; Carrion continued the meticulous popping of her joints.

"As for another attack, that will not be necessary." Cyclonis went on, returning to her throne. "We shall be seeing our dear friends again very soon I can assure you."

Halo and Dark Angel looked at their Master with confusion but Zodiac was no longer able to ignore his irritation.

"Knock that off right now or I'll rid you of your hands altogether!" He snapped at Carrion, who bared her sharpened teeth at him, snapping the joint of her middle finger challengingly. Zodiac lunged at her and the two of them locked their jaws around the other's like a pair of fighting wolves, snarling and shrieking and tearing at any flesh they could reach; Dark Angel watched them with interest, half hoping they'd end up killing one another.

Cyclonis ignored them and answered Halo's questioning expression. "The newcomers you described were none other than the Storm Hawks; it seems they've finally gotten over themselves and have come back to the Atmos' defence at last. Now I happen to know how the Storm Hawks work unfortunately well, and therefore I can promise you that we will have no need to go to them; sometime very soon, they will be coming to us."

"This... doesn't alarm you, Master?" Halo asked uncertainly after a moment and his Master laughed.

"Why on Atmos would it alarm me? I'm quite looking forward to it." She said, a look of vicious excitement crawling over her pallid face. "And you should be grateful for it, Halo; it means you are still useful to me. I want more of my Blitzkrieg fit for battle by nightfall. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Of course, Master." Halo bowed.

"Good. Then go. And take those two with you before they make a mess on my floor."

Halo nodded and turned to leave the room, delivering a sharp kick to Zodiac's ribs in passing, who was now tussling with Carrion on the shiny stone floor. "Stop fucking around and go prepare the new Blitzkrieg!" He ordered and with a growl Zodiac detangled himself from Carrion, grabbed her by her long red hair and dragged her down the corridor, her screeches echoing off the high ceilings.

"I don't recall dismissing you." Cyclonis said coldly as Dark Angel made a move to follow after them. He looked back to her, muscles stiffening uneasily.

Cyclonis left her throne for a second time and approached him. "Let me see." She instructed and Dark Angel unfurled his wings, which had been jammed tight alongside his spine until now. She examined them without looking at his face, tugging on feathers and sending small jolts of pain through his muscles, which she evidently enjoyed.

"Did they perform well?"

Dark Angel nodded, not mentioning that it made his shoulders ache to use them and they made it hard to breath, putting pressure on his rib cage.

"Good." Cyclonis paused with her thin fingers over the small patch where Stork's throwing axe had sliced through; it had healed over perfectly, but the scar tissue didn't allow the feathers to grow back in that place. "Cruel girl." She said mockingly, her voice falsely sweet. "I suppose this will you give you more motivation to capture her in future."

Dark Angel growled, hating to be reminded of another of his failures. "I _had_ her." He seethed "I had her and that god damn-"

Cyclonis silenced him with a glare. "I don't want to hear any of your excuses. You _will_ bring her to me next time or I will have no further use for you, understood?"

Dark Angel nodded, furling his wings once again.

"Good. Then you are dismissed. Go and find some way to make yourself useful." She said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Dark Angel shifted to go then hesitated, looking back to her as she moved back towards the crystal.

"Master?"

She glanced at him over her shoulder. "What is it?"

"That... girl."

"The one you failed to bring to me?" she asked snidely and he ground his teeth.

"No. The other one."

"The other one?" Cyclonis turned to him slowly and for a second he thought he saw something strange flicker in her hard, dark eyes. "The Faerieshian?"

"Yes."

"What about her?"

"She... there was something... strange about her. I..." he touched the side of his head uncertainly, where the headpiece had sat before she'd snatched it from him.

"She is nothing." Cyclonis reminded him sharply. "Just like the rest of them."

Dark Angel looked at her for a moment longer before turning to leave. "Yes, Master."

But the girl's face did not fade from his mind.

**x.x.x Varan x.x.x **

Something weird was going on with me.

I kept expecting to start freaking out. I kept myself busy all day trying to avoid what I thought would be the inevitable nervous breakdown; I helped Stork and, uh… well, other Stork add extra armour to the _Merlin_, hefting sheet metal for them wherever they needed it and after that I retreated to my room to stockpile as many explosives as I could before tomorrow. I didn't even stop to make dinner; I mean nobody wasn't really in the mood to eat anything anyways, and if they did get hungry they just hunted down whatever they could from the fridge. Piper surprised me by stopping by my room and giving me a sandwich when I didn't take a break to eat but I barely touched it before going right back to work. I had to take advantage of as much time as I could, because it took precaution and patience to build these devices and even though I knew we had precious little time there was no way I was going to rush myself. So I was pulling out all stops instead, not stopping to take a break the stretched longer than five minutes, if that.

And that's how I spent the day, working diligently and singeing my fingers time and time again. And the whole time I waited, waited for my limbs to start shaking uncontrollably, for the queasiness in my guts and prickling beneath my scales. It didn't want it to come of course, because there's nothing like working with unstable explosives while being a nervous wreck to stress you out even more; I was sure if there was ever a day that my ulcer was going to surface, it'd be today. But I figured it was coming anyways and I tried to prepare myself for it as best as possible.

But the strange thing was, it never did.

My nerves stayed tied down and silent all day while I wired up bomb after bomb obsessively. My breathing stayed slow and calm, stomach stayed settled and my tail didn't even so much as twitch and to be honest, that in itself was what was starting to freak me out. I mean I never liked my paranoid fits but at least when they were happening I felt like everything was as it should be. I guess I'm a creature of routine that way, even if it's not such a great routine. It was just nagging at me how calm and collected I was managing to stay; it made me think I'd become way too used to this sort of thing and I didn't like that thought at all. As soon as fighting and bloodshed started being so normal to me that it didn't shake me like it used to well… I took that as a bad sign. I never wanted to be used to that sort of thing. I wanted to be able to handle it when I had to of course, but be able to accept it without even a flick of the tail? No way.

I dunno, guess that's the pacifist in me surfacing. I really, really don't like violence. I know sometimes it's going to be inevitable; it was one of those ugly things Wasp had talked about way back when, a shade of grey that just happened sometimes. I would rather have everyone lay down their arms and be at peace then go out and fight them any day of the week, but I wasn't so foolish to believe that would work all the time. When you had people like Cyclonis and her merry band of psychopaths, well, sometimes you just had to fight fire with fire, or we'd all be under Cyclonian reign by now, if we were even still alive. But still, I never wanted violence to become the first line of defence to me, nor become something regular in my life. If this war ever ended, and I happened to survive, I intended to live a very quiet life minding my own business, I'll tell you that much. Heh, maybe I could run my own bakery or something. God the others would love that (they'd be all over me about discounts for friends).

Well, if the others were around after all of this I mean.

I brushed that thought away, not wanting to think about it, and was carefully adjusting a very tiny wire on yet another bomb when someone knocked on my door.

"Come in."

My door whooshed open and Fraggle wandered in, looking a little lost. He waved at me in greeting and sat on my bed, waiting for me to finish up my current explosive before speaking to me. "Hey."

"Hey, what's up?"

"Oh, nothing eh, I thought I'd just come and hang out. You've been holed up in here all day, thought you might like some company, eh."

I gave him a look. "Well not that I don't appreciate the thought or anything, but it's not like I can just shoot the breeze with you when I'm doing this kinda stuff, you know?"

Fraggle wrinkled his snout, evidently deciding not to take the hint, and glanced at the padded crate next to my work table. "So how many you got there, eh?"

I sighed and looked over the sum of my hard day's work. "Well so far I've got two dozen of my Bugs and fourteen Raptures. If I pull an all-nighter I can probably get another seven done, eight or nine if I really push it. And Junko said he'd have some of his made up for us too. "

Fraggle nodded. "Nice eh."

I stared at him for a minute before clearing my throat. "Well that being said I should probably get back to it…"

"…Is an extra one or two really gonna make a difference there, eh?"

I blinked at him while he shuffled uncomfortably and then slid down to my floor, leaning his head back against the edge of my mattress so he wouldn't have to look at me.

"I wanted to talk to you about something there, eh."

"Oh." I felt bad then for being impatient with him. Jeez you know if I were to get all pessimistic (or realistic I suppose is the better term) here I'd realize that this could be the last night on Atmos for the both of us; why should one or two extra bombs matter more than spending what could be the last night with my friends? Suddenly I felt horrible, realizing I'd been in here all day, wasting all the time that I could be using to do some other sorts of important things. I got up and sat beside him, staring at his chin and waiting patiently now, not wanting to press him because he had a brittle undertone in his voice that was very unusual for him.

Fraggle cleared his throat uncertainly and just kept on staring at my ceiling. "Uh, so about tomorrow… look I… I wanted to ask if you could do something for me, eh."

"Yeah, anything." I assured him.

"Great…" He cleared his throat again and continued. "Well it's just… well, you're my buddy Var, you know that, right? Like… well I look at it like Shade and Stork and Angel are all best friends and Wasp… well I dunno so much about her but anyways me and you, like I know you and Shade have known each other since you were real young and everything there, eh, but-"

I held up a hand to cease his rambling. "I know what you're saying. I always kinda looked at you like a best friend too."

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye as if this surprised him. "Really?"

I grinned. "Yeah, of course."

"Oh well… cool. I mean I'm glad and everything, 'cause I always felt that way too, so you know…" he cleared his throat for a third time. "Anyways, I was just… thinking. If something… if something happens to me tomorrow do you think you could…" His voice sort of broke here and he swallowed a few times before continuing. "Could you be the one to go and tell my Mum what happened? And tell her and Starla that I'm sorry I never got my sorry ass around to comin' back for a visit? And… well that I love them?"

I stared at him, feeling an overwhelming sadness tear a long seam all the way over my heart, letting everything come spilling out and in that moment I would have traded it all in for a panic attack. Because this was just so much worse. I watched a single teardrop roll down the fur on the side of his face and sink into my mattress and almost started bawling all over the place. Fuck. Just… Jesus all the times he talked to me about his family back on Nord it never really sank in how much he missed them or occurred to me that we should take some time just to let him go back and see them, even if we had to force him. Because now it was all too late; he could die tomorrow and his mother and sister would never see him ever again.

He glanced at me and tried to suck all his fear and sorrow back in for my sake (as well as a whole bunch of mucus). "Aw look I'm sorry eh, I didn't mean to dump a whole bunch of bad feelings on you or anything."

"No, no it's fine." I said hoarsely, waving a hand as if it weren't a big deal. "But I'm not going to do that for you, okay? 'Cause nothing is going to happen to you tomorrow. You can go back and tell them yourself when this is all over."

Fraggle blew out a long sigh. "Yeah. I don't wanna think that anything will happen. But shit does happen, you know what I mean? So can you just humour me here, eh, and promise me anyways? It'll make me feel better, like I got my bases covered."

The oddity of the whole situation struck me around then. After all usually I'm the one to be straightforward and blunt about things, try not to sugar-coat or lie to myself, even if those lies might help soothe me deep down. I usually look things square in the eye and accept that things may happen, even though I don't want them too. And I really didn't want anything to happen to Fraggle, or any of the others, but I had to face the facts that fuck, something just might anyways. Fraggle already had accepted this and trying to persuade him to think otherwise, for the sake of keeping hopeful, wouldn't make any difference. This is what he needed now and as his friend I had to give it to him.

"Yeah. I'll… if something goes wrong, I'll tell them. I promise." I vowed and he looked relieved, nodding. I guess it was like having his lucky charm in a way; who knew if the damn thing was actually lucky or not, but if it helped keep him calm and reconciled then what did it matter? And so now he had this promise too, and that's all he needed. The fact that I might not be around to deliver the message either didn't seem to cross his mind; he'd just needed this.

"Thanks brother."

To try and lighten things up a bit I let out a dramatic sigh. "I _told_ you not to call me that, remember?" I said in a long-suffering tone, yanking the rim of his toque down. He grinned and shoved me, which caused me to shove him back and of course being bigger than him he fell to his side, laughing and adjusting his toque.

"Welp I suppose I'll let you get back to your work then, eh." He said, getting to his feet and I scratched at my bandages, thinking. My skin wasn't so sore anymore, thanks to the burn salve Stork kept putting on it for me, but then again the burns hadn't been as serious in the first place thanks to my scales. I'd assured Shade of this earlier, telling him over and over that yes I'd be able to look after myself tomorrow and no it didn't hurt to move, etcetera. Jeez and they guy says _I_ worry too much.

"Well you know, on second thought, I _was_ getting kinda lonely. You can stay, if you want." I said as he was about to step out the door.

"Really?" he asked excitedly, and that sort of went to my heart; Fraggle was always most happy and comfortable when he was with other people and I think my company might have been just as good for him as his was for me.

"Yeah, just don't natter away like you have a tendency to do." I said and he swatted at me, falling back onto my bed comfortably and remaining, to my amazement, quiet, after issuing a long, contented sigh, seeming at peace. I went back to work, soothed by his silent presence, which, as it turned out, had been something I'd needed.

I glanced back about an hour later when he made a weird snorting noise and nearly burst out laughing when I realized he'd actually fallen asleep, sprawled out over my bed like it was a Saturday morning and he was simply sleeping in, not the night before the battle that would decide our fates. God I swear that kid could sleep through the Apocalypse if he wanted.

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

The problem with having two mechanics around is that things get done faster. Stork and I had worked all day at re-vamping the armour on both the _Merlin_ and Shade and Varan's skimmers, altering and making new pieces of armour for everyone and assembling various gadgets and gizmos that Stork assured me would probably _not_ get us out of a jam but it was worth a shot for consolation's sake anyways. How's that for optimism eh?

Anyways that had dragged us through the day well enough, eating up all the time and energy I would have spent freaking out about tomorrow. But then we ran out of things to build and repair. I know Stork's all about over-preparation and being paranoid and everything, but I swear even _he_ couldn't think of anything else we could do by the time ten o'clock rolled around. And that was a problem because now here I was with nothing constructive to keep me distracted and as predicted the freaking-out flooded in its place.

Now I know there are some things you can't just run away from, but god damnit I'm a stubborn little thing at heart and I was going to try my best at it anyways. I'd wrangled Wasp into some sparring, which had to stop when both of us started getting a bit too rough, our nerves evidently jumping the gun a little bit. Then I went and enjoyed a nice big bowl of Sky Charms, because cereal's about the only thing I can make for myself without setting anything on fire and I didn't want to go and bother Varan. Plus I really loved those tooth-rotting little marshmallows.

After that I enjoyed that nice big bowl of cereal coming back up and into the toilet and I didn't love the marshmallow pieces so much anymore.

And so then I retreated to the roof, because suddenly being inside made me way too claustrophobic and I needed more space, fresh air. And that's where I still happened to be, staring up at the inky night sky and trying to sum up all my favourite memories and play through them again and again.

I didn't believe Piper. I just couldn't. But I wasn't going to let that stop what had to be done. The crystal had to be destroyed, that part was blaringly obvious. I could very well die if it was, for some reason. I mean it made sense to me, as crazy as everything was; if it created me then I was connected to it. If I was connected to it, well, if it was destroyed I would be too, wouldn't I? I mean this part also seemed blaringly obvious.

I don't know when or where it happened, but at some point it did and the thought of death suddenly stopped scaring me. Well, my own death anyways. I mean it wasn't like I'd accepted the fact that I was indeed going to die; there still was a chance Piper was right and I was wrong (me being me, this was often how things worked out after all). But I'd accepted the fact that it could happen; I'd accepted that there was a good chance I'd die. I'd made my peace with it and the more I thought about it, the more it started to sound okay to me. Well not okay, but I mean… tolerable. I could handle that. Maybe it was because I'd almost died once before, and all the fear and anguish that had gone along with that had already raged in me. I couldn't control what had happened to me last time. This time I was in complete control. And maybe that's why it seemed to sit alright with me. I might die yes, but thousands and thousands would live. It would put an end to all of this, hopefully. It seemed like a small price to pay if you asked me (god damnit did I just make a short joke at my own expense?).

The only thing that of course was bugging me was the idea of leaving the others. I'd miss them forever, it would ache in my soul for eternity, wherever I went when I died. I was sorry to be leaving them. But even in that sense, well, they'd already had to deal with my 'death' once, maybe the second time would be easier on them? But still, I felt god damn wretched about it. I took solace in the fact that at least my Dad was back with his friends again, and the others had each other of course as well. It wasn't like I would be leaving them completely alone.

But still, it sucked. For lack of a better word, it all just fucking sucked.

And so that's why I was out here, playing through all the things that we'd all gone through over the years, trying to soak up every golden moment out of every one. God I hoped that if/when I died I'd be able to come back to this plane of existence sometimes and watch more of those moments in the making, have a front row seat to the others growing up and going on more harebrained adventures. If I could do that then things wouldn't be so bad I figured, as long as I'd get to see them sometimes.

"Hey." Falshade's voice broke into my mournful thoughts and I started.

"Oh, hey." I greeted in return. He stretched out beside me wordlessly as if we'd agreed to come out here and hang out or something and I was glad for his company.

"I don't see any of our stars." He noted after a while and I blinked, only just noticing.

"We must be pretty far from where they usually are." I said.

"Well the Atmos moves too you know; maybe they're on the far side right now or something."

"Or maybe you should just shut up and stop being a know-it-all." I huffed and he grinned, ruffling my hair.

"Oh, hey, there's one. Which one is that?" he asked, pointing off into the distance. I squinted at it.

"Isn't that Gladys?"

Falshade snorted like he did every time I said that name. Gladys was the name of an elderly woman who'd lived in the same apartment complex that I had during my time working at Finch's. She liked to wander the halls muttering to herself and once she'd cornered Angel in the stairwell when he came to get me while Shade had been swamped with homework. I don't know exactly what happened, as he refused to tell us, but he never came to my building again alone, so I assume she must have really scared him. Which, naturally, Shade and I found hilarious. Being such a note-worthy character in my rather reclusive life I of course had to name a star after her.

"Jeez we haven't done this for awhile, have we?" Falshade asked randomly and I was sad to note that it was true. Man since when had we stopped hanging out so much?

"Maybe it's 'cause we're getting old." I said and Falshade shuddered.

"Ugh, you think so?"

"Nasty thought, isn't it?" I agreed.

Falshade nodded. "Okay, see that one right there at the end of that row?" He pointed at the star he was talking about and I nodded. "I'm now dubbing it Tiggy."

"_Tiggy_?"

"Yeah." He said defensively. I giggled and pushed a fist into his ribs.

"That sounds _so_ unbelievably dorky."

"I like it." He sniffed, snubbed.

"Alright fine. Well then I'm naming the one next to it Butterscotch. They can by dork buddies."

"Like us?"

"Exactly." I said with a nod and he laughed, digging his fist into my scalp. We went along for some time like that, thinking up the best dorky names we could, maybe just to prove that we weren't _that_ old, not yet. Hell neither of us might get any older either, when I thought about it… god damnit, why did I never think these thoughts when I was in the middle of a battle? I mean you could die then too. I suppose Wasp was right, it was better to have the spontaneous battles; this build up was killing me. Fuck what if this was the last time I'd ever be able to be my dorky self with Falshade, naming stars and acting like kids, just idling the night away?

I must have started shaking or something because I felt Shade's hand grip my arm gently. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I lied. He knew me way too well for that though and looked at me seriously, his violet eyes glimmering a bit in the moonlight.

"Look I know you're all gung-ho about this whole crystal thing." He said, apropos to nothing. "And I'm not going to argue with you, because I think it's what has to be done too. But I just… worry. So please just… promise me you won't do anything stupid tomorrow, okay?"

I had a few clever little comments to make there but there was a desperate, serious look on his face and I wasn't able to get them out. "Yeah. But you gotta promise me the same thing. Don't do anything overly stupid, okay?"

"Okay." He said with a nod and I held out my hand, determined to get a shake on it to seal the deal. He however had different plans in mind; he stared at my hand for a second then at my face and without warning moved in and pressed his lips to mine softly.

And I'm ashamed to admit it, but it made butterflies go off in my stomach. A warm feeling spread through me from head to toe, and for a second it was like everything was going to be okay.

He broke away pretty quickly though, in case I decided to attack him or something (which if I were in a mile of my right mind at the time I probably would have) and I came back to my senses (fucking hormones man, they'll getcha).

"What was that all about?" I demanded and I saw him roll his eyes, but he was kinda smiling to himself too.

"I guess I'm just getting all my stupidity out now." He said simply and I decided not to smack him.

**x.x.x. Falshade x.x.x.**

"Okay, so let's just give this a quick run-down one more time so we all have it good and straight." Piper was saying and I had to shake my head for the umpteenth time to force all the intruding thoughts back so I could focus on her.

"Right, go ahead."

"Okay well as you know we're splitting into two teams; Wasp and Stork are coming with us on the _Condor_ and we'll be going down into the Wastelands. We'll leave the _Condor _here, just at the base of the terra, and make our way into the tunnels here." Piper pointed out the locations on the stained old map she had rolled out on the table, which from the looks of it she had made herself. "If we can't get in there for some reason we'll find some cracks in the exterior and get in that way."

"And what about the _Condor_? Won't someone notice her down there?" Stork (our Stork) piped up.

"Thought of that already." Other Stork assured her. "We've got a cloaking system rigged up, they could walk right past her and not know it."

"And while we're doing that Falshade, Fraggle and Varan will fly in with the _Merlin_ and 'cause some serious chaos topside." Piper went on and the three of us nodded. "Now if there are guard towers they'll be right in this inner ring here." Piper circled the area on the map, just inside the open space were the clawed mountain tops didn't tear through the cloud layer. "Like we said you should aim to cripple those first, Fraggle, while Falshade and Varan take care of any soldiers on Nightflyers, who will most likely come from here." She pointed to a long precipice that jutted from the fortress she'd sketched on the map. "This is where the main hanger bay is, so if you need to get into the fortress for some reason then head for here. Now when they do come out to see what's going on remember, stay away from each other and move around a lot, with any luck they won't realize right away that it's just the three of you, they'll think Stork and Wasp are somewhere out there too. "

"Gotcha." I said, swallowing. "Anything else?"

Piper let out a long breath. "Not that I can think of. You said the storm cell around the terra blocks radio waves?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Then just before you guys are going to pass through radio us and tell us. After that... give us an hour. That should be all we need."

"And what if we don't hear from you when that hour's up?" Varan asked from his place beside me.

"Then fall back." Piper told us sternly, looking us straight in the eye.

"No way!" Fraggle and I objected at the same time.

"Look if something happens to you we're coming in there to help you!" I insisted, a final tone in my voice and Piper smiled grimly at me, like she was trying to show me she appreciated my loyalty but it was futile to argue here.

"And how do you intend to find us? Even if you got into the lower tunnels, how would you get to us? The place is huge, Falshade, and you'll have no idea where to start looking."

"But-" I started, looking over at Wasp and Stork. I refused to leave any of my friends behind if they were in trouble, that went against Gargoyles rule number one.

"She's right, Falshade. If we don't come back you three should go and try to help the rest of the Atmos." Stork interrupted me softly, her voice gentle but firm. Wasp nodded in agreement. "We might catch up to you, who knows? We might just be running a bit behind schedule, you know?"

I glared at the two of them and, being the kinda girls they were, they glared right back formidably and after a long, agonizing staring contest my resolution broke down as it always tends to do when dealing with my god damn squadron.

"...Fine." I relented. "So then say things do get a bit messed up, where do we meet each other, if we get split up?"

"Where we always are supposed to." Stork said simply. "Vatican. That'll be our emergency rendezvous point." She looked to the Storm Hawks to clear it with them and they nodded as well.

"Vatican it is then. So..." Piper fidgeted. "Well I can't really think of anything else that needs to be said..."

"So then it's go time." I concurred and she nodded. For a moment my legs got extremely weak and my throat got all hot and prickly like I was going to throw up. Thankfully I didn't but I felt very removed from the situation and hyper-aware of everything at the same time and it made my entire body tremble inside. The Storm Hawks glanced at the five of us and as if by some silent signal moved towards the hanger. "We'll see you two on the _Condor_ in a minute then." Piper said, nodding to Wasp and Stork. Then she looked at the three of us and came over and hugged each one of us tightly. "Take care of yourselves." She said in a muted voice, and although she was smiling her eyes were shining on the brink of tears. "I hope we get a chance to see you guys again." She murmured. "I'd like to spend more time with you."

"Yeah, us too." I said, voice hoarse. She blew us a kiss and strode off down to the hanger. Junko followed her after talking quickly to Varan, probably about explosives stuff; he'd left a crate of them by the door for us that he'd made the day before.

Finn turned to Fraggle and I. His eyes gave away his anxiety but there was a determination in there too, and he had an open, honest expression on his face. "You know, it's funny. You both look like the spitting image of your dads." He said, clapping us each on the shoulder in a comradely way. "You're good boys... er, men I guess now huh? I guess I'm just saying I'm glad Stork met you two, and you know... well I bet your dads are really proud of the both of you."

Fraggle coughed awkwardly and turned away slightly, wiping at his nose. I just grinned back as best I could and clapped Finn's shoulder in return. I'd barely known him for two days but I already liked him. You could totally tell he was Stork's father, adopted or not.

"You're a good man too, dude. Stork has one cool dad, I'll tell you that much." I said and he grinned widely, mussing up my hair like he was my uncle or something like that.

"Man, I like you. One hell of a Sky Knight." He said, sticking out his hand. I shook and so did Fraggle and then he saluted us, taking off after the other two, leaving only Stork to stand there awkwardly.

"Uh... look I'm no good at saying real motivational stuff or anything like that, so..." he twitched a bit, shuffled his feet awkwardly and then just sort of waved. "Uh, good luck then, and whatever." He muttered and took off.

I cleared my throat and looked back at the others, my heart beating erratically. Shit I was already sweaty and we hadn't even started this thing yet.

"So... this is it." I said, throat clogged. The others looked like how I felt, skin pale, limbs jumpy, something struggling in their eyes. Their faces were determined and drawn but there was anxiety there too. Not really fear, no, but worry to say the least. I mean none of us knew what to expect; for all we knew this might be the last time we'd all be together. That knowledge showed in each of them, as well as the acceptance of this fact. They looked haggard and nervous, like they were trying to prepare themselves for the worst. But they were standing tall and brave despite all of those unfortunate facts and I thought to myself this, this right here, was the epitome of courage. To stand with gritted teeth and a rushing pulse as their fates bared down on them and still just keep on going anyway, that took guts, that took nerve, and most of all it took heart and fuck did I ever admire each and every one of them.

"You're gonna hate me for it but I wanted to have one of my little pep talk things before we do this." I said and Varan rubbed my shoulder consolingly.

"Yeah we figured." He admitted and my mouth quirked, not sure whether to smile or frown.

"Okay well..." I inhaled deeply and blew it out, long and slow, pushing my fingers through my messy hair. I tried to think of something big and motivational, or at least something meaningful, and came up with nothing, so I decided just to say what I was feeling. "Well I guess I just wanted to say... how important you all are to me. You're more than just my best friends by now you know, you're like my family, the brothers and sisters I never had. And you know... I really sort of wish you guys weren't here. I don't... I don't want anything to happen to any of you. Fuck, I love you guys and..." I cut myself off, sniffing and wiping at my nose, coughing awkwardly. "But you know, at the same time there's no one else I'd rather be with right now then you four. You guys always make me feel strong and hopeful, even when I'm not, and I really think I'm going to need that today. So I'm glad that you're here too, if that makes any sense. I'm glad you're here and I want us all to be back here when this is over too, alright? So please just... don't do anything stupid, alright?"

"Sorry to tell you this Shade, but being stupid is sort of our speciality." Stork reminded me, trying to smile but her eyes were red around the edges too.

I rolled my eyes but I couldn't exactly argue. "Ain't that the truth." I looked at all of them seriously. "Okay well then please don't do anything unusually stupid, okay? Look out for each other and look after yourselves, _please_. Because you know there's nothing I want more then to grow up and keep living my life with all of you, once this is all over. I can't think of anything that'd be better than that."

"Yeah. I don't think we can either." Varan agreed and I let some of the tears fall loose, I didn't really care about holding them back anymore.

"So that's all I had to say." I concluded, voice raspy. "Anyone else wanna add something?"

"I think you pretty much summed it all up there, Chief." Fraggle said and I issued a long, slow sigh, letting my feelings of doubt and fear out with my breath and strengthening my resolve.

"Alright, then I guess this is it. So let's just remember this: we are the fucking Gargoyles, we don't give in, we don't give up and we are going to run these guys into the fucking _ground_."

I stuck my hand out in front of me, muscles bunched and back straight, ready to go now that the hard stuff was said and done. Stork and Varan's hands fell on top of mine immediately; Varan had a look of grim determination on his face, his tail staying obediently still for once and Stork had a daring little grin on her face, her green eyes screaming 'bring it.' Fraggle's hand came down too, his mouth split in that wide, crazy-ass smile he was so famous for and Wasp's hand settled on top of his, fire in her offset eyes and her wicked fangs shining past her curved lips. We might have been scared shitless deep down, but this was what everything had lead up to, this is what our destinies had brought us all together for and damnit it if it was the end of us, we were ready to give them hell and go down laughing. And I really wouldn't have it any other way.

I threw my other hand on top for Angel, because I had his blood in me after all and so for a moment it was like we were all together again. And then Stork took the words right outta my mouth: "Okay boys and girls, let's go kick some Cyclonian ass, what say you?"

"_BANGERANG_!" Came the cry from the rest of us because let's face it, we could act tough and be warriors when we had to, but we would never shake off the fact that under that, we were just a bunch of moronic kids. And that's something I wouldn't have any other way either.

* * *

"So just remember you're skimmer's gonna need more juice because of all the extra weight she's carrying." Stork reminded me as she straddled her Hornet.

"Right." I nodded. "Well I guess this is it."

"Yup." She made a disconcerted noise, pushed her bangs from her face and then looked up at me, sticking out a hand. "Well, good luck, Falshade. Take care of yourself now, ya hear?"

I grinned and shook. "Yeah, same to you. Be careful, Stork. Please."

She waved her other hand at me. "I heard you the first bloody time." Then she dropped the difficult routine and looked at me seriously. "Don't you die on me." She whispered and the concern in her eyes really got to me.

"Yeah... again, same to you." I said and something cinched around the corner of her mouth.

"I'll do my best." She assured me and something about her tone suddenly jolted a memory from where it had been tucked back in some dark corner of my mind. It was that dream I'd had after the whole bathtub incident, when that monster had eaten her head. It had been a crystal she'd been holding at the time and she'd told me this was how it had to be...

I stared at her, thinking back on the weird tone she'd used when asking if the crystal's destruction would also mean her own. Had she really believed Piper? Had I? And what was going through her mind about the whole thing? I didn't like the shifty look she had and I was about to try and talk to her when she released my hand and took off without another word, flying off towards the _Condor_.

I felt panicky then, worried about her. Well I mean even more so now; it really didn't sit well with me that we were splitting up, even though I knew that was the best way of going about things. Logic and emotion don't get along very well, I'll tell you that much.

Glancing about I noticed Wasp rooting though one of Stork's crates of tools for some reason and was suddenly inspired.

"Hey, Wasp?" I asked, tapping her shoulder as she straightened up, pocketing something. She turned to me and smiled.

"I have to go, don't I?" she asked as if she thought maybe that's what I'd come to tell her.

"Yeah, but before you do can I talk to you quick for a second?"

She blinked as if surprised and flicked both ears. "Of course."

"Great. Listen..." I trailed off, taking her in before me and it suddenly really hit me how much closer I'd gotten to be with her over the last couple of weeks. It made me sad to think that I'd only just begun to realize how special and important she was to me, to all of us; she was always there when we needed her, in one way or another, to help with figuring out my dreams and to look out for the rest of us, even after we'd shunned her in the beginning and never really accepted her into the group until very recently. She was a good friend despite all her oddities and in that moment I wanted to tell her how much I appreciated that about her.

"...You know I'm sorry it took me so long to warm up to you, Wasp." I said, switching from my original subject. "You're a really good friend and I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it. I'm really glad you ended up coming along with us, you know. I don't know what we would have done without you sometimes, seriously. And... well I'm just sorry I never got the chance to know you better. I would have liked to. I wish we had more time..."

"I'd like to know you better too, Falshade." She said, smiling at me and god I never realized how pretty she could look when she wasn't running around being a creep. Although by now I found her creepiness sort of charming, I had to admit. "But you know, this isn't over yet. Maybe we could still have the time, some day."

I smiled back. "Yeah, you're right. Anyways I just wanted to tell you all of that... and ask a bit of a favour of you, if that's okay. Actually two favours."

She cocked her head to show she was listening. "Okay."

"Well... you know that day back in those tunnels, when I needed you to find Stork? Well this is sort of like that. I can look after Varan and Fraggle and they can look after me out there, but I can't look out for you two today and it kinda makes me nervous. So can you maybe keep an eye on Stork for me? Just... make sure nothing happens to her. Please?"

Her face softened and she reached out to touch my jaw. "Things happen sometimes that we can't control, Falshade." She reminded me quietly. "But I promise you I'll do everything I can to make sure nothing happens to her."

I swallowed, my gratitude overwhelming me slightly. "Thank you." I said hoarsely.

"No problem." She assured me. "What's the other favour?"

"The other one is look after yourself. Can you do that for me? I really would like to have that time one day, you know."

She cracked a smile. "I can do that. I'm pretty good at not dying, you know."

For some reason I didn't have a hard time believing that.

"Great. Thank you." I said and on an impulse hugged her tightly. She pushed her face into my shoulder and hugged my back for a few moments before moving away.

"And you'll look after yourself too, right?" She asked me and I nodded.

"Yes. I promise." Just then we heard the _Condor_'s horn blare and I motioned to her skimmer. "They're waiting for you, you should go."

Wasp nodded, moved to her skimmer and then ducked back towards me to kiss me on the cheek quickly. "Good luck, Falshade. See you on the other side." She said before hoping onto her skimmer and roaring out of the hanger, dropping right off the edge of the runway before activating her wings.

I felt Varan's hand settle on my shoulder as the bay doors clanged shut, separating the _Condor_ from my view. I glanced up at him and he gave me a sympathetic look.

"They'll be alright." He assured me quietly. "I mean they're with the Storm Hawks, remember?"

I forced a grin onto my face. "Yeah, that's right. Suppose that means we should be a little more worried about ourselves then, huh?"

Varan snorted. "Don't get me started. Last thing I need is for my ulcer to rupture in the middle of battle." He turned and tugged my sleeve a bit to make me follow, heading back up to the bridge where Fraggle was waiting impatiently.

"Well?" he asked, waiting for the go-ahead.

"Let's get going." I said, motioning in the direction we had to go and he gave a jerky little nod; as we passed the _Condor_ I could see Wasp and Stork standing inside the windshield, watching us go. I held my breath for a moment and let it out again, trying to push the thought from my mind that that might be the last time I would ever see the two of them again.

Varan came over to me then and handed me a chain of explosives which I accepted and clipped to my belt, next to a small pouch filled with some spare Striker crystals and Sliver, the blade of my trusted scimitar shining bright at my side. Varan had another chain of explosives slung over his chest and as he stood beside me, staring out the window grimly, my nerves sort of cracked and I had to smother some nervous laughter.

He looked at me, brow raised. "What?"

I grinned. "You look like a commando."

He rolled his eyes and shoved me away, feigning irritation. "I can't fucking win with you guys."

After that the three of us fell into a nasty silence, one that gnawed at the inside of my chest and made me feel twitchy and sick, like I had a really bad flu or something. I hugged my arms tight to my torso, eyes fixed on the horizon where slowly but surely the blot of dark storm clouds that encircled Cyclonia started to rise like a giant, ugly mouth, ready to swallow us up and spit out our bones.

"Don't get too close." I told Fraggle after what felt like a lifetime of watching that thing swell in front of us as we got ever closer. "In case they've got patrols on the outside or something."

Fraggle slowed the _Merlin_ to halt maybe half kilometre from the blotch and turned to look at me again. "So this would be a good time to call them then, eh?"

I swallowed, my throat feeling like it was sealed shut. "Yeah, good a time as any." I agreed hoarsely and picked up the receiver for the radio. "Finn?"

"Yeah dude?" His voice echoed back a moment later, and you could tell he was trying a little bit too hard to keep a light attitude about all of this. Then again I suppose I had to respect that about him.

"We're about to go through the storm cell." My voice sounded like it was echoing in my head, like I was far away from myself. Maybe I was already on my skimmer, sick of all the waiting. I couldn't take anymore waiting; I just wanted to get this over with, whichever way that might end.

"Alright, we're moving in... good luck you guys."

"Same to you." I said and the transmission went dead. I turned to Varan and Fraggle, who were both watching me expectantly.

"Well this is it." I said. "If anybody wanted to say anything, now's the time."

Varan shook his head, looking like his mind too was already on the battle and he just wanted to stop all this hanging around, saying goodbye and confessing to all the things we should have said or done a long time ago.

Fraggle however was never good at just being quiet when something was bothering him. "...I wish Angel were here, eh." He muttered and I felt something in my hardened chest give a little and I rubbed his shoulder a bit.

"Yeah man. Me too." I said, choking on my words slightly. Fraggle cleared his throat, wiped at his nose and then straightened up, arranging his face into an expression of fortitude, eyes fixed on the roiling mass of murky storm clouds.

"Whenever you're ready there, Chief."

I held my breath, closed my eyes and let everything ravage through me for three seconds: fear for the others, fear for myself, all feelings of doubt and hopelessness flooding through my veins and then out my pores, flushing it all out and filling myself with the will and courage I needed to get myself through this, making myself feel strong and brave, ready to take on anything and ready to die if that's what it all came down to. I'd said all I'd wanted to say and this was what I'd been waiting for all my life; all that was left now was to plunge into it and hope for the best.

I opened my eyes again, any feelings of weakness and hesitation gone. "Okay, go." I said, letting out my held breath.

"Aye aye, Captain." Fraggle said and cranked the throttles wide, pulling the three of us past the point of no return at breakneck speed.

We had to be fast here; the element of surprise was really the only advantage we had and we couldn't risk taking the slow, cautious approach; I just hoped to god no mountains would lunge up out of nowhere like last time. I skidded back along the floor as the _Merlin_ hurtled forward and punched through the cloud layer and Varan shot out a hand to catch me by the arm, the claws on his toes digging into the floor to keep himself upright. An eerie silence settled over our ears as the clouds blocked out all sound (we'd shut the proximity alarms off in advance this time, 'cause believe it or not we Gargoyles do learn from our mistakes) and for the half a minute it took for us to tear through the clouds I could feel every one of my heart beats, strangely slow and steady.

Then Varan was tugging on my arm and the two of us raced down to the hanger as the _Merlin_ burst through the inside wall of storm clouds and we were back in the Scar, where everything had started.

Varan and I didn't wait once we heard the _Merlin_'s cannons spewing volleys of energy at the enemy turrets and we roared out of the hanger and onto the runway side by side, prepared for the fight of our lives.

And we were barely off the runway when that fight seized a hold of us.

There was a spray of rapid-fire energy bolts from the nearby gunner's towers, which as Piper had predicted had indeed been rebuilt, a whole circle of jagged pinnacles surrounding the fortress. The _Merlin_ sped past overhead and Varan and I had to split up, going into wild evasive manoeuvres, barrel rolls and quick dives that made me feel like I was on a roller coaster. Everything blurred together I was moving and changing direction so quickly and for a moment I got all disorientated, not sure which way was which. Then I heard a loud crunching sound followed by the rumbling of stone and metal collapsing and turned about to see the dissipating energy from one of Fraggle's volleys that had torn right through one of the nearby outposts. Another few rounds took out another one and I could see several soldiers plummeting down into the clotted cloud cover below as the stone crumpled and dissolved under their very feet.

And to be honest I had a hard time feeling very sorry for them.

I must have been holding still too long because a split second later another barrage of bolts tore over my head, almost grazing my hair and bearing down on me like a stream of dragon fire. I flipped my ride over and dove, circling around out of range when a second line of fire split the air just in front of me and I almost did a complete backwards summersault to avoid it, yanking the nose of my Ultra clear just in time. Two separate gunners had me in their sights and were determined to blast me out of the sky, chasing after me as I zigzagged like a hummingbird on crack, turning on such sharp angles I was nearly pitched from my ride more than once.

Then I was struck with an idea and turned around, heading back towards the turrets, weaving in between the streams of ammunition madly and aiming for the gap between the two turrets, gambling on the stupidity of the two gunmen.

I almost ran out of luck right there; one of them was smarter than I thought and stopped shooting when I came in too close. The other one however was just as much the idiot as I hoped he'd be and kept firing and I leaned hard on my throttles, barely managing to stay two feet in front of his string of charges. He chased after me, turning his Blaster to follow my movements and blasting a series of holes right into the side of his neighbour's turret. I tore through the gap and was able to hear the gunner who had stopped firing swearing a blue streak at his comrade. I slowed, turning about and tearing one of Varan's explosives from my belt, yanking out the pin and hurling it back towards the two towers. It soared into the gap between them that I'd just sped through and exploded, the shockwave tearing apart the tops of both towers and sending both gunners plummeting from their posts.

There was a horrible sound of metal screeching against metal behind me then and I turned to see the _Merlin_ plough into one such pinnacle and tear the top right off, putting a bit of a dent in her hull in the process. Fraggle swung her back around sharply, moving in on the next one, systematically trying to bring them all down and although it was working well enough I couldn't help but feel this was too easy; it occurred to me that while these towers weren't constructed to hold up against much and weren't shielded, the fortress probably would be. And pretty soon no doubt they'd be rolling out with some battle cruisers to take care of the _Merlin_; this was going to be the longest hour of our lives.

I wheeled about, looking for Varan now that there were less streams of cannon fire bearing down on us. I spotted him not too far away, hurling one of his Raptures onto one of the gunner's platforms. I was about to turn away to take care of some more turrets myself when I noticed one of the soldiers stationed on that platform lunge forward and throw something back towards Varan; his own explosive, ready to blow.

"VARAN GET OUTTA THERE!" I shouted so loudly I tasted blood in the back of my mouth. Varan gunned it, turning tail and trying to get as much distance between himself and his explosive as possible, but his time was up and those Raptures of his had a far range indeed.

At the last second the _Merlin_ screeched between them, the ship taking the brunt of the blast as Varan tried to gain as much altitude as possible. The shockwave rocked our gutsy little bird but no serious damage was done; the Storm Hawks' Stork had fixed our shields properly for us and although they weren't very powerful they held up against the explosion and protected the _Merlin_ from what would have been an extreme battering.

"Thanks for that, Fraggle." Varan's voice said over the radio a few moments later, sounding slightly out of breath.

"Brotherhood of the wing there, eh. I'll take care of that bastard for ya."

"Go right ahead. Shade, you read me?"

"Loud and clear; you okay?" I asked, ducking behind the decimated remains of a turret momentarily so I could talk to him.

"I'm fine. Listen if you're going to use any more explosives hold them for about three seconds before throwing them, alright?"

I wasn't too keen on holding an activated explosive in my hand for any length of time, but I took his advice. "Gotcha... shit, we've got company guys."

I saw Varan turn about and grimace as a hoard of Nightflyers came spilling out from the hanger Piper had shown us like bats leaving their cave for the night. Evidently the alarm had been raised and they were out to squash the annoying flies that were attacking them.

"Yep, here they come. Alright then, remember the plan; let's make some noise, guys." He said, veering off to the far side of the mighty fortress, throwing one of his explosives into the midst of the arriving Nightflyers as he went.

Like Piper had directed I moved away from the outer towers, leaving them for Fraggle to take care of. If we stayed separated, causing as much chaos and destruction as possible, it was to be assumed that they wouldn't notice it was just the three of us right away. What with all the explosions going off, me and Varan darting around every which way and the _Merlin_ blasting at them left right and center, hopefully it would take them awhile to realize that Stork and Wasp weren't with us. And the longer it took for them to realize that, the longer the others would remain undetected in the lower tunnels. We weren't really aiming for a victory with these guys out here; we just wanted to cause as much damage as humanly possible and keep them good and distracted. And keep from getting killed in the process.

When I thought about it like that it didn't seem as overly important as it really was and I felt a little depressed. Or maybe that's just because I wished the others were out here with us (we're always better at wreaking havoc as a collective force after all).

I pushed that thought from my mind and focused on what was at hand, which happened to be a fleet of soldiers on Nightflyers pouring towards me. I leaned hard on my throttles, charging forwards to meet them head-on and at the last second took a leaf out of Wasp's book, deactivating my wings and spinning my Ultra about so the broad side smashed into the oncoming skimmers, the extra armour crumpling the front ends of about three Nightflyers all at once. What ensued was sort of a mid-air pile-up, as all the Nightflyers that had been coming in from behind crunched into those who'd already crashed into each other or got their wings shredded trying to veer out of the way. My skimmer plummeted for a few feet before I yanked on the conversion gears and my wings sprang free from the runner boards again, allowing me to roll to the side and avoid all the bits and pieces of busted rides that were dropping down from above. While they were still trying untangle themselves and salvage their rides I soared past the cluster of Nightflyers and hacked at anything that came in close enough, wings and limbs alike. Then I took off, looping around the fortress and getting a good look at how huge it really was. The design of it made me thing of a gigantic black cactus, large spires protruding from the sides of the main structures like vicious branches and wicked looking spikes jutting out from its surface at erratic intervals. It was one nasty looking place alright, projecting the characteristic of its inhabitants perfectly.

Circling around the far side of the stronghold I got the shock of my life when all of a sudden the _Merlin_ came peeling around from the opposite direction and I had to go into a nosedive to avoid getting smushed like a bug on the windshield. The guys who'd been chasing me from behind weren't so lucky though and I heard a few dull thuds as they didn't manage to get out of the way in time. And if that didn't get them, the following barrage of cannon fire surely did.

Pulling up again I felt the air rattle around me as Varan let loose another one of his explosives, sending skimmer parts flying about in all directions. I veered out of the way to avoid some of the shrapnel, pulling in closer to the massive citadel and only just avoiding having my head taken off by a charge hurled at me from behind. I glanced over my shoulder and noticed I was being followed by two guys on Nightflyers and I sped up, circling and twining through the maze of spikes and towers that decorated Cyclonia, ducking under cable bridges that connected some of the outlying towers and terraces that extended from the inner ones. I felt like a bird trying to find my way through a thicket of massive thorns, weaving in and out through any gaps I could find and trying to avoid getting my engines knocked out by the guys behind me.

Ahead of me I could see a long bridge stretching across to one of the spires and more importantly a group of soldiers gathering on it, hurling crystal charges at me like crazy. Glancing up I spotted where the supporting cables attached to the stone wall and fired a charge of my own from Sliver at it before pulling into an almost vertical climb to get out of the way. I heard the cable groan and then abruptly snap, the bridge collapsing almost in slow motion below me. Several of its occupants made a dash back they way they'd come and a couple of them actually made it, but most of them went plummeting down below. The two Nightflyers that had been after me tried to steer clear of the wreckage; one of them passed the falling bridge but smacked right into the tower itself so close were the quarters down there while the other guy was knocked down beneath the falling bridge.

A few seconds too late I noticed one of the other cables strain with the weight of the collapsed bridge and then snap as well, whipping through the air towards me and I pulled up desperately so my wings wouldn't get tangled up but didn't make it quite far enough.

"FUCK!" I howled when the cable connected with my leg like a whip-lash, tearing right through my jeans and into flesh, burning like crazy. Cursing to myself I glanced at my leg to make sure I wasn't bleeding too badly and then took an energy bolt dead on, blasting my ride backwards and almost causing me to tumble from my skimmer. '_Shit what's wrong with you, Falshade, pay attention!'_ I scolded myself and turned on my attacker, lashing out with Sliver which he blocked with his own blade, turning himself and preparing to send his elbow into my face. I caught his arm and twisted it back before throwing a punch of my own at him, cracking his head to the side. The grip on his blade loosened slightly and I was able to flip Sliver over his blade and slash into his side. He yelped and jerked back from me and now that I had the space I was able to launch a kick into his chest, throwing him over the side of his Nightflyer. Before he could even eject his parachute he collided with the roof of one of the towers below with a thud, followed by the projection of blood from both his mouth and a broken arm.

I quickly checked my leg, noting it was only a shallow wound and so I took off once again, knocking out the engines of a skimmer below me with a well-aimed bolt from Sliver and then noticing a group of Nightflyers all streaming towards the _Merlin_, armed to the teeth with missiles and explosives. They loosed a barrage of explosions on our little air ship, hammering her from all sides with various bombs and Fraggle retaliated with a string of cannon fire, trying to single out one skimmer from the mob.

I turned my skimmer around and sped over, ducking under one of Fraggle's charges and bowling into the thick of them, hacking and slicing with Sliver. I rammed into one guy so hard he went spinning off to the side only to come to a nasty halt against the _Merlin_'s hull, his skimmer crumpling like a tin can beneath him. The back of my neck prickled and I turned in time to catch the oncoming blade of another soldier. I threw my arm to the side, throwing his blade out wide and then dove in for his exposed torso, Sliver punching clean through his ribs with a sickening crunch. I winced and felt nauseous as blood sprayed into my face and his eyes stretched wide with shock, but I didn't have time to focus on that right now. I yanked Sliver free and slammed my elbow hard into his face, sending him tumbling back off the other end of his ride.

"Thanks there, Shade, I got the rest of 'em, eh! Go do something about those jokers in the hanger, they're going to be rolling out the big guns in a sec!" Fraggle's voice informed me from below my wrist. I looked back towards the hanger bay and noted more soldiers running for their Nightflyers, as well as a troupe of them darting towards a battle cruiser that was docked nearby. Shit that was the last thing we needed...

I turned about and reached for another explosive, clutching it securely between my knees and then pulling out a second one, speeding closer and closer to the hanger bay. I was getting into a good throwing position when I had to spin wildly to the side to avoid a glowing red dagger, which embedded itself in my starboard side wing. I looked up to see a Nightflyer bearing down on me, another dagger cocked and ready in the hand of its pilot, a wicked grin on his face. I fumbled for Sliver but with my hands full of explosives I couldn't grab it fast enough.

Just as he was about to throw Varan came to my rescue; he came out of nowhere, smashing into the side of this guy's skimmer with his own and landing one hell of a punch right in the guys face, which seemed to crumple below the mighty force, nose erupting in a fountain of blood. Varan gave me a look to see if I was okay and I waved my free hand to tell him to get out of the way and he nodded, taking off back into the fray and shaking that pain from his knuckles at his side and I couldn't help but laugh a little.

I pulled to a stop, hovering above the open bay doors, looking down on the dry docks where the engines of that battle cruiser were being fired up. I'll tell you this much, these assholes were not going to get the jump on the _Merlin_ today, not if I could help it.

I pulled one pin free and then the other, hurling one explosive down at that cruiser before they could get its shields up and the other in towards the hanger itself, where rows upon rows of Nightflyers were standing, waiting for their pilots. I watched the Rapture hit the floor, bounce once and then explode, the shock wave sweeping through all those neat lines of skimmers and shredding them in its wake, waves of roiling energy, skimmer parts and soldiers bursting free from the bay doors like projectile vomit. Then the second Rapture went up where it had landed on top of that cruiser, ripping the roof wide open like the lid off a can and blasting into the engines, which also went up in the resulting explosion and the butchered ship keeled and then sank down into the filthy cloud layer below.

I was grinning to myself, feeling satisfied that at least I'd evened the odds a little here and was looking into the now warped bay doors, waiting for the smoke to clear so I could take in the damage toll. And then I felt that grin slide from my face as my insides turned cold and sank down into my toes.

At first he was just a strange shape among all the dissipating smoke and debris. But then he soared free of the hanger doors like a giant raven and his eyes found mine almost immediately, like he was connected to me somehow. He had blood running down from under his hairline and over his cheek, the exact same shade of his smouldering eyes, which narrowed fiercely as they honed in on my face.

Then he was speeding towards me and I barely managed to get Sliver out from its sheath before he thundered into me, sabres catching my blade and forcing it back and I almost went reeling off the back end of my skimmer. Evidently he hadn't worked out how to brake too quickly with his new wings though and he rushed past over top of me, but he turned sharply and came back for another round, slashing at my wings with one sabre and at my throat with the other. Problem was I could only block one blade at a time; at the last second I punched out with my knee and hit my controls, rolling to the side so his sabre only grazed my wing, thwacking him across the leg in passing. I spun my skimmer around, ready for him to come back again, and was shocked to find nothing but clotted sky before me.

"What...?"

I heard his boots against my wings at the last second and ducked as he swung both sabres, one behind the other, in a side swipe that would have decapitated me. I straightened back up a moment later and lashed out with Sliver but he jumped over my attack, landing on my opposite wing and slashing at me again.

I locked blades with his and stood on my seat to try and catch a hold of him with my free hand, fingers clawing for his throat; he moved so quickly I didn't have time to react and that bastard actually _bit_ me, teeth sinking into my hand.

And oh _fuck_ did that ever hurt!

I was mad then and this time he wasn't quick enough to dodge my attack as I delivered a powerful snap kick right to his thin chest, sending him reeling backwards. He came charging right back a moment later though, attempting to hack me in two with his sabres and I blocked his attack with Sliver, throwing a punch that would have got him right between those awful, scarlet eyes if he hadn't dodged it, instead twisting his arm around and trying to punch the hilt of one of his sabres into my chest. I ducked under his arm and slammed into him with my shoulder, nearly sending us both toppling from my skimmer. I forced myself backwards and tumbled onto the seat of my ride, the controls jabbing into my ribs and he actually did slip but managed to catch a hold of my wings and scramble back to his feet, glaring down on me.

I didn't think anything would have gotten through to either of us at that point, but evidently the _Merlin_'s blaring horn was able to do the trick. We both looked around as one in time to see the _Merlin_ on a collision course with my skimmer. I lunged for my controls and yanked on them so hard the gears made a grinding noise in complaint as I went into the messiest barrel roll of my life to avoid getting nailed. Angel leapt free and shot into the air, dark wings unfurling and he kicked out at the windshield in passing, dodging out of the way.

"Oh he did _not_ just get his fucking boot prints on _my_ god damn windshield, eh!" Fraggle seethed over the radio and I saw him turning the _Merlin_ about, firing at Angel, who veered out of the way, sneering.

"Leave him!" I shouted into the radio, blood pounding hard in my own ears. "I'll take care of him!"

Angel turned back towards me then as if he heard me and bared his teeth at me. I did something a little immature for the situation and shot him the finger and he folded his wings, diving towards me like a falcon. I yanked my Ultra out of the way at the last minute and he swooped past me, angling his wings to come back around for another pass while I tried to get a hold of my temper and frantically tried to think of something I could do. It would be all too easy to throw an explosive at him or chop those false wings off him with my scimitar but as furious as I was right then it still registered in the back of my mind that it was Angel who was attacking me and I couldn't bring myself to hurt him, as much as I really wanted to at the moment.

If I could just keep him occupied at least... I mean if he was out here that had to mean they had no idea where Stork and the others were right now, right? I dodged out of the way of him again and he seemed to be getting frustrated, seething to himself as he swung back around yet again. It seemed he wasn't quite used to the idea of working distances with those wings of his and that inspired me and so I turned my skimmer around and took off, ignoring whatever he chose to shout at me. I could see him chasing behind me out of the corner of my eye as I swung back towards the citadel, weaving between the spikes and spires once again. It might have been close quarters in there but I'd been flying a skimmer since I was nine years old, I had faith that I could manoeuvre through pretty much anything. Angel, on the other hand, had been using those fancy wings of his for what, all of three days? He wasn't used to them yet, not by a long shot.

I spun around the side of one tower so closely I could see the grain of the blocks of stone before flipping back around and turning completely sideways to fit in the gap between two other spires. Angel had to veer around them altogether, keeping pace with me from above now, firing pot-shots of energy at me with his sabres. Despite everything else that had been ruined by Cyclonis' influence on him his aim hadn't suffered it turned out and I had to change direction on a dime in order to avoid getting blasted, turning back around the other way and nearly colliding with one of the hanging bridges in the process. I ducked under it instead and sped under another runway projecting from a smaller hanger nearby to avoid any more blasts of energy.

What happened next was something I didn't see coming though.

As I flew out from under the opposite side of the runway Angel folded his wings above me and came plunging down to land directly on my port side wings. My ride dipped wildly to the side and nearly tumbled out of my seat. I lashed out at him and for a split second forgot to watch where I was going.

And that split second was all it took for me to plough right into the side of an outpost.

Well I didn't exactly _plough_ into it; what happened was my wings sort of clipped the outpost, sending both me and my skimmer spinning through the air uncontrollably. My skimmer crashed down against a terrace nearby, skidding along the surface before coming to an abrupt halt when the wings caught against the wall of the tower.

I, however, didn't stop. I was flung free of my ride and pitched right over the edge of the terrace. I dropped about fifteen feet before abruptly slamming into another platform below, Sliver clanging down next to me.

I groaned and rolled onto my back, my head spinning, vision fuzzy. Jesus Christ that hurt... I sucked in a rattling breath, trying to fill my empty lungs and making sure none of my ribs were broken before I became aware of a creaking sound above me. Blinking furiously my skimmer swam into view and I realized it was just teetering on the edge of the balcony above me. Then it tipped, overbalanced and slid free.

I only just managed to roll out of the way before it slammed into the stone where I'd been lying just seconds before, front end crumpling slightly with the impact. Shit I was that close to becoming Falshade _jam_...

I scooped up Sliver and got to my feet a little clumsily, looking out at the battle that was still going on, oblivious to my absence, hoping to spot Varan and wave him over for assistance. I never got the chance though; I was barely up for half a minute when I felt a pair of boots thundered into my bruised back, sending me toppling right over myself. I went into a roll and spun back around, the wind knocked out of me for a second time and only just managed to get Sliver up in time to block Angel's sabres as they came rushing towards me.

"For fuck sakes, Angel!" I snapped, completely pissed off now. I threw my weight against our locked blades, pushing him back and throwing a punch at him with my free hand. He caught my arm and spun me about, crunching me into the wall behind us and leaning in close.

"Where is she?" He demanded, pushing one of his sabres against my throat and I spat in his face, kicking out with one foot in an attempt to snap his knee. He avoided my kick and rammed his knee incredibly hard into my stomach, making me double over in pain. Then he had a handful of my hair, yanking my head back so hard my neck cracked in compliant and glared into my face.

"Where is she?" he shouted again and it took me a minute to realize he who he was talking about. I blinked at him and then let out a short, hollow laugh, shaking my head.

"What in hell makes you think I'm going to tell _you_?" I asked him seriously and he made a frustrated noise, throwing me back against the wall and then pointing one of his sabres at my chest so the tip scratched against my chest plate.

"If you know what's good for you, you will." He growled at me and although I knew he meant every word of his threat I snorted and looked at him scornfully like I didn't believe him. I'd learned a lesson or two from him on being annoying over the years.

"Or what? You gonna kill me, Ange?" His sabre stayed right where it was so I let out an exaggerated sigh, looked off to the side as if bored and then back at him again, grinning tauntingly. "You told me I should hide her somewhere. And so that's what I did. I don't even know where she is now."

Rage flickered in his eyes momentarily before a nasty little grin crawled over his hollowed face. "Ah, well that's too bad." He said, not sounding upset at all. "Because that means you're no longer useful to us."

I darted to the side an instant before he threw his weight against his sabre, thrusting forward to meet nothing but stone. He turned on me a second later and I lashed out with a roundhouse kick that connected solidly with his shoulder and on any regular day it should have popped it from the socket. Instead the arm holding his sabre was snapped to the side and I came charging right into the opened space, Sliver diving for his exposed ribs. I didn't know if I was just trying to get his weapons away from him and incapacitate him anymore or if I honestly wanted to hurt him now; all I knew was he wanted to kill me and he'd kill the others too and I was not about to let him.

His elbow came back towards me so fast I had no time to react and Sliver never reached its target anyways; his elbow connected solidly with the bridge of my nose and I staggered backwards, the pain so intense and abrupt it blinded me while blood gushed from my nose and into my mouth. I barely had time to recover when he came charging at me again and I had to suck in my stomach to avoid the edge of his sabre as it slashed past and surely would have carved out my intestines. His other blade was on a direct path for my throat when I whipped Sliver out to block it and slammed a furious snap kick right into his guts, sending him reeling back to fall to his ass on the stone balcony. I didn't even give him a chance to get back up; before he could even get his breath back I was on him, Sliver lashing out for his chest. At the last second he shot his foot up and it connected solidly with my hand, sending Sliver flying off harmlessly to the side. I dove after it, going into a roll and coming back up with my sword back in my hand, which was shocked with pain from that blow. By the time I was on my feet again Angel was back up too, sabres ready at his sides.

For a second we just glared at each other and I was reminded of all the years we'd spent training together, able to laugh off all the bruises and bloody noses. We'd always been evenly matched when it came to melee fighting. I might have been bigger then he was, heavier built and with more muscle mass, making me stronger, more powerful. But he was more agile, quicker and with faster reflexes. I could throw harder punches but he could deliver nastier kicks; I was a dangerous force to be reckoned with wielding my scimitar, but he had two sabres to keep you busy and he was fast with them too. Together we made a formidable team. But against each other, and with that crystal of his poisoning his mind, we were one terrible fight to waiting to happen and it would only end when one of us was down for good.

After another moment he snapped and came charging at me, sabres ready to hack me to bits. I dug in my heels and let him crash into me, catching his blades with mine. I shoved him back and punched Sliver's hilt hard into his temple, splitting his skin and he staggered back slightly before slamming the hilt of one of his own blades into my collar bone in retaliation and I heard a crack. Stunned slightly by the pain I jumped back out of the way as he came at me once again, trying to take advantage of the gap in my defences. Instead I whirled to the side and slammed a kick into his ribs and felt something snap beneath my boot. He skidded and clutched at his side momentarily before breathing in deeply and then bringing his attention back to me, fury etched onto his face. He came back towards me with a rapid succession of slashes and jabs from both sabres and I barely managed to block all of them. He surprised me by ending the barrage and landing his knuckles on my cheek instead and before I even had time to react to the blow he planted a wicked roundhouse right in the center of my chest, sending me tumbling backwards as I tripped over my own feet.

I tried to suck some air back into my aching lungs as he moved towards me, a sneer carved on his face. Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed that dagger, still embedded in the wing of my Ultra, which I'd fallen next to. Faster than I thought possible I had my fingers around the hilt and yanked it free of my skimmer, turning to throw it at him with an accuracy I didn't know I possessed.

The blade dug itself into his shoulder, just below his collar bone and he staggered back, evidently shocked to suddenly find a dagger sticking into his flesh. I blinked, completely stunned by what I'd just done. A trickle of blood spurted free from beneath the blade and a jolt tore through my whole body as I recalled with a nauseous feeling that that same blood flowed in my own veins.

Angel, on the other hand, evidently had his mind on other matters. Teeth clenched tight he grasped the hilt of the dagger and wrenched it free from his shoulder, breathed in and out roughly for a moment and then raised his gaze to me, rage burning in his scarlet eyes. He cocked his arm and as I realized what he was going to do I scrambled backwards desperately, trying to get back to my feet.

It wasn't so much of a piercing feeling more than a sharp thud, like someone had punched me. And then suddenly the hilt of the dagger was standing out from my flesh instead of his, embedded firmly just about my left hip bone. I was so shocked to see it there that the pain didn't even register right away. What did register though was the sound of Angel laughing, a harsh, empty sound that didn't sound at all like him and yet at the same time it sort of did. I mean it would be just an Angel thing to do to laugh at me whenever something bad happened to me. But this was just taking it too far.

So I guess around then something broke down and died in me and I didn't give a shit if he was or wasn't Angel, I wanted to strangle him, I wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp. Shit maybe even a small part of me wanted to kill him. I just knew I was sick of him and if he wasn't going to snap out of it then I was going to do whatever it took to end this fight with him and get back to what was important.

I pulled the dagger free in one swift tug and the pain _did_ register for that, but I barely cared. I was up and I could still move and that was all that mattered. Angel shut up when he saw me get to my feet once again and rolled his shoulders, giving me a challenging look. At the same time we lunged at each other, the sound of our blades clashing together ringing in my ears. What he didn't expect though was for me to slash at him with the dagger I'd pulled out of my side, now coated with both our blood. His eyes widened slightly as he dodged back out of the way and I pressed forward with a side-slash from Sliver. He blocked it and chopped at my arm with his free blade, which I blocked with the dagger, twisting his arm to the side. He retaliated by launching a kick at my injured hip, the heel of his boot pounding right into the slice left by the dagger. I smothered a howl of pain and slammed a mother of a punch into his jaw, cracking his head to the side. Blood sprayed from his mouth and he turned back to me with a snarl, slashing at me with both sabres angrily. I deflected both blows but one of his blades came in so close the tip nicked my arm, drawing a line of blood. It went on like that for what seemed like ages, both of us exchanging blows back and forth, attacking any part of the other that was vulnerable. Neither of us was able to score a serious hit though and the longer we kept it up the more wrathful we seemed to get, frustrated and fed up with each other like two predators fighting for dominance. Our blows started to come harder, each slash of a blade aiming for more critical places. We were literally at each other's throats and I could barely even remember who it was I was fighting so furiously against. It didn't seem like Angel anymore; by now he was the enemy and god damnit I just wanted to rip him apart.

At some point he lunged in close to me so I couldn't get Sliver out to slice him, slamming me up against the wall once more. Evidently he must have finally gotten sick of me and just wanted me out of his face, because he threw his sabre to the side altogether and his hand closed around my throat with a frighteningly strong grip. I choked, my windpipe closing off and I could feel his fingers digging into my neck, his muscles fuelled by that god damn crystal. I struggled against him but Sliver was stuck between us and hard as I tried to shove him back I couldn't get him to move. He had me pinned and he wasn't letting go, a maliciousness in his eyes that promised me he wasn't go to release me until I died right there under his own hand.

In a move of desperation I did the only thing I could think of and instead of trying to struggle back I lunged forward, smashing my forehead into the bridge of his nose. It was sort of ironic, really; if that crystal hadn't changed him like it had he'd have been too short for me to actually connect with him.

I felt something crack and he made a growling noise, tightening his grip but I'd gotten enough room to do it again, smashing my forehead as hard as possible into the narrow bridge of his nose for a second time, ignoring the pain that reverberated in my own broken nose. He stumbled back a little after that second blow and I threw all of my bodyweight against him, pushing away from the wall and slamming my forehead into his face for a third time. This time I felt his nose shatter under the impact and his fingers slipped from my throat. And that was all I needed.

Before he could recover enough I used my fist this time, Sliver's hilt reinforcing my knuckles as I landed one of the hardest punches I'd ever thrown into his already busted nose. He staggered back, blood flowing down his face as if from a faucet and that's when I hit him for a fifth time. I turned and launched a roundhouse kick at him, directing all my fury and pain right into that kick and my boot landed home, thundering straight into his broken face. He went reeling backwards and fell to the balcony, his head cracking back against the hard stone.

I don't even remember how I got there, but I was beside him in a heartbeat, kicking his other sabre out of his hand and then pressing my boot down hard into his narrow chest to keep him from getting back up. And I had the tip of my scimitar pressed against his throat, just hard enough to make a tiny stream of blood bubble to the surface.

He tilted his chin and looked up at me, his face a bloody mess, and his scarlet eyes found mine. There was a taunting look there like he was daring me to do it. It would only take a second, one hard thrust and he was dead. And it was almost like he was challenging me to do it.

I thought back to the dream I'd had of him back when he'd first gone missing, and what'd he asked of me: '_Can you kill me, Shade? So I don't hurt the others. Or you._'

I'd promised him I would...

But that had been a dream. He hadn't really asked me that... but would he have? If he'd had the chance, before this had happened to him; I knew Angel would never want to hurt any of us, and if it were me, I'd want him to kill me if there was a chance I'd hurt them. But who was I to make decisions for him? Who was I to judge how he would have felt, what he would have wanted?

I stared down at him as he waited for me to make up my mind, seeming prepared to wait there without complaint until I did. Under all the gore and those awful crimson eyes he was still Angel, he still _looked_ like Angel and it brought on a whole slew of memories of the years I'd spent with him, all the time during which I'd both depended on him and had him depend on me, whether I'd known it at the time or not. He drove me crazy and some days I downright hated him and then the next day he'd be cheering me up and trying to be a good friend, as awkward as he was at it. He'd saved my life that day when Zodiac tore me open, him and Varan both, and I at least owed him that. I couldn't just throw all of that out of my mind. I just couldn't.

"...Shit." I muttered, taking my foot off him and stepping away from him. Even if it had really been what he'd wanted me to do and I had promised him to his face, I could never kill him. And I knew deep down that if our positions had been switched he wouldn't have killed me either.

He looked surprised, cocking his head as I turned away from him and threw the dagger off to the side, letting it fall down into the Wastelands. I moved back towards my Ultra, hoping it would still be in good enough shape to fly for a little while at least, even if it was just enough to get me back the _Merlin_. And I just left him lying there behind me, for reasons that still escape me. I know it was stupid and naive of me, but I thought that maybe if he realized I'd had the chance to kill him and I hadn't, it'd wake him up somehow, make him realize I wasn't the enemy here.

And once again my optimism and faith utterly failed me.

I didn't hear him coming up behind me; all I felt was his boot slam into the back of my knee and I crumpled. The next thing I knew he had his foot on my chest and his sabre was lying across my neck.

"Why didn't you do it?" he asked, a strange expression on his face.

I sighed, spotting Sliver out of the corner of my eye, lying a good five feet out of reach. Cursing my own stupidity I leaned my head back against the stone and tried to come up with an answer.

"I don't know." I said at last. "I guess despite everything you were still Angel to me. Pretty stupid of me, huh?"

The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile. "Yeah, I'd say that was pretty stupid."

I clenched my jaw, refusing to flinch and held his gaze as he shifted, ready to deliver the killing blow.

But it never came.

Abruptly he seemed to freeze, his eyes flicking to the side to focus on something I couldn't see like Wasp's would do from time to time. He raised his free hand to his temple uncertainly, blinking and holding very still as if he were listening to something. Then his face contorted angrily. "But I've-" he immediately fell silent, flinching. With a growl he lowered his hand and glared at me. Without a word he lifted his foot, slammed an enraged kick into my ribs and then flared his wings, leaping from the edge of the platform and vanishing from my view.

Evidently I'd been saved by a call from none other than the Master herself. God I love irony...

I remained frozen for a minute before rolling to my side and letting out the breath I'd been holding, a sob rattling in my chest. I knew I had to get back up and help the others, but for a few minutes I was utterly drained of energy and broken up inside and I just couldn't. I curled up slightly and closed my eyes, wishing this was all just one huge nightmare that I'd be waking from soon. I touched my throat, feeling the thin line that the edge of his sabre had sliced into it and blew out a shaky breath, feeling like my mind was buckling, trying not to comprehend that I'd nearly been killed by my best friend.

"Falshade!" Varan's voice broke through the darkness that had overwhelmed my mind. "Oh god, please don't be dead, don't be dead..."

I rolled over, staring at him blankly as he approached me cautiously, his skimmer parked on the edge of the terrace. "Shade are you alright?"

_No. Angel almost killed me, Var. I'm afraid of him, I hate him, and now I know I am going to have to kill him next time, or we're all going to die by his hand._

"I'm fine." I said, getting to my feet. His eyes widened at the sight of my torn and bruised body but I waved a hand to pass it off. I ripped a section of my shirt off and wadded it into a ball, pressing it into the wound above my hipbone and retrieving Sliver. "I dunno if my Ultra's gonna fly though." I added, moving towards my ride.

"What happened? I lost track of you out there..."

"I don't want to talk about it." I muttered, straightening my skimmer and moving it away from the edge of the tower. I kick-started her and held my breath for a moment while the engine spluttered and belched dark smoke into the air. But then it rumbled to life, a little shakily at first but then with a strong, thrumming rhythm and I nodded to myself. My skimmer wasn't finished and neither was I; I had to keep going.

"We shouldn't stay here." I said, straddling my skimmer once more. Varan gave me an uncertain look but made no comment and we both returned to the skies, plunging back into the battle that had been going on this whole time, oblivious to my own crisis and heartbreak.

War's like that I suppose; it's so horrible and destructive that any person's miseries are swallowed whole without the slightest acknowledgement, a speck of dust in a universe of chaos.

**x.x.x. Stork x.x.x.**

I was wound so tight as the _Condor_ made the descent into the Wastelands that I was convinced I would die before we even got into a fight. My heart was pumping so erratically and so fast I was certain at any second it was just going to have an attack and quit altogether and I'd fall down dead before we even made it to the tunnels.

Finn stayed beside me the whole agonizingly long time as the Wastelands stretched out under us in all their desolate glory, his arm wrapped comfortingly around my shoulders. Man was I ever glad he was there; I knew having my Daddy beside me wouldn't change any of what might happen in the near future, but it still made me feel a childish sense of security anyways. If I didn't have Shade and the others by my side then at least I had my Dad. And the rest of the Storm Hawks of course. That had to count for something I reminded myself; I mean they'd made it through this sort of thing once before, they could do it again.

And I had Wasp, one of the Gargoyles by my side at least. And when you had Wasp on your team, well, lately I'd begun to think that really counted for something too.

Still though, this just felt so wrong; it's not like I had constant fantasies of what our final battles and moments of glory would be like, but when I did have them we were always together, all six of us standing against the rising tide of evil that was bearing down on us, ready to try and crush us (gee aren't I poetic?). This was almost like a bad omen or something.

Finn picked up on my unease, evidently still in tune with my vibes even after a few years without practice. Parenting is just one of those skills you don't lose I suppose. "Okay, I'm thinking the letter M is a good place to start. Lots of good M words. You wanna go first, Flea?"

I glanced up at him, confused for a moment before cracking a smile. I might not have been seven years old anymore but those old tricks could still work on me, and to be honest I was kinda grateful for that. Meant I wasn't getting _too_ old anyways. "Metamorphosis." I said, bringing out the big guns right on the first round.

"Oooh, nice one." Finn wrinkled his brow, thinking. "Uh... mitochondria."

"Maniacal."

"Metaphysics."

"Monstrosity."

"Uh... mocha."

"Dude, fail!" I said, swatting at him playfully. "Too small."

"Yeah but mochas are pretty impressive you know. They combine the power of hot chocolate and coffee into one." Finn argued. Man I hoped he'd get to spend more time with Fraggle, the two of them would have a riot.

On an impulse I hugged him tightly, feeling overwhelmed all of a sudden of how glad I was that he was back in my life. I really wished we had more time right around then; there were so many things about my new life that I wanted to show him. I wanted to show off how well I could fight and fly, wanted him to get to know my friends more and maybe become sort of like an adopted father to them too, since most of them didn't have one of their own. I wanted him to laugh at our dumb-ass antics and look young and happy all the time, like he had a few days ago in the hanger of the _Condor_, before everything went to hell. Well I mean more so then it already had.

I dunno if I believe in some deity or anything, but by now I really had started to believe that there had to be some larger force at work in the world, a part of all the small things, twining through us all. And I prayed really hard to it right then; I prayed that we'd all get more time to share.

The _Condor _slowed suddenly and Stork eased her down onto an open stretch of dark rock. Glancing through the windshield I could see the terra on which the mighty fortress of Cyclonia perched spearing up into the bruised sky, a crooked shadow that loomed over us imposingly.

"Ladies and gentlemen we have reached our destination." Stork intoned from the helm, eye twitching at the sight of the hulking mass before us. "Next stop: certain doom."

"Thank you for the enthusiasm, Stork." Piper muttered, wrapping her arms around her slim torso as if chilled.

I swallowed down the fear that was churning in my guts and cleared my throat pointedly. "Well come on, while we're still reasonably young, people. Cyclonia ain't gonna get any less evil."

Wasp leapt to my side loyally and Finn and Junko followed us down to the hanger bay. Piper waited for Stork, who ran his hand over the _Condor_'s steering distractedly before trailing after us, accepting the energy staff Piper handed him. Aside from her own quarterstaff, which she'd equipped with a blade at one end, Piper carried a curved dagger which was strapped to her right thigh securely. Finn had a similar dagger in his belt as well as a bayonet attached to his crossbow, which he'd loaded with crossbolts Junko had made for him the day before, designed to explode upon impact. We weren't taking any chances with these guys and we'd armed ourselves for some serious bloodshed.

I passed my Hornet in the hanger and patted her flank briefly, hoping I'd get the chance to ride her again. I paused just at the top of the _Condor_'s ramp and breathed in deep, trying to absorb some of the strength that was lingering inside her walls after all those years of carrying the Storm Hawks from one battle and into another. '_Aerrow, if Piper and I are right and you really are a part of me, right now would be a great time to lend me some of your bravery. I'd be really grateful for it, 'cause man am I ever gonna need it today..._'I thought to myself and then marched down the ramp like it was no big deal. Oh are we about to risk our lives infiltrating Cyclonia and attempting to destroy the Eternity crystal? Psh, yeah, so what? Bring it on, man.

The sulphuric air of the Wastelands hit my nostrils hard and I'm pretty sure I lost more than a few nose hairs. Wasp made a snorting noise next to me and covered her nose, breathing into her sleeve. The Storm Hawks filed out after us and before we continued on our way Stork turned to the _Condor_ and held a small remote out towards her, clicking a button. The _Condor_ flickered and then seemed to disappear, blending into the background like a chameleon. I tilted my head slightly and was able to make out just a faint outline of her pontoons among the stone backdrop.

"Nice." I told Stork who simply shrugged. "Okay so now where are we heading?"

"Down there." Piper said, pointing to three large pipes that projected from the terra like tentacles. The blackness inside them reminded me of empty eye sockets and I had to fight back a shiver. We approached the tunnels warily, looking around in all directions in case there were guards posted nearby. We made it almost to the tunnel mouths without incident when I heard a strange whining noise in the air and looked up to see a large shape hurtling down towards us.

"Look out!" I yelped, grabbing Piper's arm and hauling her back alongside me. Not a moment later a skimmer crashed into the stone where we'd been standing, exploding into hundreds of pieces of projectile shrapnel. Piper pulled me behind a jutting rock to avoid getting nailed and the moment the smoke cleared I sprang forward, hoping like mad it wasn't going to be a skimmer I recognized.

I was relieved to find it was the remains of a Nightflyer out there and not one of my boys' rides. I blew out a shaky sigh and looked back up at the thick cloud layer above us, prepared for more skimmers to come raining down on us.

"Well I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest we all get inside before any of us get crushed like insignificant little beetles." Stork said monotonously, nudging the smoking remains of the skimmer with his toe. "Just a thought."

Piper approached the tunnel mouths carefully and peeked down each one before turning and motioning to Wasp. "You're going to have to lead us from here on out." She told her and Wasp straightened as if to appear more professional, nodding resolutely and sticking her head down each gaping opening in turn, sniffing. She paced between them a few times, nose crinkled thoughtfully, before she finally stopped at the one on the far left and nodded to herself.

"This one." She said, pointing into the dark mouth. "This way to the treasure."

"You're sure?" Stork asked her uncertainly, looking down the tunnel sceptically.

Wasp scratched at her neck casually and flicked her ears nonchalantly, not bothering to give him a proper response. I had more than enough faith in Wasp's nose by now though and boldly stepped into the shadowy entrance, touching the smooth metal wall for guidance.

"It starts with a bit of a slide." Wasp said beside me, her hand on my shoulder. "Here, come on." She led me forward by my hand and then sort of made a hopping motion, vanishing before me as if the darkness had simply swallowed her alive. I gulped a bit, rolled my shoulders and followed suit, jumping forward. For a moment I was in a bit of a free fall before I slammed into the metal below me, shooting down like I was a little kid in one of those tube-slides. I kept my arms in tight in case the tunnel suddenly narrowed or something and then abruptly found myself skidding over flat surface once more and got to my feet, checking to make sure I hadn't lost either of my throwing axes.

"Well that was fun." Wasp said quietly from nearby as I felt someone else come tumbling down next to me.

"Stork?" Finn's voice came from the darkness.

"We're right here." I said, reaching out for him. The others joined us shortly, Stork grumbling to himself about bruised bones or something.

"Where are you guys?" Junko's voice asked, not nearly as quietly as it should have been and sounding rather confused. I heard him moving about and then Piper stifling a yelp.

"Ouch, Junko, that was my foot!"

"Sorry!"

"Keep it down!" Stork snapped at them both.

"Children, please!" I hissed. "It's probably not a good idea to strike a light or anything, so I'm thinking we should make a sort of chain to keep together."

"Right." Piper agreed in a hushed voice. "Wasp you lead the way and let us know if anyone's coming, alright?"

"Okay." Wasp said, sliding her hand into mine. I reached out for Finn's and after a moment of feeling around for him found it and gripped it tight.

"Everybody got somebody?"

"Ugh, we're all sharing each other's germs, you do realize that right?" Stork whined from somewhere behind me and I rolled my eyes.

"I'll take that as a yes. Okay Wasp, lead on."

Wasp didn't hesitate and started pulling me along swiftly, moving with ease through the blackness. I had a hard time keeping up, worried about tripping in the dark, not able to see where to place my feet. A few times I stumbled in dips in the ground and Finn ended up bumping into me, rubbing my back briefly each time in apology. The others kept pace fairly well and for awhile we slipped through the tunnel in near silence, doing pretty well on the stealth part of the operation if you ask me.

That is until Wasp stopped abruptly and created a chain reaction pile up behind her, each of us crashing into the one in front. Junko nearly sent us all flying like bowling pins when he hit us, crushing Stork between himself and Piper. There was suppressed groaning and swearing from all of us as we tried to regain our balance and I glared at where I figured Wasp would be.

"Thanks for the warning there, Wasp."

Wasp was apparently ignoring me, drawing in deep breaths of air. "Hold on a second." She said, releasing my hand and I heard her move forward slightly, sniffing intently. Then she came back, her cool hand wrapping around mine once more. "Okay, I know where I'm going. What were you saying?"

"Never mind." I grumbled. "Next time you're going to stop like that though squeeze my hand so I know, okay?"

"'Kay." She said and then tugged me along once more, leading our little chain deeper and deeper into the heart of Cyclonia. I felt like we were moving steadily upwards once and awhile and I jumped when at one point I stepped down into a shallow stream of freezing water, which ran right into my shoes and chilled me to the bone. Behind me Stork squelched down a disgusted squawk but dutifully trudged on with the rest of us. We sloshed through the little underground stream for a long time and once Piper slipped on the slick surface and fell, dragging Finn down with her. Finally Wasp led us up another pipe that branched off from the drain pipe and for awhile we struggled with something of a steep climb, having to feel out with our feet to find ridges for a foothold and dragging the ones behind us up as best we could. It was a nerve-racking trek that seemed to just go on and on and it made me start to feel slightly hysterical, the darkness pressing in tightly against my skin and making me break out in a cold sweat. Wasp rubbed my arm briefly as if she sensed my discomfort and then abruptly pushed her hand into my chest to halt me, gripping my hand tightly. I sent the squeeze signal back to Finn and froze, holding my breath as I waited to see what had made Wasp stop.

I didn't have to wait long; from further ahead I could hear the sound of boots striking against the metal floor and then there was dim light among the shadows, growing brighter by the second. We waited with baited breath as two Berserker soldiers passed through the tunnel that ran perpendicular to ours. They strode past the mouth of our tunnel and for a second the light from their staffs flowed in, illuminating Wasp's outline. But luck smiled on us for once and they didn't bother to look down the passage, instead carrying on their way. Wasp waited until the sound of their boots faded in the darkness before tugging us forward warily, peeking around the mouth of the tunnel. The soldiers where much further down the passage, only the light of their staffs visible. Wasp motioned for us to follow and took off down the opposite end of the larger tunnel, getting us as far from those Berserkers as possible.

"We shouldn't stay in this tunnel long." Piper whispered from behind Finn. "In case they come back up this way."

"Right, okay." Wasp said, slowing. "Just give me a second." She let go of my hand again, moving off down the tunnel and sniffing intently before returning. "I think there're more of them down here, I'm getting all kinds of scents."

"Do you know which way the crystal is and not towards more soldiers?" I asked uneasily and she blinked at me owlishly.

"Oh yes." She said as if this should have been obvious. "Can't you feel it? It's like a magnet and it's pulling at my inner compass, this way, this way. What's yours doing?"

"I don't have one, I traded it for a cookie." I said and Finn snorted.

"Silly, silly humans." Wasp sighed and led us onward, eventually turning into another tunnel that branched off from our current one. I could feel a cool air current slithering around me and it made me shiver, an eerie feeling creeping up my spine. I could feel us passing gaps in the wall every once and awhile, other tunnels that branched off and led deeper into the bowels of the terra. Jeez how huge was this place? Right around then I was really able to feel all the weight of Cyclonia hanging above us and it made my chest seize with claustrophobia; with all these passages burrowing into the terra's structure how stable could it really be? What would it take to bring the whole place crashing down around us, crushing our bones and organs? I was suddenly terrified to even sneeze.

Wasp once again stopped suddenly ahead of me and I walked into her, banging my nose into her solid shoulder blade. Thankfully the others stopped before creating another pile up and I felt Wasp's hand leave mine, her body gone stiff, yellow eye glinting in the dark.

"What is it?" I breathed, my hands twitching towards my throwing axes.

"...He's coming for us." Wasp said in a low, strange voice.

"Who?" I demanded in a whisper. "...Angel?"

"Yes..." Wasp trailed off and then I heard her rummaging about in her pockets. Suddenly a soft yellow light lit up our immediate area and I was able to see her face, all shadows and harsh features. She handed the little Flare crystal to me and then stepped back, hands behind her back and a submissive expression on her face as if she was apologizing, her eyes staring right into mine as if trying to say something. It took me a moment to realize what that something was.

"...Wasp, no." I croaked. "You can't leave me..."

She chewed at her lip, looking more indecisive then I'd ever seen her, but then she shook her head firmly. "Remember when I told you that I think I have a purpose to fulfill? You remember that? I know this is what I have to do. I know it in here." She pushed her fingertips into her chest. "I have to try and save him, Stork."

"But what if you can't?" I demanded, voice gone a little shrill. I couldn't let Wasp leave, she was the only one of the Gargoyles I had with me, I needed her, I needed her to be beside me through this. I thought as long as I had at least one of them with me then things would be okay, but if I didn't have Wasp everything was just going to fall apart.

Wasp shrugged. "I don't know yet."

"What are you two talking about?" Junko asked, looking from Wasp to me and back again with wide eyes.  
Wasp looked at the Storm Hawks. "I... I have to try. I have to try and bring Angel back. It's what I have to do. You have to go on without me."

"Wasp, we can't!" Piper said. "You have to lead us to the crystal, we'll never find it without you!"

"You humans, you're not so well equipped, you know..." Wasp said, changing the subject randomly and rummaging in her many jacket pockets once again. "I mean evolution kinda dealt you a bad hand. But what it did give you was the ability to make up for what you lack. You don't need me..." She went on, finding what she was looking for and drawing it out of her pocket, holding it out to me. "You can find it with this."

In her hand was the miniature crystal field detector I'd been working on so long ago, the little needle quivering on the meter. Piper took it carefully and examined the reading before looking at Wasp uncertainly. "If those soldiers have crystals implanted in them won't it pick up on their energy signatures instead?" She asked and Wasp shook her head.

"No. The crystal's overpowering everything else. Their energy fields are too weak to draw it off track." Wasp assured her.

I was having a bit of a panic attack here, shaking from head to toe. I lunged forward and clutched Wasp's arm desperately.

"Wasp you can't leave me!" I rasped, feeling close to tears. "I need you! You said you'd watch my back, you said we'd look out for each other!"

Wasp's face crinkled unhappily and I knew she felt bad for going back on her word. But there was something burning determinedly in her off-set eyes and I knew right then that no amount of begging and kicking and screaming would get her to change her mind.

"I know." She said softly, brushing my cheek soothingly. "I know I did and I'm sorry. But I have to do this. And you don't need me; you are brave and strong and a nasty little force to be reckoned with. You don't need anybody, Stork."

She clutched my chin and made me look into her eyes until I found the courage in myself to believe her. I could look after myself, and it wasn't like I was going to be totally alone either. Wasp had to do this and I had to press on. It was just how things had to be.

I swallowed and nodded resolutely. "You better catch up with us though." I told her fiercely and she cracked her crooked smile.

"Of course." She vowed, stroking my hair.

"Okay." I moved in slightly and wrapped my arms around her briefly. "Bring Angel back." I whispered to her and she patted my back once before pushing me away gently.

"Go, all of you." She said, shooing me along with her hands. She gave the Storm Hawks a steely look before letting them catch up though. "If anything happens to that girl, I'm coming after the rest of you." She promised them, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Take care of her."

"We will." Finn assured her, looking a little edgy. Wasp nodded and then motioned for them to get going, looking up at the tunnel ceiling calculatingly. Piper took my hand and led me along now and I looked back until Wasp vanished from my view, the darkness swallowing her up and leaving her to her fate, alone.

"She'll be alright." Finn comforted me, rubbing my shoulder. "She seems like she can take care of herself."

In any other circumstance I'd believe him without question and put my worry out of mind for the time being. But this wasn't just some random enemy Wasp would be facing, it was Angel, and he didn't even remember who she was. If she couldn't bring him back to himself I didn't know if Wasp would be able go through with it if his death was called for.

Then again out of all of us I knew if anybody _would_ be able to finish him, it'd probably be Wasp.

Piper took up the lead now, waving my little crystal detector around in front of her from time to time to get a bearing. I was too high-strung and tense to feel proud of myself for it, but the thing worked well; it could pick up the crystal's energy through all the metal and stone around us and it never got muddled by the energy signatures of the Berserkers that were roaming about either. Still, it was slow going. Without Wasp as an early warning system we had to take it extra slow, ears straining for the slightest sound and we had to stop and shield the light before passing into any new tunnels. It stretched my nerves to the breaking point that final stretch and even though the presence of the Storm Hawks comforted me, it wasn't the same as having my friends around. Sure there was a certain amount of strength and resolve to be drawn from them, because heck, they were the legendary and indomitable Storm Hawks after all. But it was the Gargoyles that always made me feel secure and hopeful, no matter where I was, and without that backbone of support I felt much less soothed by the Storm Hawks' company then I had about half an hour ago. And now I had to worry about my all of my squad mates too, totally separated from them and unable to tell if they were okay or not. And trust me, the last thing I needed here was that distracting me.

At some point Piper lifted a hand for us to stop and crept forward on her own carefully, leaving us to wait, muscles strung tight. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up at Junko, his face grim yet still soft and encouraging, a reassuring smile slung under the horn on his nose. I straightened up boldly and smiled back, patting his large hand briefly.

Piper turned back towards us and motioned for us to come forward. "I think this is it." She whispered as we caught up to her and we leaned around her to peep around the corner.

The tunnel opened into a giant, dome-shaped cavern. It was almost like a huge air pocket in the terra's interior, a bubble or something in the stone and it stretched wide before us, other tunnels opening into is as well like ventricles all leading to and from the heart.

"Well..." Piper swallowed and glanced at us. "Let's go check it out. But be careful, keep alert, it might be a trap."

"No shit." Finn muttered, his hand resting between my shoulder blades protectively as I followed after Piper, his crossbow cocked and ready. I gripped the handle on my battle axe tightly, muscles flexed and ready, teeth gritted determinedly.

We stalked down the last few feet of tunnel and stepped cautiously into the room, eyes darting everywhere, piercing every shadow for signs of movement, expecting an attack to come crashing down on us at any moment. The silence and emptiness of the place unnerved me and at first I was so distracted looking for anyone lurking about that I didn't notice the eerie green glow that bathed the place in soft light right away. When I finally clued into it I looked about for the source and felt my stomach drop away as my eyes fell on the gleaming crystal that stood like a lone star in the dark cavern.

It was massive this thing, I'd never seen a crystal that huge before; it stood about as tall as I did, maybe a little taller, and about three times as wide. It was sitting comfortably on the far side of the cavern, atop a sort of platform that reminded me of the one we'd found higher in the tunnels the first time we infiltrated the Scar. The crystal was perched in a sort of dell on this large pedestal, like a giant egg sitting in the center of an eagle's nest. I felt hypnotized by the sight of it, something stirring like a tiny creature waking up deep in my chest. It was like the crystal's low green light reached into some deep pocket in my head and made itself at home there, back in familiar territory, content and comfortable. I felt drawn to it, like an invisible thread was connecting me too it, reeling me in slowly, filling me with a warm, lulling sensation.

"Is that it?" Junko asked, his voice hushed and timid.

"That's it." Piper breathed, seeming similarly captivated. Crystals were her calling in life after all, this must have been like finding a lost city or something to her. She made a hesitant step forward and Stork grabbed her shoulder, shaking her a bit.

"Piper snap out of it!" he hissed, his eye twitching like mad. "I don't like this, this is way too easy..."

The laughter started from out of nowhere and seemed to come from every direction, closing in tightly around us and sinking into our skin, rattling in our bones, a reverberating, chilling sound. It made me think of a mass of writhing snakes slithering around me, cold scales scratching and clutching me tightly, making it hard to breathe. We all pressed closer instinctively, heads snapping about looking for the source of the uncanny sound, weapons clutched tightly in our hands.

And then there she was, materializing from the darkness as if she were made of the shadows themselves and leering down on us from atop the podium, her thin lips curled into a delighted little grin as her laughter continued to echo around us. She was wearing a weird sort of cloak that fanned out in spindly metallic strips around her head like giant spider's legs. She didn't seem to be very tall or very muscular but she had a dark, threatening aura around her and it made her seem deadly anyways. Cold dread trickled down the length of my spine as I finally beheld the Master herself, the unknown toxin that had lived in my body for sixteen years.

Her laughter began to recede as she spread her thin arms wide, eyes glinting maliciously. "Congratulations, Storm Hawks!" she intoned with wicked cheerfulness, her voice dark and heavy and yet somehow girlish at the same time. "You've found the Heart Chamber! You're a little later than I expected you to be, though. Have the years paid a toll on you?"

The Storm Hawks all shifted into a stance of readiness, muscles taught and ready to unleash their fury. Even Stork looked pretty imposing with that crystal staff in his green hands, something I'd never thought he'd be able to pull off.

"Why don't you come down here and we'll let you find out for yourself!" Piper snarled and I had to admire how fierce she could sound for such a petite little thing.

Cyclonis titled her head back and laughed once more. "Always ready for a fight. How touching that you've clung to your old ways; I was under the impression that the Storm Hawks had given up on all of that."

"And we were under the impression you were dead. Wishful thinking, I guess." Finn said coolly and I felt really proud of him right then, like our roles had been changed.

Cyclonis simply shook her head, smirking, and then her violet eyes honed in on me, piercing right into my head like a laser beam. I felt this horrible exposed feeling rip through me, like she could see everything I was thinking and feeling, like she'd done for so long, peering right into my soul. I felt myself shrink down inside, falter, and then suddenly all unnerve and hesitation was gone in one swift motion, leaving me instead with a boiling rage filling me from head to toe, making my muscles feel stronger, my lungs larger, heart beat steadier. If this girl thought she was going to intimidate me then she had another think coming; I'd been the one she'd relied on and feed off all those years, I was stronger than she was and if I could nurture her then I could destroy her too. She didn't scare me.

"You know Feonix if I would have known you'd come here on your own free will all along I wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to try and bring you here." She mused, feigning thoughtfulness. "I wouldn't have even had to do what I had to your dear friend Angel. Funny how things work out isn't it?"

My lips peeled back from my teeth and I arranged my face into the deadliest expression I was capable of, returning her taunting gaze with a scorching glare of my own. "It _is_ funny. Because you're going to pay for that. You're going to pay for all of it and you are going to _rue _the fucking day you decided to take up residence in me!"

Cyclonis' laughter made the whole room tremble with its pitch. "Oh I am, am I?" She asked. Then her voice became serious, icy cold and with a strange, magnified undertone that shook with a different form of evil all together. "Unfortunately I don't believe you." She said, a hiss lacing her words. "In fact I'm certain _you_ are going to be the one paying for this most unwise decision you have made. But I'm going to give you a chance to redeem yourself." She straightened, staring down at me with hollow, imposing eyes. "You can quite simply hand yourself over to me on your own free will and allow them to leave with their lives." She waved her hand indifferently at the Storm Hawks and Junko uttered a rumbling growl deep in his throat. "Or you can stay and watch them all be torn to pieces before I catch a hold of you anyways. So what will it be, little Stork?"

"We're not leaving you, Stork." Finn whispered to me firmly, a dogged flame in his crystal blue eyes. The others nodded, their faces set like the warriors they were, ready to fight to the bitter end. I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck to the side, steeled and ready to go. Let's get this fucking party started.

"You know I think I'm going to have to go with secret option number three." I informed her, activating the Striker crystal on my battle axe. "Which is where we beat your scrawny little ass to the ground and make you sorry you ever tried messing with us in the first place."

Cyclonis' mouth quirked as if she thought I was joking. "I see." She said. "Well then without further ado..." she lifted a pale hand into the air and snapped her spidery fingers sharply.

I don't know where they all came from or why we didn't know they were there before, but they came flooding from all directions like a swarm of fire ants closing in on their prey. Hundreds upon hundreds of Berserkers flooding from the surrounding tunnels, howling, snarling and slathering like Hell hounds, surrounding us with a wall of gnashing teeth and twitching muscles. Hundreds of black hole eyes leered at us like hungry rabid beasts as they held back, forming a ring around us and waiting for their Master's command. The Storm Hawks and I made a circle of our own, backs pressed tightly together, weapons activated and clutched tightly in ready hands, our own muscles quivering. This was it, this was what everything had led up to and any fear was tucked tightly away by now; we were more than ready for the fight of our lives. We were gonna embrace it.

In the moment before Cyclonis' voice unleashed her demons on us I felt Piper slide something into my belt, wedging it securely against the small of my back: the Black Hole device. I felt her brush my spine with the tips of her brown fingers and I knew she was sending me a silent message: '_It's all going to be up to you in the end._'

Then Cyclonis' voices sliced through the tension like a knife. "Bring the girl to me. Destroy the others."

In an explosion of released muscles they rushed up on us as one, screeching and clambering over each other in attempt to be the first to sink their teeth into flesh.

"Bring it on motherfuckas!" Finn shouted, lunging forward and blasting a gap into the horde of them with one his crossbolts. "Chicka cha!"

Junko was right behind him, delivering a massive uppercut with his green emblazed fist, sending four Berserkers flying back into the sea of their counterparts with a series of satisfying crunching sounds. By now the violence and gore no longer bothered me; by this point it was us or them and if I had to see somebody's guts spraying all over the place then you bet your ass I wanted it to be theirs. Falshade was right; you got used to it eventually.

I lunged forward now too, sweeping my battle axe out in front of me to keep the pressing horde away from me, slicing through reaching arms and torsos that got too close. A terrible shriek erupted from one sucker who got my axe embedded in his chest, wedged between two ribs. I pulled a face and lashed out with one of my throwing axes as another set of hands came towards me, attempting to seize me while I was distracted. My axe severed a hand right from the wrist and with a sickening wrenching noise I was able to tug my battle axe free to swing it in a backhanded arc, catching another oncoming Berserker in the hip. Piper was at my side suddenly, blasting one soldier with a bolt of energy before swinging her staff around with both hands, the end with the blade slicing through the mass of Berserkers and chopping right through the neck of one. His blood sprayed into her face and she flinched, stepping back and desperately trying to wipe it out of her eyes. While she was distracted another Berserker leapt over the body of his dying comrade and lunged at her abdomen with a sickle. I leapt over to defend her but Stork beat me to the punch; out of nowhere he charged forward and swung his quarterstaff like it was a bat, catching the Berserker in the jaw and snapping his head to the side. There was a definite cracking sound and the Berserker dropped like a ton of lead, dead.

Stork blinked and stared at the staff in his hands like he couldn't believe what he'd just done and if it were any other circumstance I would have laughed. Instead I leapt in front of him, grabbed the fallen Berserker's sickle and jabbed it into the throat of yet another oncoming soldier, landing a kick in his chest for good measure, sending him tumbling backwards into the mass of them.

Piper had straightened back up now, vision cleared. She patted Stork's shoulder briefly in gratitude and then charged forward, beating the shit out of any Berserkers that tried to stumble past any of Finn's charges. Junko was sending them flying like bowling pins left right and centre, but I already noticed that some of the Berserkers he'd punched moments before were back up in front of him, ready for another round. I wasn't too worried about him though; no way were those guys going to get anywhere close enough to him to do him any damage. I stayed near Stork instead, as he'd never done as much hand to hand combat as the others and I was worried he might get overwhelmed. He seemed to be doing alright on his own though, blasting Berserkers back with the Striker crystal equipped in his staff or simply beating them back with it. We stayed within arm's reach of each other, at first just holding our original ground but then moving forward into the screeching mob of them, following the others who were slowly but surely carving a path through the enemy, heading for that pedestal and the crystal. And for a split second there, I thought we had a hope; maybe we could do this, fight our way through and put an end to this once and for all.

But then I caught sight of Cyclonis, standing up on that pedestal and watching the carnage with a psychotic little grin on her thin lips and I remembered what Stork had said about all this being way too easy.

We were only just getting started.

**x.x.x Wasp x.x.x**

My life so far has stretched through three different periods in time, like the way they sometimes chop up longer books into parts. And the middle part is the messy tale of Macabre, all tangled and sickening like the spilt, shredded innards of some poor animal carcass rotting in the sun.

The story starts before me; it starts with a woman. Not a good woman. Well not a bad person I guess; she made her own choices in life and that's fine I guess, everyone is allowed to do what they wish if you ask me, so long as it doesn't harm other people. And this woman did a lot of those nasty things that get sucked up your nose or pushed forcefully into the blue veins of your arms, those sour chemicals that churn your brain into an altered soup of madness and heightened perception. But the thing is these things cost money, and unfortunately there aren't a lot of professions to get into on Macabre. So this woman offers up her body to different men in order for money and as these things usually happen on that wretched terra, she is impregnated on two separate occasions by two different men. Both are born baby girls and the older one of these girls has soft magenta hair and little pink flecks dotting her sweet little face. Her mother keeps up her toxic habits and as the girl grows older (Macabre has a way of making you age faster than you should) she takes up the job of caring for her sister, whom she loves very dearly and shields as best she can from the filth of the place she must call home. And for eleven years this goes on and she isn't the happiest of children nor the healthiest and the innocence of her young mind has long been absent, but she keeps her slight little chin up and pushes her way through the world she is trapped in anyways, her younger sister bound securely to her side.

But then one day there are too many poisons in her mother's blood and she drops dead in some gutter somewhere, heart seized tight like a rusted gear, oozing sludge from its bloated, corroded veins. Like I mentioned though, these drugs, all those little capsules of toxins and the filmy powders that stick in your pores, they cost money, and this mother-woman, she owed a lot to a particular dealer, who worked under one of the more powerful and frightening gang lords of the fetid Macabre streets. This was Buzzard and his name suited him well because he feed on carrion and the misery of others without a shred of sympathy for their suffering; he was like the flesh puppet of Greed, a sin walking across our plane of existence and leaving a trail of slime and bile in his wake. He got what he wanted one way or another and he wanted his money. The older girl knew the only way girls like her could make money around that terrible place and made this vile monster a deal; she would sell him her soul, hand over the ownership of her own flesh and blood to him and he could use her to gain back the money her mother owed, but she wanted her sister to be taken away from that terra of congealed misery. She wanted her sister, the only sparkling little piece of gold she had in her tragic life, to be spared and sent somewhere where the air was clean and children could grow up without the reek of corruption and disease hanging above their little heads. So Buzzard complied and the sister was sent away, somewhere unknown to the girl and it was promised that if she ever tried to escape from her cruel master that her sister would be killed. So the girl, our poor little heroine of the story, is bound by her love for her sister to a life that will slowly eat away at her insides, making her afraid to look at herself in the mirror less her own self-disgust crush her to death.

This girl of course is my dear Fli and she lived on the end of Buzzard's leash, alongside many others, for seven long and dark years. The only rays of light that managed to trickle in to her rotting core were Rainer and Sketcher, and eventually me as well, friends she could cling to when it all just got to be too much and she couldn't even cry or vomit anymore, the illness in her seeping into her bones. She would always try her best to smile and cared so, so much for me, looking after me in ways she explained teasingly that Rainer couldn't, taking me out to girly places and telling me secretive girly things; Fli even used some of her hard earned money to buy me my boots, my brilliant, big boots. But I could always feel the ache in her and tried my best to soothe it, making her laugh with all my little antics and holding her when she couldn't keep the tears at bay any longer. We kept Fli human the three of us, kept her from tumbling into numbing insanity where she would have walked about as a robot, a shell of a girl with nothing to offer to anyone but her skin and nothing left for herself but her own fears and sorrow. We loved our Fli and as people tend to do when they love someone, we tried to siphon some of her misery from her, taking it into ourselves and filling her with the warm light of our affection instead.

And then there was that night. You probably know about it by now. The night that everything went wrong. The night that I found Fli in the hospital, her back snapped in two and rendering her a gorgeous little rag doll, immobile and helpless. She told me the accident bought her freedom back but I knew that was just her trying to add sugar to her own bitter fate. Fli left Macabre, sent to another terra that was friendlier to her new condition, where people could lend her a helping hand if needed and where life finally would be peaceful for her. Sketcher promised to visit her as often as he could and Rainer and I said we'd write letters, even though I still had trouble spelling words correctly. And that's where Fli should have still been, that's where a new chapter in her life should have begun.

But it instead is where her story ended, as I found out that day in the newspaper I borrowed from Falshade. From what I was able to piece together, Fli's sister had been dead from the beginning of it all, killed by Buzzard's minions shortly after Fli signed herself over to him. There was no safe, happy place for her to grow up. There was no growing up at all. Fli must have found this out after moving from Macabre and in her mind everything that had been done to her, every unwanted touch by all those greasy, slobbering men who'd taken little bits of her soul away with them, all the pain and shame and the surrendering of her own life had been for nothing because as it turns out neither sister was saved, nothing new would grow from the ashes and bones. So Fli killed herself, silently let what was left of her spirit free of her ruined body and float on somewhere that would hopefully be better. And for that I guess I can't really blame her, although it still aches in me, the empty spot in my heart that once belonged to her.

And so that is the end of my beautiful Fli's story. But it is not the end of mine. I go on down a darker road.

I could not just let things go, not like Rainer could. The ignorant selfishness of the people of Macabre, the way they could simply go on their way after tearing into the heart of some other person and not even bat an eye at it, only concerned with their own grotesque needs, it sickened me, as it sickened Rainer. I'd never been in a human society before but I could feel the injustice of Macabre right in my chest, like some deeper instinct in me knew how things should and shouldn't be. I'd always been like that I suppose, even back in the jungle and I think it set me apart from the rest of my tribe. I felt suffering and unfairness in my own body like an illness and it overwhelmed me, always. I didn't understand why nothing was done about it, why nothing came along to right the odds. Maybe I was that way because of my survival, when I should have died back in the jungle but didn't. Something had pushed me back to the world of the living, something had realized I'd been wronged and it had sympathized with me, letting me go back and try again, allowing me to even out the scales. Or that's what I always thought anyways, whenever I needed some sort of delusion to justify myself. Anyways I felt something had to be done, that there was just too much misery clogging up in the streets of Macabre and something should be done about these people who added to this sea of shit.

And when Fli was hurt like that it snapped something in me, anything that argued against this idea of vengeance simply got swallowed up and effectively silenced.

So I killed that disgusting little insect, that parasite of a man; I wanted him to feel everything he'd ever done to other people in his own body, for the pain to scream in his brain in the sound of Fli's voice, to haunt him and make him sick before the final blow. I wanted him to suffer and somehow I couldn't bring myself to feel bad about that. Rainer always said killing people didn't solve anything, it made you as bad as they were, but on that subject I had to disagree with him, and I rarely disagreed with anything that dropped from Rainer's dark lips. But I was _not_ as bad as that snivelling, grease stained sack of shit. Maybe it's my own deluded mind, but I couldn't see how I could be as bad as someone who just spread pain to those who did nothing to deserve it, a contributor to the decay of life, a disease disguised in a bundle of flesh. Of course I spread pain too, but I at least smeared it over those who'd done their share of giving it over the years; I told myself they deserved nothing less. And to this day I still believe it, think of me what you will.

Buzzard plays another role in the story in this next chapter. This man, this pathetic man who had broken our brave little Fli, who had beaten her and poured his soured seed into her weathered body time and time again, was a good customer of Buzzard's, which was the closest to caring about people as Buzzard would ever get, as he only really acknowledged the existence of anyone who made or gave him money. And so he sent some of his cronies to our apartment, looking for me and finding Rainer instead.

And they...

They...

They stole him from me.

They killed him.

They killed Rainer in my place.

I found him like that, sprawled on his bed as if he'd fallen asleep, except the gash torn in his throat told me he wasn't sleeping. Blood had turned the room crimson and it soaked into my skin as I fell next to him, my heart simply imploding, leaving me completely. And it was like something in me denied the inevitable breakdown at first. I had other matters to attend to at the moment so I did the only thing I could think of to do; I moved Rainer's things, his worldly possessions, from that place and then set fire to his apartment, sending him to the afterlife in a wreath of flame.

But not before I cut open his chest and ate his heart.

In hopes that maybe a little of him would live on with me.

Just like in the good ol' days.

My mind doesn't go back over the events that happened after, when I tracked Buzzard down, like an old fairytale knight stalking a gruesome beast back to its lair. I know the memory is there, I know it all happened and exactly how it happened too; I was there after all. But I just can't form it in pictures and sounds in my head. It's a little blip in my memories, a grey patch that has nothing tangible to grasp, just like the memory of the night I went back to my tribe after a long month of healing, gaining my life back slowly bit by bit. I don't think it's that I'm ashamed of it or anything, because I know I'm not. I just think it's something that wasn't meant to be remembered; it happened, it passed and it wasn't worth holding onto. When I really get analytical about it, I realize both points in time were sort of like a turning point, a critical pinnacle of my life, a signal of dramatic change. Maybe each time afterwards my mind sort of reset itself, built itself up for a different life and repaired any damage that had been done, sewing up the rips in my inner fabric, a necessary transition for further survival. And even when I'd thought it was my time, or wanted to die, I didn't, because those instances were never the ending of my story, they were merely the beginning of a new chapter. And, if I got really, _really_ analytical, I would think that maybe, somehow, I was meant for something and that's why I lived when the world around me seemed to crumple and turn to ash. Maybe I was supposed to retain this fragile balance between the good stuff and all the bad shit that got in the way of that, somehow. I don't think I'm like some sort of special being sent from some other dimension or anything; I'm just me and there are things I feel I have to do to make the world a little better, somehow.

See I think I had a dream when I was lying at the bottom of the Crevice and in it I saw two jaguars, one with a coat like the sun and dappled with earthy blotches and the other with a pelt made of the night sky, shimmering here and there with twinkling drops of stars. Artemis and Eris, if you believed in that kind of thing. And they came to me and drew their rough tongues just once over the gaping hole in my abdomen and then they stared at me and for a second it was like the whole universe split wide before me and among all the wriggling forms of life and strings of energy tying everything to each other I saw something like the truth, a small floating orb of gold. And it muttered into my head in a language I didn't understand, a secret little message and then everything went peacefully black. When I woke up I was lying on a pile of bleached bones and there were dark green leaves laying like a membrane over the hole in my stomach. When I peeled them back I found that everything that had been ruptured underneath was sealed shut, nothing was bleeding anymore and in the empty place was a nest of maggots, eating away all the dead flesh and leaving me clean and healed.

That message came back to me days later, and I understood it the second time around. It made sense to me so abruptly it was like perfection, something sliding into a slot that had been waiting to be filled in my head, bridging the separated, confused halves of my brain into one and making everything turn the right way round in my head. Arcana was the bad one in this tangled knot of a world, not me. Up to date I'd done nothing wrong and she had; she'd warped the words of her goddess into something that put death in her hands and made it justifiable. There was no 'good' entity and no evil one either. There were simply life and death, there were simply things that were and things that had to be, no matter how badly we didn't want them. And she had messed up that balance, taken it into her hands and skewed it horribly.

Well I shouldn't say that; sometimes we have to try and take that balance into our hands, we have to get it all fucked up, for something called the greater good. I mean that was why we Gargoyles had all been brought together, wasn't it? To try and preserve some semblance of balance? I dunno; I find if you over think these things they get a little too messy for my liking, sticking all your fingers together and making you chase circles in your head.

But I think... I think there's skewing it for good and skewing it for bad. Both will come back to bite you I assume in the end; everything had a cause and effect after all. This lifetime is just one huge track of dominoes and they inevitably are going to be set off. But we aren't in complete lack of control mind you; we can leap onto different paths when we really need to. This I think is okay; it's not like we're all puppets in some larger show and we have no control over where our legs will take us. Because we do. And we're allowed to seize this control.

But I think it's the moment you seize someone else's strings, shake up their lives and not in a good way (like throwing them down a flight of stairs, or turning them against their friends) this is the way you aren't supposed to skew things. It messes up so, so much. One action can ruin the lives of many in a split second, one wrong pulled string and you can shatter someone's entire existence. This starts a negative effect I find, the dominoes turn dark and they knock over more and more things that are better left standing. So I think... I think sometimes we have to step in, when these bad-skews are made. Something has to be done to stop everything from collapsing in on itself, shaky legs snapping under their own enormous weight. Something has to be done. And I think sometimes that means you're allowed to grab someone else's strings; you can grab their strings and strangle them with them. Because if they aren't stopped more people are hurt.

And because sometimes it just makes you feel a tiny bit better, when everything else around you has turned to shit.

I'm sure someone like Varan would say peace is the way to go, and vengeance is a dish best served cold, and those sorts of things. And I know a section in me agrees with him. But I do think, sometimes, death and violence is needed as well. Because some of them don't listen to peace, they crush the hands of tranquility beneath their own filthy feet. And so sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.

I've probably said it before, that I always seem to be the one to try and balance everything out once everything has been blown to pieces, scattered on the wind and beyond repair. No matter how hard I sink my fingers into something and try to hold on it always is torn from my desperate grasp and sucked down into some dark, forbidden place I have never yet visited. And then I am left to hunt down those who have left me broken and alone once again in this wretched world, those who have stolen from me all that made my life good and golden. And I do this in hopes that their influence will not ruin the life of someone else the way it has mine. I take comfort in the thought that maybe I have saved others from some sort of misery by removing those who would fuck up everything just for their own personal gain.

Except this time.

This time I am desperate to stop things before the cycle starts. I want to stop the trigger before I lose someone else I love. It's something I'd never done before, but I know deep in my chest that I'm supposed to try it this time. I did feel bad for leaving Stork, because I'd promised Falshade I'd keep an eye on her, and I'd wanted to stay beside her; I told her I had her back after all. But at the same time I knew deep down to my core I had to do this. It was like an innate, gut instinct, like the instinct to hunt and to protect oneself. It was just there, sitting like a smooth pebble in my mind, a beacon of certainty. Falshade would understand; I think he'd be okay with it if I left Stork for a little while for this. I'd go back to her as soon as I could, so hopefully that would redeem me a little. But I couldn't give up on Angel, not after everything that had happened between us over the last few weeks. He'd held all the ugliest parts of himself out to me in shaking hands and I too had returned the gesture, bringing things soaked with bile up that I myself had never even gone back to. I'd told him things I hadn't even told Rainer. I realized that was important. That was very important. It meant something I didn't yet understand, but something that felt special to me, something I held close to my heart like a pulsing little orb of light, something that could grow if given the chance. I wanted to understand this thing; I wanted to explore it, I wanted to relish in it and share pieces of it with him, I wanted to walk through all the shadowy and shining parts of it and taste it on my tongue. I just knew I wanted it, I wanted Angel, I wanted to have him back. I couldn't just give up on something like that. And Angel had put his trust in me, whether he was aware of it at the time or not. He'd shown my all the vulnerable parts of himself, like a dog showing his belly, giving me the opportunity to shred him apart. That took trust. And because he trusted me I felt it was my place to help him when he needed it, to look out for him and protect him if need be. That's what people you trusted did for you, the people who really, truly cared. They'd done it for me and I wanted to do it for others. If I had any sort of lot in life this felt like a good one to me. I'd do whatever I could for the people who I treasured.

And so that's why I was here instead of beside Stork, wedged in a crevice near the ceiling of the tunnel, waiting like a jaguar to spring on her prey. My chest felt cold and my stomach felt hot and I realized I was nervous, something I wasn't really used to. I was nervous to face Angel again; last time I'd looked deep into his eyes, eyes that used to catch and hold my interest like a fish on a hook, and saw nothing but unshifting, deep rooted rage. This complete lack of feeling from someone I knew and counted as my friend unnerved me in a way I'd long forgotten. It was like being tied to that stake again, my belly torn open and betrayal coating me like the rain falling from the sky. My tribe who'd raised me from a child had forsaken me and left me for dead. The way Angel was now somehow struck a nearby chord to that old bitter, fear-soaked feeling. It made me feel helpless and weak looking into his scarlet eyes and those were two things that I'd learned long ago could write death across your throat if you weren't careful.

_Maybe you're nervous because you don't know if you can help him?_

I glanced around, surprised by this voice that suddenly joined me in my dark little hiding place. It wasn't a bad voice I was pleased to note; it had a gentle edge to it and appeared to be on my side. But it still felt foreign somehow, in a friendly way but still unfamiliar. I wondered briefly if Shadowfax was reaching out to me from where I'd left him far away in my room on the _Merlin_, out of harm's way. Or maybe it was just a wavelength of my own thought process crossing wires with my conscience, double checking things. What with all these strange feelings of unease and confliction I suppose it was warranted.

_No, I think I can help him. He's still there. People don't just go away. _This I had to believe; like exorcising an evil spirit all that Angel needed to come back to himself was for Cyclonis' toxic influence to be removed from him. I'd got a good whiff of that crystal she'd placed in him when I'd fought with him last time and it had nearly made me vomit it was so putrid. It was like all the worst poisons of the world mixed together and injected into the flesh, binding to it and slowly corroding it away, making it sick and unrecognizable to itself. It was like the distilled essence of Cyclonis' own inhuman, nihilistic spirit implanted in him and infecting his body like a plague of hatred. I just couldn't accept that Angel, underneath this shell of corruption and sickness, was altered too, that his soul had turned dark or even worse died within his chest. People didn't just go away like that. Not when they had so much more to them, deeper channels of hurt and hope, so many facets of life. Somewhere, like under the bruised parts of an apple, Angel was still alive and waiting to be set free. And something in me told me I was the one who had to do this.

_But what if you can't? What if he won't come back?_

I wrinkled my nose, trying to push this thought away. No, he would come back. He'd told me himself that this was something he'd never wanted to be. He loved us and he had too much potential in this world to still be explored to just fade away on us.

_... Will you let him kill you?_

I closed my eyes and stepped through all the darker patches in my memories. I'd known before I wasn't supposed to die. I'd staggered through too much blackness and pain to just give up then. I had to reach for something lighter, step back into the sun once again so at least if I died then I'd die on a good note, somewhere that felt okay with me. Like an old dog that just knew when it was its time to go and wandered off to drift off in peace somewhere quiet. I'd always thought I'd know when it was my time to die and it was never in times of desolation or agony. I hadn't died back in the jungle and I hadn't died after Rainer was torn from me either. Something pushed me forward towards the light again and again until that fateful night I met Stork. And I think joining the Gargoyles... that was my good note. That was the shifting of the scales. That was the third part of my story, the next transition and to be honest I didn't want another big transition after this one. That was where I'd somehow meant to be all along and I'd found my place there. I'd been happy with them... I'd been happy with Angel. It was okay for me to die now. It was okay if this was my final chapter at last.

_... Yes. If I can't save him._

I couldn't be responsible for the death of another precious dark skinned boy.

All thoughts melted from my head as I felt the air in the tunnel shift, a thrumming noise meeting my pricked ears. I stiffened, muscles coiled tight, teeth clamped together. I tucked all feelings away as my warrior instincts took over, banishing misgivings and narrowing my mind to one single purpose and nothing else. The hunter in me was ready, as if I'd been trained for this sort of thing all my life, which was sort of ironic really; after all I'd been trained to kill. Here I was trying to save.

Although I had to be honest, the latter felt a lot more fitting of me, deep down in my heart.

He didn't even notice me as his mutated wings carried him in near silence through the tunnel, only the slightest swishing of feathers giving him away. I could see every detail of him etched in my vision though as clear as quicksilver and I bunched my legs, waiting until he was almost beneath me.

Then I sprang on him, a creature of the shadows leaping to life and falling on him like a bird of prey. He made a noise of muffled shock as I slammed into his lithe body and the two of us careened into the far wall, one of his wings beating me around the head as he tried to stay aloft. We both tumbled hard to the stone floor and I bunched my hands tight into his shirt, pinning him and trailing my fingers over his chest, feeling for the location of this venom that was radiating from him like he'd been pumped full of toxic waste. It made me retch as its aura clashed with mine, sending out little tendrils of poison, making the back of my throat ache with is fetid scent. My skin burned with the contact as if I was being pierced with hundreds of little needles and I was momentarily stunned by its overwhelming miasma.

This moment was all he needed to flip us over, crushing my head into the stone below his hands, snarling and cursing at me. I punched my knee into his stomach and scrambled out from under him, getting to my feet and whirling around, machetes in my hands, their green glow lighting up our immediate area. A moment later his sabres blazed to life and the two of us stared at each other, eyes shining eerily from the crystals' light. His face looked haunted to me, a ghost of what he'd been back home with the rest of us. His eyes narrowed at me and he bared his teeth like a dog as if to frighten me.

"You!" He spit, like the mere sight of me disgusted me. I felt a brief jab of hurt; not too long ago this same boy had said I was beautiful. Then I shoved that thought back roughly. This wasn't Angel right now, Angel was trapped somewhere deep inside this tainted creature that had taken up his skin.

"Hi." I said in a low voice. "Listen, I don't want to-" I was cut off as he lunged at me unexpectedly, his blades catching mine as I lifted them in defence and forcing me back against the wall. With him so close I was able to catch more than the scent of his crystal this time and felt a trickle of fear when I realized he had Falshade's blood on him.

"You are wasting my time!" He snapped at me like he used to in the old days. "Now you can either get out of my sight right now and let me go on my way or I'm going to rip you to pieces, got it?"

I stared back at him unflinchingly. "I can't let you hurt the others." I told him in a stern voice, a growl creeping up my throat.

"And you really think you're going to stop me?" He asked coldly.

"Yes." I answered and pushed off against the wall, driving him back and shoving his blades away from me. He lashed out at me with them, one sweeping in for my side and the other jabbing at my leg. I deflected both and then drove my shoulder into his narrow chest, pushing him back into the opposite wall. If I could just get him to stand still long enough I could tear that crystal out of him like a parasite from beneath his skin...

But then something bad happened. His fist came around too fast and slammed the hilt of one of his sabres into my temple. I staggered and fell back, shocked by the pain, my head whirling on my shoulders. His boot connected with my chest and I fell flat on my back and he lunged after me, knees pressing into my gut as his sabre dove for my ribs.

And my mind did one of those glitch things again, superimposing this scene over another, over lapping similarities and it wasn't Angel or this flesh puppet of Angel hovering above me anymore but that male Faerieshian, back in the jungle, hurting me and robbing me of my innocence, overpowering me and making me feel weak and stupid and defenceless, a pink, abandoned newborn in a cruel and terrifying world.

And something snapped; his male scent pervaded my senses and I remembered a time when males were the enemy, I was afraid and wounded, a deadly creature with only one thought binding up her thundering heart.

Survive.

I let out a shriek of rage and smashed my knuckles into his slight jaw line, rolling him off me and slamming him hard to the stone, my teeth snapping shut just inches from his neck, a near miss. His forehead connected with my nose and my knee dug into his concave stomach, squishing organs with the force. He grunted and tried to throw me off and then we weren't Wasp and Angel anymore, or even remotely close to anything humanoid. We were two feral, furious animals, possessed by bloodlust and ready to tear each others' throats out. Snarling and howling like a couple of deranged wolves fighting for supremacy we completely forgot about weapons and everything turned to tooth and claw. My jaws locked around his shoulder and his fingers scraped at my eyes, tearing at my face and attempting to close around my neck. My ragged fingernails dug deep into his skin and tore it from him in chunks and his fists hammered into every inch of me it could reach. My boot met his gut and his boot thundered into my jaw and at one point he even sank his teeth into my ear, tearing it and I screeched at him, grabbing the side of his head and slamming it back into stone. He swept my legs out from under me and I tore him down with me, pinning him and my fangs went for his throat, the killing strike. All I had to do was squeeze, crush his windpipe and he was finished.

But as my fangs scraped his tan skin back a small bubble of his blood flooded over my tongue, catching in all my taste buds and somehow in that moment I didn't taste the awful toxicity of the crystal that had ruined him, I tasted his blood, his unique scent in liquid form, warm against my lips and suddenly remembered who I was and what I was about to do.

I leapt back from him, horrified by myself and I crouched on the floor, feeling uncertain of what to do. He shifted to his feet and stared at me warily as if unsure why I'd suddenly abandoned my kill. But then he snapped out of it and lunged for his fallen sabres, scooping them from the floor and turning on me with them. I rolled across the stone floor to where my own weapons lay fallen and was on my feet once again, Throatknotch catching his oncoming blade and the Angel Fang whipping out to slice his side. He blocked my attack and chopped at my shoulder with his free blade and I twirled about, moving into his personal space so he couldn't catch me with his sword and stomping on his ankle, making him buckle slightly. He lashed out at my thigh and I had to dart out of his reach, charging back in and sideswiping with both my machetes. He blocked Angel Fang and launched a kick at me, catching me in the belly and sending me staggering back slightly, Throatknotch never getting close enough to do any damage. He came at me with a flurry of stabs and slashes which I blocked with my machetes, slashing at his leg and when he dodged to the side I slammed a furious kick into his exposed ribs, knocking the wind out of him. He doubled slightly and my elbow found his face, causing his nose to erupt in a fountain of blood. He seemed slightly stunned by that blow and I darted in, thinking I could overpower him and once again try and find where exactly that crystal was hiding beneath his flesh. However he recovered faster than I thought he would and slashed at me with one of his blades, an upward strike that would have caught my neck if it weren't for my throat guard. I reeled back out of the way and found myself bumping up into stone once more. I sprang forward so I wouldn't be trapped against the wall, lunging at him again but suddenly he was in the wrong place at the right time, he shifted in front of me stabbed at me and I couldn't get out of the way fast enough.

His sabre punched through my jacket and the muscles on my honed abdomen and dug into my flesh, sticking right in the place between my hipbones, that terrible, empty place. And as if all the pain that I'd felt years before had been sutured up under the scar tissue his blade sliced it open and let if free once more and I gasped, staggering back into the wall and feeling ready to collapse, my hands clutching at the hole in my lower stomach. I felt hot shards behind my eyes and my throat closed with fear as images assaulted my mind, playing that gruesome scene over and over until it burned into my retinas, my own screams reverberating in my head. Bile shot up my throat and then seemed to burn right through the back of my mouth, spilling down my spine and short circuiting all my nerve signals. My legs barely held me up as I slumped against the stone, my machetes, my trusted hunting fangs, falling from my grasp.

Angel approached me slowly as if he was shaken by my reaction. I certainly was; where was all my defensive fury, my faithful, ever-ready strength? Where was the warrior in me, the indomitable survivalist who never wavered or failed me when I most needed her?

She left me in face of this enormous, unbearable pain. This was more than just a physical wound I knew; I'd been cut deep by someone I'd trusted and cared about deeply, the only other person in the world who knew why that place in my guts was empty and seedless, why it had been carved from me and all the other terrible things that led up to that event. It was as if my very heart had been sliced open, all the careful things I kept tucked away until it was the appropriate time came spilling free and screeching in panic and distress, not sure what was going on or what to do about it. My chest was aching so badly I was surprised it didn't crack open in effort to pour all this horridness out.

And all of this must have shown in my eyes as Angel tilted my jaw upwards and stared at me, seeming confused. I didn't even have it in me to attack him right then; on any other day, in any other situation I would have torn my attacker to shreds, I would have yanked out their guts and torn out their bottom jaw, carved their eyes right from their head for this. I would have killed them as brutally as possible. I'd promised myself never to be caught in a situation of such helplessness and fear again, to never be this vulnerable to anyone. No one could ever hurt me again.

But it was Angel's face that was peering into mine and I didn't want to kill him. I couldn't kill him. I just wished he could see my pain and remember that he was my friend, that he'd held me tight on that night I'd broken down, that I'd made him smile and he made me laugh and he'd kissed me too. I wanted him to remember we trusted each other with all the horrors we kept from everyone else.

"Don't you remember what I told you?" I croaked, feeling delirious, beyond all reason as I reached out with a shaking hand and laid it to his chest. He started and his hand tightened on his sabre, pushing it to my chest threateningly but I didn't waver, didn't back down. "Don't you remember?" I cried, feeling hot tears spill from my eyes and I didn't give a damn about holding them back. "It's what's in here that matters! This isn't you! _This_ is you!" I shouted, voice hoarse, as I pounded my fist against his chest. "I know you're still there so please, please come back! Come back, Angel!"

He blinked at me, the hand holding his sabre shaking. My eyes never left his and as he continued to stare at me I saw something very faint flickering in the dark centers of his red orbs, a transmission coming through weakly from the buried part of himself, a brief and wane message but it was clear enough to me; I heard it echo in my head as if he'd spoken it aloud.

_Help me._

"I'm sorry..." I whispered and before he could react I pushed his sabre to the side and lunged for his chest, gripping his arm tight so he couldn't struggle free and sinking my fangs into his flesh, feeling the roots of my teeth ache as the scent of that crystal, that god damn crystal, rushed into my open mouth and polluted my lungs, making me cough and gag. Angel let out a howl as my fangs tore through his muscle fibre, little strings of tissue ripping apart beneath my unrelenting animal fangs. I couldn't breathe from the noxious scent that crystal gave off, clotting in my nostrils and throat like hundreds of little bulging tumours. But I kept going, my teeth shredding deep into Angel's chest, his blood choking me as it curdled in my mouth and dripped down my chin in coppery rivulets, soaking into my pores. I felt the pain singing and burning in his chest and even worse could feel the pulses of that god awful crystal sending out emergency signals, trying to heal the very flesh around my fangs and I nearly vomited as I felt little tendrils of tissue wrapping around my teeth, trying to bind back together. I gnashed my jaws and tore them back, feeling the weak membranes split and come apart in my mouth like delicate moth wings being shredded in the claws of a high wind.

Then my front teeth clinked against something solid among all the mulched flesh and I had to fight back my own instinct to recoil from that thing and rinse the sourness from my mouth. It burned like acid flowing down my throat and my vision went white as if its polluted ambiance had blinded me and all I could see was heat, all I could feel was its putrid aura, making my head ache and my mouth fill with nettles and barbs, capillaries bursting and my jungle blood mixing with Angel's in my mouth. But I wasn't giving up, I wasn't going to let it destroy my Angel and I thrust my jaws forward, teeth slamming shut around the crystal shard and wrenching back, pulling some of Angel's muscle tissue with me as I reared back.

And for a few horrible seconds that vessel of blinding infection was in my mouth, stuck there like a chunk of ice and my head felt like it was going explode as black sludge crawled up my brain stem and flowed into the little crevasses of my lobes, turning everything to blood and shit. And it nearly consumed me; all the cackling little gremlins that clung with sharp claws to my back in the dark, whispering in my ear, they expanded and took over my reason, giving me promises of retribution and carnage, a lifetime as a warped version of myself, a she-demon with black eyes who made all before her tremble with terror.

But then my jaws sprang open and the crystal got wedged between my teeth. My fangs clashed together furiously and the crystal shattered, the blast of released energy nearly tearing through the roof of my mouth. Like a spirit freed from imprisonment all the perversion that had made it spread like a disease through the body was snuffed out, it simply dissipated like the passing of a terrible storm. The little splinters of crystal that remained returned to their original, untainted state and the pain vanished from my head, suddenly I could breathe once more and I sucked in a lungful of clean air gratefully, accidently allowing a small sliver of crystal to slide down my throat and sink into my roiling stomach acid. I opened my mouth and let the other remaining shards and all the blood that had pooled under my tongue drip free in long strings of dirty saliva. Then I fell back against the wall again, closing my eyes and feeling a great sweep of relief flood through me like a lulling drug.

I could hear someone breathing hard nearby and my eyes shot open again, having completely forgotten about Angel. He was hunched up not very far away, hand pressed into the bloody hole I'd torn into his chest, hair flopping into his face. I shifted towards him hesitantly, drawing in his scent carefully. The horrid aura that had been exuding from him all this time seemed to have broken apart and evaporated, leaving only his own, slightly sour scent behind. I made a slow step towards him, trembling, afraid to believe just yet that he'd returned to me. I had to see his eyes; they would tell me the truth.

He must have heard me shuffling about and looked up, blood leaking from between his fingers, his face drawn and dazed as if he were staggering out of a bad dream, confused and uncertain of what was going on. He stared at me and I stared back at him, my heart pounding at the sight of his pale, cloudy grey orbs leaping at me from the shadows of his face.

"...Wasp?" he croaked, his voice broken and old, as if he hadn't used it in years.

My legs wobbled and my insides seemed to melt away as a wave of joy hit me stronger then I'd ever felt such a thing before. Something in the corners of my eyes seemed to burst and the tears flew free as I lunged forward and wrapped my arms around him tightly, pushing my face into his neck and inhaling deep his unaltered, desert smell. He collapsed against my body and hugged me fiercely and the two of us whimpered and nuzzled each other like a couple of stray, littermate dogs, reunited at last.

Then I could hear him muttering deliriously to me, his voice muted and cracking here and there: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, Wasp I'm sorry..."

"Shhh." I murmured, stroking his greasy hair. "Angel, it's okay..."

"No it's not!" He rasped, pulling back from me and holding me at arm's length. "I didn't hurt you did I?" He asked desperately and then his eyes fell on the tear in my jacket. "Shit..." He whispered, his face crumpling and tears spilled from his stain glass eyes, slicing through the grit and blood on his face. I caught one on the ball of my thumb before it rolled off his chin and stuck it in my mouth as he fumbled for the zipper on my jacket, tearing it open.

"Hold still." He told me and I did what he asked, sucking on my thumb quietly as he carefully pulled up the hem of my StraightJackit Parade t-shirt and revealed the slice in my stomach muscles, a gaping little hole that looked like a window into my insides.

"Oh god..." he choked, his hand covering his face and he seemed to break down before me, everything bursting forward and overwhelming him and he sobbed, tearing a strip from his shirt and pressing it to my wound.

"It's okay, it's not that bad." I tried to reassure him but as I looked down at myself curiously I realized it _was_ bad. I felt numb around the area now and blood was flowing in a strong little stream from my belly, trickling down my thighs like it used to when I still had my Blood every month. There was a whooshing sound inside my ears and things seemed to be getting a little fuzzy around the edges. I felt peaceful though, the pain just a dull throb in the background by now; I'd done what I'd had to do. It made me smile inside knowing that.

"Wasp, no!" Angel cried as I felt myself slide slowly to the floor. I felt sort of sleepy all of a sudden. I wanted Angel to lie next to me and keep me warm until I drifted off and I tugged at him to get him to come closer, missing the contact we used to share.

He did move in close to me, collapsing next to me, but he didn't seem to be calm like I was. His hands pressed tight to my oozing stomach and he was rambling madly somewhere near my ear, pleading with me. "Wasp please don't die, please, _please _don't die, don't leave me." He whispered desperately, brushing my hair back from my face with a shaking hand. Then suddenly he left me and I felt a cold spot spread in his absence, my body feeling lonely. I could hear him scrabbling about not too far away and then suddenly he was back beside me and pressed something against my tummy, muttering feverously to himself. I shifted a bit, curious and wanting to see what he was doing, and then felt something warm flow through my lower body, spreading through my veins like the roots of a tree, branching out and pulsing away with a faint life of its own. It was a sort of strange feeling and it made me itchy, like I was covered with scabs that were ready to be scraped off. But it wasn't a bad feeling; it was something that was bonding with my body gently, not a demanding or overpowering presence and it moved in me like a small tide, soothing me. Then my vision started to come back and the whooshing died away and then feeling started to come back too, in small sections at first and then stronger, my muscles tensing up with vigour once more. And then lastly the leaking feeling went away and I sat up, staring down at my stomach to find a faded red patch of new scar tissue like a proud birthmark on my pale skin, the bleeding stemmed and the throbbing gone.

And in Angel's bloody fingertips was a splinter of the crystal that I'd torn from his chest; its structure was broken and its essence was leaking slowly away, but it still had had enough power left in it to heal me.

Angel brushed his thumb over the healed patch on my stomach and issued a shaky, relieved sigh before looking into my face. "Don't you ever do that to me again." He said quietly, fear still shining thickly in his eyes.

I couldn't promise him anything, because I'd come to learn over the years that people died unexpectedly and before their time. It was just one of those things that happened inevitably. But I nodded anyways and he closed his eyes, leaning in against me and I pushed my face into his neck contentedly. I knew the others still needed us and we couldn't stay here for long, but the two of us stole a few minutes together in that dark tunnel anyways, pushing in close to each other and crying quietly, wringing the hurt and weakness from ourselves, building ourselves back up so we could face the rest of what this day had to bring. And in that private moment he moved his mouth close to my ear and murmured three little words to me that no one had ever said to me before and it filled my body with a blazing, shining light that gave me a strength more intense than anything I'd felt before. It was like being back in the jungle for an instant, feeling a wild sense of belonging and happiness that pushed right up to the back of my teeth and made me smile so widely it hurt.

Eventually though I knew we had to get up and keep going and as if Angel could pick up on my brainwaves he got to his feet, offering me a hand to help me up. I tested my legs quickly to make sure they were in working order and flexed all my muscles. My head felt sort of woozy and my limbs were a little shaky; his blade must have sliced deeper into my innards then I thought. But I would survive; I always did.

"Are you gonna be okay?" He asked me in a low, uncertain voice, touching my hand briefly.

"Of course." I said, stretching a bit and cracking my neck. He nodded to himself then looked around as if thinking about something before glancing back at me.

"Wasp, where's Stork? I ran into the others outside but I haven't seen her..."

"She's gone to destroy the Eternity crystal." I said, retrieving my fallen machetes and tucking them into their sheathes securely.

Angel's eyes widened in horror and he grabbed me by the shoulders to get my attention. "She's gone to the Heart Chamber _alone_?" He demanded, looking absolutely terrified by this notion.

"What's the Heart Chamber?" I asked, anxiety prickling in my stomach. "And no, the Storm Hawks are with her."

Angel ran his fingers through his hair, seeming deeply troubled. "Wasp, it's an ambush! Cyclonis knows you guys are here, she's got a whole army of Blitzkrieg down there waiting to catch her and kill anyone else who's with her!"

Alarm tore down my spine violently. "Then they need our help." I concluded, looking off down the dark tunnel way. I felt all the bad feelings about leaving Stork come rushing back to me tenfold and fidgeted, wanting nothing more than to rush to her side right now. But I stopped myself, turning back to Angel at the last moment.

"We need to get Falshade and the others." I said slowly. "They were supposed to be making a diversion, but I can't see the point of one now if Cyclonis already knows what's going on..."

"Right." Angel nodded. "Where's your skimmer?"

"It's way back on the _Condor_..." I said, grabbing his shoulder and staring at him pointedly. "Angel, I need to go catch up with Stork. I told her I would, and I promised Shade I'd look after her. Angel you have to go and get him; you can get to them faster and you know the way to this Heart Chamber place..."

A look of uncertainty passed over Angel's face. "Wasp I... I can't. He won't listen to me."

"Yes he will!" I assured him, touching his jaw gently. "Once he realizes it's you he'll listen."

"...I tried to kill him, Wasp." He said, his voice breaking with shame and self-loathing, his body tensing up and shaking like he was going to be sick; I shifted to his side just in case he was. There was so much bitterness and disgust on his face that it made my heart ache for him and I nuzzled against the side of his head, speaking directly into his ear so the message would go through clearly and soundly.

"Angel, it was the crystal." I whispered, rubbing his shoulder comfortingly. "Falshade knows that. And besides, he's your best friend; if anyone will let this all go, it'll be Shade."

Angel sucked in a deep, rattling breath and then nodded resolutely. "Okay. I'll go get the others and we'll be there as soon as we can." He said and I smiled, squeezing his hand before moving to take off down the tunnel in pursuit of the others.

"Wasp!" Angel's voice made me stop and I turned back to him, cocking my head curiously. He shifted awkwardly and then just seemed to throw caution to the wind, stepping in close to me and cementing his mouth over mine, one hand moving up to cradle the back of my neck as he kissed me deeply. Something fluttered pleasantly in my stomach and I trailed my fingers over his arm briefly, kissing him back hard until he pulled away from me, brushing my matted hair back from my face and looking at me seriously.

"Look after yourself, okay?" He asked in a low voice and I smiled, kissing his forehead and nodding.

"Okay. See you in a little while." I said and he nodded, turning back the way he'd come and flaring his wings wide, taking off into the dark to fetch our reinforcements. I turned in the direction the others had gone not too long ago and reached into my pocket, pulling out a can of Buzz Juice and cracking it open, grinning to myself; the jungle warrior in me was back and thrashing wildly. It was time to bring the pain.

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

I pulled Sliver free from the chest cavity of one enemy soldier who'd come charging in way too fast for his own good and practically impaled himself on my scimitar and looked around, a feeling of unease slithering through my stomach. Something about all of this just didn't seem right about all of this; there were less Nightflyers in the sky by now but no reinforcements had left the citadel to fill the lost ranks, almost as if they really weren't that concerned by us at all. What did that mean? Did they have another unpleasant trick up their sleeves, like that mutated storm cell thing from last time? Or were they really not that bothered by us? If that was the case it probably meant they were on to us by now and that made my whole body shake with anxiety. Here we were being useless out here while the others might need our help, and what in hell were we supposed to do about it? It could take us hours to find them in there...

"Shade you okay over there, eh?" Fraggle's voice asked over my radio. He must have noticed me just kinda hovering in one place like an idiot.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking..."

"Ah, thought you looked like you were in pain." He teased and I rolled my eyes, making a note to hit him later.

"Thinking about what? You think we should try and find them?" Varan's voice joined our conversation.

"I dunno... tell you what, let's give the fortress a bit of a beating, if that doesn't get more of them out here then we'll regroup on the _Merlin_ and think of something better to do." I suggested and turned my skimmer around, circling around towards the mighty fortress and throwing one of my remaining explosive devices towards the outer tower, watching it tear apart the stone and metal like it was made of toothpicks. I was starting to feel restless out here; we didn't seem to be doing squat and I wanted to be with the rest of my team. Fuck this was a stupid idea, we should have all just stayed together...

I was distracted from my griping by a pair of Nightflyers that honed in on me and I wrenched my skimmer around, allowing them to give chase as I sped towards the _Merlin_, which wasn't far away, hammering shot after shot at the fortress, zipping about like a giant dragonfly to avoid the returned volleys from various blaster positioned on the outer towers. I flew over head of our little airship, the bottom of my skimmer banging briefly against the hull, and then went into a short dive on the far side. I did a complete one-eighty and flipped back around abruptly, streaking upwards much to the surprise of the two guys who'd been following me. I shot between the two, lashing out with Sliver at the one on my left and hacking both his starboard side wings off, sending him into a tailspin below me. The other guys pulled out of his dive and gave chase once more, but at that moment Fraggle pulled one of his characteristic sudden changes of direction and I heard a solid thunk as the pilot of the Nightflyer crashed right into the underside of the _Merlin_. I watched him and his skimmer plummet down below like a squashed fly and chuckled to myself before taking off once again. I dodged a string of cannon fire (some of which happened to be from my own teammate), hurled a charge of energy at one of the outlying blasters and then was nearly clobbered around the head by a soldier who appeared out of nowhere and was wielding a large mace. I went into a roll to avoid having my skull mulched and slashed at him with Sliver, catching him in the arm and having a spurt of blood splash into my face. Swearing to myself I wiped at my face with my sleeve and opened my eyes again to find the mace on a collision course with my engine. At the last second I yanked on my conversion gears and my wings tucked in tight to the side of my skimmer, allowing me to drop out of the way in the nick of time. The guys gave chase but I activated my wings once more and flung a bolt of energy at him with Sliver, tearing into the underside of his ride and sending him spinning past me, his ride billowing smoke.

I pulled back up and made to swing around to the far side of the fortress, meaning to check and see if any more soldiers were heading for their skimmers in order to retaliate. And that's when I found the one flaw with Piper's plan: having been separated from view of Varan by all the outer structures of Cyclonia, and as I'd been supposed to be staying away from him in the first place, I had no idea he was over there until it was much too late.

The air around me shook violently in the wake of one of Varan's Raptures, which he'd evidently hurled towards a cluster of those outer blaster cannons not a moment earlier. Any skimmers in the immediate are (mine included) were hurled backwards by the blast, followed by a spew of debris that was vaulted through the air. I had just righted my skimmer, trying to get me senses back in order, when suddenly something rammed into my skimmer, hard. It must have been a projectile piece of shrapnel from one of the nearby Nightflyers that went up with the explosion. Whatever it was it pierced right through one of the only places I didn't have extra armour protecting my Ultra and jammed right into my engine. It wasn't even three seconds after impact that my engine blew right in front of me, tearing my skimmer apart and sending me spinning into open air.

Back at the Academy we did fall training, in which we were instructed to jump from levitating platforms or roll from our skimmers in mid air, to get us used to the idea of what falling felt like. But for all those lessons I really came away with nothing, because the moment I was plummeting it was like my mind went right out the back door and I couldn't have taken in a breath even if the wind wasn't snatching all the oxygen right out of my mouth.

Luckily my parachute deployed on its own, the wind tearing it open at the back and I was jolted from my free-fall so violently my insides got plastered to the back of my ribs and I nearly got sick. I could barely register what had happened and only just managed to get my arms over my head to protect myself from the falling pieces of my poor, faithful Ultra, now in ruins beyond even Stork's repair.

I felt a sense of failure at the moment as I sort of drifted there; I was without a ride now and even though I could always take over the top-side Blaster, I just felt really purposeless. I'd always flown and fought on my own, from my skimmer, in complete control of my own immediate area. It would feel so strange just having to go along with wherever Fraggle wanted to go, picking soldiers off from the safety of the _Merlin_. It just wasn't what I'd envisioned doing in the battle that would make or break us...

It was Varan's cry of alarm that shook me from my self-pity.

"FALSHADE!" He shouted from somewhere off to my left and I looked about for him, wondering what had him so upset. Then I saw a Nightflyer on a direct course with myself, the pilot's blade flung out wide and intent on one purpose...

Shit... SHIT!

I struggled uselessly against the cords of my parachute as he came ever closer, a cruel gleam in his eye, his intent written all over his ugly face. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Varan coming for me, sending his skimmer's engine into overdrive desperately but this guy had a head start on him. He was coming right at me and I was just hanging there, completely defenceless; I'd dropped Sliver when my ride blew up.

I felt his blade tear through those cords like they were extensions of my own nerves. There was a moment of give and then they simply snapped. I felt myself hang in place for a split second, during which I could see Varan's claws reaching for me desperately but he was still too far away and then I was falling again, a victim of gravity and I no longer had a parachute to catch me.

"NO!" Varan's howl echoed in my head and then everything just seemed to go silent, like I'd gone completely deaf; I couldn't even hear the wind screaming in my ears. It seemed the only thing I could actually comprehend was the spiked tip of the top of one of those fang-shaped towers, roaring up towards me at an alarming rate.  
And I just couldn't believe that this was how I was going to die. It wasn't how it was supposed to happen...

Then something collided with me, hard, from the side, and if I'd had any air in my lungs it surely would have been knocked out of me. Something blurred in front of my face, I felt arms tighten around me and then I wasn't so much falling as being driven to the side, the sound of a thundering heartbeat in my ear, which suddenly wasn't deaf anymore. My mind was coming back in chunks, not able to comprehend what the hell was going on. It only occurred to me, hazily, that that wasn't my heartbeat I was listening too.

Then there was impact and I felt myself break away from whatever had collided with me, rolling over myself once and crunching to a halt on my side against the wall of another tower. There was solid ground underneath me again and I was completely numb for a few seconds, totally disorientated and confused out of my mind. One minute I'd been plummeting to my death, the next I was lying on the balcony of one of these spires, insides still where they should be, bones intact, head still in one piece... what the hell was going on?

I heard a groan nearby and blinked a few times to get my vision clear as I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked around. Someone was crumpled not too far from me, swearing to themselves and with one more blink I realized who exactly that was and all my instincts snapped to life.

In a heartbeat I was on top of him, one of his own sabres in my hand and I had no idea how it had gotten there. But I pressed the blade against his throat anyways and he looked up at me, shocked at first and then with a resigned look on his haggard face.

"Go ahead." He said, voice hoarse but set. "I understand why you want to, just... be quick. The others need you."

I was still so dumbstruck I could barely digest what he'd said. I just stared at him and he stared back up at me, grey eyes defeated and brimming with wetness. His grey eyes...

My voice managed to find itself and choke up a question. "...Angel?"

"Yes."

I leaned in closer and shook him a little. "Angel Thaenshar?" I repeated slowly and he nodded weakly.

"It's me, Shade."

I moved his blade from his throat, shifting off him slightly and he sat up a bit, watching me nervously as I stood over him, my legs shaking. Things were slowly piecing themselves together in my head... it'd been Angel who'd caught me just now and he'd flown the both of us over here. And now he was practically cowering in front of me, wings splayed behind him carelessly, his eyes their proper shade of icy grey again.

"It's really you?" I asked hoarsely and he nodded very slowly. "The crystal's gone?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I ran into Wasp. Girl has a way of knocking sense into me..." He got to his feet uneasily, staying away from me like he was afraid of me or something, a submissive wolf before the alpha. He moved his sabres towards me with his foot and then stayed perfectly still, avoiding my eyes.

"Is she alright?" I demanded and he flinched, closing his eyes.

"She's fine." He croaked. Only then did I notice the tear in his shirt, the blood that was dripping from a cavity torn into his chest that made my stomach churn. He'd run into Wasp and now the crystal was gone... it didn't take much to put two and two together.

"So you're... you're you again, then." I said slowly. "You're okay now..." He glanced up at me then and the wretchedness and shame on his face tore my heart apart.

"Shade listen to me..." he said, his voice wane and quiet. "I... I don't expect you to forgive me. And you don't have to... but I still just wanna say I'm sorry... fuck I'm so god damn sorry, Falshade..."

The tears spilled from his pale eyes and made long tracks over his hollowed cheeks and he squeezed his eyes shut again, turning his face from me and pushing his fingers into his eyelids, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting his lank hair fall into his face, shaking all over as he tried to keep from breaking down and bawling. I was completely and utterly stunned; I'd never seen him this vulnerable or overwhelmed, ever, just so completely broken inside. And I knew he meant it; I knew he was sorry right down to the core.

It just took seeing him like that and I felt all my anger and bitterness with him flicker and die, completely extinguished. I finally found the truth of what Wasp had been telling me; all of this had been Cyclonis' fault, it was the god damn crystal, she'd had him possessed, it had never been him. None of that seemed to matter anymore anyways. All that mattered was that I had Angel back, he was standing right in front of me, practically radiating his own self-loathing.

I made a step towards him and touched his shoulder gently. Jesus he was a wreck... I didn't think he'd had any more weight on him to lose but evidently he must have; his bones were sticking out sharply from under his skin. "Ange?" I said softly, reaching for his chin to make him look at me. His usually cold, hard eyes gave away everything he was feeling for once as he glanced up at me, disgust, shame, fear, sorrow... I could see it all in his glassy eyes. He was truly and deeply sorry, and not just about what had happened recently either. But I could finally see him in there too, there was no more hatred and hollowness in his eyes, everything that had possessed him had gone with the crystal. He was just our Angel again and god was I ever happy to see him.

"I dunno who said it first..." I started quietly. "But somebody said a long time ago 'if you fight with me today you are my brother'... and you're on our side again, aren't you?"

He nodded slightly.

"Then you're still my brother, Angel." I assured him. He stared at me with disbelief in his eyes then made a sort of choking noise and surprised the hell out of me by flinging his thin arms around me tightly, pushing his face into my chest with a muffled sob. Never once had Angel ever hugged me, _ever_. And yet there he was, clinging to me tightly, his blood and tears soaking into my shirt and sticking it to my skin. And despite everything, all that had happened, how miserable and furious he'd made me, how we'd only just half an hour ago tried to kill each other, and that even now we were standing on an enemy tower in the middle of possibly the most important battle of our lives, it just all seemed to go away for a minute and I hugged him back, pushing my face into his raven coloured hair, the exact same shade as mine. I knew this day wasn't over, that I could still lose him, lose everybody who mattered to me, but right then I just felt complete again, like the dark shadow his absence had left simply dissipated. I had my brother back. At that moment, that was all that mattered.

Angel seemed to come to his senses after awhile, pulling away from me and wiping at his face irritably. "God I'm such a baby." He muttered to himself. "Shade, Wasp told me Stork was going to try and get to the crystal, is that right?" He asked, looking at me seriously.

"Yeah, her and the Stork Hawks, they're-"

"Falshade we have to find them, now! Cyclonis was on to you guys the whole time, she knows this is a diversion!" He cut me off, desperation in his voice. "Stork's in danger, it's an ambush, Cyclonis has hundreds of Berserkers down there waiting to trap them in the Heart Chamber!"

I gawked at him. "Are you serious?" I wheezed, my heart seeming to have frozen in my chest.

"Wish I weren't. Wasp left me to go and catch up with them but they're going to need our help, there's no point in you guys being out here anymore. We have to get Varan and Fraggle and get in there."

"_How_?" I said exasperatedly, fear crashing in like a flood around me, threatening to drown me. "We don't even know where they are or how to get to them!"

Angel gave me a look. "I do." He reminded me in a low voice, glancing at the fortress distractedly.

I hadn't even thought of that. "Right..." I said slowly, mind still struggling to keep up. "Okay, then we've got to get to the _Merlin_... ah, shit I don't have a god damn skimmer!" I recalled, feeling panicky and frustrated, tugging at my hair violently.

"Don't need one." Angel said, a strange edge in his voice and I turned back to him as he unfurled his wings; what with everything else going on I'd practically forgotten about them.

I looked at him uncertainly. "...Dude will you even be able to carry me?" I asked uneasily; I outweighed him by a good forty pounds after all.

"I'll be fine." He said gruffly. He sheathed his sabres, moved past me, looked over the edge of the platform where we'd landed and then simply jumped and I started. He came soaring back over the edge a moment later though and swung past me, turning about and coming right at me. My instincts told me to duck and I barely managed to hold still as he came rushing up behind me, grabbing me under the arms and lifting me off the edge of the platform.

Right from the get-go we plummeted and I yelped while Angle grunted and I could feel his wings beating hard on either side of me, whacking me around my ribs.

"Christ, Shade, you gotta lay off the god damn sweets." He told me through clenched teeth, gaining some altitude while I grasped his wrists, my stomach dropping as I saw the fortress spread out below my feet. Shit this was _nothing_ like flying with a skimmer, at least on my Ultra I had a hunk of machinery between me and a very sticky end after a long drop. _This _was just awful...

"Where's the _Merlin_?" Angel asked me, sounding like he was having a hard time breathing.

"Probably on the far side of the fortress." I said, trying to keep my voice steady and Angel veered to side so suddenly I thought I was going to be sick. He made an arc around the mighty citadel and then the _Merlin_ came into view, blasting at both skimmers and the outer spires like there was no tomorrow.

"This might get rough, I'm no good at landings." Angel warned me as the runway rushed up to greet us way too quickly for my liking. Never in my entire life had I ever been afraid of flying, but god damn this was just nerve racking; I had no control over what was happening, I had no parachute and I kept thinking Angel's wings might just buckle under our collective weight at any moment. I couldn't help but squeeze my eyes shut as we came in towards the runway and at the last second Fraggle must have swerved or something because my feet ran right over the opposite side and Angel started swearing, wings beating hard to try and pull us back up.

But then my feet touched solid surface and Angel released me so that I stumbled onto the bridge without too much damage. Angel flared his wings, trying to brake, but had too much momentum and tumbled over himself, falling hard to the runway just ahead of me. He picked himself back up, seething to himself about something before turning to me. "You okay? Sorry, I didn't mean to drop you..."

"I'm alright." I assured him, heading for the hanger and he followed after me slowly, uncertainly, like a wary stray animal.

Varan's skimmer was in the hanger I was surprised to notice and I hurried to the bridge, worried something might have happened to him. I burst onto the bridge and to find the both of them in one piece and they jumped, eyes stretched wide in surprise.

"Shade! Oh thank god you're okay! Shit I wanted to help but-" Varan cut himself off, freezing in his tracks when he noticed who was behind me. Fraggle looked over to see why he'd abruptly stopped talking and stiffened.

"Falshade..." He uttered slowly, almost like a warning, but I held up my hands to calm them both.

"It's okay, he's okay. He's Angel again." I assured them. They looked from me to Angel as if waiting for him to prove this was true and he swallowed uneasily.

"...Hey guys." He said, his voice raspy. He shrank down when Varan approached him slowly, tensing up as if he expected to catch the receiving end of Varan's scaly knuckles. He held perfectly still as Varan tilted his chin upwards, examining him; Fraggle waited quietly for a verdict.

"Christ..." Varan muttered, picking at his torn shirt and giving the gash in his chest a quick inspection. "What happened here?"

"That'd be Wasp at her finest." Angel explained, his voice meek, nowhere near as confident as it usually was. Varan pulled a face and looked him up and down critically once more before abruptly sweeping him into a crushing hug. Angel winced and squirmed uncomfortably.

"Ack! Ouch, Varan, I can't breathe!" He wheezed, trying to struggle free.

"Sorry." Varan released him. "Jeez the two of you are a mess." He commented as if nothing had happened, like Angel had been here with us this whole time; he threw me a bandage roll which I pressed to the wound above my hipbone carefully.

"What are you doing back here?" I asked him.

"Skimmer got nailed by one of those cannons out there, barely made it back. I was looking for you... oh, that reminds me, here." He pulled Sliver out from where he'd had it strapped to his back and handed it to me. I stared at my blade, stunned.

"It was lying on one of those tower platforms." Varan explained.

"Shit I thought I'd lost it for sure. Thanks Var." I said, relief flooding through me intoxicatingly. I replaced my scimitar in my belt and then looked up at the others again. "Listen the others need our help, screw these guys out here, we've got to get into the lower tunnels and find them."

Varan's eyes widened in alarm. "Why, what's going on?"

"Cyclonis is waiting for them down there." Angel reported grimly. "She's got a whole army of Blitzkrieg with her too, they'll cut off their retreat and fucking butcher them."

Varan clutched his head, grabbing the table for support. "Shit. How are we going to get to them? We don't even know where they are!"

"_I _do." Angel said pointedly. "I can get us there, if, uh..." He trailed off and looked at his boots, shaking slightly. "I mean if you guys trust me and everything. I'd understand if you didn't..." He muttered, his voice wavering.

Varan did a bit of a double take and I felt my heart contract painfully. It made me ache to see Angel this torn up over everything that'd happened; crystal influence or not he still looked at it like he'd betrayed us. He hated himself right now and what was worse was he thought we hated him too. Wasp had told me that's what he'd always been afraid of. But we didn't hate him; fuck we'd been devastated by what had happened to him because we loved him.

"Angel, listen." Varan said quietly, grabbing his shoulder and shaking it a bit gently. "We knew all this time that wasn't you; Cyclonis tried to use you against us, we know you'd never turn on us. But you're back with us now, you're one of us again and we still trust you."

"Yeah man." Fraggle added encouragingly. "You just tell me where to go and we'll go give that bitch something to think about, eh."

Angel glanced at the two of them and a weak smile crawled onto his worn face. He wiped at his eyes irritably once more. "Fuck, man, I love you guys." He muttered which made the three of us start in surprise. Jeez somebody was affectionate today; I wondered briefly if maybe I'd hit him in the head one too many times earlier. "Okay, I'll finish being a girl later. Now there's a pipe sticking out of the terra down below the cloud layer. It's big enough for the _Merlin_ to fit through. It won't take you all the way to the Heart Chamber but it'll get you close enough."

"Right. I'm finished with these hosers here anyways." Fraggle said, firing a few last shots at the remaining Nightflyers before turning the _Merlin_ about, sinking into the murky orange clouds below.

"Once you're down there just go straight through until the second right turn. Follow that tunnel along until the first left turn and then keep going down that one. Eventually you'll see this opening in the ceiling, it's another tunnel. The _Merlin_ won't go any farther than that, so you'll have to go on foot from there; the upper tunnel will lead you straight to the Heart Chamber."

"You're saying all of this like you're not coming with us." Varan said uneasily.

"I'm not. That's the only way you guys can get in but it'll take time. I can get in another way with these." Angel explained, lifting his wings a little pointedly. Varan stared at them with uncertain interest and held out a hand permissively. Angel extended a wing slowly and Varan touched the feathers curiously.

"Jeez that's just... weird." He reported after a moment, taking his hand back.

"Oh, _you_ think it's weird? Try flying with them, they're a right pain in the ass." Angel griped and then looked at me. "I can take you with me too if you want."

"Angel, you barely got me _here_." I pointed out and he rolled his eyes.

"Look you wanna get in there and help the girls or not? Don't worry about me, Christ."

I thought about Stork and the Storm Hawks pinned by hundreds of bloodthirsty Berserkers and it set my resolve. "Okay. We should go now then, and Varan and Fraggle can catch up with us."

"Hang on a sec." Fraggle spoke up then and we turned to look at him. "I'm just... I'm just thinking about something here, eh."

"Yeah, what's that?" I asked.

"Well... we have to leave the _Merlin_ there, don't we?"

"Yeah, but she'll be there when you get back." Varan said reassuringly.

"How am I supposed to get her out, eh? Won't be able to turn her around..." Fraggle heaved a long sigh then turned to Varan with a strange look in his eyes. "How many explosives you got left there, eh?"

"Uh, eleven..."

"That's gotta be a pretty big boom if we set 'em all of at once." Fraggle concluded.

"Fraggle there's no way we could set them all off without getting blown to bits."

"What if we rigged them up to a timer or something?"

I still had no idea what he was rambling about but Angel must have clued in, because his eyes got wide suddenly and he started shaking his head. "No, Fraggle, no way, that's-"

"I ain't leaving my god damn ship there for them to get their bloody hands on!" Fraggle snapped stubbornly. "Besides, we make enough noise a bunch of them will come to see what's up, eh. Might not get all of them, but it'll take a big chunk outta her fortress anyways..."

"Yeah but... Fraggle the _Merlin_? Come on, there's gotta be something else you can do..." Angel protested and I finally understood what Fraggle was getting at.  
"Fraggle no, you can't just... she's your ship." I said weakly and Fraggle sniffled a bit, running a hand over the steering distractedly.

"She's just a ship, eh." He muttered. "I'd rather have friends over a ship any day. Besides, the Oracle said we'd all have to make sacrifices, take one for the team, eh. It's high time I had my turn."

I stared at him, feeling an ache travel through my chest. I'd come to look at the _Merlin_ as my home, she'd seen us through thick and thin and the thought losing her forever really hurt. And however attached I'd become to the hardy little airship I knew Fraggle felt easily ten times more affection for her; when he'd had nothing else at least he'd had the _Merlin_.

"Fraggle..." I said uncertainly, grabbing his shoulder. "Are you sure? We could figure out something else..."

"I'm sure." He insisted, swatting me away and ignoring the concerned looks Varan and I were giving him. Instead he twiddled the steering distractedly and said. "Well if you got anything you wanna keep I suggest you go and get it now, 'cause it won't be around long afterwards, eh."

I couldn't think of anything I wanted. It seemed sort of pointless to take anything anyways; here was Fraggle giving away his most treasured possession in the whole damn world. Anything else seemed inadequate compared to that. Who gave a damn about material stuff anyways? Everything I had could be replaced, easy. In the end the things that mattered most to me were the people I loved.

Angel evidently felt differently though, because he stiffened as if something had just occurred to him and took off down the corridor. He came back a few moments later, tucking a small silver object safely into his pocket before looking out the windshield again.

"That's it." He said, pointing to the large opening that jutted from the side of the terra. "You remember the directions, right? Second right, first left."

"I'll remember." Fraggle assured him.

"Good... listen, Fraggle, seriously-"

"You ask me if I'm sure about this one more time and I'm gonna punch you right in the throat, eh." Fraggle told him sternly and Angel held up his hands for peace.

"Alright, alright, jeez, sorry."

"Alright then we should get going." I said, feeling anxiety overwhelming me. "You guys be careful..."

"Yeah, you two as well." Varan said. I took one last look around the bridge, trying to commit every last detail to my memory and then hurried after Angel, following him onto the runway. He promptly leapt off the edge, wings stretching wide and lifting him swiftly into the air. Varan was right, it did look weird to see those things attached to him, as if giant raven wings had been sutured to his back; it was just unnatural.

He turned to me. "You ready?"

I wasn't very keen at all to have another flight like the last one, but I didn't have much choice, so I nodded. He swooped around me and lifted me from under the armpits once again, wrapping his arms around my chest slightly and despite the fact that it was uncomfortable I was glad he did. I swallowed uneasily as my feet left solid surface and Angel soared upwards, gaining altitude steadily if a little shakily. The _Merlin_ grew smaller beneath my boots and for a moment we stopped and got one last look at her before she disappeared into the tunnel opening below, never to return.

"God this is all so FUBAR." I muttered.

"Yeah... well let's hope the _Merlin_'s the only thing we end up losing today." Angel said, his wings pulling us back towards the top of the citadel. "Dude are you okay? You're shaking like crazy."

"Could say the same to you." I pointed out; I could feel all his muscles straining with every movement and he was breathing hard.

"Don't tell me you're scared." He taunted, ignoring my last comment.

"Oh fuck off." I muttered sourly. "So where are we going?"

"There's a chute that opens up a little higher, it's small but we'll fit, it'll take us right to the lower tunnels." Angel explained through gritted teeth.

"That's considering we don't get shot down before we get there." I pointed out.

"They won't bother me, they think I'm one of them, remember?"

"Right, right..." I muttered, not liking the cold, disgusted tone he had in his voice; I glanced up at him, trying to catch his eye but he ignored me.

We broke through the cloud layer and once again I found myself topside of the mighty terra, separated from my friends by tons of rock and hundreds of soldiers. Things were eerily quiet here now; it seemed that any remaining soldiers had turned back once we'd left, returning to the fortress. My stomach clenched sickeningly when Angel veered to the side without warning, swooping into the maze of spires and spikes once again and I flinched as we passed one particular tower much too closely for my liking, my boots actually skimming over the stone wall.

"Okay see that pipe that's sticking up just ahead?" Angel asked and I nodded. "That's where we're landing, so try and get your feet on the edge, okay?"

I swallowed uneasily; the lip of that pipe was only about a foot wide and we were coming up on it extremely quickly. But I grit my teeth and did what I was told, boots slamming hard into the edge and skidding slightly as I tried to stop us, Angel crashing hard into my back and nearly pushing me into the gaping hole in front of me, which dropped down god knows how far. Angel braked hard and dropped down onto the ledge just next to me, gasping for breath.

"Shit, are you okay?" I asked, concerned as I watched his thin rib cage heaving for air.

"Yeah, just... give me a second." He panted.

I nodded and looked down into the blackness under my feet. "So we're going down there?" I clarified.

"Yeah. Gonna have to drop though, not enough room to spread my wings." Angel explained and I felt my stomach turn cold.

"Great." I muttered and he laughed to himself.

"Man since when did you get all soft cock?" he asked and I scowled at him. He sucked in a few deep lungfuls of air for a moment, his breathing returning to normal, before looking at me critically, something flickering in his eyes. "Hey, Shade?"

"Yeah?"

"Look I wanted to tell you something quick, in case I don't get another chance." He said, a strange note in his voice.

"Don't start talking like that." I scolded and he rolled his eyes.

"Would you just shut up and listen to me?"

"I'm listening."

"Right well... okay remember when I said there was this woman who was supposed to adopt me, after my mom died?"

"Yeah..." I said slowly, not sure what he was getting at.

"Well it was your mom. Caspia was the one who was supposed to adopt me. I guess your mom and my mom were friends way back when..." He trailed off and pushed his overlong hair from his face while I simply stared at him, feeling rather stunned. I mean I'd had a sort of inkling when he mentioned he was supposed to be adopted before, but I'd pushed the thought away as it'd seemed way too far-fetched. And besides, wouldn't mom have said something when she'd seen him at our house when we visited Vatican? I suddenly recalled all my little day-dreams about Angel coming to live with us when we were younger and it kind of blew my mind a little to realize that actually could have been reality.

Angel glanced up at me and sort of grinned. "So... we really are brothers after all. Small Atmos, huh?"

"Yeah..." I said, still feeling slightly overwhelmed.

"Although I gotta say, kinda glad things turned out this way instead, like meeting you at the Academy and everything. After all what's the fun of being brothers if you're forced into it, right?"

I mulled this over and then cracked a grin of my own, squeezing his shoulder. I still would have enjoyed having a brother growing up, especially since I'd been so excited about it when mom first mentioned the idea; and I couldn't help but think it might have been good for Angel to have at least a sort of proper family when he was younger. But when I thought about it like that, I was glad things had turned out the way they had as well. The Oracle said we'd all been brought together for a reason, so maybe it was meant to be that I met Angel at the Academy when I did instead of when we were kids.

"Yeah, probably for the best." I agreed. "We would have killed each other as kids." I paused as something occurred to me and added in a more serious tone. "You know... you could still come to live with us, mom and me." I told him and he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, seeming to think about it for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nah, thanks but no thanks, Shade." He said offhandedly. I opened my mouth to argue but he interrupted me. "Look, bother me about it later, we've wasted enough time up here anyways. I can breathe again so let's go, the others need us."

I couldn't argue with that so I just nodded, but I tucked the idea away for some other time; if we ever got out of this mess I was going to bring it up again when I had the time to really argue with him about it.

"So you just want me to jump?" I asked as he grabbed a hold of me once again and I could feel the blood from his chest wound seeping through my shirt.

"Yeah, pretty much." Then, just to be a jerk, he leaned into my ear and added. "Don't scream."

And man if I weren't so happy to be hearing from the old Angel once again I would have hit him.

Instead I stepped right off the edge of the tunnel mouth, pulling Angel along with me as we were plunged into darkness, plummeting in a complete free-fall. My stomach leapt up the back of my throat and I shut my eyes as the wind whipped into my face, searing in my nose and throat like needles it was so cold. I kept my arms wound in tight and my legs straight like I was jumping into water, certain at any moment I was going to smack into the wall of the shaft and my bones would be shattered to splinters. Angel's grip around my ribs was so tight I couldn't breathe and I could only hope this damn chute would end soon; we seemed to just drop like that forever and I didn't have any idea of how far we'd gone or where the bottom of this thing was. All I could do was trust Angel's judgement, which I did of course. The thing I _didn't_ trust was how well his wings were going to be able to pull us out of this drop.

Quite suddenly I could see light through my eyelids and Angel yanked me upwards, pulling me out of our fall so harshly I thought he might have cracked a few of my ribs. I could feel his wings beating like mad to fight against all our momentum but we didn't have enough time to slow completely and I found my feet slamming hard into solid ground so abruptly my knees crumpled and I nearly did a faceplant into the smooth metal floor of the passage we'd landed in. Angel crashed down practically on top of me and rolled off to the side, tangled up in his wings.

I pushed myself to my feet and glanced around; we were in a large tunnel that was rigged up with lights in the ceiling that reflected dimly off the metal walls. It stretched ahead of us and behind us farther than my eyes could see and here and there further down the passage were more tunnel mouths, conjoining like lots of little veins to a larger artery. Directly above us was a large hole in the ceiling, the bottom of the pipe we'd leapt into above. I squinted back up the dark fissure and could just make out a pinprick of light; shit we had to be at least a mile under the terra surface.

I offered Angel a hand and hauled him up, nerves on high alert for any sign of movement other than our own down here.

"So now what?" I asked as he rolled his shoulders uncomfortably.

"Now we just follow this passage, it'll lead us right to the Heart Chamber." He said. "Let's go, you can use your own damn legs now." And with that he turned and took off down the tunnel, his boots only making the slightest echoes off the steel floor. I needed no prompting and caught up with him, the two of us keeping pace stride for stride as we ran down the shadowy tunnel. My legs were longer but Angel was a fast runner and stayed by my side the whole time; I'd learned pretty quickly I never had to worry about Angel keeping up with me.

It didn't take long for the sounds of a fight to reach my ears; I could hear blades ringing together, metal clashing with metal punctuated by shouts and enraged screeches and howls, getting steadily closer. This gave me heart though; if they were still fighting then it meant the others weren't beaten, not yet. Angel grabbed my arm at some point and made me slow, the two of us drawing our swords as we moved forward silently, approaching the mouth of the tunnel with caution. Angel pressed himself tight to the wall just inside the opening and I leaned over his shoulder and looked down upon a gruesome scene worthy of one of my nightmares.

It was hard to spot the others down there; the tunnel we were in projected from the wall of a large cavern about twenty feet off the stone floor, and we had a good view of the battle that was raging below. I saw a flash of Stork's blonde hair among the mass of writhing Berserkers then a blaze of green light as Junko smashed his mighty fists into a group of advancing soldiers, hurling them back into the sea of their counterparts and I felt a stir of admiration; I mean that was just awesome.

At first I didn't even notice Cyclonis, or the crystal for that matter, I was so fixated on the others, trying to scope out what the quickest route to them would be. But it was Stork's anguished scream of "NO!" that shook me out of it and I followed her line of sight up to the top of a large dais where a large, green crystal was sitting in a bowl in the stone, oblivious to all that was going on around it. Just to the side of it stood the Master herself, a wraithlike girl with rage and malice blazing in her dark violet eyes, face contorted with wrath and dark purpose etched into her every muscle. In her thin arms she held a wicked looking energy staff, speared at the end with a number of spikes that curved around the crystal it was equipped with like a sort of cradle, viciously sharp and deadly.

And lying just beneath that lethal barb was Wasp, splayed on her back with her chest exposed and about to be pierced deep by the cruel spear poised in Cyclonis' spidery hands.

Angel's howl tore through my body like a knife as Cyclonis' staff plunged: "WASP!"

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x **

I dunno how long we'd been at it for now, but no matter how many Berserkers we (literally) cut down to clear out path it didn't seem to make a difference. I mean at first it seemed like we'd been getting somewhere; with Junko and Finn ploughing through them at the front and Piper, Stork and I lashing out relentlessly at any who tried to close in behind us, we were really making progress and suddenly victory seemed... attainable.

But that seemed like hours ago now.

The problem was there was so god damn many of them and only five of us. It was like if we beat one of them down, two more jumped forward to take his place. And a few times now I was certain I was embedding my axe in a Berserker I thought I'd already dispatched (then again the all sorta looked that same, so maybe that was just my imagination). These bastards just wouldn't _die_ and we were starting to get overwhelmed, surrounded in all directions by slathering, ravenous demons that knew nothing of the word mercy. And we'd already taken a few minor hits: Piper had a shallow gash on her upper arm that was bleeding steadily despite the wad of cloth Stork had managed to stuff in it while I held off our attackers, and Finn's brow had been split, spilling blood into his left eye and making it hard for him to see; half the time he had the eye squeezed shut entirely.

I myself was starting to feel the strain in my arms as I continued to swing my axe around like, well, an axe murderer. By no means was I wiped out or slowing down, fuck no, but it just reminded me that while our stamina waned and we took on more and more injuries it was just going to make things harder, and these guys just kept coming at us, like flies to a carcass.

I hated to admit it, because I'd always been a rather proud and independent girl, but we needed help, soon.

The butt of Piper's staff struck one Berserker in the stomach, momentarily stunning him with a zap of crystal energy and while he was still struggling to get control of his limbs I lashed out with a low arc that caught him right in the side, slicing almost entirely through his torso. His guts spilled forward onto Piper's feet and she leapt back in disgust before cracking another Berserker around the head with her staff. I swallowed down my nausea as the first Berserker collapsed into a pile of his own intestines and moved on to deal with the two other Berserkers who leapt over his dying body. Ahead of us Junko smashed a fist so hard into the face of one Berserker that his head snapped all the way backwards until it was lolling by a few strings of sinew between his shoulder blades. Junko grabbed the corpse by the arm and flung it towards a group of advancing soldiers, sending them tumbling backwards. Finn fired one his crossbolts at such short range to one Berserker that it tore right through his torso and took out another one behind him in a single blow. Okay, that was kinda cool.

I turned in time to see Stork, who was grappling with a Berserker of his own, nearly get decapitated as a second Berserker joined the fray. I hurled one of my throwing axes at him and it stuck right into his side, wedged between two ribs. I yanked back on the cord to retract it and the Berserker turned to me with a howl, lunging forward only to catch my second throwing axe right in the face. He staggered back for a moment and then kept coming at me, which you better believe freaked me right out. I mean my _axe_ was stuck in his god damn _face_, some of the blade even embedded into one of his eyes and he didn't even seem to notice. I shook my unnerve off though and side-stepped at the last moment, yanking my throwing axe free and slamming my battle axe into his chest, causing him to double over as his chest cavity cracked open like an egg. My axe must have split right through some major arteries or something because he went down after that one, dead within an instant.

Something came rushing up on me from behind and I felt long, jagged fingernails digging into my skin all of a sudden as a Berserker grabbed hold of me while I was still trying to wrench my axe out of the decimated rib cage of my latest victim. I snarled and whipped my elbow into his stomach as he yanked me back, my battle axe slipping from my fingers. He barely seemed to notice that blow but my throwing axe got his attention as it bit deep into his thigh, blood spurting out around the head of my axe and soaking into my jeans. He let out a screech and attempted to tear it free but Piper was on top of him in a second, bashing him over the head repeatedly with fury burning in her sunset eyes until his skull was mulched beneath her blows. He collapsed, half dragging me down with him and as I moved quickly to get back on my feet I felt something slice through the skin over my ribs, not a deep cut but enough that I saw a flash of bone, the thin layer of flesh peeled back from one of my ribs. The pain surprised me so much I didn't even make a noise of complaint and hacked out with my other throwing axe at the Berserker who'd come up behind me, meaning to get at Piper. My axe caught in his hipbone and I made a move to slash his throat with my other one when suddenly he let out a bloodcurdling shriek and collapsed all on his own, a huge gash carved into his back so I could see his spines and organs and everything, his flesh burned and smoking slightly. Little strings of crystal energy crackled over his armour.

Shocked I took a step back, wondering what the hell had happened when I heard Cyclonis' voice tear through all the other horrible sounds that were blaring around me and making all her soldiers fall silent in one single sweep, like they'd all been turned to stone.

"I SAID NO ONE IS TO HARM THE GIRL!" she screeched, her voice riddled with fury and as ominous as thunder, piercing my eardrums. "HARM HER AND I WILL DESTROY YOU MYSELF!" Her Berserkers all seemed to flinch in wake of her wrath and for a moment everything was still. Then Cyclonis' eyes turned to me and her mouth curled menacingly.

"You know, I'm not sure I feel you're safe down there, little Feonix. Perhaps you'd like to join me up here? I have the best seat in the house after all." She suggested and before I knew what was happening she was pointing her barbed energy staff at me, a line of red crystal energy hurtling towards me so quickly I didn't even have time to duck.

The energy hit me right in the chest and I expected to have all the air blasted from my lungs. The impact wasn't nearly as hard as I expected; it was like a sort of cushioned blow and the energy seemed to flow over me, coating me in a sort of crackling cocoon of crystal energy. It was hot and made my skin prickle like I was covered with static and I tried to shake it back, jerking away. But then I was abruptly lifted from my feet, entire body encased in energy and as much as I kicked and struggled it wouldn't release its hold on me, like I'd been swallowed by a giant amoeba.

Then I felt myself being tugged forward, over the heads of the Berserkers, drawn steadily towards Cyclonis like a fish caught helplessly on a hook. I shouted and fought against my constraints but it was like trying to fight back smoke, it wasn't solid, I couldn't break it.

Then Piper was in front of me, leaping high into the air with something blue clutched tightly in her hand. She punched her hand into the string of red energy and it simply broke as if she'd severed it with a blade and I dropped to the ground, legs barely catching me. Piper turned to me and wedged the blue thing securely under my chest plate.

"Hold on to that and her crystal won't be able to touch you." She told me quickly as Cyclonis shrieked in frustration.

"You've always been too smart for your own good, Piper!" She snapped. "I've had it with you meddling in my plans! Now DIE!"

Her staff was lowered at Piper this time and a bolt of energy came screaming towards her like a shaft of lightning. Piper pushed me behind her protectively but she had nothing to shield herself from Cyclonis' wrath and I felt myself cry out desperately but the words fell deaf upon my ears as I could only watch.

Out of nowhere something rushed up and placed itself in front of Piper and it was like a firework had exploded as a spray of crystal energy flowed over head of us like we were suddenly inside a giant bubble, shielded from harm. The wave of energy rolled over us and simply dissipated and Piper was still standing in front of me, completely unscathed and blinking in surprise.

And in front of her stood Wasp, her hands splayed wide in front of her like a telekinetic, her eyes narrowed and a look of triumph etched on her crooked face.

"Wasp!" I cheered, springing forward to sort of hug her, but I ended up just kinda crashing into her affectionately. She turned and smiled at me, patting my head.

"I told you I'd catch up." She said and I grinned wildly, elated that she was back with us and was for the most part unharmed; she had blood all over her face and her jacket was torn, but she wasn't supporting any obvious injuries and I felt relief sweep through me, giving me fresh strength.

"Ugh, you!" Cyclonis snarled down at her, annoyance thick in her voice. "You've gotten in my way one too many times!" She seemed to notice the state of hesitation her Berserkers were in right around then and bared her teeth at them in aggravation. "Well don't just stand there, attack! Kill the others but do not harm the girl!"

Wasp pushed herself in front of me as the horde of Berserkers came back to life, pouring down on us with renewed intensity, lashing out with her machetes and ripping through the front line in a surge of torn flesh and gushing blood, hacking at anything within range and snarling like a savage creature from the underworld. I darted back quickly and retrieved my fallen battle axe, cleaving the arm from one Berserker that reached out for me, and shoved my way over to her side, swinging my battle axe around in wide arcs and slicing through muscle and bone alike. Through all the carnage and confusion I tried to shout to Wasp to ask if she'd been able to free Angel from the crystal's stranglehold but I never got the chance, because Cyclonis chose that moment to hurl another bolt of energy at Wasp, who only just noticed it coming towards her in time. She crossed her machetes in front of her and held her ground as the stream of raging energy seemed to collide with her, pushing her back a few inches as she strained against it and then it vaporized. In retaliation she hurled a charge of green energy back at Cyclonis, who simply batted it away with her staff as if it were nothing more than a troubling fly.

"I'll take care of her!" Wasp shouted to me. "You guys keep going, get to the stairs!"

I nodded and fell back a little, merging with the Storm Hawks once more. Junko pushed forward and once again started to physically plough his way through the wall of Berserker meat, his fist slamming into them repeatedly in wicked uppercuts that sent them reeling back, ribs utterly shattered and organs crushed by the force. Junko's arms were covered by nicks and cuts from the various blades the Berserks carried, lashing out at him before they caught the business end of his Knuckle Busters, but he barely seemed to notice them. Finn pressed himself to me briefly, fluffing up my hair encouragingly before slicing open the throat of a Berserker ahead of us with the bayonet on the end of his crossbow.

"I told you she'd be okay, didn't I?" He teased in my ear and I rolled my eyes, shoving him playfully and whipping one of my throwing axes at another oncoming Berserker. Finn took aim for Cyclonis herself and fired away, but she simply held up a hand and his crossbolt slowed on its course and then halted altogether before exploding harmlessly, far out of range to cause Cyclonis any damage. Well, shit.

"You want to play that way?" Cyclonis sneered at him. "Fine, I'll play!" And with that she sent a strike of energy charging towards Finn with a girlish laugh, as if all this blood and guts were fun and games to her.

_Don't you dare hurt my Daddy you little bitch_!  
I grabbed Finn's elbow and yanked him back out of the way, standing in front of him defensively and hoping to god that Blocking crystal Piper gave me would be enough to hold back that oncoming bolt and not send me flying backwards in the process.

I needn't have worried about it though because Wasp stepped in front of me and caught the charge between her hands, gritting her teeth and slipping back into me a little but holding her ground. She didn't just deflect the charge this time though but seemed to collect it into a ball between her splayed fingers, her arms shaking with the effort. And then she threw it back towards Cyclonis, hurling it at her like a comet. Cyclonis seemed impressed but simply side-stepped the attack, letting the missile of energy crash into the stone wall behind her and dissipate harmlessly.

"Hmm, it seems you've gotten better since last time." She called down to Wasp, seeming genuinely sincere.

Wasp shrugged. "I've been practicing." She explained simply and Cyclonis nodded.

"I see. Well then allow me to test these honed skills of yours." And with that she lifted her staff high above her head and then whipped it downwards in one smooth motion, curling it around herself. A string of crystal energy trailed in its wake, attached to the barbed tip of her staff like a whip, snapping in the air sharply and sparking where it lashed against the ground, spitting little shards of energy angrily. I swallowed and glanced at Wasp but if she was startled by this new invention she didn't show it. She stood unperturbed and gripped the hilts of her machetes tightly in her boney fingers.

"Don't worry about me." She said to me. "Keep going, get to the crystal."

I felt uneasy but nodded anyways, slipping from behind her and joining Finn, who leapt back into the fray with the others. I kept on chopping and hacking my way through those Berserkers like they were a thicket of thorns but I kept one eye on Wasp the whole time as Cyclonis lashed out with her cord of crystal energy at her, the crack ripping through all other noises like a clap of thunder. Wasp dodged to the side of the first attack and hacked at it with both machetes as if it were a snake she could chop the head off of. Cyclonis recoiled her whip and lashed out again, the vicious, crackling thread slicing through the air and curling tight around Wasp's wrist. I felt my breath seize and made a movement to lunge over to her defence but Wasp seemed to have it under control; she yanked her arm back with a snarl and grabbed the coil of energy with her free hand, tearing it free and seeming to melt it beneath her fingers; the area on her forearm where the whip had seized her was red and inflamed, burned by the energy's intensity.

Cyclonis laughed like a cruel little girl, retracting her whip once again. "Very good! But how long can you keep that up I wonder?" and with that she lashed out once again, the line of energy striking towards Wasp like a viper. She hefted one of her machetes to block the blow, causing an eruption of green and red sparks to shower through the air upon contact.

I was distracted then, my view blocked as a cluster of Berserkers fell in on me, each with their gnarled hands clawing for me and I went ape shit on them, severing a hand right from the wrist with one of my throwing axes and then slamming my battle axe down in one nasty chop, cleaving one entire side of one poor suck off of him with the mighty head of my axe. Then I lashed out in a wide arc, ripping open the abdomens of two other Berserkers at once. I ducked as Junko's fist came roaring overhead and cracked the necks of not one but two Berserkers at the same time, like a grotesque sort of domino effect. He gave me a quick glance over then pounded his other fist down onto the head of another Berserker who was creeping up on Wasp. He crumpled like a squashed bug under Junko's awesome strength, spine probably broken into several pieces.

"Oooh, nice one!" Wasp congratulated, turning to take in the crushed foe behind her. Junko grinned back and slammed one of his large feet into the chest of another Berserker, stopping him dead in his charge. Wasp whipped out with one of her machetes and tore the head right off another Berserker, dodging out of the way of his collapsing body and then made a yelping noise as Cyclonis' whip snapped against her shoulder, tearing through her jacket and sending a misty spray of blood into the air in its wake. Wasp growled, rage glinting in her mix-matched eyes and she lunged for the fallen dagger her decapitated victim had dropped. She whipped it at Cyclonis with an enraged growl, sending it hurtling through the air to clatter to the stone a good six feet to Cyclonis' left, a complete and utter miss. Poor Wasp never had very good aim.

Cyclonis blinked at the dagger and then shrieked with laughter. "Oh my, _that_ was devastating!" She cackled. "I'll have to remember to duck if you throw something at the person next to me!" Abruptly through her laughter was cut off as Wasp's second blow, a bolt of green crystal energy, caught her right in the chest and blasted her backwards. She didn't fall, which disappointed me, but she did double over and the brief look of shock that crossed her wane features was rewarding enough. Then the air around her seemed to grow dark and she screamed out in fury and rounded on Wasp with a temper that seemed to absorb all the air in the room, making my heart squeeze painfully.

"No more games!" She snapped and lashed out at Wasp one more time, the air sizzling in the wake of that fiery cord of energy, which seemed to be feeding off its master's anger and had grown thicker, the energy flaring to life and writhing as if it were made of snakes.

Like the strike of a cobra that whip lashed out faster than Wasp could avoid and it wrapped tight around her thigh, biting in and blistering her pale skin with its furious heat. Her hands once again moved to tear it loose but Cyclonis jerked her arm and sent a shockwave along the line of energy, zapping Wasp hard with a nasty shock of energy, turning her muscles to jelly and she collapsed.

"Wasp!" I yowled, leaping over to help and clutching both her wrists, trying to pull her back to her feet but a second pulse rippled along the cord and struck the both of us. I felt my muscles convulse and my grip turned slack, letting Wasp's wrists slide helplessly through my fingers. It was like being electrocuted, my joints signing with pain and my nerves no longer obeying my commands and I could do nothing as Cyclonis lifted her arm high, yanking Wasp from the stone floor and dangling her upside down above the heads of her monstrous army, all of them shrieking with delight and lunging into the air, clawing for Wasp like horrid, mutated cats leaping for a trapped bird. Wasp spat and hissed and snarled, gnashing her jaws fiercely and hurling down every curse she could think of, her fingers tearing at the cord around her leg. But another pulse of punishing energy made her go limp and Cyclonis tugged her towards her, drawing her towards the pedestal and letting her hang just in front of her, Wasp's fingers clawing for her face and falling just inches short.

"LET HER GO!" I screamed, smashing into the crowd of Berserkers furiously, carving through them in a desperate attempt to help Wasp, but the dais was still so far and there were dozens upon dozens of soldiers blocking my path. The Storm Hawks tried to assist me, shouting at Cyclonis and hacking through our enemy desperately, but despite our frantic efforts we couldn't seem to get any closer.

Cyclonis delivered another paralyzing zap and Wasp's body was wracked with spasms before she was dropped to the stone floor, trying to push herself to her feet but only making it to her knees, her body quivering and devastated by all those crippling blows.

Cyclonis' cruel laughter curled around us like a noose as she leaned forward and grabbed a handful of Wasp's matted hair, craning her head back so Wasp had no choice but to stare into her nightshade eyes.

"I told you didn't I?" Cyclonis taunted, her voice a menacing slither. "Look where you're petty weapons have gotten you; my powers have trumped yours this time, and I will not be as foolish as you; I will finish what I've started."

Wasp uttered a snorting noise, her feet scrabbling uselessly against the stone as she tried to get her legs beneath her, but her limbs were still battered and weak.

"So what do you have to say for yourself, dear Wasp, when all that you hold faith in has failed you?" Cyclonis asked, her voice dripping with poison and I wanted to wring her neck so badly it hurt, my heart pounding so furiously it was making my vision shaky.

Wasp blinked at her and then started coughing up this eerie sound in her throat. At first I wasn't sure what she was doing the noise she was making was so strange; she sounded like she was choking on something, her throat lodged with splinters. Her body started shaking and then I realized she was laughing, the sound growing in volume and making my skin prickle it was so uncanny. Then she retched slightly and I think she must have vomited, because she hunched up and a bunch of liquid splattered over the stone, causing Cyclonis to step back in disgust. But if she never opened her mouth, or at least, she kept her jaws clenched tight the whole time, bile leaking from between her needle sharp fangs and spilling in sticky strings to the floor. And she kept laughing the whole time, this horrible, wrenching sound like she was hacking up a lung or something.

Cyclonis shook her slightly, face contorted with disgust and confusion. "And just what do you find so funny?" She demanded.

Wasp looked up at her and her face split into a feral grin as she spat something to the floor at Cyclonis' feet. I couldn't see it from where I was but I later found out it was a small shard of crystal that had come up with the contents of Wasp's stomach.

Cyclonis stared at it for a moment, seeming confused, before her eyes narrowed with realization and she turned her scorching glare on Wasp, who simply grinned with a wild sense of victory.

"He does not belong to you anymore." She whispered and Cyclonis' face became livid, her eyes seeming to grow darker in her pale face. She shrieked and then stepped back, kicking Wasp's strong jaw and sending her sprawling onto her back. Then she lifted her staff high, the spiked tip hovering just above Wasp's chest, ready to stab right through her heart like she was offering some sort of sacrifice.

"NO!" I screamed and my heart seemed to implode in my chest as I realized there was absolutely nothing I could do to save my friend, that I was completely and utterly helpless and there was no way I could get there in time to stop that killing blow. She was going to die before my very eyes and I could do nothing to stop it.

But apparently somebody else could.

**x.x.x. Angel x.x.x.**

Everything else seemed to vanish and go black until I could only see the two of them on the far side of the Heart Chamber; Cyclonis with her horrid staff held high and waiting to plunge in for the kill and Wasp lying there, weaponless and seemingly unable to move.

And it was like everything went to shit inside me. It felt like my heart simply ruptured with pure, untempered rage and I forgot about everything else, that Falshade was still beside me and that Stork and the others were down there surrounded by Blitzkrieg, or Berserkers, or whatever the fuck we were calling them. All I knew was I'd already almost lost Wasp once today and it was in that moment when she was slipping away from me that I realized just how important she was to me, fuck I _loved_ her and I could not just let her die. And now after all of that, after everything the two of us had been through, I was about to lose her again anyways.

And I was _not_ just going to let her die here, be killed by that wretched girl who'd already fucked up almost everything else. I was not going to lose her.

You will not hurt my Wasp.

My wings snapped open so quickly I nearly thwacked Shade around the head and then I was gone, the length of the chamber seeming like nothing as I whipped overhead of her bloodthirsty horde, body moving on its own accord, fury sluicing feverously through my veins and giving me strength, lending me speed.

And she didn't even see me coming.

Her speared staff was driving down for Wasp's chest when I slammed into her, feet first and I felt pure satisfaction sweep through me as my entire skeleton rattled with the force of my boots slamming hard into Cyclonis' thin chest. I saw the shock on her face briefly as she was sent reeling backwards, crashing hard into the stone and sliding backwards several feet. I hit the stone hard too, scrabbling to get back on my feet and I saw her staff rolling along the black stone not too far away, the crystal at its tip glowing menacingly. I chased after it and raised one foot, slamming it down hard and crushing the crystal beneath all the spikes it was cradled in. With a crunching sound it shattered under my foot and I felt like I was stepping on a small animal, its skeleton collapsing under my weight. I heard Cyclonis screech at me and I saw her getting to her feet from the corner of my eye. And for a second there I held her gaze and felt all her fury, felt every fibre of her being trying to reach into me and grab that crux of control she'd had on me in a stranglehold, clawing for some grasp of power. I felt the intense desire to punish, to agonize, to bend me back into her will, to clutch me tight in her bony fist. I felt it all simply pass through me harmlessly, sweeping through the empty place Wasp had torn into my chest and a feeling of pure liberation flooded me, like I'd cast off something that had been dragging me down my entire life. And I couldn't help it, I felt way too good inside not to; I smirked at her, holding her eyes and hurling all the demand for control back at her, unrequited. I saw the realization that she'd lost her grip on me smoulder in her eyes, enraged defeat passing over her face and a wild sense of triumph and satisfaction filled me, giving me a fresh wave of energy. I suppose I'll always be a jackass that way.

But then I turned and all my attention was directed to Wasp, who'd rolled over and was trying to get her legs underneath her, but they were shaking like a foal's and she couldn't stand very far at all without tumbling back down again. I made my chest ache to see her like that; she was usually so strong, fierce and indomitable and to see her trembling like a weak little kitten was just heart wrenching.

Cyclonis had her staff back in her hands and even without the crystal it was still a deadly weapon. She was coming towards us, lashing out with the barbed tip and I lunged forward, scooping Wasp up in my arms and leaping into the air, Cyclonis' staff just missing the both of us as she jabbed at us furiously. I dodged a bolt of crystal energy that was hurled at us by one of her soldiers from below and swooped into one of the higher tunnel entrances, falling to my knees and examining Wasp for injury.

"Wasp." I said, shaking her softly. "Wasp?"

She shifted in my arms and blinked at me curiously as if she were confused about what was going on. Her body was being wracked by weird little spasms and I was worried at first that she'd hit her head or something. But then she seemed to be able to get me in focus and a smile crawled slowly over her face and relief flooded through me so intensely it made my legs feel weak.

"Hey." She said, her voice sort of raspy but pleased none the less.

"Hey." I said, pushing my fingers through her tangled hair and trailing them along her neck. "You okay?"

"I'm still breathing, aren't I?" she pointed out with a grin, shifting and rolling out of my arms, drawing her knees under herself and trying to pull herself up, clinging to the wall for support. I pushed myself under her arm and lifted her to her feet; she managed to stay standing this time but her legs were wobbly and her body was still quivering as if she were freezing cold.

"Where are the others?" she asked, clutching at my arm as she staggered slightly.

"Down there." I pointed across the Heart Chamber; at first I didn't recognize Stork with her hair the way it was, but I could see Falshade fighting against the onslaught of Berserkers as if he'd done nothing else all his life. He'd made his way over to Stork and the group of people she was with, the Storm Hawks I figured. They seemed to be holding their own well enough but Cyclonis was furious now and screamed at her demons to press in harder, demanding that they tear apart everyone but Stork.

"We've got to get over there." Wasp said and I nodded but then glanced at her as she shook at my side, her muscles still wracked with spasms and she didn't have her weapons either.

"You think you can make it?" I asked worriedly.

She wrinkled her nose. "Of course I can." She insisted. "The feeling's coming back, look, see?" She flexed her fingers in demonstration.

"Hmm..." I didn't get a chance to argue with her though because another bolt of energy came careening towards us and I pulled her down in a duck as it smashed into the stone over head. I hurled a bolt of my own back down in retaliation and realized we'd attracted a crowd, a large chunk of Cyclonis' drooling minions who were pooled under our tunnel, clawing at the stone and howling at us, black eyes rolling with delirious bloodlust.

I looked back at Wasp, who was testing her legs carefully, jumping up and down a little bit. She saw me watching her and smiled. "See, I'm okay." She said, jumping a bit more as if to prove it. She still looked a little wobbly to me, but I knew better then to argue with girls by now when they had their mind set on something.

I blew out a sigh and tossed her one of my sabres. "Alright well if you get in trouble just holler." I said as she stepped over beside me; her knees were knocking together a little still but she was standing on her own and what was more she had that maniac grin of hers plastered over her face that let me know she was more than ready for a brawl.

"Well..." I said, pulling her into my chest with one arm and spreading my wings once again. "Let's rip these guys a new asshole, shall we?"

I know, real romantic of me, right?

And we jumped, dropping free of our little hidey hole and falling into the thick of the Berserkers below us, my wings slowing us just slightly so we didn't just smack into the ground. The moment the floor was under our feet they were on us and Wasp sprang away from me, full of fight once more and she lunged forward, fangs bared and plunging my sabre up to the hilt in the chest of one Berserker. I lashed out a second one, tearing his throat open and kicking him back into his comrades, slashing at another who attempted to chop my arm off from the side. Wasp and I stuck close to each other as we carved our way into the horde and it was like we sort of became extensions of each other, one complete person who ripped apart our enemy together, like we were born to do this sort of thing. I had her back and she had mine and together we mowed those bastards down, blades moving in sync with one another's. It was like I didn't even need my other sabre; she was my empty hand and if I needed defence on my left she was at my side in a heartbeat, slashing and stabbing into any Berserker flesh I couldn't reach. And if she needed me at her open side then I was there, back pressed up against hers and hacking apart any soldier who was stupid enough to get too close. Fuck I knew we were in a god awful situation and underneath the adrenalin that was racing through me I knew there was fear in me somewhere, fear for her, fear for the others, fear none of us would get out of this place, but I couldn't feel that right then; I couldn't feel fear or the strain in my muscles or the ache from my chest wound. I don't think I'd ever felt more recklessly alive then I did right then, pressed to Wasp's side and fighting for our lives, my blood on fire and hammering in my veins. The hatred and confusion that had clotted up my head like tar for what felt like years was finally gone, that crystal was out of me and my body was my own again, I was no longer drowning in my own chest. I was back with my friends fighting on the side I was meant to be on and fuck it if it meant I might be killed today, I was filled with this psychotic sort of happiness about it. This was where I was supposed to be, this was what I was meant to do. I was taking all the bad things back, one fucking Berserker at a time and I felt so fucking good it was almost scary. Almost.

I dunno if Wasp picked up on my euphoric vibes or what, but at one point she backed up into me and threaded her free hand through mine while we were still going ape shit on these guys and I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, catching the grin that was gleaming on her face, her beautiful face.

And I knew it for sure right then; maybe not in this sort of situation, covered in blood and gore and fighting for our own survival, but this right here, together with this girl, this was where I was meant to be. This was where I belonged.

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

I don't know where he suddenly came from but Angel was there, streaking across the chamber like, well, a dark sort of angel and he crashed into Cyclonis so hard I wanted to scream with laughter. I mean it was just so perfect, watching her fly backwards, shock etched over every feature on her pallid face, her own little puppet having turned on her. It didn't even click with me right away that oh hey, Angel's back on our side now? It was just so natural to see him fighting against the enemy instead of with them, like the whole time he'd had that crystal in him, poisoning him against us, had been a terrible nightmare and waking up he was back to normal, like it'd never happened. Except for the wings. He still had those.

And it's a good thing he did because he was able to get Wasp out of there and ecstatic relief exploded so fiercely in my belly I wanted to cheer like an idiot. Wasp was okay and she'd been able to get Angel back to himself; how could things get much better, given our current situation?

Having Falshade suddenly appear at my side certainly did the trick.

I blinked at him, stunned to see him; luckily he wasn't so dumbstruck and stabbed Sliver into the face of an oncoming Berserker, showering us both with gore as the thing howled and collapsed at our feet.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, my heart thundering with happiness. _This_ was how things were supposed to be after all.

"Nice to see you too." He said, pretending to be insulted and I was gonna swat at him when we both had to leap back out of the way of a wide sweep of a long sword, the tip just grazing our bellies. The Berserker wielding the thing sneered at us, gnashing his pointed teeth and swung it back again for round two, but Falshade caught the blade with Sliver, holding it back long enough for me to lunge forward, swinging my battle axe over my head and chopping right into his shoulder, severing the arm holding the long sword. The Berserker shrieked in pain as blood spurted in long bursts from the stump of his arm and I felt slightly ill. Falshade moved in and put him out of his misery, slicing his throat open and kicking him down away from us to let him bleed out on the stone floor.

Now that's teamwork, man.

"Seriously, what happened to the whole diversion thing?" I asked, hurling my throwing axe at a Berserker that was rushing towards Piper and hooking it in his spine.

"Well we couldn't let you guys have all the fun, could we?" He pointed out, smiling grimly but sincerely nonetheless and I smiled back, glad to see him despite everything.

"Where are Varan and Fraggle?"I asked then, only just noticing the absence of the two of them and my heart was seized by intense fear.

"They're on a side mission." Falshade reported and I quirked an eyebrow, wondering what that could possibly be. Probably something insanely moronic, knowing Fraggle.

The two of us melded back in with the Storm Hawks, who had moved ahead of us slightly, fighting tooth and nail as the Berserkers pressed in closer, feeding off their Master's growing irritation with us. She was pacing back and forth along the edge of that platform before us like a caged animal waiting to strike. Her eyes seemed to be spitting venom down upon us, her knuckles white against her broken staff.

"Come on, get them!" she bellowed, her voice shaking the entire chamber. "You want to taste their flesh don't you?"

"Not mine you don't." Falshade growled, catching an oncoming blade with Sliver and then, with a quick twist of his wrist, cut the arm holding the thing off just under the elbow. I leapt to his side and slammed my axe head into the torso of another Berserker and once again getting the damn thing stuck in his chest cavity. I managed to yank it free and finish my victim with a blow to the head that cracked his skull right open, brain matter splattering free under the force of my axe. I glanced around and realized with a jolt of panic that I'd been separated from Falshade and the others, sort of cut away from them by a ring of Berserkers who were more interested in killing them then capturing me. I guess I had to admit I was sort of a boring target, as they couldn't really just try and hack me to pieces, which was what they were designed to do after all. So uninterested with me were they that I was able to cut a few of them down without them even making a move at me, like I was some pesky little insect being ignored in light of opponents they were actually allowed to chew on.

And that kinda pissed me off. On my list of Top Ten Things That'll Send Stork off the Deep End being ignored is pretty close to the top, right under mechanical abuse and Angel.

So I really let hell loose on those guys as if to prove to them that I _was_ something to concern themselves with and to get them to lay off the others too. Nobody was going to be dining on my god damn friends, not on my fucking watch.

I lashed out with a vicious uppercut with my battle axe that completely tore the abdomen open on one poor sucker, spilling shredded organs onto the floor in front of me with a horrible range of splattering sounds. Of course the god damn guy didn't die right away and I lashed out with one of my throwing axes, which bit deep into his throat and let his dark blood come pouring free. He yowled at me and blood dribbled down his chin as he drowned in it, choking on his own blood. He staggered forward, clawing at me and I backed up in disgust as he collapsed, his hands trying to grip desperately at my shirt and coughing blood all over me. Completely revolted now I aimed a snap kick at him, connecting solidly with his head and cracking it to the side, finally finishing him. Another Berserker came roaring up on me then, having waited for me to finish off this last guy before springing on me, holding off my battle axe with his own sword and crashing right into me, his ragged nails digging into my arm as he grabbed me, pulling me into his chest and dragging me backwards through the horde, pulling me towards the platform. I kicked and shrieked and then finally got my wits back and slammed my other throwing axe deep into his hip, catching the joint and locking the bone together. He grunted with surprise, his left leg momentarily rendered useless and as he bent to wrench my axe free I rammed my elbow right into his face, feeling his nose crunch with the blow. He let out a gargled howl and his grip slackened on me just enough that I could wriggle free, turning around and finishing him with a blow right to the stomach with my battle axe, going clean through flesh and intestines and severing right though his spine with a nasty hacking sound. I pulled my weapon back as he collapsed before me and lashed out immediately at the person standing behind him, expecting another attack.

What I didn't expect was for it to be Angel standing there instead, barely managing to deflect my blow with his sabre. The two of us stared at each other in surprise, our weapons locked and hanging in the air motionlessly as we stood like a couple of idiots, gawking at each other. It was weird seeing him up close all of a sudden like that; now I remembered what he'd been like before, the look that had been on his face as he sneered at me, attempting to take me away from the others and bring me to my fate at the hands of Cyclonis. I remembered those awful scarlet eyes and the hollowness that had been in them and it all passed through me in a moment of terrible fear and anger. But then that vision cleared and it was just Angel standing there stupidly, carefully lowering his sabre and raising his other hand in a sort of gesture of peace and I was so overwhelming happy to see him that I did something extremely idiotic and leapt forward, practically pouncing on him and wrapping him in a tight hug, ignoring the fact that oh yeah, there was a battle raging ruthlessly around us. I heard him utter a muffled grunt but then, after a moment of hesitance, he wrapped the arm not holding his sabre around me as well, rubbing his cheek against my neck with brief affection.

"Your hair looks weird." He muttered into my ear and if my arms hadn't been occupied with holding him at the moment I would have punched him in the stomach. I never got the chance to respond though because he abruptly snapped out of the little moment we were having and shouted "Shit!" right into my ear before dodging to the side, dragging me with him in a sort of half spin and ramming his sabre deep into the chest of a Berserker who came charging at us, broadsword raised high above his head to try and chop the both of us in half. His face contorted and he fell to the floor as Angel's blade ripped into his heart and Angel shoved me out of the way as his mighty blade came falling down, clanging hard to the stone just where I'd been standing.

"Thanks." I said, jumping over the fallen Berserker to smash the flat side of my axe hard into another oncoming soldier, blasting him back and busting apart his ribcage with the force. Angel nodded and then we both flinched as a trio of Berserkers went flying over our heads, crashing down farther back in the crowd. Junko pushed himself into the gap he'd made and relief swept over his face.

"There you are!" He said. "We should stick together!"

"Right." I said, tugging Angel along with me as we melded back in with the others once again. "Oh, yeah, Angel these are the Storm Hawks, Storm Hawks this is Angel, he's on our side again so, you know, don't kill him or anything."

"Thanks for the disclaimer." Angel grumbled and then staggered a bit when Wasp crashed into him a little more forcefully then I think she meant to.

"Here." She said, handing him his other sabre. "I've got mine back now." She said, sounding very pleased indeed by this and holding up her machetes in demonstration.

"Oh what, mine wasn't good enough for you?" he asked and she butted him in the shoulder with her head playfully before lunging back into the fray, ducking under Junko's swing to tear into a pack of Berserkers who were moving in on the Wallop. Angel, Falshade and I all pressed close to each other and for a second there it was just like the old days when the three of us would crash into each other all the time as we walked down the terra streets where we'd all met, acting like we owned the place, the whole world at our fingertips. But then we broke apart, Falshade springing forward to cut deep into the side of one Berserker and Angel chased after him, ducking under his arm as Falshade slashed out at another Berserker and punching both his sabres in under the first guy's breast plate and piercing deep into his chest cavity, finishing him. Man it was good to see those two back together; both of them would attempt to pummel me if they heard me say it, but those guys were just meant for each other.

Just then something happened that made all in proximity pause in their actions, looking around wildly and wondering what in hell had just happened.

From somewhere deep in the terra a rumbling started up, slowly at first and then growing louder and more intense by the second. The floor beneath my feet started shaking violently and the entire chamber trembled around us as the roaring sound became deafening, reverberating in my chest cavity and shaking the breath from my lungs. The Storm Hawks pressed closer together, looking around uncertainly as if expecting some new horror to reveal itself and several Berserkers shrieked in surprise. Even Cyclonis looked rather confused, clutching her staff tightly and backing up slightly towards the Eternity crystal, glancing at all the different tunnel entrances in turn.

Then there was a piercing, splitting sound and all heads turned towards the stone ceiling as a massive crack ruptured in the rock, spraying bits of gravel and dust and snaking along the ceiling in a long line, forking off here and there and ripping through the layer of stone as the cavern continued to shake.

Then with a crack that tore through the air like a gunshot the whole ceiling shifted and seemed to buckle as a huge chunk of stone broke loose, dropping down like a meteor.

"LOOK OUT!" Falshade shouted, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me backwards. I caught a hold of Stork in passing and the three of us darted back out of the way of the ton of falling rock. It smashed into the stone floor an instant later, setting off an explosion of dust and chipped rock and I shield my eyes from the debris as the floor bucked beneath us. Coughing I clung tight to Shade and Stork as the cloud of dust settled and I looked around frantically for signs of the others, praying none of them had been squished; I could see an arm sticking out from under the chunk of rock but I was pretty sure it was a Berserker's. I felt relief sweep through me when I spotted Angel and Piper not too far away, their mutual dark skin coated with a fine layer of grit. Junko backed away from the slab of stone, his mighty arms covering both his own and Wasp's head from any more rock that might come falling down and I was just about to start feeling lucky when I realized I hadn't yet seen Finn.

Oh god, oh god, oh god, no no no, not my Daddy, _please_ no...

And then there he was, standing on top of this massive hunk of rock and whooping and shouting like a maniac, firing crossbolts at the stunned Berserkers below, laughing hysterically and throwing taunts down on them. Any who tried to climb up the rock to get him were immediately shot down and I felt both a mixture of relief and anger with him for scaring me like that.

Stork was quivering slightly at my side; I turned to check on him and noticed with surprise that he had a cut on his chest, not real deep but enough to allow blood to trickle steadily over his uniform. I wondered if he'd noticed it yet; surely if he had he'd be raving about all sorts of infections by now.

I touched his arm briefly and he glanced at me, shaking his head. "Your father is crazy." He informed me and I smiled grimly.

"Runs in the family." I explained. "What the hell happened just now?"

Falshade's fingers finally unwrapped themselves from the death grip they'd had on my arm. "_That_ would have been our side mission going off." He said shiftily and I stared at him, wanting to know just what in hell this side mission had been. He glanced at me and the look on his face made my stomach clench uneasily; whatever they'd done I knew I wasn't going to like it.

"Oh god, what in hell did those guys _do_?"

**x.x.x Varan x.x.x**

My fingers were shaking slightly as I carefully inserted the copper tip of a delicate piece of wire into a small hole I'd made in the top of my last Rapture; the other ten were already hooked together to the bundle of wires I had sitting next to me on the table, like a whole bunch of nerve endings sprawling from different parts of the body. I'd been chewing on my tongue nervously and by now it was a bloody mess in my mouth, making that uneasy feeling quell in my stomach like it always did whenever I could taste blood. Or smell blood. Or see blood. For a medic I really don't have a very strong constitution. I pushed the wire as far as it would go, wedging the cooper piece between the two conductors; usually once the pin was pulled free of the device these two pieces of metal would snap together and a surge of energy would travel through the circuit, activating the explosive agents. I'd separated the two conductors until they held about a quarter of an inch apart and then carefully removed the pin, one explosive at a time, and believe you me that was one of the most nerve wracking things I'd ever done. But all the conductors had held and the distance was enough to wedge the wire between. I then tightened the two conductors until the held the wire in place and gently set the last explosive down alongside the others, tying the bundle of wires together with a strip of tape. Now that I wasn't holding anything that could ignite at any second in my hands my body felt free to start trembling like crazy as I felt sure at any second one of those wires would slip and the conductors would clash together, setting off a chain reaction of explosion. I let out a shaky sigh and rubbed at my temples, trying to calm my frazzled nerves. I really, really didn't like any of this. This god damn tunnel was freaking me right out, my claustrophobia setting in hard and my jumpiness only made things worse, as I was convinced my shaking fingers would screw everything up and set off the whole device way too soon, taking out Fraggle and I in the process.

And the anticipation was getting to me too; if I didn't succeed in blowing myself up by accident then we still had to deal with the army of Berserkers that had the others trapped in this Heart Chamber place, not to mention Master Cyclonis herself would undoubtedly be there as well. It just seemed to be like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. I was having a hard time seeing a good ending to this day and although I'd already accepted that, all this waiting for the inevitable to happen was stressing me out like nobody's business.

Oh well, at least it was good to be back in familiar territory...

Fraggle had remained silent since Angel and Falshade had left and I had a feeling he was silently parting with his beloved ship, trying to enjoy every second he had left with her as we moved further and further into the interior of the terra. My heart was aching for him and the whole time I'd been wiring up those explosives I kept asking myself why was I doing this, why didn't I just refuse to do it, to spare him having to sacrifice the _Merlin_? But my hands kept working on their own accord and I knew I could never refuse to do anything my friends asked of me, whether as simple as making them some waffles for breakfast or something as heart-wrenching as this. Once they had their mind really set on something I was powerless to try and sway them and so I just silently accepted the matter and tried to support them through it as best I could. I could say it's because I'm a rather submissive individual deep down, but I prefer to look at it like well, if it were me I wouldn't let them change my mind either, so I tried my best to return the favour.

I let out a deep breath, trying to steady myself once again and picked up my alarm clock, which was lying gutted a little ways away from my bundle of explosives. We had to use mine because as it turned out I was the only one of us who actually _had_ one. Figures. I also had another conducting device sitting on the table, which would be inserted into the clock and the wires would all be hooked up to it. When the clock reached the time I had set for it (I was giving us an entire minute for cushion) it would trigger the conductor, sending a signal of energy through the wires to their respective bombs and naturally set them off. Or so I hoped; like I said, I'd never done this sort of thing before. And one little slip up could mean the whole thing would go up too soon... or not at all. I hoped if I did happen to screw up then the resulting effect would be the latter.

I had just finished hooking up my little conductor when Fraggle cleared his throat as if to warn me he was going to start talking; it still startled me anyways and I jumped and then flinched as the Raptures rolled slightly on the table top.

"Angel said first left after we left the first tunnel, right?" he asked me and I was too strung out to even roll my eyes at his atrocious memory.

"Yeah, first left and then go until we see a big shaft opening up in the ceiling." I reiterated and Fraggle snorted to himself, making me glance over at him to make sure he was quite alright.

"What?"

"Big shaft." He snickered and this time I did roll my eyes. Then again I was sort of pleased that despite everything, how dire our current situation was and that he was soon going to lose his most prized and treasured possession, he still at least could keep up his crude sense of humour. I suppose I really had to respect that about Fraggle and all things considered, I was glad I was with him right now; the Oracle had said his light attitude was infectious and it made my stomach unknot slightly just to hear him giggling to himself over there at the helm.

"You almost ready over there, eh?" He asked me, glancing over his shoulder to see how my work was progressing.

"Almost." I said, biting down on my tongue once again as I attached the cluster of wires to the back of my little triggering mechanism with excruciating caution, my eyes watering because I refused to so much as blink less I mess something up. I reached slowly for another piece of tape with one hand while holding the wires securely in place with the other and gently attached them to the rest of my alarm clock, letting out a shaky sigh of relief when it was finally completed. "There, that should about do it." I said, looking over my handiwork. God that had to be the worst IED I'd ever seen. Then again living with the Gargoyles had shown me a variety of improvisation over the years and none of them had ever seemed very impressive or safe at the time. And yet most of them had worked out in the end anyways. Except for the time Fraggle and Angel had tried to make their own deep-fryer on the stove with a pot of boiling oil and had nearly burned the kitchen down.

I glanced out the windshield at the gloom of the tunnel that pressed in from all sides, only lit up dimly by the _Merlin_'s headlights. The tunnel walls seemed to be closing in on us, growing narrower the further we went and I hoped the _Merlin_ wouldn't get stuck before we reached the tunnel mouth, because I had no idea how we'd get into it if we had to climb from the passage floor.

Fraggle glanced at me once again as I moved to stand beside him. "You know, maybe I should start making some noise, eh, get their attention a bit." He said, checking for my approval. The last thing my poor nerves wanted was excessive racket, but I nodded anyways and he leaned hard on the _Merlin_'s horn, rattling our tunnel and any running adjacent to it with a continuous blare. Glancing past the runway I could see a few Berserkers stepping out from nearby tunnels below, chasing after the _Merlin_ as she flew past, their eyes and fangs gleaming eerily in the brief passing of light.

"That's right, come and get it you creepy little bastards!" Fraggle hollered next to me as if he actually thought they could hear him. I felt my tail flicking about behind me uneasily as the tunnel seemed to squeeze in even tighter; I could hear the _Merlin_'s outlying engines staring to scrape against the tunnel walls. Oh god I didn't want to think about would happen if we got stuck down here with those bloodthirsty monsters on our tail...

We almost missed the pipe entirely; Fraggle, as usual, was going way too fast given our tight quarters and I only just noticed the dark blotch coming up ahead in time. "There it is!" I said, pointing, and Fraggle slammed on the brakes so abruptly I nearly went careening right into the windshield. I turned in time to see our time-bomb skidding towards the edge of the table and lunged for it, catching it in my hands just before it hit the floor and closing my eyes tight, expecting the bloody thing to go off right in my hands. Thankfully it didn't and I set it back on the table gingerly, glaring at Fraggle.

He ignored my look pointedly and glanced upwards at the tunnel ceiling; the _Merlin_'s roof was resting just beneath the dark opening, her engines wedged tightly against the walls, locking her hopelessly in place. She was stuck just as Fraggle had predicted she would be, trapped in her own grave and I felt a wave of sorrow and guilt flood through me. I rested my hand against the nearby wall, patting the steel as if the _Merlin_ were some kind of faithful pet and not just a ship. When I really thought about it, she'd never been just a ship; she'd been our home, she'd been our place of security and she'd been with us through all our losses and victories. She was a part of the team really and the thought of leaving her forever made me indescribably sad, a sense of loss that cut deep into my heart.

I glanced at Fraggle, who had one hand rubbing over the controls and was looking down the _Merlin_'s corridor with a forlorn expression on his usually cheerful face. He sighed and wiped at his nose, his ears drooping low and he swallowed a few times, fighting back tears.

"Well, this is it then, girl." He muttered, patting the steering a little bit. "Sorry it had to end this way, eh... I'm gonna miss you."

The _Merlin_ seemed to settle and the riggings groaned as she did so, as if she really were alive and trying to communicate back to her pilot. I dunno what kind of message Fraggle took from that sound, but it must have been something that set his resolve because he sniffled, gave her one final pat and then turned to me, solemn but resolute.

"Alright, you ready to go then, eh?" He asked me and I nodded, securing my broadsword to my back and moving over to the table. Fraggle opened the door to the deck and waited, watching me as I carefully picked up my alarm clock and set the timer. "How much time we got there, eh?"

"A minute, hopefully." I said and then held my breath, closing out all sound around me as I paused for a split second, praying this would work and not send Fraggle and I to our death in a thousand little pieces. Then I pushed the button down, starting the countdown; the Raptures didn't blow up and I let out a breath of relief, backing away from the device and watching the second hand as it twitched over the clock face, counting down the seconds.

I turned, those quiet ticks echoing like bells in my head and rushed out the door onto the deck, Fraggle at my side. Below I could hear the group of Berserkers we'd attracted growling and shrieking at us, clawing at the _Merlin_'s underbelly and trying to climb aboard, snarling at us. Fraggle hurled down several nasty comments at them, taunting them and I had to give him a bit of a shove to get him focused back on the task at hand. My mind had become a clock of its own, running through the seconds and it made my pulse pound wildly, anxiety thick in my veins, making my head spin slightly and I could barely seem to focus on what my hands and feet were doing as Fraggle and I clambered onto the roof of the _Merlin_. But my body seemed to be working on its own accord, propelling itself forward swiftly and powerfully, my usual clumsiness that was present in situations like this gone. I had to stoop we were so close to the ceiling and then the hole that led into the other passage was above us, a dark patch hanging above our heads like a portal to another world.

I had to give Fraggle a boost so he could grab the lip of the tunnel, hauling himself into the passage above. By now I figured over half our time was up and I was barely aware of what I was doing as I leapt up, claws clutching at the metal rim and I scrabbled against the floor, my body feeling way too heavy below me as I tried to pull myself into the tunnel. My arms were strong but I had nothing to really hold on to and my god damn tail was weighing me down. I started to slip back down and I panicked, thrashing wildly and sinking my claws into the metal floor, scoring deep ruts into the surface with a series of screeches.

Fraggle had my forearms then and tugged me forward with all his might, grunting with the effort but managing to drag me far enough forward that I could get a better purchase, swinging one leg and then the other up beside me, safely in the new passage.

Fraggle was tugging at me, trying to get me to my feet and I scrambled up, running alongside him through the dark as we tried to put as much distance between ourselves and the _Merlin_ as possible. But despite all our efforts, we still didn't make it very far before our time ran out. And when it did it was like the whole world exploded around us.

The mighty shockwave hit us first, pitching us forward to tumble through the air, crashing back down onto the unyielding metal a good twenty feet from where we'd been standing and skidding along the smooth floor for several more feet, our bodies instantly bruised. The massive roaring sound came next, shaking the entire tunnel around us and completely deafening me as if my eardrums had popped. My ears were ringing and everything was muted to me as I turned to look for Fraggle and then finally there was the roiling wave of fire, rushing towards us like a creature made of pure flames, consuming the entire tunnel and leaving nowhere for us to shield ourselves from its monstrous heat. It was like the very doors of Hell had opened up to consume us and even if I could have outrun the thing I couldn't move a muscle, fixated by the advancing wall of fire.

Fraggle was a dark smudge against the blazing storm, his silhouette flickering in the heat waves as he jumped in front of me and I saw him hold his energy staff out in front of himself, jabbing it down against the metal floor, and with an explosion of blue light to contrast the fiery orange a cocoon of energy flowed over our heads, encasing us in a dome of ice. The mighty jet of fire collided with the outside of our shield and for a moment I thought it wasn't going to hold and we'd be completely incinerated. But then it washed over top of the protective dome, surrounding us as it blazed past us, the intense heat competing with the freezing shell created by Fraggle's Frost crystal and howling all around us like we were inside an erupting volcano.

And then it was gone, flowing past us and slowly dissipating further down the tunnel, the terra rumbling in wake of the colossal explosion, the ground trembling beneath my body and I prayed that the whole place wouldn't come crashing down on us.

I blinked a few times, my ears filled with static, and pushed myself to my feet shakily as Fraggle turned to me slowly, gripping his staff so tightly his palms were trickling blood. He had ice clinging to his face and jacket and he seemed to be slightly delirious, overwhelmed by all that had just happened.

"...Are you okay?" He asked me after a few moments and although I couldn't hear him yet I understood what his mouth was saying.

"Yeah." I said, nodding as I figured his sensitive ears had suffered even more than mine; blood was matting in the fine fur on the inside of his ears and I hoped he hadn't received any serious damage to his eardrums. "You?"

"Yeah." He said, wiping frost from his bomber jacket. I grabbed his shoulder to steady myself and shook him a bit to get his attention.

"Good idea." I said loudly into his ear. "You just saved both our asses."

He grinned slightly, clipping his staff back to his belt and then glanced back down the passage, hesitating and then stepping forward uncertainly, going back to investigate the remains of the tunnel below. I knew we had to hurry and catch up with the others, but I found myself following after him anyways. The upper tunnel we'd scrambled into had been decimated further back, torn open into one single, jagged opening that yawned out into the rest of the underground. I was surprised that the tunnel hadn't been ripped apart as far back as we'd stopped; the tunnel now opened up in one gaping mouth just thirty feet back down the way we'd come. Man we'd been lucky...

I gripped Fraggle's arm warily when we reached the ragged opening, the metal twisted and torn back by the explosion and some places still glowing orange from the furious heat. Together we leaned forward cautiously and looked out at the result of our explosion. I felt my eyes widen in awe when I took in the massive crater that had been carved from the terra's interior; it seemed to spread out in all directions further then my eyes could see, reaching down further into the roots of the terra and revealing more passages deeper down, torn open like arteries in a bludgeoned corpse. From somewhere above I could feel fresh air leaking in and there was light somewhere too, seeping in through massive cracks scored into the stone; it was a wonder the terra was even still standing at all. I felt like we were standing at the lip of an abyss, looking down into the underworld.

And there was absolutely no trace of the _Merlin_, not even a scrap of metal to prove she'd ever been there, our faithful little bird blown into oblivion.

Next to me Fraggle sniffled slightly then abruptly turned, motioning down the rest of the tunnel. Without a word I followed him as he took off down the passage; there was nothing left to see here anyways.

The metal floor was scorching hot beneath our feet and we tried to move as quickly as possible to avoid being burned too badly. We raced along through the dark, keeping close to each other so we wouldn't lose track of each other and heading deeper into the terra, which creaked and groaned around us now and then, still shifting and settling in wake of the explosion. Soon I could see a small point of light ahead, growing brighter all the time and my heart started pounding so fiercely it hurt. I was frightened what I might see when we reached the end of the tunnel; what if something had happened to one of the others? I didn't want to see one of my friends being torn apart by those demons and the thought that they might have been hurt in our absence made my throat close so tightly I could scarcely breathe.

I slowed when the end of the tunnel was mere feet ahead, my muscles seizing tight with fear and apprehension. Even from here I could see blades slashing wickedly and there was a reek of blood coating the air, making my uneasy stomach turn over. I hesitated, frozen there just within the tunnel mouth, trying to find some scrap of courage in my body but I felt like it all had been completely tapped out. I just couldn't handle any more of this...

Fraggle, however, felt none of the faltering that had consumed me. He sprang past me and crashed right into the thick of the Berserkers who had their backs to our tunnel with a vicious snarl, a fierce sound I'd never heard come from his mouth before. His hackles were up, his jagged teeth bared menacingly and he looked pretty damn intimidating then, a totally different creature then the placid goofball I was used to. He slammed into them hard and lashed out with his staff, cracking one unsuspecting Berserker around the head so hard it snapped his neck to the side with an obvious splitting sound, striking him dead in an instant.

"THAT ONE'S FOR THE _MERLIN_!" Fraggle yelled and as a group of Berserkers turned on him he kept right on going, cracking another's skull with another ferocious swing of his staff. "AND THAT ONE'S FOR THE _MERLIN_ TOO!" He went on, smashing the Berserker's skull again when he didn't go down after that first blow. "AND THAT ONE'S FOR TERRA NORD!" Then he flipped his staff around and activated the crystal he'd placed in the other end; after his Striker had blown up that day at that outpost terra he'd replaced it with a Blazer crystal instead, to contrast with his Frost one at the other end. And he turned it on those Berserkers like a flamethrower, spewing a jet of flame into their midst and causing them to shriek and howl as the fire caught in their clothes and flesh, burning them continuously even as new skin grew back in place of the charred layers. "AND THAT'S 'CAUSE I"M JUST FUCKING SICK OF YOU HOSERS!"

I took in the carnage that was going on out there, watching Fraggle plough his way through the enemy ranks, setting more Berserkers on fire and hitting others with blasts of ice and then proceeding to snap their frozen necks with one good chop from his staff. I knew I had to get out there and help him but my body seemed rooted in place. I just... I just...

I grit my teeth tight and shoved all my hesitation down, reaching instead for the part of myself that I'd always feared, the powerful attributes that came with my heritage. My body had evolved to be able to kill, I was a predatory creature by nature and even if my heart didn't agree with that on most occasions, I knew I needed it today. I needed it to help my friends and I had to let go of the timid, peaceful Varan, just for a little while. I had to step into that more frightening aspect of myself, wield the formidable muscles and lethal claws my body had been equipped with. I'd seen the others do it time and time again; they could be deadly warriors when it was called upon them, unflinching and brutal and even downright vicious. But they also were kind and caring individuals too, when it wasn't called upon them to fight. They had a second skin they could slip into, become the fierce, fearless people they needed to be in order to survive and protect each other.

And I knew I could do that too. I had to. If there was ever a good use for my powerful, dangerous body, then this was it.

My hand closed around the hilt of my broadsword and pulled it free from its scabbard and I charged after Fraggle, side sweeping with my heavy blade and cutting through the bodies of two Berserkers in front of me. Another sprang at me with a snarl, his sword diving in for my abdomen and I lashed out with my free hand, claws ripping into his flesh and tearing his throat open in a single slash. His warm blood flowed down my arm, worming its way between my scales and it sickened me but I ignored the feeling, slamming the flat side of my broad sword into another Berserker and blasting him backwards before jabbing forwards, piercing deep into his chest. He screeched at me in rage and dragged himself forward, impaling himself further on my blade as he clawed at me, trying to reach me and I threw a punch at him, catching him in the jaw and cracking his head to the side, snapping his neck. And I just kept moving onwards, cutting my enemy down before me a little too efficiently for my liking. But I knew deep down this is what had to happen; these guys didn't believe in peaceful agreements or aiming to cripple and if I wanted to live through this day then I had to play by the same rules. So I just kept going on, like I'd been killing these guys all my life and this was nothing new to me. I caught up to Fraggle eventually and tore apart the Berserkers that he left wreathed in flames, putting the poor bastards out of their misery with a quick slash to their necks. Some of them kept on trying to attack us even while they flesh burned from their limbs and I hollered at Fraggle to be a little more thorough with what he was doing. He simply growled at me and dug his own nasty set of claws into the throat of a burning Berserker, tearing his jugular open. Jeez I'd never seen him this violent; he must have been really hurting over the _Merlin_ and he was taking out his pain on these guys, tearing them down before him effortlessly, like he'd always fought this way and not from the helm of his beloved ship. It pained me to realize that he'd be fighting this way from now on.

"Hey!" I heard someone yelling above all the noise that was raging around me, and the ringing that was still in my ears, and spotted Finn standing atop a large hunk of rock not too far away, taking pot-shots at the Berserkers below. He waved his free hand at us to get our attention.

"Nice of you to join us!" he called and before I could think of anything to say a Berserker went down in front of me, his chest carved open by a mighty battle axe and suddenly a very pissed off looking Stork was standing in front of us and I almost forgot to be happy to see her.

"You-blew-up-the-_MERLIN_?" she screeched, her face red with fury. "Without consulting ME?"

"It wasn't _my_ idea!" I said defensively.

Stork looked like she might just break down and bawl, after she was finished throwing her fit. "You're the explosive specialist!" She shouted accusingly. "And you're the one with all that common sense you're always raving about! Where was that just now?"

"Hey don't you be picking on Varan, eh." Fraggle snapped at her, in no mood for her bitching, considering it was his ship we'd blown to smithereens. "We almost got blown up too you know!"

Before Stork could say anything further a dark shape came plunging down from above and landed just in front of us; Angel's dark wings spread like a shield before us and he stabbed one of his sabres right into the open mouth of a Berserker who'd been charging towards us with a wicked mace in his hand. Angel rounded on us and looked like he wanted to hit all three of us at once.

"I know it's hard for you three, but would you stop being idiots and pay attention when some motherfucker is trying to kill you?" He snapped. Ah, there's our Angel, back to normal.

"Did you know they were going to blow up the _Merlin_?" Stork demanded of him, slamming the head of her battle axe hard into the torso of an oncoming Berserker furiously, cleaving the poor son of a bitch right in half. Fraggle turned his Blazer on another cluster of Berserkers and Angel backed out of the way of the flames, bumping into me slightly and eyeing the blood that was spattered all over my arms and torso and cocked an eyebrow.

"What happened to two wrongs don't make a right?" He asked me and I wrinkled my snout, feel a bit of shame spear my chest.

"Don't discourage him!" Wasp said, springing out of nowhere and slashing with both her machetes at once, carving a nearby Berserker into pieces. "I've been waiting to see this side of him!" She cackled, hacking at any bodies that came in to close and pinching my hipbone briefly when she had a moment to spare, looking at me seriously. "Don't worry Varan, we all know who you are deep down." She assured me and I felt grateful for her words. "Just sometimes-" she paused to ram one of her machetes up to the hilt in the stomach of another Berserker and then tear it to the side, ripping right though his organs and yanking her blade clean through his side. "You gotta get _messy_."

I knew she had a point there, but I didn't like how pleased she sounded about this fact.

I felt someone hit my arm and looked at Falshade, who was caked with blood but grinning nonetheless, obviously relieved to see Fraggle and I in one piece.

"You both alright?" He asked and I nodded reassuringly. "Good." He said and then plunged in alongside Fraggle, rubbing his shoulder briefly before joining the fray, Sliver weaving through the mass of blades and bodies effortlessly and biting deep into any Berserker who got in its way. I pushed my way over beside Stork and the two of us worked as a sort of team, one finishing the Berserker the other had already carved into, as it seemed to take two or more blows to get those monsters to stay down for good, unless you got a good shot at their necks. And despite everything, our grisly situation and the odds still stacked against us, I felt content, complete. We were all together again, the six of us fighting alongside each other; this was how it was meant to be and I had to agree with Falshade, I wouldn't have things any other way.

I hadn't even noticed Cyclonis standing atop the platform at the far side of the chamber until her enraged shriek reached our ears; she must have started to realize that we were putting up a decent fight, cutting down dozens of her mutated soldiers and it angered her.

"This is taking too _long_!" she thundered, her hands clenched at her sides. "I have had _enough_ of all of you! RELEASE HYDRA!"

"Oh no..." I heard Angel mutter somewhere off to my left and I felt myself falter, pausing alongside the others as we stared across the chamber where a section of the stone wall was rolling back, revealing a dark holding cell behind it. And the thing that stepped out from that cell made the rest of us take a step back in shock, our weapons drooping slightly as we hesitated in face of this new horror.

This creature had to be at least fourteen feet tall, her body stretched grotesquely, her face resembling a wraith's, pale and skeletal, colourless eyes burning with an eerie, haunted glow. And protruding from her sides were three sets of arms; she had regular arms attached to her shoulders and then it looked like two additional pairs had been sutured to her ribs and stomach, unnaturally long and holding wicked, curved blades in each hand, making a total of six. She looked like a gigantic, monstrous insect and just the sight of her alone sent a shiver down my spine. And then, when she opened her mouth, which was filled with three rows of sharpened teeth, she let out a bloodcurdling shriek that made all of us flinch and clutch our ears, the sound tearing right into our skulls.

"What the hell is _that_?" Fraggle gulped, all the fury that had encompassed him dissipated in face of this horrible mutant.

"She's one of Cyclonis' creations." Angel said grimly. "Just be glad it isn't Kronos..."

"Hydra, my pet!" Cyclonis shrieked from her place on the pedestal. "Feed! Feed on those pathetic insects!"

The creature's grip tightened on all six of her blades and with another agonizing scream she came charging forwards, ploughing a line right through the horde of the Berserkers, coming right for us. Finn hit her with one of his crossbolts but she didn't even seem to notice. She just streaked forwards, strings of saliva spilling from her gnashing jaws.

Angel looked over at Wasp, who nodded and hefted her machetes readily and then looked at the rest of us. "Go." He said, shoving Stork into Falshade and motioning towards the stairs that were carved into the side of the platform. "You four go with the Storm Hawks, get to that crystal. We can take care of her."

Falshade looked unsure, hesitating. "But-"

"Just do it!" Angel snapped at him, pushing Fraggle, who was looking a little stunned, towards him too, trying to get us moving. "Give me a chance to redeem myself here, Shade. Go on, get going, now!"

With a final glance at him Shade nodded and tugged Stork and Fraggle along, lashing out at the Berserkers who pressed in towards them. Fraggle seemed to snap out of it and hit a few with a blast from his Frost crystal, freezing them in place so Stork could hack them apart with her battle axe like they were frozen chunks of meat. I chased after them, glancing over my shoulder at Angel and Wasp who stood side by side, their blades gripped tight and ready at their sides, a mutual fire burning in their eyes. Hydra shrieked in malicious delight as she reached them and lashed out with three of her blades at once and the two of them exploded into action, Angel blocking with both his sabres while Wasp held off the third blade and dove in with her free machete for Hydra's abdomen. The creature let out her ear-shredding howl and blocked Wasp's attack with another of her blades, attempting to severe the Faerieshian's spine with a fifth blade but Angel caught her sword with one of his own and lashed out at her instead, letting Wasp get out of the way and block the blade that dove for Angel's ribs. It was like the two of them knew exactly where the other was going to be, mirroring each other's movements and protecting each other's exposed bodies when one of them had both swords locked with Hydra's. It was sort of entrancing actually, watching the two of them weave around each other, wielding their twin blades expertly and fighting alongside the other like they'd been doing it all their lives.

I turned back to the others, lashing out at a Berserker who was trying to push past Fraggle, one hand clawing towards Stork; Fraggle had him locked in position with his staff but didn't seem to be able to throw the guy off and he was slowly being pushed backwards across the floor. Until I stepped forwards anyways; with one downward stroke my broadsword sliced through both of the guy's arms, cleaving them off just above the elbows. I watched the stumps of his arms, hands still clutching his swords, fall almost as if in slow motion and I thought for sure I was going to throw up as the nerve endings continued twitching on their own on the bloody floor.

Fraggle jabbed out with the butt of his staff, catching the screaming Berserker right in the forehead and snapping his head back before turning to me. "Thanks for that there, eh." He shouted to me, his hearing evidently still out of whack. Then he quirked an eyebrow, looking concerned. "You alright there, eh? You're looking kinda green."

That snapped me out of it and I gave him a pointed look. "Don't I _always_ look green?" I asked him seriously and he grinned, laughing at himself. The next second though his eyes opened wide in alarm and I only just managed to duck as he fired a bolt of ice over my head and right into the chest of a Berserker who'd been charging up behind me; he froze just behind me, stuck in position with his own broadsword held high above his head, prepared to come down and slice me right down the middle. Before I could even make a move to finish him Stork leapt up beside me and slammed her battle axe hard into the frozen Berserker's stomach, splitting the unfortunate creature's abdomen wide open. And the poor bastard couldn't even scream.

Then from behind us we heard that horrible shriek pierce the air once more at around the same time I heard Angel howl "WASP, NO!" and fear tore through my chest like a shard of ice.

The three of us turned in alarm to look back at Hydra, who had a fountain of dark mutant blood spurting in a steady shower from a severed stump on her left side. Below Wasp was standing, completely unharmed and with a look of wicked triumph on her feral face, brandishing one of the creature's severed arms like a war trophy in her hand. The limb was still twitching and I felt my stomach clench like I was going to be sick.  
"Lookie what I've got!" Wasp taunted, her face split in a savage grin. "One down, five to go!"

"Wasp you bloody idiot!" I could hear Angel seething and Wasp wrinkled her face, looking confused. And then she stepped back in shock, a look of dread stealing the smile from her blood streaked face.

The stump that remained attached to Hydra's side began to quiver and swell, the stream of blood slowly trickling to a halt. And then, in a series of quick, disjointed motions, like watching the sped up process of a tree growing, three separate stalks of flesh shot out from the original stump, flailing outwards and thickening, forming into three more wriggling limbs. In a matter of seconds three new, completely developed arms were sprouting out from where the original had been. As one all three new arms reached back and pulled three new blades from Hydra's back; she had dozens of them strapped to her, all ready and waiting to equip fresh, empty hands. Hydra examined her new appendages for a moment and then her distorted face split into a demented grin, strings of saliva spilling from her rows of fang as she stared down at Wasp and Angel with savage delight, all eight blades held high and gleaming wickedly.

Well _shit_...

"Don't cut off any more arms!" Angel shouted at Wasp, dodging to the side as three of Hydra's blades swung towards him, trying to dice him up like a hunk of meat.

Wasp was still staring in shock, her eyes wide and disbelieving. "...It's supposed to be for her _head_!" She said, sounding outraged. "Hydra was the one with the regenerating _heads_!"

"Yeah, well, this one's with arms!" Angel snapped, darting back over and pushing her slightly, trying to get her moving once again. "So just don't cut anymore of them off, okay?"

The two of them had to split up as Hydra bore down on them, chasing after both of them with two blades each, advancing on them and cutting off any retreat with a wall of limbs and swords, keeping them from getting out of her range, like a wolf herding sheep. I lost sight of them a moment later though because a wave of Berserkers who'd been behind Hydra came rushing up on the rest of us, pressing in on all sides and for a moment I couldn't even get my broadsword up in front of me, it was pinned between me and Stork who I'd been crushed up against. But then Junko's massive body carved through their ranks and with several flashes of green his mighty fists sent a dozen of them flying backwards and I was able to move forwards once again, lashing out at the wall of flesh in front of me and trying to ignore the splatters of gore that splashed onto my scales. I just let it all pile up in some place deep down in my guts for now; I knew later (if there was a later) I was going to be wracked with sickness and shivers for hours for repressing all this unease and nausea, but right now I couldn't let it affect me, I needed to stay strong and ruthless.

I found myself next to Piper amidst all the chaos and she glanced up at me briefly and grinned before suddenly being sent tumbling into my torso, a Berserker having smashed her willowy frame with the flat side of his own large broadsword. She staggered, blinking in shock and pressed one of her delicate hands to the cut above her hipbone, staring at her bloodstained fingers in surprise. I stared at it too and something suddenly jolted violently in my chest; something about Piper reminded me of what I could remember of my mother and seeing the blood roll from her long fingers triggered something in me, something buried under the fear and scars I'd been left with after that terrible day on Bogaton.

I was barely aware of my own actions as I stepped forward, gently pushing Piper to the side and reaching out with my free hand as the Berserker who'd attacked her came back for another round, jaws gnashing about as if they'd been dislocated. His broadsword came sweeping towards me but my arm was longer then his and he stopped dead in his tracks when my clawed hand found his throat, closing completely around his neck. He snarled at me, struggling and attempting to rip my stomach open with his broadsword but I caught his arm before his blade even got close, bending it around the wrong way until his sword feel from his twitching fingertips. He shrieked and spat at me, kicking and clawing the air in front of me and then suddenly all his motions ceased as my hand clenched down, gripping his throat so tightly I felt my claws bite into the back of his neck. He choked and uttered a gargled yowl, shaking weakly in a pitiful attempt to break free but I refused to let go. I just kept on squeezing, feeling his pulse struggling under my palm and his windpipe closing under my monstrous grip. His eyes bulged grotesquely from his head and his lips started turning blue as he wheezed, gasping uselessly for air before there was a strange popping feeling in his neck and he collapsed in against the grip I had him in, dead; I must have broken his neck.

I let him drop to the floor, a cold feeling sweeping through me for a moment before simply vanishing, leaving me with nothing but the unsteady pounding of my heart. I stared at my hand uncertainly, flexing my fingers and wondering where that vehemence had surfaced from in me. Then I felt Piper's hand on my arm and glanced at her, feeling strangely... fine, all things considered.

"Are you okay?" I asked, glancing over her wound briefly, the medic side of my flaring to life.

She nodded. "Just a scratch." She assured me, looking me up and down quizzically. "Are _you_ okay?"

Before I could even think of an answer her orange eyes widened and she cried "Look out!", raising her staff in defence but I moved quicker; in one swift movement I snatched up the Berserker's fallen broadsword and whipped it at the oncoming Berserker. The blade sliced through the air and cut straight through his neck, severing his head from his shoulders and continuing on its trajectory to sink deep into the chest of a second Berserker, who shrieked and then collapsed, blood bubbling from his mouth.

"...I don't think so." I muttered, my tail flicking at me side uneasily. "I'm usually not this good at this kinda thing..."

Just then I was distracted as another agonizing screech rose from Hydra's throat and I craned my neck around and looked back to Wasp and Angel anxiously and noticed they'd started to look like they were in trouble. Hydra now had a totally of ten arms, three new ones sprouting from the elbow joint of one of her older ones. As I watched I realized the monster was purposely attacking the two of them in a way that forced them to cleave off her arms whether they wanted to or not; only moments later Angel hacked off another one of her arms by accident, attempting to block her blades and severing one of her other limbs in the process. Now the hideous creature hade twelve blades all bent on hacking the two of them to pieces and they were getting overwhelmed, caged in by a wall of blades and regenerating limbs.

I felt Falshade push by me slightly, looking like he was prepared to carve a way back through the bloodthirsty horde and back to those two maniacs to help them; I made a move to follow after him for backup and Piper chased along after me as well. But even as we moved in to assist them Wasp and Angel seemed to have everything under control; Angel ducked in to mutter something quickly into Wasp's ear before weaving his way in under Hydra's flailing blades, his small stature allowing him to weave through the gaps in her defences while Wasp kept the creature distracted. I had no idea what he was doing as he moved right in close next to Hydra's unnaturally long legs until he flipped one sabre around in his hand, holding it like it was a large knife and then stabbing it deep into her thigh, punching right through the muscle until the bloodstained tip protruded from the inside of her leg. Hydra shrieked in fury and lashed out at him, two of her hands reaching down to try and tug the embedded blade free from her leg. Angel darted past her wicked blades, leaving his first sabre where it was impaled in Hydra's leg and then stabbing his second sword into the back of her knee, punching clean through her knee cap. Hydra howled in agony and went for Angel with more than half of her arms at once, shredding two Berserkers who were standing too close in the process as she chased after Angel, who darted through the thicket of her blades as if this whole thing was a game.

While she was distracted by him Hydra never even noticed Wasp, who grabbed hold of one of her ghoulish forearms as it swept by in the pursuit of Angel and was lifted from the ground and Hydra swung back around, screeching in frustration at Angel, who was dodging from here to there with ease, ducking under her blows and pulling his first sabre free only to ram it deep into her calf, shouting taunts at her the whole time. Wasp scrambled among the tangled collection of Hydra's arms like a monkey, climbing higher and clinging tightly as Hydra lunged for Angel again, stabbing downwards with three of her blades and quite suddenly Angel had run out of luck, pinned in a sort of cage by the three blades she'd plunged into the stone floor and facing another three as they came rushing towards his abdomen.

At the last moment though Hydra let out her most ear-splitting screech yet and reared up, her blades just missing Angel as she staggered back, staring down instead at her own belly. Wasp had one of her machetes embedded to the hilt in her stomach and before Hydra could even get a stab in towards her Wasp swung her blade across like she was drawing a giant, smiling mouth in Hydra's stomach, ripping the creature's flesh wide open and allowing her intestines to come spilling free in spools after spools. I had to turn away, feeling bile burn all the way up to the back of my teeth and thought I was going to get sick for sure this time.

Hydra staggered slightly, staring down in shock at her own spilt organs that were pooling over the floor at her feet, leaking blood and digestive juices over the stone. Angel recoiled in disgust when a wave of stomach acid ran over his boots, making the soles bubble and hiss. However it seemed after she got over her initial shock Hydra barely seemed to care that her intestines were dragging along the floor; she made a jerky move forwards, trying to pull Angel's sabre from her knee but finding it locked in place by the joint and howling in rage.

Wasp, who was still hanging from one of Hydra's arms, stared with wide eyes before blinking and then crying "I _knew_ it!" She jabbed one finger towards us. "See, see I told you it wouldn't kill you!"

"WASP!" Falshade shouted but his warning came too late; Hydra finally noticed the little passenger who was clinging to her appendages and with a roar flung her away, sending Wasp reeling through the air to crash right into Angel, the two of them tumbling head over heels backwards. Hydra lunged forwards, stabbing at both of them and Wasp just barely managed to hold the blades off with her own, throwing her arm over Angel, who was still weaponless. He rolled to his feet and tried to dart in once again but Hydra was furious now and launched a side swipe at him that nearly cut him right in half.

Falshade suddenly stopped next to me and yanked one of the remaining Raptures I'd given him from his belt. "FINN!" He shouted, waving his arm to get the Storm Hawk's attention. Finn looked over, pausing in the act of reloading his crossbow. "GIVE THIS TO ANGEL!" Falshade hollered, throwing the Rapture over the heads of the surrounding Berserkers towards the sharp shooter. Finn caught it and turned on his high vantage point, cupping his free hand around his mouth.

"ANGEL!" He shouted and as Angel looked over at him he cocked his arm to motion he was going to throw. He hurled the Rapture towards him and damn he really did have good aim because it landed directly in Angel's outstretched hand. Angel needed no prompting; tearing the pin free he hurled it into the cavity Wasp had torn in Hydra's stomach even as the creature attempted to stuff a handful of her slippery intestines into the healing wound. Then he grabbed Wasp by the arm and dragged her back several feet before pulling her in tight to his chest and turning his back on Hydra as she bore down on the two of them, screeching in victory, all twelve arms coming in for the kill. At the last second Angel wrapped his glossy black wings around Wasp like he was forming a shield around the two of them. And then the Rapture exploded.

It was probably one of the most gruesome things I'd ever seen in my life, which by now is really saying something: chunks of flesh, intestines and bone were thrown from Hydra's body like shrapnel, her torso stretching wide open as the blast tore her body apart, ripping apart anything in its path as if it were made of paper. Wasp and Angel and any surrounding Berserkers were showered by the projectile gore, blood spraying through the air in gushing spurts as Hydra uttered a gurgling shriek and collapsed backwards almost in slow motion, her torso utterly decimated.

"NO!" Cyclonis screamed, her eyes wide and practically oozing with venom. Angel shifted his wings slowly from the protective shell he'd formed with them and assessed the resulting damage, releasing Wasp and then pulling a face when he realized despite her destroyed abdomen Hydra was still twitching and emitting choking noises, fingers clutching for some sort of hold.

"You gotta be shitting me." He growled, tearing one of his sabres free from her knee and leaping over her quivering tangle of arms to reach her head, plunging his blade deep into her throat and putting the creature out of her misery with one final, gasping shriek. As he retrieved his other sabre a wall of the Berserkers, who'd been standing hesitantly in a wide ring around Hydra, out of range of her flailing swords, moved in towards the pair in a rushing tide. Angel pressed up against Wasp's back as they prepared to take on this fresh wave of muscle and blades and I lost sight of them as they seemed to be engulfed by the pack of monsters. I glanced over at Shade, feeling uneasy, but he simply shook his head.

"They'll be alright." He assured me, although he didn't look as certain of this as I would have liked him to be. "We have to stick with the others."

I shot one more look back to Wasp and Angel, who seemed to be handling themselves fine; I could see flashes of their blades biting deep into Berserker meat between the riled bodies around me and I nodded myself. Yes, they'd be alright, they'd keep an eye on each other. We had to focus on getting to that crystal.

I turned back with Falshade, heading back towards the others, who'd made some headway towards the pedestal while we'd been distracted. Fraggle and the Storm Hawks' Stork seemed to be working as a team, wielding their staffs side by side and keeping any Berserkers from breaking into their protective circle around the others. Junko was still hammering his way through the wall of flesh before him and our Stork was right on his heels, hacking off any limbs that came into her bubble, reaching for her with gnarled, grasping fingers.

I jumped when someone landed next to me as I shoved and slashed my way through the Berserkers who were trying to close off our path back to the others, but it turned out to only be Finn leaping down from his vantage point on the slab of rock.

"Out of ammo." He explained, clapping me on the shoulder as if to apologize for startling me. "Thought I'd join the party down here."

"If that's what you wanna call it..." I muttered and he laughed, giving me a playful shove.

"Well what else would you call it?" He asked me before charging over to catch up with Junko, letting out some sort of weird war whoop as he did so. I grinned a little bit despite myself; oh yeah, he was Stork's father alright.

I moved over beside Piper once again, feeling a strange urge to stay near her and keep an eye on her, even though she'd definitely proven she didn't need anybody to look after her. It was kinda weird watching her in comparison to Stork or Wasp; the two of them being younger than me, I'd always looked at them and referred to them as girls. But Piper was a woman, much older than any of us, and something about the way she moved just seemed to accentuate that fact. She was still ruthless and fierce of course but her movements had a certain type of control and grace to them, something that came with years of experience. Or maybe it was just that she wasn't as awkward or crude as Wasp and Stork, having had much more time to grow into her body.

I felt my flesh prickle below my scales and turned to catch the head of a large, spiked mace that had been aimed directly for the back of my head, sure to have mulched my brains. I flung his arm out to the side and landed my knuckles right in his soft guts as hard as I possibly could, feeling something squish under the blow. The Berserker in question double over and I thought for sure he was down after that punch and I hesitated for a moment, waiting to see if he was going to make another move. This turned out to be a mistake as before I could even react he straightened slightly and, grunting with the effort, smashed his mace right into my hip bone.

Pain exploded through my lower body and I let out a sharp yowl, jerking away from him and the spikes, which had been embedded in my side, tore a layer of scales and flesh from my body with the movement. I pressed my hand to my side, feeling blood trickling through my fingers and I felt a surge of rage burst in my stomach.

The Berserker came back in for another go while I was distracted, lifting his mace high in attempt to break my jaw but I seized his forearm before he even got close, clenching down so hard my claws bit into his skin.

"That _hurt_." I growled and threw a freighter of a punch that caught him right in the jaw, snapping his head to the side and cracking his neck with one blow. He slumped before me, dead and dangling from my grasp by his arm. I dropped him, feeling rather irritable as pain continued to course up and down my side, the gashes in my hip searing and throbbing. I turned away from the dead Berserker and was startled to find Piper standing right in front of me, a length of cloth ripped from her shirt in her hand. She lifted my hand from my side and gently pressed the fabric up against the wound, flashing me a sympathetic look.

"It's okay, it's not deep." I assured her, brushing her off gently and pressing the cloth to my hip briefly before moving it away again, noting that the bleeding was already slowing. Piper inspected it briefly anyways before nodding and grinning up at me for a moment before suddenly her fiery tangerine eyes went wide with alarm. My heart squeezed painfully as I whipped around to take in what had disturbed her and was hit dead on right in the chest by a human missile.

I was bowled over backwards, the air blasted from my lungs and in all the confusion I heard Piper yelp as she was crushed beneath my back as the two of us were sent tumbling backwards. I came down hard, cracking my head back against the stone and felt her lithe body being squished underneath my own. Immediately I tried to get off of her, knowing I had to outweigh her by at least seventy pounds, but whoever had smashed into me so hard was still clinging to my chest, knees digging into my stomach. I saw a flash of crimson hair, heard that horrible, tinny laughter and knew right away who it was. Then again I suppose I should have known the moment she careened into me; who else _would _it have been?

Carrion was hanging above my torso, her mighty war hammer hefted over her head. "Hi big boy!" She screeched, a deranged smile plastered over her wraith-like face. "Didn't see that one coming did you?"

I struggled, attempting to catch a hold of her and fling her off me but she wouldn't budge, digging her sharpened fingernails into my chest and they actually bit right through my scales. Then, laughing like real psycho, she clutched her hammer tight with her free hand and prepared to smash it down right smack dab into the middle of my face. I stopped struggling, suddenly finding myself hypnotized by flat side of the hammer's massive head, as if fixated by what was going to shortly be the cause of my death, picking out patterns in the dried gore that was caked there.

But just as she was about to bring that terrible thing down on me Wasp came streaking in from out of nowhere and launched herself at full speed directly into Carrion's exposed flank, driving her off me with a snarl and sending the both of them somersaulting over each other out of sight.

I lay still for a moment, trying to calm the thunderous beat of my heart when I felt someone shift beneath me, trying to get my attention in a small, strangled voice.

"Var...an!" Piper wheezed and with a jolt I remembered that she was still trapped under my considerably larger frame and rolled off her. She coughed and gasped for air, pushing herself onto all fours and I winced, hoping to god I hadn't crushed any of her ribs or organs.

"Are you okay? Can you breathe? Anything feel broken?" I asked frantically in rapid succession and she waved a slender hand at me as if to show she was alright, trying to fill her lungs back up to proper volume. I remained stationary at her side, clutching the handle of my broadsword tightly and waiting protectively until she could breathe and move once again. For a few moments the two of us were left completely unnoticed on the stone floor until the unearthly, feral sounds that were coming from somewhere close by caught our attention at the same time. As one our heads turned in the direction of the commotion and spotted Wasp entangled with Carrion, caught in the nastiest fight I'd ever seen the two of them in (and trust me by now that was really saying something). The two of them were rolling across the stone floor like a couple of dogs in a pit fight, fighting violently for dominance, scrabbling over each other to try and remain on top. Both of them were frothing at the mouth, dripping bloody saliva over each other in long spools and snapping their jaws so ferociously you'd think they'd been raised by wolves. And the noises that were tearing from both of their throats just sounded so inhuman it made a shiver run right up the length of my spine.

Piper seemed to be momentarily paralyzed by the sight of the two of them and for that I couldn't really blame her; I still had a hard time getting over just how vicious they could be. But then she snapped out of it and scrambled across the floor to retrieve her quarter staff, snatching it up and charging towards Wasp and Carrion. As Carrion managed to flip Wasp onto her back, her sharpened nails sunk deep into her jacket and fangs darting in and snapping for Wasp's face, Piper cranked her arm back and swung with all her might, her staff catching Carrion around the head with a good solid crack like a bat connecting solidly with a baseball. Carrion's head jerked to the side and her grip slipped on Wasp's jacket, falling to the side, dazed and momentarily stunned by the blow. Wasp scrabbled out from under her and rolled back to her feet, crouched and ready to spring. Carrion shook her head furiously, horking and spitting a wad of blood off to the side before catching sight of Piper standing there, her staff tight in her hands and ready for a second blow. Carrion bared her teeth at her and sprang towards her with a snarl but Wasp intercepted her, leaping from her place on the floor and blasting her shoulders right into Carrion's stomach, practically bending her in half with the blow and once again sending the two of them tumbling backwards. Wasp must have miscalculated though and lunged a little too far, a little too much momentum behind her that caused her to go reeling right overtop of Carrion in a complete loop so that when she crashed down to the stone again she was on the bottom, Carrion clawing at her neck, trying to get a grip on her so she could strike. But before she could catch a hold of her Wasp kicked out with both feet, punching into Carrion's chest and throwing her a good seven feet with the force, the Berserker slamming down on her back further away. Wasp was on her feet again, turning and dashing back to where she'd dropped her machetes when she'd dragged Carrion off me and I saw Carrion clamber back to her feet once again and come charging back towards Piper and Wasp, tongue lolling from her bloodstained teeth and her off-colour eyes stretched freakishly wide with psychotic glee.

That was the first thing I saw. The second was Carrion's fallen war hammer, lying just off to my side.

I don't know what I was thinking but suddenly that hammer was in my hands and I was winding up for a swing of my own, the thing heavy and lethal in my strong hands. I stepped forwards, lining up my angle and as I did so Wasp caught sight of me and what I had in my hands. She paused briefly then changed her direction, reaching out for Piper instead and dragging her down into a crouch, bent protectively over the dark skinned woman out of the line of fire.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion in my mind; Carrion springing from the floor like a lunging jungle cat, her sights focused so intently on Wasp she didn't even notice until it was too late. And then I swung, whipping that hammer around with as much strength as I could muster, the air whistling around it as it roared through the air, right over Wasp's head and catching Carrion mid-leap, right in the chest. I felt a dull yet sickening splattering feeling reverberate up the hammer's shaft and shake unpleasantly in my arms. There was a horrible cracking sound as the hammer struck home and blood ejected violently from Carrion's mouth almost instantaneously. She was flung backwards once again, crashing hard into the stone and tumbling backwards a few times like an animal that had been struck by a vehicle. And there she lay, doubled up and choking for breath, blood bubbling in the corners of her mouth, heaving, hacking and vomiting over and over again, rivulets of dark blood spewing from her mouth as her face turned blue from lack of oxygen.

And I knew I had plenty of reasons why I shouldn't, but I felt awful for doing that to her. She looked completely broken over there, clutching her shattered ribs and struggling desperately for air, drowning on her own blood. I felt her hammer drop from my hands and swallowed down the bile that had been rising in my throat, tearing my gaze away from the pitiable creature, squeezing my eyes shut and trying to block out the sounds of her retching and choking.

Wasp bumped against my side like a large cat, machetes back in hand. "Thanks! I would have done something like that a long time ago if my arms were like yours." She said with a wolfish grin and I gave her a look, trying to respond to her appreciation and not quite making it. She seemed to understand that everything was starting to get to me though and pinched my side gently, her Wasp-ish way of expressing sympathy. Then she glanced back at Carrion's crippled form and her hackles twitched in distaste. "I guess this means Cyclonis has released the hounds."

I nodded, swallowing down my resolve, which was having a harder time staying down then the time I forced down some of Stork's cookie dough in attempt to spare her feelings. God the things I'll do for my friends... "That means we should catch back up with the others." I concluded, scanning the multitude of swarming bodies to try and locate the others. While we'd been caught up with Carrion they'd made some headway and I started to plough my way through the surrounding Berserkers to catch up, Wasp and Piper pressed in tight at my back, protecting my flanks.

I'd just stabbed my broadsword through not just one but the chests of two oncoming Berserkers, causing them to form a sort of pile up before me and I was reminded horribly of shish kabobs when they did so. Tearing my blade free of their now ruined chest cavities and slamming a nasty punch into the jaw of the second Berserker, as he hadn't received as much damage as his unfortunate counterpart, I turned to try and locate the others once again, having a hard time keeping a bead on them in the thick of this mob. I picked out Fraggle's mix of blonde hair and blue fur among the backwash of blood red and was about to plough back in once again in attempt to catch up when something else caught my eye and I squinted, catching sight of a frightening yet unfortunately familiar face among all the surrounding Berserkers. While Carrion had seemed to be responsible for taking care of us it seemed that Zodiac had no honed in on the others, moving towards them with dark purpose written on his snarled face, his wicked claws gleaming maliciously before him.

I followed his line of sight and realized he had his nightshade eyes focused on Fraggle, who had his back turned and didn't even see him coming.

Panic shot through me so harshly I felt like my stomach had been ripped open. I shouted out in warning but Fraggle must not have heard me, his ears still shot from the explosion. I threw my shoulder into the wall of Berserkers that had tightened around me while I'd been immobile, forcing my way through with both my broadsword and claws tearing through enemy flesh but no matter how many Berserkers I cut from my path I never seemed to get any closer as Zodiac closed in on Fraggle, his mouth cracking open into a horrible Cheshire grin.

It's amazing what sort of insane and irrelevant thoughts will float through your mind the instant before you think you're about to see your best friend have their life ripped from them right before your eyes. And as I watched, helplessly, as Zodiac closed in on Fraggle, all I could think was that now, when I'd get to meet his little sister at long last, I'd have to tell her about the death of her beloved big brother.

But then Falshade was there; he always had that heroic knack for being right there when you needed him the most. He crashed hard into Zodiac's side in a complete body-check just as his daggers were swiping across, sure to have torn open Fraggle's throat. Instead they glanced across his cheek and scored three deep lines of crimson among all the cerulean blue fur. Fraggle jolted back as if only then realizing just how closed he'd come to death and I managed to plough my way forward a few more feet, grabbing him by the arm and wrenching him back out of Zodiac's reach so hard he yelped in alarm. Over Fraggle's shoulder I saw Zodiac rounding on Falshade now only to be intercepted by Angel, who slammed his thin frame as hard as possible into the Berserker, stabbing one of his sabres upwards so it punched right through Zodiac's armpit and shot clean through his shoulder, the full length of the blade protruding from behind his collar bone. Ironically it sort of looked like the long, curved blade that stuck from the armour on his elbow, aside from the fountain of dark blood spurting from around the wedged blade.

Zodiac's howl tore through my skull and for a moment I almost felt sorry for him, hearing such agony in his voice. Or I might of until he turned and caught Angel by the throat, lifting him right off his feet. Angel struggled, choking and trying lash out at Zodiac with his remaining sabre, but Zodiac simply caught a hold of his wrist with his free hand and flung the blade off to the side and then drew Angel up to eye level, holding him a few inches from his face. The two of them glared at each other for a moment, something silently passing between them before Zodiac's mouth split at the corner into a psychotic little grin.

"Master says we get to eat you alive, you little traitor." He told him with a sneer, his nightshade eyes gleaming wickedly.

Angel bared his teeth at him challengingly. "Go for it." He wheezed, still managing to sound tough even with his throat being squeezed. Zodiac laughed, the sound similar to that of a cat getting sick, then drew his free arm back, ready to punch all five of his daggers into Angel's exposed stomach.

Falshade was back for round two though and Sliver came screaming down through the air and caught Zodiac's arm midway through his swing; with a wet slicing sound Sliver bit through the armoured gauntlet and went right through Zodiac's lower arm, cleaving it clean from his body just below the elbow. Zodiac shrieked and Angel got coated by the blood that was bursting in large spurts from the stump of his arm as his wrist, gauntlet and daggers fell to the stone floor with a final clang. Zodiac stared at the fountain of blood that was draining his life away by the second before a fresh layer of flesh sealed off the veins and bone, his eyes burning with black flames and his chest heaving madly, before he turned slowly on Falshade. With a indifferent flick of his arm he literally threw Angel off to the side, sending the poor little bugger reeling through the air to crash hard into the stone floor and tumble back into my shins. He scrabbled against the floor as I hauled him up like a dog on a leash, desperate to get back to help Falshade but Stork beat him to the punch; she came in from the side as Zodiac spun to the side, whipping out with his elbow to try and catch Shade in the chest with the protruding, curved blade that had already almost caused his death once.

Instead what he met was the business end of Stork's battle axe.

One swift chop was all it took to go straight through armour, muscle and bone, cleanly severing his remaining arm from the rest of his body. Zodiac staggered when his blade made no contact, still caught with the momentum of his swing, and Falshade slammed a kick into his ribs, throwing him off balance. The Berserker crashed hard to the floor and craned his neck, spotting his severed arm lying on the floor not too far away, still twitching. He lunged towards it and I recalled Wasp recounting her fight with Carrion that day Stork came back, telling us how she'd held the detached limb to the stump and her body had sutured itself back together, flesh reattaching itself.

Angel tore out of my gasp, probably realizing Zodiac's intent at the same time that I did and kicked the stump of Zodiac's arm away, the daggers clattering across the stone. Zodiac snarled at him but Angel simply pressed a boot down on his throat, pinning him to the floor.

"This is _mine_, thank you!" He snapped, tearing his sabre free from what remained of Zodiac's arm. Then he raised his boot from Zodiac's neck, holding it above his face and preparing to stomp down with all his might. I was struck by the urge to turn my head; although I was getting better about this, seeing skulls getting crushed was still pretty high on the list of things that'll make me vomit.

Zodiac wasn't done yet, however; at the last second he rolled to the side and landed a kick square in Angel's knee cap. Angel's leg buckled under him and Zodiac angled what little was left of his arm, the long, curved blade that had torn Falshade open so badly still attached to his elbow and he intended to use everything he had left, swinging an uppercut that would have ripped open Angel's throat if the Storm Hawk's Stork hadn't darted in from the side and grabbed Angel by the back of his shirt, yanking him backwards at the last second. It was a good thing Angel was so scrawny, because I don't think Stork, with his lanky frame and puny muscles, would have had the strength to move any of the rest of us.

I don't know how he did it with no arms to push him back up, but Zodiac managed to get his feet tucked under him and pushed himself upright. Angel was on his feet as well, standing in front of Stork defensively and gripping his sabres tight, ready to charge right back in when he stopped mid-swing and a maniac grin split his haggard face. Instead he backed right up, pulling Stork along with him and Zodiac, the deadly expression on his face faltering for a moment, turned to see what it was that had caused Angel's reaction.

He ended up facing the end of Fraggle's energy staff that was equipped with his Blazer crystal.

Fraggle grinned and gave Zodiac a falsely apologetic shrug. "Hasta la vista mother fucker." He said and activated the crystal. A jet of violent orange flames spewed free from the tip of his staff like a miniature volcano erupting and Zodiac howled like a dying wolf as the fire caught in his flesh, lighting him up like a super nova. His whole body turned to flames and I wondered briefly if the essence of the Eternity crystal that flowed in his veins was somehow flammable. Crazed by agony and blinded by the flames and smoke Zodiac stumbled towards Fraggle as if he still had arms to strangle him with and I lashed out with a ferocious side-swipe with my broad sword, catching the flaming Berserker right in the ribs and sending him reeling back into the wall of his fellow soldiers, the fire spreading between them as if they'd been doused in oil.

Fraggle twirled his staff in his fingertips and blew on the tip of it as if there were smoke there. "I think I score ten points for epic climax, eh." He said haughtily, looking rather pleased with himself.

Angel snorted. "Hasta la vista? You _totally_ ripped that off from a comic book."

"Lunatics, all of you." Stork muttered, shaking slightly. Then, as I was about to move after Fraggle, determined to keep a better eye on him, he reached out and tugged at my vest slightly to get my attention. "Varan, hold on for a second." He said and I paused, shifting closer to him and lashing out at a nearby Berserker when he came in too close. I glanced at Stork briefly to show I was listening and he cleared his throat slightly. "Look, you seem like you've got a decent amount of good sense, so I'll be honest with you. Me, you and the others, we don't need to go up there." He waved a green hand towards the pedestal and then uttered a slight yelping noise, lashing out with his staff at a Berserker who attempted to chop his extended arm right off. "Only one I'm thinking who needs to go up there is Stork. And maybe Falshade and Finn."

I glanced at the others, judging the distance we had left to get to the stairs. "So what about us then? What are you saying?"

"Well once they get up there do you really think these... _things_ down here are gonna leave them alone? _We_ need to stay down here and defend our retreat; I don't think we're going to want to hang around long once the destroyed."

I glanced at the stairs again and swallowed; anyone who made it to the top of the pedestal was completely trapped up there, bottlenecked by the only route down which would surely be easily blocked off when those Berserkers started charging up them. Stork was right, any of us who stayed below would have to make sure the way down stayed clear.

I looked back to the Merb once again. "So why are you telling me this?"

Stork snorted. "Seriously? Because your friends and mine are a lot alike, they stick to this whole 'keep together' code. However _unlike_ my friends, you seem to be the only one your little gang of nut jobs will listen to. We've got to stop kidding ourselves, sooner or later we're going to get overwhelmed down here and we need to get to that crystal as soon as we can." He gave me a pointed look then nodded towards Stork and Shade. "Go on, get them going."

I knew Stork hadn't been among us for very long, but I thought even he would have noticed that the others, even though the buggers knew what I was saying was the best course of action most of the time, _didn't _listen to me as much as he made it seem like they did. But he was right, we needed to wrap this whole messy situation up; we'd been at this for almost two hours already and fatigue and minor injuries were starting to pay their toll. Not to mention if Cyclonis had another one of her creations waiting to be unleashed on us I had no idea how lucky we'd be a second time around, and Halo hadn't even made an appearance yet. So I grit my teeth determinedly and nodded, making a move to start fighting my way over to Stork and Falshade when Stork suddenly grabbed me again.

I turned to him once again, head cocked and he licked his lips awkwardly, looking like he was struggling to get what he wanted to say together. "Look, um..." he started after a moment of scissoring his mouth unproductively. "Well I... I never really liked Terradons, er, well Raptors anyways, had one too many run ins with them back in the day. But you, well, you're a good kid and..." he revolved his hand awkwardly for a moment before finishing. "Well anyways you kinda make up for that, in my mind. If you know what I'm getting at."

I felt a untimely grin crawl over my face and clapped his shoulder briefly, despite the fact that he seemed to be saying the kinda things we'd all said earlier, something of just in case goodbyes to one another in case things took a turn for the worst. "Thanks. That means a lot to me." I said honestly. "And you know, I haven't exactly met a lot of Merbs, but you seem like some good guys."

The corner of Stork's mouth twitched. "I wouldn't base any impressions of the whole race off myself if I were you." He said with a grin. "Anyways get going, who knows when our luck is going to run out."

I nodded and pushed my way through the horde of Berserkers, hacking at any who tried to slow me down, until I managed to reach Falshade. "Hey!" I called to him over the encroaching sounds of ringing blades and howls of pain. He cocked his head in question and I nodded towards the stairs slightly, which were now within sixty feet of where we were standing. God we'd made it so far... I shook my head, focusing at the task at hand and caught a hold of Stork, tugging at her gently and pulling the two of them back a little bit, closer to the wall of stone that loomed high above us. For a moment we were separated from the raging battle and I gave both of them a pointed look, trying to do my best to be firm. "You two should make a break for the stairs." I said to them, motioning in the direction in question. "Right now, just the two of you quickly while we're still all in pretty good shape."  
Stork made a squawking sound and Falshade looked at me like I'd gone insane. "Varan no way, we're not going to leave the rest of you down here on your own, that's-"

"Falshade think about it, do you really think we're all meant to go up there? Stork's the one with the Black Hole device, she's the one who's got the best shot at destroying the crystal, and you should go with her. The rest of us will stay down here and make sure we'll have an exit."

Stork was shaking her head, opening her mouth to argue but I cut her off. "Come on, we were okay when we were split up before, right? We'll be fine, we'll stick together, we've still got some fight in us yet. I really think this is up to you two now." I felt the truth of that last statement as it left my mouth on its own accord, making way too much sense to me not to say it. It just seemed right to me; from the beginning this had been about Stork and it was because of Falshade that we were here right now. They'd been at the very heart of it all along and now they should finish that, together.

Falshade looked over me as if he could read my thoughts and then, after a long moment during which I could see how torn he was clearly in his violet eyes, he nodded. "Okay... this has gone on long enough. Let's go finish this, Stork."

Stork stared at him and then me and then towards the others, her green eyes agonized and even a little frightened. But then she swallowed and set her face resolutely, our stubborn little girl right to the end. "Right. I'm gonna go give that bitch what's been a long time coming." She said and I grinned slightly, mussing up her hair. She glanced up at me and then abruptly lunged forward and wrapped me in a tight hug.

"All of you better be down here in one piece and still kicking when we get back though." She said, her voice quiet and not anywhere near as tough as she'd sounded a second ago.

"We will be." I assured her, squeezing her back briefly before gently prying her off me. Shade grabbed my shoulder for a moment and the concern in his face went to me heart.

"You guys look out for each other." He said and I noted a slight tone of fear in his voice. Right then I could tell he was worried that if he went up those stairs and left us below he might not ever see any of us again.

"Yeah, same to you two." I said and then a shriek from nearby seemed to snap us all out of it. "Go on, get going." I said, giving him a gentle shove. He looked back at the others for a second more and then turned, grabbing Stork's arm and tugging her along as the two of them bolted for the stairs.

I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, clutching my broadsword with renewed vigour and turned back towards the others, shoving my way over next to them, determination steeling my heart. Shade and Stork had their mission and we had ours and I was set on seeing it through; we'd keep our retreat open until the bitter end. Either all six of us we're getting out of here or none of us were.

And when I pushed in beside Fraggle and Angel I could tell they felt that way too, grim yet fortified, a reckless sort of purpose shining in their eyes.

"Where's Falshade and Stork?" Angel asked me, but his tone was casual as if he already knew.

"They've gone for the stairs. They're on their own now." I said as Wasp crashed in beside us, her eyes wild and bright as if she didn't belong anywhere else.

"So then there were four, eh." Fraggle said at my side, hurling a wave of ice at a trio of nearby Berserkers. "You know somehow I always knew it'd come down to us."

"Soldiers of fortune." Wasp agreed with her werewolf grin.

"More like soldiers of reckless idiocy."I sighed, although I wouldn't change that for the world. After all, I'd been the one who'd signed onto this whole chaotic parade at the very beginning; if I'd ever had the desire to leave I'd had lots of time to do it.

Angel gripped his sabres tighter and watched steadily as a wave of Berserkers came sweeping towards us, prepared to break our ranks and get to the stairs. "Well kiddies, whatever you've got left I say we let these guys have it." He said and as one the four of charged forwards to meet them head on.

**x.x.x Stork x.x.x**

As I've probably stated before, splitting up didn't sit well with me at all under any circumstance. So needless to say it really didn't sit well with me at all as I turned my back on Varan and chased after Falshade, charging towards the stairs and cutting down any Berserker in our path; evidently these guys didn't seem to realize that their intended target was slipping by them. They were more intent on sinking their teeth into the others. I think Falshade must have felt the same way I did because he reached for my hand at one point and squeezed it a little, maybe trying to reassure me or maybe just sharing his anxiety.

But as the stairs finally rose before us, a beacon drawing us up towards our final goal, I had to admit that what Varan had said had made sense. I was the one who had the Black Hole device, I needed to get up there if we were ever going to finish this, and if I had to take one of the others (which I'd rather not, because I knew how capable Cyclonis was of hurting my friends) then I'd rather it be Shade, for no other reason than this is what he'd been leading up to his entire life, ever since he decided he was going to pursue his nightmares and take matters into his own hands.

Heck, when I really thought about it, it was almost sort of poetic; the one who was the root of all this madness and the one who'd seen it all coming charging off together to put an end to it once and for all. Eerie how much destiny really seemed to be playing a part in all of this.

I slipped a little on the smooth stone steps, my sneakers slick with blood and I almost couldn't believe it that we'd made it this far, that here we were climbing to the top of the platform, the distance closing between us and the Eternity crystal. I was struck again with that feeling that this was a little too easy, that we still had something to face at the top of those stairs and my stomach clenched uneasily, only six steps from the top now.

And, as I insist and others will deny is the case most of the time, I turned out to be right.

Falshade was a couple stairs ahead of me and just as he was just cresting the top when Halo finally showed himself, pouncing on him like a large, ugly tomcat, his flaming halberd crackling as it sliced through the air just above Falshade's head. Falshade pushed me down slightly and I slammed my chin into one of the stairs above me, nearly biting clean through my tongue while he slammed his shoulder into Halo's chest, driving him back. I scrambled up, practically crawling under the two of them as they had a bit of a shoving match, growling at one another and Falshade caught his halberd with Sliver as it dove for his ribs. I stood there like an idiot of a second, watching them with wide eyes and feeling panicky at how close they were to the edge of the platform; it was a sheer forty foot drop onto solid stone after all.

Falshade caught sight of me just standing there like a struck bunny and nodded towards the dell where the Eternity crystal was sitting. "Stork go, I'll take care of him!" he shouted and as if for emphasis when Halo swung his halberd in a low arch, going for his stomach, Falshade stopped his blade and slammed a ferocious kick into his chest, sending him staggering backwards slightly.

I shook my head, snapping out of it and did as he said, turning on my heel and sprinting across the smooth stone surface towards the Eternity crystal. As if it sensed my presence it seemed to flare slightly brighter for a second and I felt that welcoming feeling stir again in my chest, a kick of joy like the crystal was really a large puppy excited and overjoyed to see me, tail wagging fiercely. You know, if crystals had tails. I was gripped with a nasty feeling of guilt and apprehension then, not sure I was comfortable with blowing the thing up in light, feeling myself drawn to it like a moth to flame.

"Ah ah ah, Feonix." That horrible, girlish voice slithered into my ears and I tore my gaze away from the crystal, flicking towards Cyclonis, who was standing off to the side with a thin smirk on her wane face. Seeing her up close for the first time made my stomach start roiling with hot rage; I hated everything about her, from her chilled violet eyes that reminded me disgustingly of Falshade's, to her stupid little self-satisfied grin that I wanted to wipe clean off her face. Actually scratch that, I just wanted to rip her face right off.

"Oooh do we ever look nasty." She said, laughing in light of my enraged demeanour. "Dear Stork, can't you be a little less hostile? This is the first time we actually meet face to face after all."  
"Yeah and the displeasure's all mine." I snapped. "Now get out of my way or I'm sending you back to whatever pit in Hell you crawled out of."

Cyclonis' face didn't change but her smirk seemed to grow deeper and her eyes went a shade darker. "Is that so?" She asked and that unearthly undertone crept into her voice. She moved her broken staff in front of her challengingly. "And what do you plan to do to my crystal I wonder?"

"I can promise it's gonna be one helluva firework show." I said, bringing my battle axe in front of me as well, matching her threatening glare. Behind me I could hear Falshade and Halo locked in their own fight and hoped he'd be able to hold him off long enough for me to get this bitch out of my way; I knew Shade could hold his own extremely well of course, but he was roughed up and had already been going for a couple hours.

I suddenly had the nasty sensation that Cyclonis was reading my mind because she let out a sinister giggle. Don't ask me how anyone can giggle sinisterly, but if anyone had it done, she did.

"I'd be more concerned about myself if I were you, Feonix." She taunted. "After all, you've walked right into my arms and I intended to keep you there." And with that she lunged at me, a downwards chop that probably would have knocked me out if she'd managed to connect. But my axe was up and blocked her staff, knocking it out to the side and then flipping back around, screaming towards her narrow rib cage. She pulled her staff back in quickly and caught the shaft of my axe, blocking my swing and I lashed out with a fierce snap kick, connecting with her staff and pushing her back a few feet. Then I charged in, lashing out a series of slashes and chops, rage spiking in my blood and pushing my pulse fast and hard and I pressed in relentlessly, giving her no room to fight back. I had never wanted to kill somebody so badly in my life, my hatred filling every little corner of space in me until I felt like I was going to explode. And what was worse she just seemed to be taunting me the whole time, deflecting each one of my blows as if she were flicking away troublesome flies and it only made me angrier. My wrath was starting to interfere with my combat abilities, making my swings and swipes more wild and sloppy, my head feeling like it was being squeezed tight as my rage pushed in behind my eyeballs.

It struck me suddenly how it was so easy for her to defend herself, how she seemed to know when each attack was going to come before I even executed it. Of course she knew; she bloody knew everything, she'd been there all along when Falshade and Angel taught me all they knew, all those hours I spent sweating and practicing to perfection, whether it was with my axes or just hand-to-hand stuff with the others down in the hanger. God damnit I _hated_ her! The more I thought about the aspects of my life that had been exposed to her the more I felt sick right down to the centre of my heart, violated and stripped of security and it just made me all the more angry until my heart was pounding so hard I don't think any blood was reaching my head. With one particularly violent swing I found myself overbalanced and Cyclonis simply stepped to the side as I came crashing to my knees on the stone, head reeling sickeningly and my heart practically beating right out of my chest, knocking hard against the back of my ribs. I choked for air, eyes stinging with tears of fury and disgust, body shaking like a leaf.

I felt Cyclonis' cold hand crawl onto my shoulder and I felt like vomiting. "Out of steam already?" She asked, feigning disappointment.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" Falshade roared at her and I felt myself start, coming out of my fit, my mind clearing and I saw Falshade out of the corner of my eye as came charging towards us, Sliver lifted high and prepared to cut off Cyclonis' head. Cyclonis didn't seem phased by this at all however and let him come within five feet of us before Halo intercepted him, slamming into him hard and catching him with the flat of the blade of his halberd. Falshade tumbled backwards slightly and that was all it took to snap me out of it, bringing my senses screaming back into reality.

I saw Halo advance towards Falshade and I was on my feet in a heartbeat, charging towards him with a fearsome cry and smashing him hard with the flat side of my battle axe, knocking him right off his feet. "Leave him ALONE!" I shouted fiercely. I raised my axe to strike him again, this time with the sharpened side of the head but before I could I felt something strike my kneecap, buckling my right leg beneath me.

"You're fight is with me!" Cyclonis snapped from behind me. The fury came screeching back to life but it was in proper order now, it seemed to have found a niche where it could exist without overwhelming me and I whipped around so quickly she had no time to react as I blasted into her side in a full-on body check, sending her crashing to the floor.

"Think you know me, huh?" I hissed at her as she picked herself up off the floor, her eyes narrowed like a cobra's. "Come on, let's see what you're really made of when you're all on your own!"

Cyclonis dropped her teasing then, charging in towards me and our weapons locked between us as she slammed into me, her eyes burning viciously. We kicked out at each other at the same time, both of us staggering back a step or two only to come crashing right back in, swiping and slashing at each other with our respective weapons. It occurred to me that she never once tried to stab me with the barbed end of her staff but then I realized well of course not, I was no use to her dead. She was simply trying to incapacitate me, lashing out in high swings to try and crack me around the head with her metal energy staff. It almost could have been a violent sort of dance the way we moved, launching at each other only to have our weapons blocked, drawing back and lashing out again. Like a much more intense, much more hardcore cat fight.

I completely forgot about Falshade I was so focused on beating the shit out of Cyclonis, until at one point I ended up sort of half-spinning with the momentum of my swing and catching sight of he and Halo, who were still locked together like a couple of wolves, their blades spitting sparks as the clashed together again and again. But when I saw them I noticed that Halo seemed to be driving Falshade backwards, slowly but surely, towards the edge of the platform. Falshade was only a little smaller then Halo of course but Halo had that crystal working for him, fuelling him with extra strength and he was using every ounce of it to force Shade back, step by little step. Falshade tried to push back and gain more ground but Halo kept him pinned, locking blades with him and ploughing onwards as Falshade's boots slipped slightly back, despite the fact that he was digging in his heels.

My heart clenched with sudden fear as I watched the gap between Falshade's feet and the edge of the platform growing smaller and smaller, but before I could charge over to help him I heard the air behind me whistling and only just ducked as Cyclonis' staff whipped by overhead, sure to have caught me right in the back of my skull.

"You should pay more attention, Feonix." Cyclonis scolded. Then she glanced towards Falshade and Halo and her mouth cracked into a horrible, venomous grin once again. "It appears your Sky Knight is losing his ground." She taunted, bending to hiss her words into my ear and I threw a punch at her, springing back to my feet as she dodged my knuckles and hefting my battle axe high in attempt to bring it down and split her right down the middle. She caught the head with her staff which wasn't even nicked by the blade and smirked at me between our caught weapons. "I never did understand that soft spot you always harboured for him." She breathed in a voice like death itself and I wanted to squeeze her throat until her head rolled right off.

"Shut up." I growled. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! You act like you know every little thing about me but you don't, you arrogant little bitch, you don't know _anything_, you aren't human enough to understand!"

Her eyebrow curved upwards and that smug grin would not leave her face. "Oh no? Surprise me."

"SHADE!" I heard someone below shout in alarm and looked back over my shoulder, chest constricting with fear. Halo had forced Falshade within inches of the ledge, his heels nearly peeking over the side. Halo brought his halberd down towards him and as Shade caught his blade with his own his back bent backwards slightly as he fought for balance, fighting desperately to hold his ground and not let Halo push him back any further. But he was nearly out of space and Halo wouldn't let up, determined to drive him right off the edge.

My vision burned red right around then and I knew it was time for drastic measures.

Cyclonis seemed to think she had all the time in the world and was still waiting for me to surprise her as I turned back to her slowly, murder in my eyes. And surprise her I did.

In one sharp movement I backed up slightly, cranked my leg back and then landed the hardest kick of my life right into her exposed and unsuspecting crotch.

And apparently just because you're a Cyclonian empress back from the dead and with a mutant army of killing machines at your beck and call does not exempt you from having very sensitive nerve endings where it counts.

Cyclonis' mouth dropped open in what was indeed surprise and that gave me so much satisfaction it wasn't even funny. She didn't collapse like Angel and Fraggle usually did when I booted them like that but her momentary shock was all I needed. I backed up another step, wound up and then slammed a furious roundhouse kick right into her ribs, sending her tumbling backwards to the stone floor, her breath leaving her in a single whooshing gasp.

I knew she wouldn't be down long however and my eyes crawled towards the crystal. I could put an end to it all right now, I was only about five steps away and I could set of the Black Hole device, I could finally finish this. It could all be over in less than thirty seconds; it was just that simple.

But Falshade was in trouble and that, in my mind, weighed a lot more then the Eternity crystal. After all, there'd be another shot at destroying the crystal, but there was only one Falshade and I couldn't see much point in saving the world only to have him not in it.

So I wheeled around and charged towards Halo, my eyes zeroing in on him like a bull's on a red flag, speeding like a freighter right for him. I wasn't exactly sure what I intended on doing until I was almost upon him, but I caught Falshade's eye as I closed in the last few feet and together we seemed to come to the same conclusion at the exact same moment. Ignoring my battle axe completely I turned slightly so my shoulder collided solidly with Halo's torso so hard thought for sure I must have popped it out of socket. And for all the times those mean spirited boys of mine have teased me about being so small I slammed into Halo with so much force you'd think I was as big as Varan, and man did that ever give me an ego boost. Halo's eyes stretched wide with alarm as he staggered forward, his halberd pitching over the edge of the platform into the screeching mob of Berserkers below and Falshade ducked, sweeping out with one leg to knock both of Halo's feet out from under him, pitching him forward those last few critical inches and sending him over the lip of stone. I heard him hit the ground below about six long seconds later with a sickening yet nonetheless satisfying crunching sound.

I almost ended up facing the same splattering fate however, as I had so much momentum behind me and nothing to stop me. I teetered at the edge for a heart stopping second before Falshade looped an arm around my waist and hauled me back from the brink. For a moment the two of us just panted for breath, adrenalin still pounding wildly in our veins as we peeked over the edge of the pedestal, spying Halo's body lying crumpled and broken below. Then we glanced at each other at the same time and cracked identical, tired yet triumphant grins.

"I think that was one of our best combined attacks yet." I said and Shade nodded.

"Definitely. We gotta get you into some kind of contact sport, girly." He commented, mussing up my hair and I smirked, keeping the fact that my shoulder was throbbing in pain to myself.

Then from behind us we heard Cyclonis' laughter, a low, chilling sound that seemed to increase in volume and pitch, becoming something of a screech that filled my entire head, tearing at the backs of my eyeballs. Falshade and I turned as one to look at her, stepping closer to each other instinctively and clutching our weapons tight.

Cyclonis' gleaming dark eyes were boring into us, a menacing sheen radiating from them, something wicked dancing on her face that made my skin prickle. Her laughter was still echoing around us even though she'd closed her mouth, a smirk in the corner of her pallid lips.

"Feonix and Falshade..." she said in a thoughtful, taunting sort of voice, something foreboding creeping around in the undertone of her words, contrasting darkly with her sickeningly playful tone. "You two were always attached at the hip; it was disgustingly adorable." She went on and I felt bile rise in my throat, thinking of every close moment I'd had with Falshade over the years and how she'd been witness to it all, all the arguing and playful wrestling, the tender words and awkward moments, everything personal that I'd just wanted to share with Falshade and never anyone else. Oh god, has she still been in there that night I'd... kissed him? I panicked for a moment before I remembered that no, that had been after she'd moved back into her own skin, she hadn't been privy to that moment at least. That one was still mine at least. But god, just... I felt so violated the more I thought about it. All my private moments and memories, every golden moment and bad mood, she'd seen it all, lived it all. Nothing I had was safe from her. Nothing in my life had been experienced by just me. It made me feel like I'd been robbed of something precious, it made me sick right to my core.

"Shut up!" Falshade snarled next to me and I felt myself start at the intense hostility in his voice. "Don't you _ever_ say _anything _to her or I'll tear your god damn vocal chords out with my bare hands!"

I stared at him, stunned by the aggression in his tone. Cyclonis however seemed unphased; she simply laughed, throwing back her head as if she found all of this to be the most hilarious thing in the world. "Oh Falshade..." She sighed, shaking her head with exaggerated sympathy. "You know you really should have just made your move on dear little Feonix when you had the chance. Because it's a little too late for that now..." She stretched out a spidery hand in the direction of the Eternity crystal, calling a thread of energy towards her like some sort of loyal pet; it snaked almost elegantly through the air, a stream of glowing green energy that coiled in the palm of her hand comfortably, forming a revolving, luminescent orb in her hand, cupped like a precious egg by her long fingers. She pulled the ball of energy towards her chest and then a slow, deranged smile spread over her wane face, seeming to crack it in half and letting something gruesome and terrible shine through from underneath, like she was peeling back her skin and revealing the toxic, malevolent being that lived beneath this illusion of a girl. And the energy started to change, turning over slowly in her hands, veins of red thrumming away along the surface until the entire orb seemed to be encased in a series of intertwined veins, pulsing slightly as if it were alive. Then, like a spreading infection, a black ooze snaked through the red, following along the veins of thrumming energy like a poison, coating anything it touched in blackness until the spinning ball of energy resembled a blob of tar.

Cyclonis looked up, evil intent practically spilling from the dark pools of her eyes, which were reflecting the diseased orb of energy she held in her hand. "Time to break up the dynamic duo." She hissed, that supernatural undertone reverberating with her words, piercing the very deepest places in my heart with fear.

As she lifted her hand I made a move to push Falshade back, meaning to step in front of him, to shield him. I had that blocking crystal after all, and Cyclonis couldn't harm me, she needed me. And I mean... if that all went to hell well then if I died at least she couldn't ever gain control of the crystal, right?

Right.

But Falshade, that god damn son of a bitch, he'd always known me so, so well. And he knew what I was up to before I'd even been able to move. He reached me first, shoving me roughly to the side so hard I fell to the stone, out of harm's way and completely powerless to do anything as that warped missile of energy collided with him instead, slamming hard right into his chest.

"FALSHADE!" I screamed, my whole chest cavity seeming to rupture. For a split second it was like he was frozen in place, that orb of diseased energy exploding across his torso, the black ripples of energy sinking right into his flesh and I could see it shoot through his veins, turning them dark beneath his skin for a brief second, tearing through his entire body. And then he was flung backwards as if some giant hand had come along and crashed across his body like he was a meek little insect, sending him flying backwards through the air to slam solidly into the stone wall with a heart-wrenching crunch, his head cracking back against unyielding rock. He fell lifelessly to the floor below, his body crumpling and remaining there motionlessly; I couldn't even tell if he was breathing.

"SHADE!" I heard one of the others yell, panic thick in their voice, but I couldn't recognize whose voice it was. I wasn't aware of anything anymore, of where I was or how I'd gotten here, or my own body moving as I dashed to Falshade's side. I wasn't aware of the tears that were leaking from my eyes or the desperate sounds that were spilling incoherently from my mouth. I wasn't even aware of it when, as I dropped to my knees next to Falshade's broken body, the Black Hole device fell from the back of my jeans and clattered across the floor, rolling out of reach.

I didn't even remember to feel his neck to make sure it wasn't broken before I seized his shirt with trembling fingers, pulling him towards me and turning him over, shaking him much too roughly. "Falshade?" I croaked, my throat raw and barely able to utter any noise at all. "Falshade?" I shook him some more, a feeling of intense desperation and fear ripping my stomach right open, seeming to spill acid through my entire body. "Falshade, Falshade please wake up!" I begged, shaking him even harder and watching his head loll lifelessly on his shoulders, not a flicker of strength in his body. My hands found their way to his neck and crawled over his skin, shaking so hard I couldn't feel his pulse if it was even there. With a sob I pulled him into my body, laying my head to his chest and trying to hold back my body's demand to start bawling and vomiting everywhere as I listened frantically for a heartbeat. He's not dead, he's not dead, Falshade can't be dead, Falshade doesn't die, he's not dead, he's not...

Silence.

He's dead.

He's dead.

He's dead.

He's...

And there it was. One faint thump. But it was a thump, it was a beat.

He's not dead.

Cyclonis' soft, menacing laughter filtered slowly into my jammed up brain, travelling down my nerve pathways and striking something deep in my chest, some sort of cord pulling tight that I hadn't known existed. I could hear her behind me, moving across the stone floor like a wraith. But she wasn't coming towards me; she was focused on something else.

"Oh my, what have we here?" I heard her ask, her voice soft and deadly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her bend and her boney fingers closed around the detonation device that had fallen free from the waistband of my jeans. She lifted it for examination and smiled, sadistic delight seeming to exude from every one of her pores.

"This must be Piper's handiwork." She said, her fingers trailing along the slender little object. "Your little ace in the hole... oh you poor fools." She started giggling to herself, a disturbingly triumphant sound. "You FOOLS!" She howled, screeching with laughter and thrusting the Black Hole device up high. "DID YOU REALLY THINK THIS COULD DESTROY MY CRYSTAL?" She screamed, the entire chamber shaking as that undertone rattled through my skeleton, like some otherworldly presence was sweeping along in the wake of her words. "I HAVE STEPPED BACK FROM THE RELAM OF THE DEAD, I HAVE DEVASTED YOUR PATHETIC PLANET AND YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME WITH _THIS_?" She roared and clenched her hand tight, the device in her hand glowing bright and shaking madly before simply imploding as if it had never existed, leaving nothing but a small wisp of dissipating crystal energy, utterly destroyed.

Our only hope.

Gone.

And then Falshade's body sort of twitched against my own. It wasn't much of a movement, barely enough to register with me that he had indeed moved, but it was a movement nonetheless. And then he uttered a low groaning noise, a definite sign of life and it was with that, just like that, that I knew what I had to do.

I felt Cyclonis standing behind me, looking down at the two of us huddled on the floor and I could feel her satisfied gaze burning right through my very flesh. "Well Feonix, what are you ever going to do now?" She asked me seriously. "With your Sky Knight fallen and your secret weapon gone, whatever shall you do?"

I had never hated anything or anyone more then I hated her right then. It wasn't even just that she was trying to ruin everything good and golden in the world, that she'd tried to break our lives into pieces and tried to kill my friends time and time again. No. It was that she was doing all of this after everything she'd seen through my eyes. Sixteen fucking years of living in the thick of love and loyalty, walked through countless displays of compassion and humanity, shown the very extents that people will go for someone they love. She'd seen right into the very heart of all my relationships, with my father, my friends, everyone who'd ever mattered to me. She'd witnessed it all, the bonds sprouting and growing thicker and stronger, she'd felt the hugs I'd received, heard the words of trust and kindness I'd listened to all my life, she'd been in the thick of the warmth and joy and love we all shared. And yet here she was, and not only was she willing to try and take all of that away from me, she was perfectly happy to do so. She _wanted_ to destroy it, she _craved_ it, she wanted to see us suffer and die slowly, painfully, while the others stood by helplessly. After everything not even a flicker of humanity had rubbed off on her. She was a hollow, evil, twisted psychopath and it pleased her to see all the foundations I'd built with my beloved friends simply crumple under her own hand, like a child crushing an ant hill, laughing the entire time.

She wanted to take it all away from me. She knew exactly how much it meant to me and she wanted to shred it into a thousand pieces right before my eyes.

And that cord snapped.

"...It's not fair you know." I muttered, my voice calm and deadly quiet. "It's not fair that you had to go and fuck everything up last time. It's not fair that you did all of that and instead of rotting in the ground you got to come back. It's not fair that the heroes always die and there is no coming back for them and yet you, you vile, psychotic, robotic sack of _shit_, you got to come back. You did and they didn't. And you came back only to try and take it all again, you ruined people's lives without even batting an eye while the good guys, they all suffer, they all die. They are the ones that have to fight for their own survival while you sit here in your hiding place, watching like some sick, narcissistic spectator! IT'S NOT FAIR!" I found myself screaming by the end of this, my blood rampaging through my body so hard I was sure my veins had burst open by now under the pressure.

And in my arms Falshade stirred, as if he sensed the rage that was pounding in me and his eyelids flickered, his eyes opening just slightly and I could see a glimpse of his violet orbs shining through his eyelashes. And that was all I needed; Falshade was alive and to my knowledge so were the others. He'd been prepared to die for me, and I knew any of the others would have been too. And I'd die for them; they were going to stay alive. They were getting out of this place and they were going to have their lives back. I was going to make sure of it.

I stroked Falshade's hair briefly before gently setting him on the stone floor and straightening up, a strange sort of serenity filling me up, banishing my anger and leaving me with nothing but my certainty, my determination. "...So I'm going to change all of that. I'm going to put everything right." I said, turning to stare Cyclonis right in the eyes. I was the reason she was here; I was more powerful then she was. I was the only one who had full control of the crystal. _I _was the ace in the hole. I could finish all of this; I'd been drawn to Falshade for a reason, and that reason was this, this right here, this moment, this final act,

This was my purpose. This was my destiny.

I don't know if she could still peer into my mind or not, but something flickered in Cyclonis' eyes and her confidence faltered. She lunged at me, trying to grab a hold of me but I slammed both hands into her thin chest and shoved her back with a strength I'd never known. She was flung backwards by the force, stumbling and falling hard to the stone floor, as if my body had repelled hers. And I strode right past her without a second glance, heading straight for the Eternity crystal. I was on a mission and no one was going to get in my way.

"STORK, NO!" I heard someone shouting at me desperately, maybe my dad, maybe one of the others. But even the desperation in their voice couldn't stop me.

_I'm sorry, you guys. But I'm doing this for you._

The crystal seemed to flare brighter we I stopped in front of it and it was like it sent out welcoming strands of warmth and joy to me, like a pleased dog happy to see me again. I could feel its energy pulsing away to the time of my own heartbeat and I felt a sort of security flow through me; whatever happened after this, it couldn't be too bad.

But still I hesitated, my hands in stretched before me, fingers splayed wide, inches from the crystal's surface. I swallowed and sent out a mental goodbye to the others, hoping they'd be able to forgive me for leaving them once again.

"It's gonna be alright." I whispered to myself. "This is how I'm meant to die..."

"STORK!" It was Falshade's voice this time, I knew it, and it rang through me in a sort of affirmative way. He was going to be okay, and so were the others. That was all that mattered to me anymore.

"...Bangerang."

The crystal's surface was warm and almost sort of soft beneath my palms, like it had been waiting for my touch and seemed to embrace it. And at first, nothing happened, and it was almost sort of funny. I mean, wouldn't it be just my luck that this wouldn't work after all?

But then it was like the crystal seemed to gently tug me forwards, pulling my hands into it, passing through the surface like it was a thin membrane and not a solid plane. Or maybe the crystal moved out around me, engulfing me in a non-threatening sort of way; I could feel it pulsing away like it was an extension of my own body, connected to me deep down. And then I felt it reaching up, through my bones and veins, every inch of my tissue alight with is glow as it passed into me, pulling me around itself like I was its skin and it belonged in my body, a natural part of me.

And then it all started to go wrong.

The energy kept pushing forwards, snuggling into my body but it was overwhelming me, there was so much of it and it just kept on flowing forward. My flesh seemed to turn to fire, green flames of energy filling up my cells, stretching out and seeking more space. My body began to burn as the energy continued to be compressed like a star was being formed inside of me, glowing hot and blindingly, the pulse, my pulse, thundering harder and harder until my whole body was being shaken with its force, choking me, crushing me.

"NO! STOP!" I could hear Cyclonis screeching at me and suddenly she was there, grabbing me, trying to pull me away from the crystal. I turned to her and I felt utter repulsion at having her touching me, clawing at my arms. And the crystal seemed to know this because it shot through me and into her, suturing her hands to my body and burning into her, tearing into her flesh with fury. And then we were screaming, she was screaming and I was screaming, my body agonized and under siege as the crystal's energy consumed me, drawing me into its core and pouring into me at the same time, some strange metamorphous that seemed to be trying to absorb me into the energy that was filling me, like I was imploding while exploding at the same time. The green light blazed so intensely it was as white and hot as lightning and it closed in all around me, so bright that it burned right through my eyes and into my head, stretching through me and taking my body into it; it kept burning into me until it was all I could feel or see or recognize. And then I became the light and my body seemed to fade away and I was nothing anymore.

**x.x.x **

Falshade's vision was smudged and blurry and the intense light was making his head ache but he could not tear his gaze away from the Eternity crystal as it seemed to swell, consuming everything around it with blazing green light, rays of energy bursting and crackling from the aura of light like shafts of lightning. He could no longer see any sign of either Stork or Cyclonis; the maelstrom of energy had engulfed both of them, pulling them deep into is burning core. He couldn't even hear their screaming anymore and that terrified him even more then when they had been screaming; what had happened to Stork? And why, why, _why_ did she have to go and do something so _stupid_? Why couldn't she just have listened to him, just once, just _once_?

He tried to push himself up from the stone floor where Stork had left him but his body refused to cooperate, his muscles weak and slack, his limbs shaking like mad. He attempted to drag his body forward, gritting his teeth, determined to get to where he'd last seen Stork. But all at once he was blasted backwards once again as the Eternity crystal seemed to explode, flinging light and energy in a roiling wave through the cavern like a dying star, hurling the last of its life source out into the universe. There was no sound; the entire Atmos seemed to fall silent in that second and Falshade felt like he'd been sucked into a vacuum, like there was nothing solid or real around him anymore aside from that explosion of light that lit up everything around him like a miniature sun.

Down below the others were frozen in place, Gargoyles, Storm Hawks and Berserkers alike, fixated by the storm of dispersing energy that seemed to swoop right through all of them, passing through them as if their bodies didn't even exist. And then, as the energy began to fade, leaving them blinded and stupefied, something strange began to happen; a few nearby Berserkers simply collapsed, their bodies spilling lifeblood from ragged, unhealed wounds. Zodiac was among them, falling to his knees and staring at the gaping cracks in his burnt flesh, looking on in complete shock at the blood, _his_ blood, that continued to flow and spurt slowly from his severed arm, spreading across the floor with no signs of slowing, forming a dark red pool around him. He just stared, his nightshade eyes wide with confusion; he couldn't comprehend this, the feeling of his own body growing weaker as his blood flowed without hesitation from his shredded skin, brittle and paper thin from healing his burns over and over, cracking and splitting as if it were stretched too thin over his skeleton. This couldn't be happening; his body was meant to heal, he knew nothing of weakness or pain or the impending reality of death. He couldn't die. He...

He fell silently into the pool of his own blood and his black eyes glazed over as the last threads of his life left him.

Elsewhere, in every corner of the Atmos, Cyclonis' mutated soldiers found themselves hunching up in pain as the crystal shards implanted in their chests exploded, tearing through their flesh like shrapnel and leaving them as normal, vulnerable humans once again.

Next to Wasp Angel felt a sudden jolt tear through his spine as his wings shot from his back, extending on their own accord and standing rigid from the rest of his body. For a moment they simply quivered, the nerves twitching as if they could sense something was about to happen. Then twin explosions of agony tore through his body and he let out a howl, falling to his knees and clenching his fists so tight his palms began to bleed. Wasp turned to him and felt her heart seize at the sight of the bloody mess that was his back. She dropped down next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him into her body protectively as his body shook and heaved. She stared at his torn back and, finding herself fixated by the gore, unconsciously lifted a pale finger and carefully dragged the tip along the side of one of the deep gouges that had been scored into his dark skin. She could see flashes of his rib cage beneath the ripped flesh and wondered briefly if she looked close enough if she could see his heart beating.

Like the shards of crystals that had disintegrated in the chests of all those implanted with them, the bones of Angel's wings, made by Cyclonis' mutation of the crystal's power, had shattered, bursting in hundreds of little splinters through the tissue that had formed the rest of the wings, ripping the flesh apart like the maws of some giant animal and tearing the unnatural appendages away from the rest of his body.

And then from high above on the platform a shape finally appeared from the dissipating light, striding forward with a slow, confident gate. Falshade pushed himself to his knees, having been flung back once again into the wall by the crystal's explosion. He stared at the figure's silhouette, trying to pick out some defining feature even as his vision faltered, flickering in and out of focus and etched dark around the edges. "Stork?" he croaked, his throat raw and bloody and barely able to produce more than a whisper.

Piper couldn't hear him of course from her place below, but her voice found itself calling out a different name, and this one turned out to be the correct one. "...Aerrow?"

The figure stopped at the edge of the platform and for a moment he remained still before his arms crossed over his chest and two twin daggers ignited in his hands, blue energy flaring to life along the blades and illuminating the face of the Storm Hawks' legendary Sky Knight, his emerald green eyes blazing with life once again.

Then he simply stepped from the ledge of the platform as if it weren't a forty foot drop but simply a mere step. His legs bent slightly on impact and the moment he hit the floor he was moving, loping right into the thick of the still stunned Berserkers and carving into them with his lightning blades, their fierce blue flame piercing into flesh as simply if it were made of butter. He moved through them all almost like an angel of death, hacking and slicing through their flesh and seeming oblivious to their counter attacks as some of them managed to snap out of it, realizing that they were no longer invulnerable beings but simply clones of the very creatures they'd been designed to destroy from the moment of their creation. None of them were able to even make a mark on Aerrow though; he cut through them like he was the antidote to their destructive nature. It almost seemed as if his very presence was acidic to them, repelling them and seeming to turn their flesh to ash if he were to make contact with them, his blades instant death to any they came into contact with.

Some of the remaining Berserkers felt their fighting instincts roar back to life in them and charged towards this new foe, prepared to hack him to pieces as they'd been trained to do. Many, however, realized they were no longer indestructible and they felt themselves faltering, fear thick in their veins. Their Master was gone and these people had already destroyed many of their comrades when they still had their mutant powers intact. But the Berserkers were not designed to be able to think for themselves; without their Master barking orders at them they stayed frozen in place, hesitating and many more fell by Aerrow's unstoppable blades without even putting up a fight. Others collapsed due to injuries that had continued bleeding and they simply faded from existence down in that dark cavern, collapsing without complaint and finding themselves absorbed by a fate they were promised they'd never have to face.

Unsure of what to do, some of the Berserkers then turned on the Storm Hawks and Gargoyles who'd remained below the platform, as this is what their Master had ordered them to do before she'd suddenly been swallowed up by the crystal furious light. They came charging towards the others, some of them with serious wounds that would kill them shortly, snarling and howling; they're regenerative powers may have evaporated with the extinguished crystal, but their basic purpose still existed, the desire to kill ingrained into their brains.

Wasp was on her feet then, standing in front of Angel with a snarl of her own on her lips and she crashed into the remaining soldiers without hesitation, her machetes ripping and shredding apart any who was foolish enough to get too close to the savage Faerieshian. Angel found himself on his feet next, his sabres' hilts slippery with his own blood in his hands but he was up and determined to stay standing; he knew he had to get to the top of that platform, to get to Falshade and Stork and the only way there was through these bastards. Before he could even sink his blades into the first Berserker he came across though Varan was in front of him, his claws tearing three vertical gouges right down the soldier's torso, spilling his organs and rendering him dead before he even hit the stone floor.

"God damnit I can look after myself!" Angel snapped at him, slicing open the throat of another Berserker.

"Well then move a little faster." Varan muttered, following after Finn, who was carving a path through the remaining Berserkers with his bayonets, desperate to get to his where he'd last seen his daughter.

And through it all, as the carnage picked up once again in that blood soaked chamber, Carrion stood and watched, her disturbed eyes wide and shimmering with something very strange indeed. Like her fellow Blitzkrieg the crystal's influence had evaporated from her being like a chemical that had finally been filtered from her system. Without it blaring away at the back of her skull like roaring white static or pounding an erratic, adrenal beat out of her chest, she could feel only the faults in her defective body, every single one of them. The tumour in her head squeezed and pushed and demanded more room, pressing her frontal lobe right up against the backs of her eyeballs; she could feel the disgusting brittleness of her weak bones, the puny reality of her wraithlike body. Her hammer slipped from her fingertips, too heavy for the pathetic, twig-like arms she'd been equipped with. She felt a raging sickness in her body, fluids leaking free and organs that had only functioned with the crystal's assistance now failing all over the place and decomposing under her very flesh. She felt no more rage, no more strength; she was a weak, useless creature, not a real human nor even a proper clone of one. She was just some frankenstien experiment who couldn't even exist properly beyond the protective womb of the crystal that had built her.

As her eyes roamed over the bloodshed that was erupting all around her she found herself staring at the Faerieshian, who was also standing apart from the rest of the battle, watching her curiously. For a moment Carrion locked eyes with her, that damn girl who'd refused to die time and time again, and found something in her mutual off-set eyes that spoke of understanding, like the Faerie knew all the feelings that were running through her deteriorating mind all too well and sympathized with her. Slowly the girl extended one gangly arm towards her, offering a warm hand over the bitter, vicious rivalry of their past And Carrion felt a tug in her mutated heart, something that had never made itself known before; this gesture, this whisper of understanding, was what her mutilated, warped being had needed, just a touch of humanity.

She stared back at the Faerieshian and felt something strange spill from the corner of her eyes, hot like molten lead. "Kill me." She whispered, her voice almost non-existence, no longer scratchy and tinny but a weak, almost girlish sound. The Faerieshian stepped towards her, that empathetic look soothing the wretched Blitzkrieg. She didn't even flinch as the girl's hand reached for her chin, stroking her cheek tenderly and then gripping her jaw tightly.

"Goodbye." She murmured and then jerked Carrion's head to the side in one efficient snap, breaking her neck swiftly and painlessly and putting the poor Blitzkrieg out of her misery at last.

Above Falshade had dragged his agonized body to the dell in the stone where the Eternity crystal had sat only minutes ago. Now as he reached the edge he saw only Stork's crumpled body curled there like a discarded doll in the bottom of the shallow basin. He felt himself heave like he was going to be sick and pulled himself over the lip of the bowl, sliding into the indent and scrambling towards her, searching over for her for any signs of life. He couldn't tell if she was breathing; her eyes were closed and her skin was horribly pale, her veins jumping out dark and still from beneath her brittle layer of skin.

"Stork..." He croaked, his voice cracking and waning away into nothing more than a wheeze. He reached out with one hand, grabbing her arm gently and shaking her a bit. "Stork, wake up, _please_ wake up..."

Suddenly he felt an immense heat surge from Stork's body and into his, traveling through his arm and rattling his entire skeleton with its intense force. It pushed through his muscles and bones like a surge of lightning and then suddenly, when it reached his elbow, a terrible pain exploded in his lower arm and he let out a howl, falling back away from Stork and clutching his arm, feeling the broken bone shifting in fragments beneath his skin. He watched as his forearm turned black and blue in great blossoming patches and his entire body shook as he gasped for air.

He was distracted from the haze of his pain and confusion when he noticed something shifting in the air nearby; at first it was almost as if the air particles themselves had come to life, rippling and shifting through the space above Stork and he wondered deliriously if maybe the very fabric of the dimension had been ripped open and a black hole was opening up before him. But then the wavering mirage took on a colour, a dark purple colour, the shade of a nasty bruise. And it moved through that air like a jellyfish, floating slowly but surely towards Stork, hovering above her chest and then slowly sinking towards it, sprouting tendrils of energy as if it were reaching into her body, setting anchors to pull the rest of it in.

And Falshade realized what it was in his reeling mind; it was Cyclonis, trying to get back in once again to the nest she'd built herself in Stork's body. He tried to lunge at the blotch, determined to keep it away from his Stork, but before he could even come close a blazing halo of green light seemed to burst from Stork's body, as if suddenly her aura had become visible and corporeal. It burned into the purple blotch above her, tearing it to shreds with its unrelenting light and Falshade was sure he could hear a slight screeching sound as the blotch shrivelled and burnt up, completely erased from the world.

The blaze of light seemed to recede back into Stork's body until it was nothing but a dull glow shimmering from her pores. And Falshade was reminded of his dreams, the figure in green flames charging and destroying the monster with its fury and burning light. Stork had told him that was how things had to be, before the monster crunched her head between its massive jaws. This was how things had to be...

Falshade felt the overwhelming, childish urge to simply crawl up next to his beloved friend and lie there with her until he died. It didn't feel so far off to him right now, and it didn't sound like such a bad idea either. It was just like falling peacefully back to sleep after waking from one of his nightmares. Angel used to be able to coax him back to sleep, all those years ago, lying beside him comfortingly until he slipped back into blissful sleep. And he would lie next to Stork now and keep her cold body warm until he slipped off to join her. It was the least he could do.

He started to slump down like an old dog lying down for the last time in some quiet place, waiting for death. It'd be nice to leave the pain of his body behind he figured. It'd be nice to just have good dreams from now on...

But then he felt something like a cool breeze float into his head and then Stork's voice was there, pushing the intruding dark clouds back and letting in some light. _'Shade, come on, get up. Don't worry about me. Go and look after the others, okay? Don't worry about me. Okay?'_

He felt himself stirring and then he was pulling himself back out of that little bowl in the stone, that comforting little hollow. And out of the corner of his eye he saw Sliver lying where it'd fallen on the dark stone, the edge of his faithful blade shining persuasively.

_Okay._

Below the platform, where he'd lain where he'd fallen, Halo felt the healing fibres that had been at work in his body suddenly come to a halt. He knew that his body was still broken in places, he could feel his blood seeping away sluggishly; the energy that had been pulsing hard and fast in his veins suddenly seemed to turn cold and heavy, like a molten metal cooling in his chest. He pushed a dead Blitzkrieg off him with disgust and looked around at the ruin that was once his Master's mighty army. Many of them lay slain across the cavern floor, tangled together in heaps of dead flesh while others continued to bleed and die on the floor like pathetic dogs.

And with a horrible jolting sensation that tore through his body he realized his Master had lost. His delusional confidence faltered and then crumbled around him like a sand castle as if he could feel the whole weight of the Atmos slipping from his grasp alongside the weakness of his own body as it returned back to its normal human state. The power and security he'd felt all these years, doing his Master's biding, following her every order down to the tiniest detail and bringing the Atmos to its knees before him, it all fell right from his body with a terrible, ripping feeling of loss.

No, not loss. Of being _robbed_. He'd been robbed of all of that he'd thrown his entire life into by those god damn _kids_.

And then, as often happens to fill the terrifying void of great loss, a violent and intense rage consumed him, pushing into all the empty spaces and masking the pain in his broken leg and battered body. He'd struggled through his entire life building up to this moment; from back in the earliest days he could only recall alienation and anguish, which later channelled to sickness and fury. He remembered being shunned by everyone around him after he was found dissecting the neighbour's cat in the corner of his backyard with a broken pair of scissors, still just a child then. He remembered being forced to the very borders of human existence, exiled and rejected by the people of his terra, labelled a psycho, a monster. And then he remembered his Master's voice coming to him one day. She did not despise him for who he was; she desired him. She told him he was meant to be great and powerful and if he followed her orders one day he would rule over those who'd beaten him and sent him away, afraid and disgusted of who he was, a strange little boy who grew into a disturbed and psychotic young man. He would catch them all in a stranglehold with an iron fist and squeeze the life from their puny little bodies.

And so for twelve years now he'd spent his every waking moment obeying the promising voice inside his head, gathering her new forces and rebuilding her fallen empire. He drove himself mad trying to create the soldiers she so desired, playing God and spawning creatures using his own genetic material. Then, finally, Carrion had turned out to be the first successful, semi-functioning life form after hundreds of failures. And things began to change, his darkly desired future brimmed on the horizon; he made himself powerful, stronger and better equipped than the pathetic human race that he'd been rejected by. He stood at the head of his Master's bloodthirsty army and as the Atmos fell piece by piece by his will he felt invincible, second only to his Master. She would dominate the planet soon enough and he acts as her right hand, the dark general of Cyclonia.

And now thanks to the stupidity and incompetence of the pathetic creatures _he'd_ personally brought into existence all of that, the desperate dreams that he'd harboured for vengeance against the bitterness and rejection he received all his life, they all were being smashed into thousands of splintery little pieces. Those blasphemies had been blinded by their bloodlust and power, they didn't have enough brain matter in their heads to keep themselves alive. Them and those wretched little humans and their half-breed friends; he'd tried again and again to destroy them, rid them of this world for good. And he'd only failed because of the faults of Carrion and Zodiac. They'd allowed the Gargoyles to escape their own death time and time again and now both of those pitiful excuses for soldiers were lying dead in pools of their own blood.

Not him though; in his collapsing mind this made sense to him. All along it had been his destiny to rule like Death itself over the Atmos. Not Carrion, not Zodiac, not the traitor Dark Angel. All of them were weak, unworthy of the place as rulers over his Master's new world. But not him; his Master had chosen him back in the very beginning to start it all, put every ounce of her trust in him and him alone. This was his destiny, he knew it. All the others may be dead but he was still alive, he could start all over again, build a new, better army with no flaws like Carrion or Zodiac. He and he alone would seize control of the Atmos in his Master's name; he'd put it all right. He would still have his revenge, his retribution.

And it would start right now; as he looked through the piles of carnage he spotted the man with the red hair, cutting down all that remained of his Blitzkrieg underlings, his skin reflecting the deadly blue blaze of his daggers. And in his haunted, corrupted mind he saw that human as the epitome of all his torture and the cause of his Master's fall from power. Somehow this man, this wretched Sky Knight, was a burning spear of light from some far off place, another point in time, like an angel stepping down from the heavens to purify the world. And if he were to kill that disgusting, alien creature, the manifestation of the last shred of the Eternity crystal's power, then the Atmos would crumble once again, lost in the darkness with no hope of ever surfacing again. And he would rein supreme, a dark god of the new world.

His groping fingers found his halberd and he dragged himself towards Aerrow, stumbling and staggering but moving with fevered purpose like a rabid dog.

Something was wrong with Varan's leg; he could feel a muted sort of pain throbbing away in his veins, blunted for the time being, and that told him he'd been injured. But for some reason his leg wasn't working properly and that was cause for much deeper concern. He could barely move it in any direction and it wouldn't support his weight either, simply buckling treacherously under him with any attempt of movement. He'd been following after Finn, who was fighting tooth and nail to reach the stairs, but now he was falling behind, unnoticed in light the sharpshooter's hysteria. He staggered for balance, slipping in the layer of blood that was splattered over the stone, finding himself alone among the butchered corpses at the base of the platform and was suddenly seized by a flashback of the genocide on Bogaton, images of burning bodies and his mother's dead eyes boring into his own flooding his mind and momentarily blinding him.

He heard the Berserker howl with delight as it came up behind him, a hungry predator descending on crippled prey, and managed to whip himself around in a semicircle, pivoting on his still functioning leg and catching the Berserker's multi-pronged pike with his broadsword, sweeping out to the side with all his might and flinging both weapon and soldier off to the side, deflecting the blow at the last moment. But his actions threw him off the remainder of his balance that he'd been clinging too feebly and his bad leg crumpled beneath him. He collapsed to the stone and found himself staring into the glazed, hollow eyes of a dead Berserker, his throat hanging open in threads as if shredded by fearsome claws. His claws. He felt the blood that was caked over his body, seeping in under his scales and things started reeling through his mind, the split and torn bodies of his fellow Terradons, and then those same creatures, their intestines hanging loose and bones exposed, moving like zombies and tearing screaming children limb from limb. Then the children were Berserkers and he was the one ripping them apart, but they still stared up at him with eyes like a child's, his own yellow orbs taking in the sight of his slaughtered family. It all blurred together in his mind, spinning faster and faster until it was all blended up into one gruesome, bloody milkshake.

His throat closed up on itself and he couldn't breathe and when he heard the Berserker with the pike charging back towards him, speared tip aimed directly for his chest, he found himself paralyzed, his broadsword a deadweight in his shaking hand. A wounded, defenceless baby bunny, death closing its maws around him once again.

Fraggle's body was a blue blur as he came crashing in from the side, his staff knocking the pike off its course and slamming the charging Berserker hard with his shoulder, slamming him into the side of the stone platform, a fierce growl rumbling in his throat. The Berserker roared in fury and rounded on the Blizzarian but Fraggle moved faster; he plunged in, acting on a deadly instinct he'd never known before and his jagged teeth sank deep into the Berserker's exposed throat with a horrible crunching sound.

Varan felt someone nudging him and caught a flash of blue hair under his arm as Piper tried to heave him back to his feet. Angel was there too and the two of them tried to haul him off the floor but he couldn't get his body to move even if his leg had been working properly.

"Varan come on!" he heard Piper trying to coax him desperately. Then he heard Angel muttering something about 'all of this' and 'shock' but it seemed like his brain was short-circuiting; his body and his mind had taken all they could handle and they couldn't take in anymore.

Then Junko was there and he hefted him up as if weighed nothing, pulling him onto his good leg and letting him lean on his massive frame for balance as he started shivering uncontrollably. "Easy, buddy." Junko said, rubbing his arm comfortingly and it snapped him out of it enough that he could see Angel properly, standing nearby and watching him with concern.

"...Falshade." He croaked and he could see his own reflection in Angel's storm cloud eyes, his eyes stretched wide with distress. He saw his panic there too, etched just as clearly in Angel's orbs.

"Yeah, I know, we're going to get him, and Stork too. Just stay here. Fraggle, stay here with him while we go get the others."

Fraggle's fur was stained with blood so that he looked like he'd turned a different colour entirely and for a moment Varan almost didn't recognize him. But then he pushed himself in under his other arm, pressed in close enough that Varan could feel him shaking slightly.

"Ugh, I don't feel too well, eh." He muttered from somewhere near Varan's armpit.

"Feeling's mutual." Junko assured him, looking around. "Come on, let's get to one of these tunnels here and make sure it stays clear."

Yes. That was supposed to be his job after all. He'd promised Shade he'd keep a way open for them to get out. His fingers gripped with a little more strength at the hilt of his broadsword and he shook his head a few times, trying to come back to his sense. He might have a bum leg and suffering from a slight psychological breakdown, but as long as he had someone at his side to keep him standing he was determined to keep going until he had nothing left to give.

Back at the base of the platform Piper, Stork and Angel had managed to catch back up with Finn, who was glistening with a thick coat of dark Berserker blood and had a look of grim determination etched over his usually juvenile features. He'd managed to hack his way all the way here, cutting down any of the Berserkers who stepped into his path; the mutants who hadn't fled to the tunnels seemed to have gravitated towards the staircase on a very basic instinct. After all their Master had stood up there only a short while ago and somewhere in their very simplistic minds the thought that they should continue protecting the only passage up there, even if she wasn't there anymore. Some of them had taken chase after Junko, Fraggle and Varan but this turned out to be a grave error when the Wallop turned on them, leaving Fraggle to support Varan and crushing their skeletons with vicious blows, sending them reeling backwards to tumble to the stone in a pile of their own broken bones and organs.

Angel was trying to keep one eye on the other three as he trailed behind Piper and Stork, ignoring the fact that his vision was starting to get fuzzy around the edges. He'd promised Falshade before that he'd keep an eye on the others if Shade himself was out of action and even though that seemed like ages ago now he was determined to keep his word. It was because of this fact that he didn't realize right away that he hadn't seen Wasp for awhile and his heart lurched. He paused, letting the other two catch up with their friend and turned, scanning the darkened chamber, his pulse hammering at a sickening rate. When he couldn't pick her out in the shadows that had crept into the chamber with the absence of the Eternity crystal's glow he felt his stomach contract like he was going to be sick. Trying to keep his head he took in a deep breath and let out a sharp, resounding whistle that echoed down the many passages leading off from the Heart Chamber and made Piper and Stork pause, turning about to see what was going on.

Angel held his breath, waiting as the seconds seemed to drag by like hours, his heart beating so fast it hurt. He was about to really start panicking when he heard a scrabbling noise emanating from one of the nearby tunnels and then there she was, loping across the cavern to skid to a halt in front of him, her head cocked as if to ask why he'd called for her. He folded his arms and raised his eyebrow, trying to seem unimpressed despite the fact that his whole body had gone slack with relief when he'd seen her, for the most part unharmed.

"What part of sticking together do you not understand?" He asked gruffly.

Wasp cracked a mischievous little grin, showing off her blood soaked fangs pointedly. "I was hunting." She explained, waving her arm at the tunnels down which many of the Blitzkrieg... Berserkers, whatever, had fled.

"We'll worry about them later. Come on, we've gotta get to Shade and Stork." Angel said, tugging her along back towards the trio of Storm Hawks.

"Right." Wasp said with a short nod and then she and him sprang in opposite directions as one, both of them hacking through an oncoming Berserker with their trusted blades. Wasp came back into Angel's side and scanned his back quickly, not at all liking the amount of blood that was still oozing from the ragged gouges that remained where his wings had been.

Angel caught sight of her concerned gaze. "Don't start worrying about me." He said curtly.

Wasp wrinkled her nose and decided to change the subject. "You see the blonde guy over there, Finn?"

"The mad commando? What about him?"

"He's Stork's daddy." Wasp explained briefly before sinking Throatknotch up to the hilt in the chest of a nearby Berserker.

"Fuck, seriously?" Angel said, glancing over the Storm Hawk in question. "Well then we should probably let him go and get Stork; we can stay down here and keep these assholes..." He paused in order to sever the head from another Berserker. "...from chasing after him."

"You should go too!" Piper said to him, darting in close to the two of them for a moment so they could hear her and cracking another Berserker firmly around the head with her energy staff, breaking his skull open like it was an eggshell. "The two of you go and get Falshade while Finn takes care of Stork, and then we can all-" She stopped so abruptly Angel was worried she might have been hurt and turned to face her, only to find her staring slack jawed and wide eyed at the sixth person who had moved over to join in the fray.

Aerrow carved his way through the remaining Berserkers like oil through water, seeming to repel them with his presence alone. On closer inspection it became clear that his mere touch burned right into the flesh of the mutated soldiers, as if he were a human bolt of lightning, disintegrating enemy tissue before his blades even touched them. He moved silently and purposely through their midst and Piper lowered her staff slowly, too stunned to keep it raised, her muscles turning limp. She'd seen him earlier of course from a distance but now that he was here, only a few feet away, and she could really _see_ him the reality of it all seemed to sink in and hit her hard. He didn't look a day older then the day they'd last seen him, seventeen long and dark years ago and he moved with the same flawless, deadly precision that he'd always possessed. And when his green eyes shifted to the side and found hers she felt it zap right into the wounded center of her heart, the place where she'd kept her grief and sorrow knotted together in a tangled, frayed ball since he'd vanished from their existence, leaving them alone in the cruel world. She took in those emerald orbs and knew with all her heart that this was no dream or crazed vision brought by her distraught mind. It was him in flesh and blood, he really was back and force of this knowledge brought her to her knees, her eyes never leaving the form of her long lost Sky Knight.

Stork felt his own knees knocking together weakly when Aerrow's eyes roved to his own huge yellow orbs which felt like at any moment they might just consume his own head. He was certain his heart had simply stopped beating; it was about time after all, he had no idea how he'd managed to last so long as it was and this was surely the straw that would break his circadian rhythm. The corner of Aerrow's mouth ticked up in an almost grin, a brief flash of an reckless, roguish expression that was so achingly familiar it made Stork's chest ache, despite how often he'd cursed that grin, knowing it would only lead to trouble.

Aerrow then crossed the last of the distance to Finn and cut down the Berserker the sharp shooter had been grappling with for the past few moments, delivering the final blow and letting the creature collapse to the side without a second glance. For a moment Finn seemed like he might just keep ploughing forwards until he caught sight of the Sky Knight from the corner of his eye and when he did all other thoughts were momentarily banished from his mind. Even his gripping concern for Stork was pushed back in that moment as he took in his thought to be dead Sky Knight, the friend he thought he'd lost for good that terrible day so many years ago. And deep inside some desperate, childish part of himself that had believed Aerrow could never die, that his best friend could never be gone for good, flared back to life, as if it had known this moment would come, had clung to it, had only existed for it and now it was consuming him with a white hot light of pure joy the likes of which he hadn't felt since he was just an idiotic teenager with the wind in his hair.

A slow grin spread over Finn's face, uncertainly at first and then bursting free wildly, cracking his dried lips and cinching the corners of his mouth up until they were practically at his ears, his eyes gleaming and teeth flashing behind his split lips like a large Cheshire cat. And, as Finn's enthusiasm and over-flowing happiness had always been contagious, Aerrow found his own mouth twitching up in the corners, his face breaking into that boyish, wild grin he'd been so famous for, and expression that seemed to light up their immediate area down in that wretched place.

And for just a moment it could almost be believed that all was well in the world.

Aerrow's presence had cast some sort of spell over the remaining Berserkers, freezing them in place and holding them there, cowering and slathering uncomfortably like meeker dogs before the alpha, waiting to have their throats torn open. None of them could move on inch if they wanted too, all their muscles and joints locked in place as if they'd rusted tight. All accept for Halo, who hauled his broken body across the length of the chamber and spotted his opportunity for his vengeance.

And he seized it.

Angel saw him lunge and shouted out in warning but he was much too far away to do anything about it. Piper snapped out of her stupor at the sound of his alarmed voice and saw Halo coming up behind Aerrow, his halberd raised high and shrieking down for the top of Aerrow's burning red head, ready to cleave it in two like a melon.

"AERROW!" She screamed, scrambling to get back to her feet but her actions were too late, she was too far out of reach. Even Finn, the only one close enough to leap to Aerrow's defence, was too stunned to react quick enough. Aerrow turned as if in slow motion, his daggers in his hands but nowhere near at the right level to block Halo's oncoming blade, a blazing scythe of flame that blotted out Aerrow's vision with its intense light.

But then, just as those last few feet between Aerrow and Halo's unrelenting blade were closing Halo lurched forward unsteadily, his mouth stretching wide in a silent gasp of pain and he froze, his arms locking above his head and the grip on his halberd slipping. Aerrow blinked, so surprised by Halo's actions that he didn't even think to move aside and stared at the large man before him as he quivered and slowly, almost grudgingly, let his mighty halberd slide from his grip and clang finally on the stone floor at Aerrow's side.

A bubble of blood burst from Halo's gaping mouth as with a cracking of bone the tip of a blade punched clean through his chest, blood spurting in strings from the wound and splattering to the floor, a sound that seemed unnaturally loud in the surrounding silence.

Halo's mud coloured eyes widened in pain and the realization that he would not recover from this wound, his heart faltering and then failing completely and his eyes rolled back in his head, their dark irises going blank as death swept through him with its silent effectiveness. Thwarted and finished for good, he fell forward without a sound, the purple emblazoned scimitar sliding free from his chest as he crumpled, leaving him in a bloody heap on the stone floor, the last of Cyclonis' minions dead and left to their fate in Hell.

And there stood Falshade, his eyes glazed but burning with determination nonetheless, breathing haggard and laboured, his right arm hanging discoloured and ruined at his side. He stared at Halo's broken form for a moment before his eyes rolled up to take in the others, all of whom were standing stock still and uncertain, taking in his ruined, wild-eyed appearance with a mixture of fright and concern. Then his eyes moved to the top of the platform as his scimitar dropped from his weakening grasp, tears rolling uncontrollably down his tortured, empty face.

"...Stork." he breathed, his voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper. And with that he collapsed without a sound at Aerrow's feet.


	30. Hallelujah

**30**

**Hallelujah**

**A/N: You guys must be getting sick of me saying this, but I am SO sorry for taking this long to update, it's disgusting really. What can I say? The last half of the year has been a strange one and I kept getting slammed by writer's block. And it doesn't help that I am a professional procrastinator. But here it is, at last, the second to last chapter of Gargoyles! And it's jammed back with enough unnecessary humor and tooth-rotting fluffiness to give you a cavity. So hopefully the sheer size of this thing will redeem me for the amount of time it took me to finally post the damn thing. **

**Few quick notes: Is this the end you ask? To which I answer with a resounding 'hells no!'. There will be one more chapter after this and fear not, I promise to get it up much sooner than this chapter took me. I want to finish this story before I turn twenty and as of right now I have exactly twelve days to acheive that goal, so hopefully the final installment will be up within the next week or so. And thank you to everyone who stuck with me through the madness of this tale and waited patiently for me to get my ass in gear. **

**Also, there is some M rated material going on in this chapter. For anyone who was offended or scarred, I apologize. **

**And finally this chapter is dedicated to .PhaerynTao., one of the original masters of this fandom (and any other she graces with her writing). To her I present a chapter filled with healing, growth, hope... and love. **

_**It's better now you'll found that life is on your side/ And you know of glory days the vibe you cannot hide/ I'm giving you the chance to make it all alright/ Baby come on walk with me, I know the future's bright/ And now I've found some solid ground/ I thought I'd drowned but now I'm found/ And on the lips of life I kiss/ I find I'm here, this place of bliss**_

_**-Bliss, Syntax**_

_**When I was a young boy my father took me into the city to see a marching band. He said "Son when you grow up will you be the saviour of the broken, the beaten and the damned?" He said "Will you defeat them, your demons and all the non-believers, the plans that they have made? Because one day I'll leave you a phantom to lead in the summer, to join the Black Parade..."**_

_**Do or die, you'll never make me because the world will never take my heart though you try, you'll never break me, we want it all, we wanna play this part, I won't explain or say I'm sorry, I'm unashamed, I'm gonna show my scar, give a cheer for all the broken, listen here, because it's only I'm just a man, I'm not a hero, I'm just a boy who had to sing this song, just a man, I'm not a hero, I don't CARE! We'll carry on, we'll carry on...**_

_**-Welcome to the Black Parade, My Chemical Romance**_

_**I'll keep my eyes fixed on the sun**_

_**-Shake Me Down, Cage the Elephant**_

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x.**

My body seemed to be waking up in sections, one at a time, very slowly, as if it had been asleep for a very long time and it wasn't running on the same wavelength as my brain. For a long time I just lay still, trying to let my mind and body catch up, struggling for my grasp on proper consciousness.

Finally I was aware of a dull white light pressing in softly through my eyelids, trying to draw my brain back to full wakefulness. It took me what seemed like an unbearably long time before I could finally sum up the energy and to pry my eyes open blearily, blinking at the halogen light that was hanging above me. For a long time I simply stared at it, my mind swimming in and out of alertness before I finally tilted my head slightly to get a look at my surroundings.

Past me stretched a long line of cots, the mattresses covered by white sheets and pillows, all the way across a large room until they reached a whitewashed wall, stainless steel trays perched next to beds here and there. I was lying on a similar cot and it was around then that I started to notice the sterile, antiseptic smell of the place and realized I must be in a hospital.

...Oh god I was in a _hospital_.

My stomach clenched as a wave of panic hit me. For one thing I'd always had an unexplainable fear of hospitals, but more frightening was that fact that I was alone here; where were the others? Were they alright? What had happened to them?

It was then, as I tried to sit up slightly, that I noticed my right arm was in a sling and bound to my chest securely. I blinked at the white plaster cast and then at the tips of my fingers that were poking out at the bottom of it. I tried to wiggle them even though I knew it was probably going to hurt but as hard as I tried there was absolutely no reaction from my fingers. I pushed myself into a sitting position with my left arm and coughed up my voice, my throat dry and sticky. "Hello?"

For a minute I was met by nothing but silence and I started to feel sick as my panic mounted. But then I heard a door swing open somewhere nearby and glanced around to find a man in pale green scrubs standing there, a friendly smile on his face.

"You're awake are you? Excellent." He said, striding between the rows of cots and pausing in front of me, shining a light into my eyes briefly and looking me over critically before asking . "So how do you feel?"

I wasn't exactly sure; my mind still wasn't fully functional so I answered his question before I could select one of my own. "My throat's kinda dry." I said dumbly.

"I thought that might be the case." He said with a fatherly sort of smile and handed me a juice box. I found myself gulping it down desperately, not realizing how thirsty I'd been. The doctor, I assumed he must have been, sat down on the cot across from me and waited patiently for me to finish my juice.

"Where am I?" I asked him finally once I'd drained the juice box.

"You're in the recovery ward of the medical centre on terra Mauruvia." He reported and I glanced around again. Mauruvia... if I recalled the terra was located not far from the Scar.

I looked back towards the doctor, who had a kindly expression on his face as if to let me know he was my friend and prepared to answer any of my questions. "So, um... what happened?" I asked slowly. I meant that in general, hoping the doctor could tell me what had gone on after I'd lost consciousness down in the Heart Chamber, but I think he thought my question was about what had happened to me personally.

"You actually just got out of surgery about half an hour ago." Is what he ended up telling me.

My stomach jolted so violently I thought the juice I'd sucked down so quickly was about to make a comeback. "Surgery?" I yelped and the doctor held up his hand to calm me.

"Take it easy, Falshade, there's nothing to worry about, it wasn't for anything serious. We just had to do some reconstructive surgery on your right arm. It was very badly broken."

I looked back at my arm, attempting again to wiggle my fingers but to no avail. "Oh..." I said, not really knowing what else to say. Luckily the doctor seemed to have more to report.

"Yes, from the elbow down it was practically shattered, we had to put all the bone fragments back in the right places. Now everything is being kept together by some pins but you're young and healthy so it should heal very nicely and in a minimal amount of time." He reassured me. "And while we had you under we took the time to suture up some of your other injuries; you were in pretty rough shape when you came in here."

"Oh, well, um, thank you." I said, not really knowing what else to say, a slight feeling of nausea still pulsing dully in my stomach.

"You're quite welcome, all in a day's work." The doctor said, smiling briefly before his face turned a little more serious and I felt my chest constrict slightly. "Although... Falshade, I have to tell you, your arm was damaged very badly; bone splinters are very sharp and they tore through some of the tissue inside your arm. You're lucky no major arteries were cut open or you might have been in trouble, but they _did_ tear through the nerve pathways. You elbow is a junction for the nerves in your arm, you see, and those nerves were severely damaged with the break. Now bones, muscles, tendons, they all heal with time, but once your nerves are damaged they cannot ever be repaired, the cells do not regenerate."

I looked at my arm once again, staring at my immobile fingers. "So what does that mean?"

The doctor sighed and then looked at me with a mixture of seriousness and sympathy. "It means that even when your bones have healed it is more than likely you'll have no use of the arm again. And if any feeling does return it will be very minimal at best."

I focused intently on my fingers and tried to move them for a third time. Nothing. I felt a swift sense of loss cut through my stomach for a few moments before it abruptly faded. I'd been lucky; things could have turned out worse. Much worse. Considering what could have happened I'd take the bum arm without complaint.

"Well that's not so bad I guess." I said, looking back at the doctor who was waiting for a response almost nervously. "I'm left handed anyways."

The doctor cracked a relieved grin. "That's the spirit." He said, rubbing my shoulder slightly.

I cleared my throat and glanced around at the otherwise empty room again, my heart squeezing painfully. "Doctor... were there other people who arrived here when I did? I mean... my friends... are they here too?"

The doctor gave me a reassuring smile. "Yes, a group of people arrived with you and to my knowledge they all were a little roughed up but we've taken care of them and they're all doing fine."

I blew out a rattling sigh, snaking my still working fingers through my hair; I felt some relief ease the anxiety that had been sluicing through my veins, but I wouldn't feel completely assured until I saw them all in person. "How are they? Can I see them?"

"Of course you can." The doctor said kindly and I felt I could exempt him from my fear of medical professionals; he seemed like an okay guy to me anyways. "In fact I think a couple of them have been waiting for you to wake up; I'll let you talk to them." He added, getting up and approaching the door he'd come through, holding it open wide to let two people into the room. "Let me know if you need anything." He said and then stepped out.

Piper nodded and then moved swiftly across the room towards me almost at a run, wrapping me tightly in her slender brown arms and hugging me fiercely. I wrapped my good arm around her back warmly, relieved and happy to see her. She squeezed me firmly for a minute before letting me go and looking me over with concern in her tangerine eyes. I examined her for injury as well and frowned at the bandage that was wrapped over her forehead. "Are you okay?" I asked, motioning to it.

"Oh, yes." She said, laughing a little and touching her fingertips to the bandage. "That would be a case of friendly fire, actually; Stork clocked me with his energy staff by accident."

I laughed a little too, shaking my head and feeling sorry for both Piper and the awkward Merb. Then I glanced around Piper at the other person who had joined us in the room and felt my pulse stir slightly. Piper looked at him too and smiled, moving aside. "I think you know who this is, don't you?"

I nodded stiffly. "Aerrow." I said, my voice kinda hoarse and extended my hand dumbly. The Storm Hawks' legendary Sky Knight cracked a smile, shaking my hand warmly.

"Yeah, that's me." He said, his green eyes shining with the same fiery light as Stork's, a mirror image of her jade orbs. "And I'm pleased to finally meet you in person, Falshade."

I was feeling slightly overwhelmed here. I mean Aerrow was one of my most idolized of Sky Knights, right up there with my dad. He'd been my hero since I was a kid and I'd admired him for his bravery, loyalty and compassionate leadership all my life. It suddenly occurred to me that he, like Cyclonis, had been watching us all through Stork's eyes all this time and I felt my face heat up. God how many stupid and embarrassing things had I done thoughtlessly around Stork over the years that Aerrow had unknowingly been witness to?

Aerrow seemed to read my thoughts and laughed, his face roguish and handsome. "Don't worry, I liked you right from the start." He said and if anything that made me face heat up even more.

"Oh... well, um, thanks."

Aerrow ruffled my hair in a comradely way, like he'd been my friends for years (and in a weird way I guess he had). "So how you feeling?"

"I'm alright." I said; I was more concerned about the others now.

"What did the doctor say about your arm?" Piper asked gently.

"He said I'm probably never going to be able to use it again." I said and Piper gripped my shoulder comfortingly. I looked up at her and gave her a reassuring smile. "It's not so bad really. I'm a lefty anyways." I went on and then cleared my throat uneasily. "What about everyone else? The other Storm Hawks, how are they?"

Piper stroked my hair soothingly. "We're all okay, Shade. Some cuts and bruises and Junko broke his knuckles again, but other than that we're more or less in one piece."

I nodded. "Good, I'm glad. And... my guys?"

Aerrow smiled. "They're all okay, Falshade. A little banged up but they're gonna be just fine."

I felt a sweeping wave of relief much more powerful then the last one; I had an easier time believing Aerrow and Piper than the doctor. "So what's the damage toll?"

"Well Fraggle was pretty lucky, he's practically unscathed, aside from some minor cuts and of course his ribs, but they were already broken before. I think the worst thing for him was losing the _Merlin_." Piper said and I felt a pang of grief over our lost, loyal airship. "Varan's going to be on crutches for a while though."

I stiffened slightly. "Why, what happened?"

"We weren't sure at first; we thought his leg might have been broken." Piper said. "But it turns out he had his hamstring muscle almost completely severed; it's going to take awhile to heal but it turns out Terradons absorb more oxygen in their muscles than humans do so it will probably take less time to heal then if it were you or me."

"He's lucky though." Aerrow added. "If Terradon anatomy were the same as human's he would have had his femoral artery severed and bled out in minutes."

I winced; Christ, poor Varan. As if he hadn't already been in rough shape after being caught so close to his exploding Rapture. He was still missing a good chunk of his scales from that whole incident.

"Wasp it alright too, although both her wrists are sprained. I think it must have happened when she was trying to hold back Cyclonis' crystal energy." Piper carried on down the list. "Of course we didn't _know_ she was hurt and she didn't say anything, Angel had to practically drag her in to get them looked at... but anyways she's fine."

I nodded. "And I take it that means Angel's alright too?"

"Oh yeah, they stitched him up and he's fine, although according to Varan he's being... weird." Piper said uncertainly. "I mean I don't know him so I don't know what he's usually like, but he does seem a little... off."

My heart squeezed unhappily as I recalled how disgusted and angry with himself he'd seemed. I felt Aerrow's hand grip my shoulder this time.

"You should talk to him." He said encouragingly and I nodded.

"Yeah, we'll all talk to him." I agreed. Then I swallowed and looked up at the two of them, afraid to ask about Stork. I wasn't sure if Aerrow had included her when I'd asked about the others. Last I'd seen of her she'd been cold and unmoving, crumpled like a bird with a broken neck in the bottom of that hollow in the Heart Chamber. For all I knew she wasn't one of the others anymore.

But I had to know for sure.

"...And Stork?" I asked in a raspy voice, bile crawling up my throat.

Aerrow and Piper exchanged a look that made me assume the worst and I felt like I might puke. Piper sat down next to me on the edge of my cot and wrapped her arm around my shoulder and as much as I appreciated the gesture it only made me more nervous.

"She's alive, Falshade, that's the important thing." She murmured and my heart picked up its pace, hope leaping up the length of my spine. "But... well she's in a coma right now.

Any comfort I felt over the fact that Stork was indeed alive clashed with a sense of cold concern that shot through my veins. "But... but she's okay, right?"

"The doctors say she's doing alright, yes." Piper said with a nod, rubbing my back a bit soothingly.

"How long will it take for her to wake up?" I asked, my heart trembling uneasily.

Piper blew out a sigh. "We're not sure...Varan mentioned something about last time, when... when Cyclonis detached herself from Stork's body, how something like this happened, like her body seemed to go into hibernation?"

"Yeah, she was out cold for three days..." I looked up at Aerrow, hoping he'd have some clarity on all this. After all, he'd been a part of Stork for so long now, he had to know some things the rest of us couldn't possibly tell. "Is this like that? I mean you... well, you're kinda... detached from her now."

Aerrow wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. "I'm not sure if this is exactly the same as last time... I mean it wasn't just me leaving her this time."

I cocked my head. "What do you mean?"

"Well I'm not exactly sure what happened but... I think she may have absorbed the energy from the Eternity crystal. It definitely passed through her anyways when she made contact with it." Aerrow said slowly and I had a flash of Stork's body being engulfed by the brilliant, blazing light of the Eternity crystal. "That's no small feat to say the least." Aerrow went on. "I think what has to happen now is her brain has to sort of... reorganize, she has to get her strength back up and we're not sure how long that may take."

I nodded, trying to process all this and then swallowed uneasily. "But... she _will_ wake up eventually, right?" I said, trying to keep the frantic tone out of my voice and not quite making it.

"Yes, we're quite sure of that." Piper said with a confident nod. "Already her vitals are looking a little better than they did about an hour ago when we first brought her in. Wasp said that was what happened last time, that she slowly got stronger again. She just needs some time, Falshade."

I let out a long, shaky sigh, my muscles unknotting slowly as the reality of everything finally started to sink in. I closed my eyes, counting my blessings as pure, numbing relief washed through me, cleaning all the stress, fear and pain from my worn body. This nightmare was finally over and everyone I loved had made it through alive. It was almost too much to believe; I was suddenly seized by the fear that I might wake up at any moment to face a much more terrible reality. But it stayed, it was all real and god, I felt like the luckiest guy in the universe right about then.

I still had one more thing I wanted cleared up though. I looked at Aerrow, hoping he'd have an answer. "Cyclonis... I think I saw her trying to get back into Stork's body. Mind you I'd hit my head pretty hard but... anyways I guess what I'm asking is she gone? For good?"

"I don't know if Cyclonis' influence on the Atmos will ever be gone; there are always going to be people who will try to follow in her footsteps. That's just the way the world is. That's why there are people like us, to keep a balance." Aerrow said thoughtfully after a moment of selecting his words carefully. "But yes, I believe Cyclonis herself is finally gone. The Eternity crystal is all about balance after all, and she'd warped it to use it for evil, she skewed everything. So I think that's why it pushed her away from Stork like that, it destroyed her and it let me stay. I still don't really understand it but I know Cyclonis is gone. I've been able to feel her spirit for years and I can't feel it anymore."

Piper was looking at him with wide, astonished eyes. "Wow Aerrow, you've gotten cryptic since you've been gone." She said and Aerrow and I both laughed.

"Yeah, sixteen years having your soul housed in someone else's body will do that to you. And if not that then listening to these kids will do the trick." Aerrow said, grinning roguishly and mussing up my hair again playfully.

I felt the last of my unease leave me and was left feeling comfortably tired and I ached for my friends. "Am I allowed to get out of here?" I asked, motioning around the room. "I'd like to go see the others."

Piper smiled warmly. "Of course, the doctor said you should be fine so long as you take it easy; no charging off into another adventure right off the bat now."

"Oh don't worry, I'm alright with just chilling out for a little while." I assured her and she laughed. I moved to slide off my cot when I realized I was decked out in one of those unappealing hospital gown things. "Uhhh..."

Piper covered her mouth to try and stifle her giggles at the look of distaste on my face. "You're clothes are over there." She pointed to a nearby cot on which my filthy clothes had been folded.

"Thanks." I muttered, my face heating up again.

"We'll leave you alone then." Piper went on. "Actually we have some things we have to take care of, contacting the Council on Atmosia and the other squadrons, things like that, so we're going to get going. The others are in the waiting area, it's just down the hall to your left there, you can't miss it. Whenever you guys are ready you can head out to the _Condor_, it's parked in the dry docks. Just make yourselves at home there, okay?"

"Okay, thank you." I said. "What about Stork though?"

"The doctors want to keep her here for the night for observation." Aerrow explained gently and I tried to hide my disappointment.

"Oh... well can we go and see her?" I asked, trying not to sound too childish about the whole thing.

"I'm sorry Falshade." Piper said, stroking my hair again. "But everything's really hectic up there right now and they're not letting anyone in to see her just yet. But first thing tomorrow morning when visiting hours start you'll be allowed to stop by for sure."

I swallowed down my unhappiness and nodded. "Okay. We'll just head back to the _Condor_ then."

Piper nodded and stood without another word, kissing the top of my head before heading for the door, pausing to wait for Aerrow halfway through.

Aerrow touched my shoulder and leaned in towards my ear for a moment. "Your dad says hi." He whispered and I snapped him an astonished look, eyebrows raised, silently asking if he really was implying what I thought he was implying. Aerrow simply winked and tapped his finger to the side of his nose before following after Piper, leaving me alone and more than a little confused.

I don't know if you've ever tried to dress yourself with only one functioning arm, but I can assure you it's no picnic. But I stubbornly yanked my clothes back on, preferring to be dressed in clothes that were coated in a layer of grim, blood and lord knows what else rather then that stupid hospital gown and after about ten minutes of fighting with them I was dressed in my own attire again. With that I left the recovery ward behind and stepped into the silent, disinfected hallway, shivering slightly at the haunted feel of the place. When I was little I always thought I could see ghosts clinging to the corners of hospitals and to this day I still get spooked by the thought. So maybe that's why I strode a little faster than usual down the empty white hallway. Or maybe I was just desperate to see my friends.

I rounded the corner at the end of the hall and there they were, bruised, beaten and bandaged, collapsed tiredly over the plastic chairs in the waiting area, but they were definitely there, alive and undefeated and I don't think I'd ever been as happy to see all of them as I was right then. My throat closed up and I felt the overwhelming urge to break down and cry with happiness and relief but I fought it back and cleared my throat instead.

All four heads snapped up and Fraggle was on his feet in a heartbeat, dashing past the remaining chairs to slam into me pretty damn hard for a guy with broken ribs; I almost tumbled right over backwards.

"Falshade!" he shouted gleefully right into my ear, overjoyed and bouncing with excitement, squeezing me so tightly he almost pulled me off my feet. "God am I ever glad to see you up and moving about eh, you looked pretty bad about an hour ago."

I smiled, wrapping my good arm around him. "Man I'm happy to see you too." I said, smiling so widely it hurt. After a moment Fraggle moved away and I staggered as Wasp literally vaulted over the row of chairs and crashed into me, burying her face in my neck and snuffling happily.

"I tried to stop them from taking you away." She said apologetically. "They didn't steal any of your organs, did they?"

"Nice to see you too, Wasp." I laughed, squeezing her tightly.

"Yes, yes nice to see you." She said, nodding quickly. Her eyes were shining brightly as she pulled away from me slightly to look into my face. "So I guess this means we get to have that time after all." She said, looking pleased by this notion.

It took me a moment to remember what she was talking about, but then I smiled, ruffling her matted hair. "Yeah, we do. And- oh, Varan, jeez, don't get up."  
Varan made a huffing noise as he attempted to pull himself onto his good leg. "I'm not completely infirm, thank you." He said, gathering his crutches under him and making a clumsy half-step towards me. I broke away from the other two and went to him instead so he didn't have to limp over, throwing my arm around his shoulders. Crutches or not he nearly crushed me when he hugged me back, practically pulling me right off the floor. I didn't complain though, I was just too happy to see him.

"Hey, you know what eh, you two could make a joke now, about something costing you an arm and a leg." Fraggle said and I snorted, giving him a half-hearted, tired look to which he shrugged. "Hey I'm just using what you give me, eh." He said as Varan swayed against me slightly. I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Look, are you sure you're okay? Why don't you sit?"

"Oh he's better then okay, eh." Fraggle said with a mischievous grin. "Tell him the story there, Var."

Varan let out a short sigh but when he couldn't shake my questioning look he elaborated. "Well they wanted to give me some morphine, except they didn't know how to calculate the dosage for a Terradon, so the first shot didn't exactly work..."

"The second one did the job nicely though, eh." Fraggle said, snickering to himself and I felt a goofy grin crawl over my face, looking up at Varan for conformation, only just noting how constricted his pupils were.

Varan sighed again but couldn't keep the grin off his face entirely either. "Yeah yeah, so I'm a little bit stoned at the moment. Kinda nice though, I haven't felt this relaxed in ages."

Fraggle was now giggling uncontrollably. "He's been sitting there rocking back and forth and staring at the lights for like twenty minutes eh."

I started laughing, shaking my head as Fraggle sank into further hysterics. Then I glanced around Varan to seek out my brother, who had remained uncharacteristically quite this whole time.

Angel was sort of standing back from the rest of us, looking like an uneasy animal ready to take flight at any moment. He looked rather small standing there uncertainly, and not just because of the weight he'd lost while he'd been gone either. Fraggle sobered up a bit as I approached him and waited for him to say something. He fidgeted uneasily and remained silent and after an awkward moment I rolled my eyes and grabbed him around his narrow shoulders.

"Get over here, you little punk." I said, sweeping him into me in a tight, one armed hug and I felt him tense up for a moment before he relaxed against me, hugging me back. "...I'm glad you're back, Ange." I muttered in a lower voice. "I...I missed you."

He made a sniffling sound against my collar bone. "Yeah, I missed you too."

I smiled, a feeling a warmth flooding me for a second before I noticed something off about him. It took me a moment to realize what it was. "Hey..." I said, releasing him slightly. "What happened to the wings?"

"Gone." He said, seeming untroubled by this fact. "I guess everything that was influenced by the crystal reverted back to its original state when it was destroyed. Anyways they sort of... what was the word you used, Wasp?"

"Splooshed." Wasp said, spreading all her fingers out wide as if demonstrating an exploding firecracker and I pulled a face, my stomach contracting sickeningly.

Angel nodded. "Yeah, splooshed. So yep, they're gone and to be honest I'm not upset about it in the least. Humans were not meant to fly, I'll tell you that much."

"Well so long as you're happy about the fact that your back's shredded to shit." Varan muttered, looking a little greener than usual. Then he looked at me seriously. "So what's with your arm, Shade?"

My arm was a lump underneath my shirt at the moment, still bound to my chest by the sling. "Well the doctor said the nerves were damaged when it was broken and that I'm probably not going to be able to use it ever again."

"Aw, Shade..." Fraggle said sympathetically but I simply shrugged.

"It's no big deal, I'm not too upset about it." I said. "Doesn't even hurt or anything, so I guess I lucked out."

Silence settled between us for a moment as all our thoughts wandered to the missing member of our team. Then Wasp fidgeted and looked at me. "So... what about Stork?"

"Piper said she's still unconscious..." Varan trailed off as if waiting for a proper verdict on her situation and I blew out a sigh.

"She's in a coma." I explained and Fraggle's eyes got wide. "I guess this is kinda like what happened last time, remember when she was asleep for so long? Her energy is just way down and she needs some time to gain it back."

"Did they say how long that might take?" Varan asked quietly.

I shook my head. "No idea." I said dolefully. "But I think it might take a little longer this time around..."

"Can we see her, eh?" Fraggle piped up. "I mean we haven't seen her since we got here, and I'm kinda worried about the girl..."

I grabbed his shoulder comfortingly to tell him the feeling was mutual. "Piper said they're not letting anyone see her right now." I informed him. "I have half a mind to march up there anyways but that's beside the point. Apparently she's already doing better than she was earlier and we can see her first thing tomorrow."

Fraggle sighed and looked dejected. "Okay, well as long as she's doing alright I guess that's all that matters eh..."

I looked over their collectively worn faces, taking in how stressed out they'd been this whole time, how exhausted and roughed up they were. Fraggle had a bandage plastered over his check where I recalled Zodiac slicing him with his daggers; Varan was still covered in bandages where his scales had been burnt off and I could see blue, bloody patches here and there under his scales from where he'd taken a beating; Wasp's hands were bandaged up to the elbows, as well as a place on her thigh, and her face and neck were scratched and bruised badly, supporting a blackened eye; Angel was heavily bandaged over his chest and back from what I could see and his face was mottled with bruises, and all that aside he was in terrible shape, skinny as a rail with dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't eaten or slept in weeks. They all looked sore and tired and I just wanted to take them somewhere quiet and safe where we could all heal and unwind without any more anxiety or misery to drag us down. My die hard, battle worn squadron, indomitable survivors and heroes of war, their loyalty to me never faltering even though they'd all been brought to the threshold of death because of it. God I just wanted to tell them all how much I fucking loved them right then and I felt tears clogging in my throat again. I wiped at my eyes quickly and looked towards the exit.

"Since we can't visit Stork I can't see much point in hanging around here." I said. "What say we get out of here, the Storm Hawks said we can crash on the _Condor _and besides, this place is starting to give me the creeps."

"_Finally_." Wasp muttered, looking like she was prepared to fly out those doors like a bat outta hell. Angel rubbed her shoulder soothingly.

"That sounds like the best suggestion I've heard all day, eh." Fraggle said with a nod and I grinned, tugging the rim of his toque down over his eyes affectionately.

"Okay, well then let's blow this joint." I said, leading the way to the doors. As I pushed them opened I had to squint at the fierce brightness of the sun as it streamed down towards me as if to reassure me it was still up there, shining away. I had to be honest, at some points in time while we were down in those god awful tunnels I'd been certain I'd never see the light of day again.

Wasp sprang past me, breathing in deeply and spinning around in tight circles a few times, glad to be free of the antiseptic hospital air and for that I couldn't blame her. Angel paused next to me as I waited for poor old Varan to gimp his way outside and turned his face up to the sun, closing his eyes and breathing out slowly as if he'd missed its warmth. Wasp came back over to see what he was doing, sniffling at his hair with interest and he blew a stream of air into her face, making her leap back with a surprised squeak.

Varan blinked up at the sun as well when he finally made it outside, sighing peacefully. "God that feels nice." He said. "I don't think it's been this sunny in awhile."

"It's saying hi to us, I bet." Wasp mused, squinting up at the sky.

"Alright since I have no idea where the dry docks are why don't you guys take the lead." I invited.

"Oh that's right, you were still out for the count when we got here, eh." Fraggle recalled, waving towards the street we had to follow and I felt my face heat up.

"Oh, yeah... so, um, what happened then, after... everything?" I strung out awkwardly, feeling bad that once again I hadn't been there to help my friends in their time of need.

"A lot happened, be a little more specific, Shade." Varan said.

"Well what happened after the crystal exploded? I didn't see anything that was happening down below, I was trying to get to Stork..."

"Well for one thing the Berserkers stopped healing." Varan started "I guess even though they were made from its essence when it was destroyed anything that had been a part of it at some point in time or other went with it."

"So like Carrion and Zodiac and all the other ones, what happened to them? Did the all just die or what?" I asked.

"Carrion was dying." Wasp said, a strange note entering her voice. "I guess she really was defective and without the crystal... I felt kinda bad for her, actually."

Fraggle shook his head. "You are a strange one, eh. Anyways no, not all of them died eh, but a few did 'cause they were injured so bad and weren't healing anymore. We gave the ones that were left hell though, eh. Aerrow cut them down six ways 'til Sunday eh, it was pretty badass."

"Yeah, I think that was the crystal's way of trying to fix the balance." Varan mused thoughtfully. "I mean Piper said everything was all about upholding a balance and the way Cyclonis had skewed everything..."

I nodded, remembering Aerrow mentioning something like that earlier. "So then what happened to you guys? How'd you get out of there?"

"Well the terra started collapsing shortly after everything went down." Varan explained. "I think it took one too many beatings, what with us blowing up the _Merlin_ and then the crystal going off like that... Finn went and got Stork and Angel and Wasp dragged you back to where Fraggle, Junko and I were waiting in one of the passages... Christ Shade when they brought you back I thought you were dead for a second there, you gotta stop _doing_ that to me..."

I hung my head, ashamed. "I'm sorry." I muttered.

"Dude you were hurt eh, don't worry about it." Fraggle cut me off before I could add anything else. "Anyways we had to haul ass outta there, lucky we had Cupcake here to guide us out." He went on, throwing an arm around Angel's boney shoulders but Angel didn't look too proud of himself.

"Wasp helped." He muttered, not looking at us and I felt my chest ache slightly; Aerrow was right, we'd have to have talk with him about everything that had happened.

"Yeah, so we made it back to the _Condor_ in one piece and headed here, it was the closest place we could think of. And that pretty much sums up everything you missed." Varan concluded.

Wasp was staring at him with interest as he hobbled awkwardly along on his crutches, trying his best not to slow us down. "Those look like fun!" She declared. "Can I try them?"

"Don't know if you noticed Wasp, but I'm kinda using them right now." Varan said and Wasp looked put out. Then she turned to me with curiosity in her mismatched eyes.

"So what about you, Falshade? What happened up on the platform?"

The others looked at me with interest as well and I tried to pull my memory back together; now that I'd been moving around for a while I found that my skull ached from colliding not once but twice with solid stone and my head was swimming slightly.

"Well Stork... she... Christ I'm going to have to give her a serious talking to when she wakes up..." I seethed, recalling my fear as she'd made contact with the Eternity crystal, the same calm expression on her face that she'd worn in my dream seconds before the monster had crushed her head between its jaws. "She put her hands up against the crystal and... I dunno, it must have drawn the energy out of it or something. Piper said she was the only one who'd be able to unleash its full power. I don't know exactly what happened though, it was like the energy all started flowing into her... Cyclonis tried to grab her and then she started screaming, like she was being burned or something. And then that wave of energy burst free and I couldn't see either of them. I found Stork lying in the bottom of that hole it had been sitting in but she was all..." I trailed off, my throat constricting as I remembered her still, frigid body. Wasp squeezed my elbow comfortingly.

"But Cyclonis wasn't there?" Varan asked, sounding confused.

"No, but then something weird happened... I saw this... thing in the air above Stork and this is gonna sound crazy but I thought for sure it was Cyclonis' spirit trying to get back in." I said, my stomach growing hot with rage at the memory. "But all of a sudden this green light kinda blazed out of Stork's skin and it was like it burned up what was left of Cyclonis, I think..."

"Weird, eh." Fraggle commented. "So it was like the crystal's energy protected Stork?"

"Yeah, something like that; when I touched her it shot through me too. That's how my arm got broken." I explained, recalling the strange, powerful sensation. "Which makes me think... maybe she absorbed some of its energy."

"Yeah but if it did that to your arm... what might it have done to Stork, eh?"

"Falshade wasn't supposed to wield it's energy." Wasp said simply. "Stork was the only one, remember? Maybe Falshade's body couldn't channel it like Stork's could because he wasn't meant for it."

"Hmm... well that makes sense, eh." Fraggle agreed. "But then if she _did_ absorb it, what does that mean for Stork? Will she have like... super powers now or something?"

"Oh god that's the last thing we need." Angel muttered and I had to laugh.

"Who knows? I guess we'll have to wait until she wakes up."

At that moment our street crested a hill and we were able to look down upon the edge of the terra, the dry docks stabbing out into empty sky as the terra wound down towards the Wastelands below. Even from here I could pick out the _Condor _perched and waiting in an almost welcoming sort of way. Still, I didn't get the same warm feeling I'd always felt when I beheld the _Merlin_, which had always seemed like a giant, metallic pet waiting for us to come home again. Next to me I felt Fraggle slump dejectedly, emitting a sniffling sound and wiping at his nose with his sleeve. I looped my good arm around his shoulders.

"Aw, Fraggle..." I said. "I miss her too, buddy."

Fraggle sighed. "Yeah eh... gonna be weird without her. It's like we don't really... have a home anymore, eh."

"Of course we do." I said, trying to cheer him up. "As long as we're together we'll always be home."

"I guess that's true, eh..." Fraggle scuffed his foot. "Still, you know what I mean? We don't really have like, a _physical_ home."

"Maybe one day you can get another ship." Wasp suggested encouragingly.

Fraggle nodded. "Yeah, I suppose. I mean I'd like one eh, but just... not right away. I need time to grieve, eh."

"Totally understandable." I assured him. "She was a helluva ship, it's not going to be easy to replace her."  
"You can say that again." Fraggle cleared his throat and looked off in the distance in the direction of the Scar. "Permission to have a moment here, eh?"

"Permission granted."

"Alright well... rest in peace, baby. We're not ever gonna forget you, eh." He murmured, saluting the skies that our loyal, departed airship had roamed with us.

"Amen." Wasp added and Fraggle cracked a tiny grin, ruffling her mane of dreadlocks affectionately.

Angel suddenly made a weird twitching motion, his hands jumping to his pockets. "Shit, that reminds me." He said, digging through his cargos. "God damnit, which pocket did I... aha!" He exclaimed, pulling a lump from his pocket and holding it out towards Wasp, whose eyes stretched wide when they took in what was in his outstretched hand and I realized just what it was he'd retrieved from the _Merlin_ before Fraggle had brought her into those tunnels, never to return. In his palm sat Wasp's silver dragon figurine, unscathed.

Wasp gingerly took the figurine from Angel's hand and turned it over slowly as if she wasn't sure she could believe it was the real thing. "Shadowfax... I thought I'd lost you forever." She breathed, rubbing the pad of her finger over the little dragon's head in amazement before looking at Angel. "You saved him."

"Well, um, yeah." Angel said, shifting awkwardly. "I figured you might want to keep it... er, him."

Wasp stared at him for a moment longer before she suddenly sprang forward and without any warning mashed her lips firmly right into his, kissing him full on the mouth right there in front of all of us. Angel started, his eyes wide with shock and I looked away, feeling both awkward and amused at the same time. I mean up 'til now, although we'd had suspicions, we hadn't been _exactly_ sure if those two had just gotten closer in a friendly kind of way or if it was something like... well like this. Even now it was a little hard to absorb, considering what we'd all thought about Angel from time to time and Wasp just being... well, Wasp.

Fraggle caught my eye, a smirk on his face and I think the two of us would have set into some major teasing if Varan hadn't grabbed both of us by the backs of our shirts and tugged us along as the two of them seemed to forget we were there completely, Angel getting over his initial surprise and tucking a hand around the back of Wasp's neck, tilting her head and kissing her back.

"Leave them alone." Varan told us sternly, directing us firmly towards the dry docks to let them have their moment. Fraggle chuckled softly, shaking his head in disbelief and giving me a look as we continued on down the street.

"Ah well. I was always rooting for those two kids, eh."

* * *

The Storm Hawks were surprised when we declined their offer to put us up at the small hotel that Mauruvia had to offer. We were all completely wiped out and didn't feel like moving anywhere anymore today for one thing and despite our grief for the _Merlin_, the _Condor_ had a homey, comforting feeling that we latched on to; an airship just felt more at home to us than some little rented room and at the moment that was all we wanted. That and I think we all just wanted to stick as close as possible to one another. So instead we made ourselves comfortable on the bridge of the _Condor_; we allowed Varan to have the couch since he seemed to be in the worst shape and the rest of us made ourselves comfortable on the floor, blankets strewn over the cool metal surface as if we were having a camp-out or something. Piper didn't seem to think it was a good idea to have us lying on the hard floor given our conditions and everything we'd gone through in the past few weeks, but we insisted we were fine and eventually she gave up. She was, however, adamant about washing our clothes and for that I couldn't blame her; we were all caked in a thick layer of dried-on gore and I wasn't bothered in the least to shed my clothes and let her throw them in the _Condor_'s washing machine. Varan, Fraggle, Angel and I were now decked out in our boxers and numerous bandages while Wasp was dressed in a borrowed Crystal Expo t-shirt of Piper's and a small pair of girly shorts, since, as it turned out, Wasp didn't actually _wear_ underwear. We'd all taken turns and had showers too, glad to rinse the filth and stress from our worn bodies and even Wasp seemed pleased to be clean. Man I'd really come to appreciate the little things in life; it felt unbelievably good just to be clean and lying on something soft.

However once the lights had gone off I found myself unable to fall asleep, staring into the dark with itchy eyes despite the dull ache of exhaustion I felt in my body. My mind was still painfully awake, thinking over everything that had happened over the past few months and it wouldn't let me have peace. I was having a hard time really accepting that this was finally all over. I mean my whole life had been building up to this moment, the thought that I could finally feel safe without the threat of something sinister creeping up from the shadows, but now that I was here, a place I sometimes thought I'd never get to, I didn't know how to feel about it. I was scared that this was all some sort of dream and that if I closed my eyes I'd wake up to a completely different reality. It was sort of ironic really; it had been so very easy for me to believe that my nightmares were warning me of something terrible that was rising in some forgotten corner of the world, but the notion of that thing being defeated? That was just not computing. Peace, security and hope were three things that lately had been seriously lacking in my life and it was hard to let them back into my arms again. They felt like strangers. Right then I could finally understand why all those people had rejected my beliefs and shunned me despite how certain I was that something bad was going to happen. It was hard to slip back into a world free of war after so much grief and loss; they didn't want to face the thought of leaving that world once again.

After awhile of lying still, trying to coax myself to sleep, I let out an irritated sigh and noted the lack of snoring and slow breathing from the others, telling me that they, too, seemed to be having a hard time adjusting to this new reality.

"Is anyone actually asleep?" I asked into the dark.

"I am." Fraggle grumbled at my left side.

"Believe it or not, I'm not. Must be the insomnia or something." Angel said sarcastically from his place on the floor and I rolled my eyes, leaning over Wasp to cuff him gently, although I was pleased to hear some semblance of his old, sardonic personality anyways.

"I _feel_ like I could sleep." Varan muttered from his place on the couch. "But I just can't stop thinking about everything. I think if I wasn't so, you know, drugged up, I'd feel really paranoid."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." I agreed. "I just... it doesn't seem real, you know? That everything is really... over."  
"Well it's not all over just yet." Varan reminded me. "There's still a lot of work to be done."

"Well yeah." I said. "But I mean just the fact that we made it this far, to this point, you know? I guess I spent so much time worrying about how to try and stop my nightmares from coming true, I never really thought about what it'd be like if we _did_ put an end to it."

"You just have to take it all one day at a time." Wasp told me. "After awhile things will all make sense again."

"You think so?" I asked her, feeling suddenly very dependent on her next words.

"Of course. It's just a transition stage, that's all. Change takes some getting used to." She said this with the certainty of one who'd had to accept change a few times over.

"Hmm..." I flopped back, mulling over her words. "I still just feel kinda weird about things. Like I can't relax, I'm not all here or something."  
"Shade, no offence, but you were _never _all there." Varan said and Angel snorted with laughter while I scowled.

"Oh yeah well then no more morphine for you, since it makes you such a great comedian and all." I said and Varan chuckled quietly.

"Yeah, that's probably for the best."

"I bet it's because Stork's not here." Wasp said then. "Why this doesn't feel right yet I mean. We should all be together for something this big. I bet once she's back it'll start to sink in better."

"Yeah..." I said and felt my chest seize up with sorrow as I thought of her all alone. "I don't like thinking of her, all alone in that big old hospital." I said miserably and Wasp rubbed my arm soothingly.

"Aw, don't worry too much there, Shade. I mean after all, she's sleeping, eh. She doesn't know any different." Fraggle consoled me. "Still, it does suck, eh."

"We'll go and see her tomorrow and then we won't feel as bad." Varan assured us. "Look at it this way, she's nice and peaceful at least."

"Yeah, lucky little brat." Fraggle grumbled. "While here we are sleeping on the bloody _floor_, eh."

"I offered to let you have the couch but you insisted on staying down there!" Varan objected, offended. He really didn't like it that he was up there on the couch while the rest of us were on the floor, but I honestly didn't mind, I was just as comfortable down here. Then again compared to some of the others my injuries were pretty minor; poor Fraggle had some broken ribs that he was now lying on and Angel's back was absolutely shredded. The floor might not have seemed so comfy to them.

"Well Piper did mention they had a spare room too if you'd rather stay there, Fraggle." I reminded him and felt him shrug.

"Nah eh, I'm just being a shit. Besides, down here I get to be all close and cosy with you, soooo..." He pushed in closer to me, hand gripping my chest suggestively and I laughed, shoving him away again playfully. It struck me then that I'd never slept beside either Fraggle or Wasp before, both of whom were now tucked as closely into my sides as possible without things getting awkward. Before we'd had the _Merlin_ I'd usually slept on the ground between Varan and Stork, both of them sandwiching me in the middle as they shuffled in closer during the night for warmth. And even before that, in our room at the Academy Angel would sometimes stay in my bunk rather than his, usually to help me fall back asleep after waking up from one of my nightmares but once because the heat register in our room broke down and the poor kid was freezing, having no body fat to keep him warm; he'd eventually crawled in next to me, seeking heat and shivering like mad. I'd always enjoyed being close to the others, it comforted me and I was glad to be sleeping beside them once again. I didn't want to be very far away from them at all right now, not after coming so close to losing all of them.

"You know what?" Wasp said after awhile. "I bet that sometimes, when you're close enough to people, you can visit them in their dreams. Maybe your spirit can move through the dreamscapes if it wants and join other people's, if it knows them well enough. So maybe Stork can be here with us anyways, in our dreams. We can all be together, sort of."

I smiled, liking the idea. "Can people dream in comas?"

"I think so." Angel said. "Their mind has to do something, anyways."

"I dunno if I want you kids wandering through my dreams though, eh." Fraggle piped up, a mischievous tone in his voice. "Might ruin your innocent little minds."

"Okay, I don't wanna sleep beside you anymore." I said and Fraggle laughed, mussing up my hair. I grinned, feeling a little better about things. Wasp was right, soon enough things would start feeling real and everything would turn up alright in the end. After all, the worst was over, now all we needed was time. And we had all the time in the world.

I felt the others' body heat sinking into my sore body and my knotted muscles started unwinding, my mind slowly sinking into a state of relaxation at last. Tomorrow we'd visit Stork and work things out from there. Everything was going to be alright now; I had enough faith to believe that.

Fraggle started snoring softly after awhile and I felt Wasp shifting, making herself a cosy little nest in her blankets like a large cat. Then she sighed peacefully and extended a bandaged hand towards me, running her fingertips up and down my spine soothingly until I felt my eyes slipping closed.

"Go to sleep, Falshade." She murmured. "We'll all be here when you wake up."

Her soft words did the trick and as if I'd been washed over with a calming spell I finally succumbed to my exhaustion and drifted off into blissful sleep. And Stork was there waiting for me.

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

Ah the night, ever my worst tormentor. Well, right after Stork anyways.

I lay there in the dark, staring at the ceiling and listening to the others' slow, peaceful breathing as they slipped off to sleep and felt my familiar demons starting to creep up on me, back with larger fangs and mocking red eyes. They'd been following me around all day, waiting for things to calm down enough before leaping onto my chest and crushing the air from my lungs. And I let them come, listened to all the nasty things they whispered into my ear and squeezed my eyes shut, putting up no resistance as they slowly tore me apart.

In all honesty, I'd been thinking of leaving. I nearly did while the others were distracted at the hospital. But I'd been dragged in to be sutured up and after that I'd been ready to make a break for it, except then I'd found Wasp huddled in a corner in the cold, bleached hallway, her nose buried in the collar of her jacket and realized she was still hurt. It took me about twenty minutes of coaxing, bribing, threatening and eventually dragging a very displeased Faerieshian who happened to outweigh me in to get checked by one of the doctors and then I stayed by her side while they x-rayed her arms and patched her up. I think the only reason she didn't totally kick my ass for all of that was because she couldn't bring herself to hurt me more than I already was. After that I just couldn't bring myself to slink off, I'd wanted to know how the others were and if Falshade and Stork were going to be okay. So I'd stayed. And now here I was, hating myself for it.

It wasn't... it wasn't that I didn't want to be here. God I was so insanely happy to be back I could barely contain it, overwhelmed by the desire to leap all over the others like an idiotic puppy. But that feeling of happiness was being squeezed to death beneath the enormous weight of my guilt and shame and self-disgust. I felt like no matter how badly I wanted to be here, I didn't deserve to stay. My default, self destructive way of functioning, the need to be alone and punish myself, was telling me over and over I couldn't stay here, that I should get up and leave now, before the others could draw me back in any further.

But I knew that wouldn't solve anything. I wasn't going to push anything else to the back of my mind to rot. I'd told myself again and again I never wanted to be anything like my mother, that I was never going to be as weak and cowardly as she was, turning tail and leaving the people who loved her behind when things got too hard. It was high time I started living up to that; I was sick of running from my own shadow.

If the others would have asked me to leave that would have been different; if they pointed to the door I would have been gone, no questions asked or hard feelings. But they weren't doing that and that was what was making this so much more difficult. I wanted them to be angry with me, to shun me and beat me and drive me away like a flea ridden dog. But of course they didn't; instead they pulled me into their arms tightly and showered me with acceptance, concern and comfort and it made me want to cry. I needed some rebuke here, I wanted to have to fight for forgiveness, to earn it good and proper and not simply have it thrown at my feet. It made me yearn for Stork even more; with her cutthroat attitude I could have at least counted on her for the cold shoulder and maybe even some verbal abuse, which I would have accepted without complaint.

I just really didn't feel like I deserved the love and sympathy of my friends. I didn't feel like I deserved anything from them, period. I felt like utter shit and I didn't deserve to be happy in the slightest.

...God I'd missed them though; I'd been so scared that I'd never see them again, more afraid then I'd ever been of anything in my whole life. The thought of losing them hurt more than anything had ever hurt before, more than my mother abandoning me or all the self-inflicted torment I'd put myself through. There was no point in living without them and maybe that was the real, deep down reason that I couldn't bring myself to leave. The lonely, desperate, selfish part of me knew if I left I'd more than likely just die in some empty corner of the Atmos and I just couldn't bear to go through with it. If I wanted to act like I good person I'd say it was because I'd never have the chance to make up for all the terrible things I'd done to the others if I did that. And if I wanted to be honest I'd say it would be like letting myself off easy. Whatever the reason, I just couldn't do it. I was ashamed and disgusted and I hated myself. But I wanted to be here, too.

Next to me I felt Wasp shift and glanced at her through the shadows; she was curled up in a nest of blankets, her long legs tucked up against her stomach and one of her leathery ears falling into her face. Hard to believe this now seemingly harmless girl was the same warrior who'd torn open the throats of Berserkers with her bare fangs earlier. I felt the corner of my mouth twitch slightly, amazed by just how... cute she could be. On an impulse I reached out with one hand and pressed my palm between her shoulder blades gently, running my hand slowly down her back and feeling the knobs of her spinal column with my fingertips. Wasp stirred slightly and stretched, arching her back into my touch and purring quietly before rolling over to look at me.

I took my hand back quickly. "I'm sorry. I didn't wake you up did I?"

Wasp shook her head. "I wasn't asleep."

"Why not? You're not in pain or anything are you?"

"Oh, no, I feel fine. I'm just not sleepy yet. Although these stupid things are really itchy." She added on an afterthought, chewing at her bandaged wrist irritably. I took her hands gently and scratched along the edges of the bandages with the tips of my fingers. She flopped her head down on her pillow and watched me for a while before looking up at my face.

"So why aren't you sleeping?"

I blew out a low sigh. "I'm just... thinking about some stuff that's all."

Wasp flicked her ear, looking straight into my eyes unwaveringly until I had to look away, sure she could see everything inside my head. She stared at me for a while longer and then tugged her hands out of mine, moving them to tap her fingers along the edge of the bandage that was plastered over my chest. "I'm sorry I had to bite you." She said quietly, licking the tip of her thumb and drawing it in a line all around the edge of the bandage as if sealing it.

I snorted. "Don't be. Probably the best thing you could have done for me..." I watched her face as she continued drawing patterns on my skin with her pale fingertips. In my mind I could still see her screaming at me while I attacked her mercilessly, unable to recognize her, the way she'd begged for me to remember who she was and who I was. I saw her beautiful face streaked with tears, the way she'd collapsed after I'd stabbed her, the desperation and the sorrow and the agony that had etched itself into her features and my heart seemed to wrench itself apart as I felt the pain and misery she'd gone through because of me. I hated myself right then more than I ever had in my life. Wasp was too strong and brilliant to have been brought down like that by a scumbag like me. I knew there was no way I'd ever be able to make it up to her for putting her through that, I could never repay her for saving me nor earn her forgiveness for everything I'd done to her, before and after I'd been taken capture. And the knowledge of that terrified me.

Right then I wished she just would have killed me down there in those tunnels.

Wasp leaned over and bit the edge of my jawbone gently to get my attention. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head, willing myself not to start crying; the last thing Wasp needed was for me to dump more of my shit on her. "Nothing."

Wasp wrinkled her nose, pursing her lips as if she was displeased with my response. "You're not going to be like this forever, are you?"

I gave her a look. "Like what?"

"Like this, so far away. I mean you're right here, but I feel like you're on the other side of the world." She said, pushing the flat of her hand against my chest as if to test that I really was there. "It's just... I missed you, while you were gone. I was worried I might not get to see you again. And now you're back but... you're not, really."

I chewed on my tongue, guilt pushing bile up my throat. "I'm sorry. But... Wasp I just feel so terrible about everything. I feel like I shouldn't be here at all..." I trailed off as her eyes turned mournful. I couldn't stand seeing her sad, least of all because of me. I wrapped an arm around her side and pulled her in a little closer. I told myself I didn't deserve to be this close but I couldn't help it, I wanted to be, I ached to be pressed in as close as possible to her. And I couldn't just push her away, not when she looked at me like that.

"...I missed you too, though." I added hoarsely after a moment. I wanted to tell her how it was thoughts of her that kept me from giving up down in that dungeon, that I'd longed for her so badly it hurt and that I'd been worried out of my mind about her and downright terrified by the thought that I'd never see her again. I wanted to tell her so many things but they all got stuck like a tangle of brambles in my throat. So I pushed my face into the coarse snarls of her hair and clung to her tightly and hoped that was enough for now.

However when I thought back to that dark stretch of time I'd spent in the bowels of Cyclonia I recalled something so abruptly and vividly that it actually startled me and it seemed to clear all the other mess from my throat so I could tell her about it. After all, I'd promised him I would.

"...I saw Rainer, you know." I said and Wasp's whole body stiffened as if she'd suddenly been turned to stone. She pulled herself away from me slightly so she could look up at me, her eyes wide and trembling with something between the desperate desire to believe me and cold reason that told her to think otherwise.

"W-what?"

"Well I was down in this cell after they took me away from the rest of you and... I think I started to go crazy, because I could see you guys down there and talk to you and everything." I started off slowly, not liking to go back to that god awful place at all. But I pulled myself out of my self-pity, determined to tell Wasp what he'd said. "And the one time it was him down there talking to me. Fucking insane, right?"

Wasp's eyes were so wide they looked like they might engulf her whole face. "What did he look like?" she breathed, her voice raspy.

"Um..." I closed my eyes, trying to remember; so much shit had happened since then it was hard sorting through it all. "Like, dark skinned, really dark with white hair and like these really blue eyes-"

"That's him!" Wasp exclaimed, almost forgetting to keep her voice down. Her eyes were shining so hopefully it made my chest ache. "And he talked to you? What did he say?" she asked, excitement thick in her voice.

"He wanted me to tell you he doesn't blame you for what happened to him." I said and I don't think she'd been expecting that; her body jolted as if she'd been shocked and she drew back from me a little more, a look of uncertainty in her eyes.

"...What do you mean?" She asked slowly.

I looked directly into her eyes, trying to pour everything that Rainer had said through myself and into her so she'd believe me. "He told me about what happened to your friend Fli." I said quietly and Wasp flinched, her gaze turning distant as if she were looking over an old memory. "Listen, Wasp, he doesn't blame you for doing what you did, he understands why you did it. And what happened to him, that wasn't your fault. This Buzzard guy who sent his thugs after him, all of it, everything that happened was _his_ fault, not yours. You were upset, you were angry and I don't fucking blame you; if someone did that to one of you guys I'd want to make him suffer too. Rainer gets that, and he was never angry at you because of it. The only thing that he's upset about is that he had to leave you."

I felt like my words were coming through from some other place, something outside of myself and wondered if Rainer were around right now, sending his thoughts to me and putting them to my voice. I still had a hard time believing any of that afterlife kinda stuff but if there was ever a moment when I wanted to believe it, it was right now, telling Wasp all the things Rainer had been trying to tell her for so long.

Wasp was staring at me as if transfixed, hanging off my words, her eyes starting to shimmer slightly as tears welled up in the corners. "He really said all of that?" She asked, her voice nothing more than a whisper.

"Yes." I said firmly, cupping her jaw slightly, fingers brushing gently along the side of her face. "And he wanted me to make sure you heard it. He really loves you Wasp, he doesn't want you to be miserable about what happened or to blame yourself for it. He just wants you to be happy."

The tears spilled over the edge of Wasp's lashes and made slow tracks down her cheeks, a torn yet joyous smile plastered over her thin lips and I almost started choking up seeing such a bittersweet expression on her lovely face. A small part of me was able to feel good about myself right then, knowing I'd brought her a message that she'd evidently needed to hear for years now, freeing her of any guilt or uncertainty she'd harboured since Rainer had died.

Wasp moved in closer to me again, winding her whole body around mine and holding onto me tightly, pushing her face into my chest. "I miss him." She whispered, her voice a muffled sob. "It hurts how much I miss him, it hurts so bad..."

"I know..." I assured her, cradling her and rubbing my hands up and down her back, stroking her ears and hair, soothing her as she cried quietly into my chest. I pushed all my own misery and self-loathing away, fixing all my attention on her, trying to comfort her the way she'd always comforted me before when I'd come to her with all my hurt and filthy secrets. I wanted to show her I could do the same thing for her, that I could be there for her if she needed me to be.

She started murmuring into my chest again after awhile, her voice still clogged by tears and it was difficult to hear her. "I was so scared I was going to lose you like I lost him." She mumbled, her hand tightening around my arm. "I was scared I'd never see you again. I couldn't stand the thought of that..."

My remorse came flooding back in and I squeezed her a little harder. "I'm sorry..." I muttered. "I'm sorry for a lot of things. I thought I might not get to see you again either and... god that fucking killed me. I really missed you..." I trailed off as she pulled her face from my chest and looked up at me, the pads of her spindly fingers touching my chin and drawing it down gently. For a moment I resisted but when her lips touched mine my resolve simply melted, even though I knew this was something I _definitely_ didn't deserve right now. But I couldn't help it, not with her soft lips moulded over my mouth like that. I let all my venomous thoughts slide away for just a minute because god I'd missed this, I'd missed her too much to try and fight it. And as I leaned in to kiss her back I realized I'd screwed myself over, that there was no way I could leave now (and to be honest I think that was part of Wasp's intention). I was staying for good no matter what the little demons that clung to my shoulders said otherwise and I'd just have to make everything up to Wasp and the others one step at a time, somehow.

We abruptly broke apart when Falshade started snoring on Wasp's other side; Wasp hunched her head between her shoulders, giggling. "He sounds like a puppy."  
"He's just getting started." I said, knowing full well, unfortunately, how loud that kid could be in his sleep; I was just glad Varan hadn't started up yet. "Hit him would you, before he gets worse."

"I'm not going to hit him!" Wasp whispered, appalled but still fighting down giggles. "He's already all beaten up as it is."

I felt a cold tear rip through my stomach when I recalled that some of that damage had been caused by me but tried to shake the thought away, leaning over Wasp to grab Falshade's shoulder. It was bad enough Fraggle had been making erratic dog-like noises for the past hour, I wasn't about to face a full onslaught of comatose Falshade on top of that; not only was he known to talk, moan and even shout in his sleep, but he had a nasty habit of kicking spastically as well.

"Shade. Hey, Shade, roll over." I said, shaking him slightly.

He made a drowsy growling noise and swatted at me sleepily before rolling onto his side and falling silent once again. I watched him for a moment as his breathing returned to normal, recalling all the nights I'd sat awake at our desk in our room at the Academy and watched over him while he slept. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to manage it yet, but I was determined to pay him back for everything he'd done for me.

I was distracted from my thoughts when Wasp's hands trailed down over my sides and then rested on my stomach, kneading at me like a cat making a nest and slowly easing away the nauseous feeling that had been sitting there heavily. I uttered a sighing sound and lay back down next to her again, gently pushing her matted hair from her face and pressing my forehead to hers.

"Look, um... I know I might not seem like it right now, but I am glad to be back. I really, really am." I told her quietly and felt her smile against my skin, her lip ring nudging at my lower lip. "I just have a lot on my mind, that's all."

"Okay." She said. "I guess I can understand that. But don't try and pull yourself away from us because of it, okay? You might not feel like you should be here, but we do."

I couldn't bring myself to argue with her, not with her striking eyes trained on me like that. "Okay." I muttered. I ran my thumb along her cheek, noting with concern that she had dark rings under her gorgeous eyes, even under the shiner she was supporting. "You should get some sleep, Wasp."

"Hmm, so should you." She told me matter-of-factly but she sounded drowsier then she had earlier, her exhaustion finally catching up with her.

"I'll try to." I assured her, nudging her gently until she rolled onto her other side, her back pressed up against my chest so I wouldn't accidently roll onto her injured hands. I wrapped my arm around her and she laced her fingers through mine, curling back into her ball with a contented sigh. "Thank you. For telling me about Rainer. And for rescuing Shadowfax." She said quietly, relaxing against me.

"Of course." Fuck it was the least I could do the way I saw it. I pushed my face into the back of her neck and breathed in deep her undeniably Wasp smell, oddly clean but unmistakably hers. I told myself then that no matter what I was going to make up for everything I'd done to the others, I was going to try my damndest to turn my life around. I knew it wasn't going to be easy and to be honest that intimidated me, because there were still things I didn't feel safe with about myself, but I was sick of trying to escape myself and only tightening the noose around my throat. I didn't care how hard it was or how long it took me, I was going to fix everything; Wasp had given me my life back and I wasn't going to waste it. Then maybe one day I could feel like I belonged with my friends again, that I did deserve their love and trust and that I could call myself a Gargoyle again.

And maybe one day I could feel like I was worthy of the love of someone as brave and beautiful as Wasp.

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

Without realizing it I rolled onto my injured hip in my sleep and was jolted into semi-consciousness as sharp pain ripped through my side. Wincing and groaning I rolled off my bad hip and onto my stomach, punching my cast into my ribs and I forgot to feel grateful that I couldn't actually feel anything in my broken arm or I probably would have out and out screamed. Christ it was not going to be easy trying to sleep for the next few weeks...

I turned onto my other side, as this seemed to be the half of me that was least painful to put pressure on. However with all my squirming about I apparently must have jostled Fraggle.

"Mraaaah..." He muttered irritably, barely awake and already grumpy about it. "Get back here." He slurred sleepily. "You're nice n' warm..." He shifted and burrowed in tightly against my back, shoving me forward slightly so that I almost rolled right on top of Wasp. In hind sight this sleeping so close thing hadn't been the greatest idea.

"That's what you got fur for, dumbass." I muttered back in an equally garbled voice, only half awake and trying to cling desperately to the part of me that had not yet rose to consciousness, squeezing my eyes shut tightly to block out the sunlight that was streaming through the _Condor_'s windshield. Until I felt Wasp fidgeting as if uncomfortable and cracked my eyes open grudgingly, noting just how far into her personal space I'd gone; I'd rolled onto her blanket and evidently pinned her tightly to the floor. She was trying to wiggle free without bothering me too much.

"Shit I'm sorry." I muttered, my voice clogged with sleep. "Fraggle get off me." I said, shoving him back so I could move off Wasp's blankets. "I didn't crush your wrists or anything did I?" I asked, slightly more alert when I noticed her bandaged arms.

"Nah." She said, pulling herself free.

"Okay." I groaned irritably, my body rising to full wakefulness without my permission. I still felt like I could sleep for years and didn't want to have to start functioning yet. "Is Angel still asleep?"

"No, he's not." Angel reported sourly from Wasp's other side. "Do you two have to be so loud?"

"That wasn't _my_ fault, Fraggle was trying to cuddle with me!" I objected.

"Shut up." Fraggle moaned, pushing his face into his pillow. "Come on you guys, let's actually sleep _in_ for once, eh..."

"Dude it's already noon, how much more sleep do you need? If it hasn't helped yet then there's not much point in getting more beauty sleep." Angel told him and Fraggle shot him the finger over my shoulder.

I sat up abruptly and wished I hadn't as my sore muscles creaked in protest. "Shit, it's already noon? What time do visiting hours start at the hospital?"

"Probably around nine."

"Christ..." I muttered and reached over to tug on Varan's tail. "Hey, Var, wake up."

"Hmmm?" he said groggily, blinking. "What's up?"

"The kids seem to think it's fucking Christmas morning, eh." Fraggle muttered sourly. "I tried to tell 'em to go back to sleep, but nooooo, nobody listens to my opinion, eh."

"It's like, noon." I reported, ignoring Fraggle. "I was just thinking we should get up and go see Stork soon."

Varan sat up and stretched then winced and grabbed his side. "Ow." He griped and looked over the rest of us critically. "Did you guys sleep okay?"

"I did." Wasp reported cheerfully. "We should do this more often. It's like a sleepover!"

"No, if this were a _real _sleepover there'd be hot chicks in nighties having pillow fights eh." Fraggle grumbled into his pillow. I rolled my eyes and picked up my pillow, thumping him around the head with it gently. He of course retaliated by smacking me with his own pillow right in the face and pain shot like a bolt of lightning through my nose, which had been broken during my fight with Angel.

"Owwwww, Fraggle!" I cried, tenting my fingers over my nose as it started to drip blood onto my blankets.

"Oh shit!" Fraggle yelped, suddenly wide awake and sitting up, leaning in on me with wide, apologetic eyes. "Oh shit oh shit oh shit I'm sorry, eh, I totally forgot! Oh god please don't hate me..."

"No, it's okay man." I forced out although at the moment I wanted nothing more than to deck him right between the eyes.

Varan winced as I gingerly moved my hands away from my nose. "Well it doesn't look like he made it any worse." He said, sounding both nervous and sympathetic.

"So long as I don't look like a Picasso painting that's good enough for me." I muttered, carefully wiping some of the blood away. I expected Angel to make some sort of joke here but he remained silent, which, although I appreciated the lack of insults directed at my face, sort of unnerved me. Did I actually have complete and total sympathy from the others? Eerie, man.

Fraggle still looked upset. "Jeez, Chief, I'm really sorry, eh. If it'll make you feel better you can punch me in the ribs if you want."

I gave him a look. "Dude I'm not gonna hit you, that's just cruel. Just stay away from me until my nose is better; no offence but you're kinda accident prone."

This of course was coming from me, current lord and master of mishaps and klutziness.

"Will do." Fraggle nodded, shifting away from me slightly to show his compliance and then thinking about something. "You know what would have been nice eh? If when the Eternity crystal exploded that wave of energy would have like, spread its healing powers to everyone in proximity, eh. Or at least if we had a bit of it to use to speed the whole process up, anyways."

"Too bad I didn't keep the little piece of it I had." Wasp said. "But I barfed it up all over the platform."

"Ewwww." Fraggle whined. "I don't think I would use it even if you still had it, eh."

"It would have been destroyed with the rest of the crystal anyways." Varan reminded her. "Actually it's probably a good thing you got rid of it when you did, rather than have it explode in your stomach."

Wasp's eyes got wide. "Oh man I didn't even think about that! I probably would have looked like Hydra!"

Varan covered his face. "Please don't remind me of that, I've nearly repressed that memory..."

"Would it have even worked if we weren't implanted with them?" I wondered. "I thought you had to be bonded with it for it to work like that."

Wasp shook her head. "No that's not true! Angel got the shards to work when he..." Wasp suddenly cut herself off and pulled her knees into her chest, hunching up and glancing at Angel from the corner of her eye. His eyes had clouded over like he was seeing something else and his whole body was wound tight, muscles quivering.

"That was a fluke." He muttered, sounding elsewhere. "The crystal's structure was broken, the energy was escaping. I just got lucky, using it before it dissipated entirely." He wouldn't look at any of us while speaking, staring fixedly at his knee caps while remorse etched itself into every inch of his worn face and I shared a sad look with Varan. I knew we needed to all sit down and have a good, long talk with him about everything but I had no idea how to approach the subject. Even in a good mood Angel had never been very receptive when it came to heart-to-hearts, I couldn't imagine him giving us a chance to confront him about this, short of hog-tying him or something.

"Hey." Wasp said then, looking at him curiously. "You have little nubbies!"

We all gave her a strange look, even Angel snapping out of it enough to raise an eyebrow. "Uh... come again?"

"Nubbies." Wasp insisted, nudging him slightly to get him to turn and tapping at the bandages on his back gently. "See, look, you've got little nubs here."

I leaned forward to see what she was talking about and for the first time noticed two small bumps under the mass of bandages plastered to Angel's back, protruding from his shoulder blades. "Huh." I said. "The heck are those things?"

Angel glanced over his shoulder to see what we were talking about. "Probably just the stitches."

"No, look they're solid." Wasp said, pinching one and Angel flinched.

"Ow! Well that was uncalled for!"

Fraggle started giggling to himself. "Maybe you got like, extra nipples or something eh!" He declared and Angel gave him an ugly look.

"Maybe they're bone fragments." Varan said. "That's where the wings were connected, right? Maybe they're leftover stumps."

Angel sighed. "Great, souvenirs."

I frowned, hating the gloomy, disgusted tone that had been present in his voice since he'd gotten back. Trying to think of something to say I suddenly was made aware of how perfectly unsuspecting he was just sitting there, his back to me and I was struck with inspiration. Or _something_ indeed...

Shifting around Wasp I moved in and gave him a good push and was a little surprised by how easily he just flopped over, like a submissive dog rolling onto its back. Angel had never been known for taking kindly to rough handling and the way he just took it like he thought he deserved it only confirmed my belief that he needed a good talking to. Fraggle raised his eyebrows at me as if to ask what I was up to while Angel simply watched me as if expecting me to lay in with a beating or something.

"What are you doing?" He asked as I rolled him onto his stomach and in answer I promptly sat on him.

His breath left him in a whoosh. "Argh, god damnit Falshade you have a boney ass!" He wheezed, trying to claw his way out from under me as Fraggle, catching on to what I was up to, made himself comfortable carefully on Angel's legs.

"_I'm_ boney?" I said. "Christ you have no cushion at all, I feel like I'm sitting on a pile of sticks here."

"Well then maybe you shouldn't be sitting on him!" Varan said, looking rather alarmed, back to his regular anxious self. "Come on you two, get off him before his organs rupture!"

"And it would seem someone needs another shot of morphine there, eh." Fraggle teased. "Don't worry, Cupcake's a tough guy, he can handle it, right Ange?"

"I'll let you know once I can breathe again." He griped, his voice sounding strained so I took some of my weight off of him; I _was_ a lot bigger then he was after all and he was in rough shape.

"Well since we've got you all nice and conveniently trapped, I think we should take this opportunity to have a nice little chat together." I declared and Angel stopped struggling abruptly, his muscles stiffening and he glanced up at me from the corner of his eye.

"Oh?"

"Yeah eh, consider this something of an intervention." Fraggle added on.

"What for?" Angel asked, stubbornly trying to pull his old avoidance tactics.

"Oh come on Angel, don't give us that bullshit. You've been acting weird since you got back and it's not like any of us are pretending what happened didn't happened. We need to talk about it, get it all out and in the open so we can move past it." Varan explained, taking our side despite the look of concern he still wore for the fact that Fraggle and I were crushing the skinny little bugger.

Angel looked at him and then at Wasp, who simply nodded and then glanced up at me again.

"We really gonna do this, right now?" He asked resignedly.

"Yep, we're really going to do this right now." I said, taking on a more serious tone. Angel blew out a long sigh and then set his chin on his folded arms.

"Alright, let me have it."

I cleared my throat, trying to think of a good place to start. "Look, Ange... I said it yesterday, but I'll say it again. We know it was the crystal that messed everything up; Cyclonis wanted to use one of us against the rest of us to try and breaks us apart and ruin us. She was scared of us. So she did it to fuck with all of us. But we know you'd never intentionally turn on us, not in a million years. All this time it's been her and so... I dunno, I just don't want you acting this way, blaming yourself for everything because it wasn't your fault, what happened."

Angel's jaw clenched and he focused on some spot off in the corner, not meeting any of our eyes. "It's not that simple." He said after awhile, his tone low and dripping with disgust.

"Why can't it be, eh?" Fraggle asked softly. "I mean the moment the crystal was gone you were back on our side, you were yourself again, eh."

"That's not the point." Angel ground out. "The point is I let it take over me in the first place, that I attacked you guys without even realizing what I was doing. The point is that I betrayed you guys, I wanted to bring Stork back to her even though I knew she'd probably kill her and I tried to kill the rest of you myself." He squeezed his eyes shut and I could feel him starting to shake underneath me. My heart constricted painfully at the self-loathing that was thick in his voice and I reached out to touch his shoulder gently but he shook me off. "Don't, Shade."

"...Angel you remember how mad I was at myself after we lost Stork and I went into Sky Shock? I felt like shit for doing that to you guys, abandoning you when we all were suffering but you told me I shouldn't feel bad because what happened was beyond my control, I was in a different state of mind, I couldn't have come out of it if I wanted to. Well this is the same thing, don't you see? Cyclonis poisoned your mind, you weren't yourself, and-"  
"Yeah but Falshade when you went into Sky Shock the worst thing you did was give me a black eye. I almost killed you." Angel pointed out sharply.

"Well yeah but say I tried to strangle you instead of just punching you, isn't that the same thing? The point is it wasn't me, my mind was all messed up and that's the same thing that happened to you. You wouldn't let me feel bad about the whole Sky Shock thing so now I'm doing the same with you. I don't want you to be miserable like this."

"Believe it or not I don't like being miserable." Angel said wretchedly. "But I can't just get over it either. It's easy for you guys to forgive me and try and forget about it because you're all fucking insane and way too good to me. But it's not easy for me to forgive myself and get over it just like that. I feel like shit and I'm going to feel like shit for a while and I can't help that."

"Okay, and you know what we understand that." Varan assured him. "But there's a difference between feeling bad about something and punishing yourself for it, and forgive me for making assumptions but you seem to be swaying towards punishing yourself."

A dark look came into Angel's eyes then and it frightened me. He didn't bother to argue with Varan's observation either. "...Look I appreciate you guys trying to make me feel better, I really do. But there's a lot of stuff you don't know about and it goes deeper than how simple you're making everything seem."

"Well of course we don't know. So talk to us about it." I suggested evenly. Angel groaned and put his hands over his head, mashing his face into the floor and tugging at his hair in frustration.

"I don't _want_ to, 'cause then everything's gonna turn into this huge shit-fest angst convention and I fucking hate when it gets like that."

"Welp, that's just too bad, eh." Fraggle said stubbornly. "'Cause Shade and I ain't getting off you until you _do_ talk to us."

"...It has to do with who your dad was, doesn't it?" I asked quietly and felt him gag violently at my words; I took more of my weight off him, worried he was going to be sick. Trembling he lifted his arms to look at Wasp, who shrank down like a guilty puppy.

"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have told, it wasn't right of me and-"

Angel held a hand up and she fell silent. "It's alright, I'm not mad at you or anything."

"I'm still sorry." Wasp murmured.

Angel chewed on his tongue, refusing to make eye contact with any of us. "So... all of you know?" he asked, trying very hard to keep the agony out of his voice and not making it by a long shot.

"Yeah." I said softly. I felt like plunging into a whole big spiel about how it didn't matter, that none of us cared who his father had been and that we'd never abandon him over something so petty; none of us can control who are parents are after all. But I could say it was no big deal until I was blue in the face and it wouldn't make a lick of difference because it was obviously a big deal to him. All I could do was wait for him to tell us where it hurt so we could start breaking down the issues one little step at a time.

Angel blew out a shaky sigh and stared at the floor fixedly for a long time, struggling with himself. We waited patiently until finally, after biting at his lip until it started to bleed, he spoke up again in a low, raspy voice. "Cyclonis told me it wouldn't have worked on any of you." He uttered at last. "The crystal I mean; it wouldn't have done the same thing to you guys. That's why she picked me. I'd practically set myself up for it, my mind was perfect for it to take over. That's what she told me. Because of how fucking _stupid_ I am about everything I brought it all on myself. The Oracle tried to warn me. _You_ tried to warn me." He directed this last bit at Wasp. "And I still let it all happen anyways..."

My heart contracted and my throat was suddenly sore and clogged, mentally staggering; I had no idea what to say about that. I glanced at Varan, hoping maybe he'd have something to add but he seemed just as at a loss as I did. Luckily Wasp still had the ability to fight against remorse and misery though; she reached out and tapped Angel's jaw, making sure he was looking directly at her before she started speaking in a slow, firm tone, certainty clinging to her every syllable.

"Angel." She said, her voice reaching out with something that made all of us listen wholeheartedly to her next words. "She was _lying_. She was _lying_ to you. No, listen to me." She cut Angel off as he started to say something. "Look I _felt_ the power of that crystal when I pulled it out of you, she designed it purposely to warp the mind. She made that thing into a toxin and it nearly took over me the same way it did to you, and I only had it in my mouth for a second. She made it solely to poison people and it would have done the same thing to anyone who was exposed to it. She said all of that to get into your head, to fuck with you."

Angel shook his head, although I could see how desperately he wanted to believe her. "Then what about everything the Oracle told me, the whole darkness thing?"

Wasp was silent for a moment before she started up again thoughtfully. "I think... I think when she said that she knew this was going to happen to you. She said your path was going to be a strange one and I think maybe this was a part of your destiny, somehow. I think what she meant about the darkness was about _this_, about _afterwards_. I think that if you couldn't get over the darkness then it wouldn't matter if the crystal was still in you or not, you'd still be stuck under Cyclonis' influence, you wouldn't want to come back. But you did, Angel, and what was more you recognized Falshade that first time, and I really think you recognized me at one point too. That's why Cyclonis said everything she did to you, to try and turn you against yourself. The crystal couldn't fully possess your heart, no matter what it did to your mind and that's why she tried to mess with you by saying all those things. If it had worked you wouldn't have come back to us. But you did. That's what the Oracle meant, about not letting the darkness take hold of you like it did to your mother. And it didn't."

Angel chewed on his lip. "I dunno, Wasp..."

"No, I think she's onto something here." I interrupted before he could add anything else. "Look, if you hadn't of been taken away from us we would have never known that Cyclonis was after Stork or why. And you wouldn't have been able to save me like you did. Or Wasp either."

"Exactly." Wasp said, nodding at me. "I mean... I always believe things happen for a reason. Maybe... maybe this had to happen to you."

The look Angel gave her reminded me of how he used to look at her in the old days. "Oh you think so, huh?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound that harsh." Wasp backtracked. "I just mean... well you remember some of the things that happened to me?" She asked and Angel's expression softened. "I... I try to look at it like those things happened for a reason. Not because it was 'meant to be' or anything, but more like... well you close a door and a window opens kinda thing? That when bad things happen we can try and scrape something good from them. And so maybe it was like putting everything in perspective for you, you know? It forced you into what you've been trying to avoid all your life and really made you realize how you felt about it deep down."

"Like a really nasty reality check, eh." Fraggle agreed.

"Yeah. I mean when things like this happen to us, the huge, ugly, monumental things we see who we are deep down in ways we never could have before. So... maybe Wasp has a point." Varan said slowly.

"Hmm..." Angel seemed to consider this. "Well it definitely made me think about my priorities, that's for damn sure. But it doesn't change the fact that while I was off having this whole 'reality check' if that's what you wanna call it I tried to kill the rest of you."  
"Yes, but that wasn't _you_ then." I repeated, stressing every word to try and get the point across. "But after that you saved us and you fought with us. _That's_ the part that matters, that's what Wasp is saying. I _know_ you'd never want to hurt us, Angel."

Angel stayed quiet, mulling over everything we'd said. "It... it's just... I dunno. Some of the things she said hit a little too close to home." He said after awhile, sounding like his abhorrence towards himself was starting to lessen and instead just letting through blunt, wretched honesty.

"I know." Wasp told him softly, brushing his cheek soothingly. "She said a bunch of things to me too that I didn't like. She did it to get into our heads, that's what she does. Psychological warfare I guess. She was afraid of how strong we were, she wanted to try and break us down from the inside. But you know if you don't like these close-to-home things then you should try to change them. For yourself I mean, not because of what she said."

"Yeah, hell if there's one thing I've learned from all of your collective attitude problems is there are some people who you just have to ignore. What they say doesn't count for shit." Varan added encouragingly. "If you have some issues than you can work them out for yourself, fuck whatever Cyclonis said about you. We'll try and help you however you need us to."

"And Angel?" I added, running my fingers through his hair gently and this time he didn't shrug me off. "Look about your dad... we never would have hated you. I can understand you not wanting to tell us about it but... we'll never hate you because of him, okay? That part doesn't matter to us." I assured him.

I felt some of the tension in his muscles relax, as if this had been something he'd needed to hear for a long time and could finally feel some relief over, a dark shadow finally lifting from him. "...Thanks you guys."

"See that wasn't so bad, was it?" Fraggle said, poking him teasingly and Angel cracked a small grin before turning serious, his eyes distant as if he were looking over some different point in time.

"...So I'm in this dungeon, right? Waiting for this thing to take over me and... it really hit me..." He started, a strange tone in his voice that I'd rarely ever heard from him, something soft and sincere. "Well I guess I always knew it but it really struck me then, just how important you guys are to me. You guys are all I've got, but it's more than just that. It's like you're all I need, more than I could have ever asked for. You're the only family I ever had and if you ask me you're pretty much the best family anyone _could_ ever have. And I thought for sure I was going to die and never see you guys again without having told you all of that. And..." He cut himself off, swallowing hard and sniffling slightly. "I guess I'm just trying to say that I love you guys, because fuck knows I don't say it enough."

"Aw, Ange..." Fraggle said, sounding both touched and accusing as he wiped at his eyes irritably. "Damnit now you're getting me all misty over here eh."

"Sorry." Angel closed his eyes and let out a contented sigh. "I'm just glad to be home." He concluded, sounding uncharacteristically weepy.

"We're glad you're back too." I told him softly, ruffling his hair fondly. "Wasn't the same around here without you."

"Yeah, poor Wasp was downright depressed." Varan added and Angel cracked an eye open to look at Wasp, the two of them communicating silently for a moment before he fidgeted and looked up at me again.

"Alright well with all that mushy stuff being said, would the two of you _please_ get the fuck off me?" He asked wearily and I sighed as if it were some huge task.

"Alright, I guess." I said and rolled off him. He drew in a huge gulping breath and sat up less he be captured and squished again.

"Christ, Angel..." Varan said, looking over him unhappily. "And I thought you were too skinny before... we're going to have to get some weight back on you, spoil you a bit or something."

"Maybe we should get him like twenty pounds of chocolate and just let him go crazy." I suggested jokingly and an actual smile finally showed itself on Angel's face.

"I'm liking this idea." He said and Varan laughed.

"Oh god no, we'll kill him, lord knows he won't be able to stop himself." He said and then looked over the rest of us, his motherly concern back in full force. "Actually all of you are looking pretty thin. We'll have to do something about that..."

In a display of perfect timing Piper poked her head around the corner, her gaze sweeping over us and smiling. "I thought I heard you guys up and about." She said. "How about some breakfast?"

Fraggle and I were on our feet so fast you would never have believed we were supporting a handful of semi-serious injuries. "Oh hell yeah, yes please!" Fraggle said. "Christ can I just up and marry you right now eh?"

Piper laughed while Varan uttered a scoffing noise.

"Oh I see how it is. I make you breakfast every day for almost two years and I barely get a thank you." He grumbled, retrieving his crutches and hauling himself to his feet.

"Aw, well if that's how you feel eh I guess I could always marry you instead, I think it's legal on a couple terras." Fraggle said and Varan swatted at him playfully, laughing good naturedly.

"Always knew you two kids would make it." Angel said, pulling Wasp up out of her nest.

"Come on then." Piper said, leading us down the hallway. "Just to give you a heads up the others and I aren't going to be here for a while today, but you guys can hang out here and-"

"Wait, why not? Where are you going?" I interrupted.

"The Scar, us and a couple of the other squadrons that we could get a hold of are going to do some recon, see if there's anything we should take note of down there before blowing up what's left of the terra. Cyclonia's legacy can rot in the Wastelands and all of the equipment Cyclonis used with the Eternity crystal can be buried along with it. Although I think some of her crystal research may just mysteriously end up in my lab back home." Piper said, a sly little grin curving her lips.

"Well you little rebel, you." I teased before turning serious. "But we're coming with you, right? I mean we've been down there before, maybe we can help find anything that might be important."

Piper shook her head. "No, you guys are staying here. Falshade don't argue with me; I don't think you'll be much help anyways, what with all of you so roughed up and besides, we think you should just stay here and rest for awhile. You guys deserve it."

"Oh yeah 'cause we're the only ones who've been fighting for the Atmos this whole time." I said sarcastically. "Come on, don't treat us like kids."

"Nope, sorry, it's already been decided. The others are actually waiting for me to catch up with them, they're rendezvousing with the other squadrons right now. You guys are on your own for the day here, taking it easy."

I scowled at her. "That's not fair."

"Oh I know, aren't we just so awful?" Piper said, not taking my displeased expression seriously at all. "Anyways since you're being forced to take some leave of absence you can go visit Stork after you've eaten. We went to see her this morning, her pulse is already stronger than it was yesterday."

I stopped sulking at that, having forgotten about going to see Stork. "Really?" I said, hope rising swiftly in my chest. "That's great! So do they know when she'll be waking up then, if she keeps getting better like this?"

"No, they still don't know about that, I'm sorry." Piper told me and Angel rubbed my shouldering condolingly when I slumped again. "But the important thing is she's getting better, right?"

"Yeah." I agreed, although I didn't put much enthusiasm into it. My mood picked up again though when we reached the kitchen and took in the sheer amount of food that was laid out on the table. "Whoa." I said, my eyes stretching wide and my stomach rumbling demandingly, reminding me of just how empty it was. "It's like..."

"Nirvana." Fraggle breathed, taking the word right out of my mouth.

Piper grinned. "Yeah, I went a little overboard, but I thought you guys would be hungry."

_Hungry_ didn't even cover it. "Christ..." I said, turning to her. "I mean thanks but..."

Piper waved a hand. "Don't mention it, I'm used to cooking for teenage boys." She said. "We already ate so help yourselves, whatever you don't finish just put it in the fridge alright? Oh yes, and your clothes are in the dryer. Whenever you get around to it, Stork's room is number eight on the fourth floor, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks a million, Piper."

Piper smiled. "Of course. I have to get going, so just try to relax, okay? We'll be back later and we'll fill you in on everything." She waved at the others and left back down the hallway; a moment later we heard the engine of her Heliscooter start up down in the hanger and then she was gone after the other Storm Hawks.

"Shiiiiiit." Fraggle said, sitting down at the table. "I don't even know where to _start_, eh. We've got like, six different types of pancakes here..."

Well needless to say the five of us fell on that like, well, five starved teens with voracious appetites and a lot of space that needed filling. I could barely get everything down fast enough, having a hard time remembering when food had tasted this good. None of us had eaten anything for the past three days, too stressed to be able to keep anything down and even before that we hadn't had nearly as much as we usually did. Hell I had no idea when Angel had last had something to eat. Even Wasp, usually so finicky it was hard to get her to eat much of anything, was all over what Piper had laid out for us, although she stayed away from the bacon and eggs, claiming that they were ruined that way. Which didn't really bother me any; just meant more for the rest of us.

"You know what's strange?" Varan asked at one point. "The fact that I didn't actually have to cook for once. It's _weird_... I feel like you guys."

"Great, isn't it?" Fraggle said around what was probably an entire slice of toast packed into his mouth.

"Well let's hope I don't get too used to it or you'll all starve." Varan said before wrinkling his snout, looking mildly disgusted by the sheer amount of food Angel, Fraggle and I were cramming down our throats. "The three of you are going to make yourselves sick." He informed us with distaste.

Angel gave him a nasty look and swallowed roughly so he could him speak coherently. "God damnit there you were picking at us for being too skinny. Well here we are eating and now you've got a problem with that. There's just no fucking pleasing you."

Well someone was staring to come back around.

Varan rolled his eyes. "Technically I believe eating involves chewing, which the three of you seem to be incapable of."

We were saved from further nagging when Wasp noticed the bowl of fruit that was sitting on Varan's other side. "_Strawberries_!" She gasped, her eyes growing huge and she stretched out as far as she could, trying to reach them. "Gaaaah, I must _have_!" Varan sighed and passed her the bowl, evidently accepting the fact that teaching table manners to a Faerieshian was a lost cause.

About half an hour and a few too many pancakes later Fraggle flopped down on the couch on the bridge with a groan. "Ugh, I think I overdid it, eh. Can we just like, stay here and have a nap or something, digest a little?"

I was feeling slightly drowsy again too, my stomach full to bursting and a nap sounded fantastic right about then. But I knew if I laid back down I'd probably be in a coma of my own and I really wanted to visit Stork, so I grabbed Fraggle's arm and heaved him off the couch. "No, come on we've put this off long enough already. We can pass out when we get back, alright?"

Fraggle sighed but got up. "Yeah, let's go then. But may it be declared now that once we get back I am not moving again until the end of the week, eh."

We had to pause for poor Varan a few times on the walk back up to the hospital but eventually we it made with minimal harmless teasing about it. A small group of kids were playing in the square just outside the hospital entrance, kicking a soccer ball across the slabs of stone and tussling with each other as easily as if they didn't have a care in the world. A warm feeling of happiness spread through my veins seeing them like that, carefree and full of life, wrapped in a feeling of security. Right then I felt like if my actions over the past years, all the effort I'd put in to try and make sure Atmos stayed safe, had contributed to insuring that kids like those had futures and were able to enjoy their childhood without the threat of war and destruction hanging over their heads, then I'd done my job as a Sky Knight.

Wasp stopped when we reached the hospital entrance, fidgeting and looking torn as if she'd like nothing more than the simply turn around and go back to the _Condor_. I wasn't too keen on going back in either, but my desire to see Stork outweighed my unease of hospitals and in the end Wasp's must have won out too; she took a deep breath, covered her nose with her hand and strode in with us, although her ears were tucked in alongside her head and she moved stiffly, betraying her discomfort. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Angel sidle closer to her and take her hand and I smiled.

The disinfectant smell crept up my nose and I had the overwhelming urge to start scratching at my entire body as if I'd broken out in hives. I tried not to breathe in too deeply as I looked around, trying to orientate myself. "So Piper said the fourth floor, right? I guess that means we're taking the elevator." I said, glancing at Varan and the ungainly way he was leaning on his crutches. He had a pinched look around his mouth and I was worried about him, hoping his leg wasn't hurting him. Now that his morphine had worn off the walk back here might have been a little too far...

"Elevator's that way." Angel said, pointing off down the hall. As we moved towards it I felt my throat run dry just thinking about being crammed into such a tiny space with all the hospital vibes pressing in so close but I swallowed and pushed the button anyways. Hell if I could handle my nightmares, Berserkers and Master Cyclonis back from the dead this should have been a walk in the park.

Wasp huddled in the corner when the doors opened, tugging her jacket collar up around her ears. "Ugh, it feels like a coffin in here." She muttered as we pressed in next to her. I rubbed her shoulder sympathetically, letting her know the feeling was mutual.

We made it to the first floor when suddenly the car stopped and the doors opened, revealing a pretty nurse with pale green hair waiting on the other side. "Oh, sorry, I'll wait for the next one." She said, backing away from the doors but Fraggle moved to hold them open and I exchanged an eye roll with Angel.

"Hey, no, that's alright eh, you can ride with us." He invited and the nurse smiled at him and stepped in next to him. "What floor?"

"Third." She said and he pushed the button for her 'cause he's just such a gentleman that way. "Where are you headed?"

"Fourth floor, eh. We're going to visit our friend. She's in a coma." Fraggle reported and I think the nurse's wide eyed look of sympathy had been exactly what he'd been aiming for.

"Oh I'm so sorry." She said, sounding genuinely upset and glancing over the bandage on Fraggle's cheek. "What happened there?" She asked, tapping her own cheek in demonstration.

"Oh, that's a good story, eh. See I was-"

"He stabbed himself with a fork." Angel cut him off. "He's not too bright, see."

The corner of the nurse's mouth twitched while Fraggle stumbled on his words, glaring at Angel. The doors opened and the nurse stepped out.

"I hope your friend will be alright." She said, looking like she was holding back a fit of laughter as the doors closed again.

Fraggle rounded on Angel. "God damnit what the hell did you go and say that for, eh?" He demanded, looking seriously peeved.

"Oh come on, she's probably go a ton of people to look after, you think she needs a mental patient on top of that?" Angel shot back while I coughed into my shoulder, trying to hide my laughter.

Fraggle looked insulted. "See it's stuff like that that doesn't make me happy you're back!" he said curtly.

I thought that might have been going a step too far considering how obviously sensitive Angel still was about everything, but if Fraggle's comment hurt he didn't show it. "Oh well _excuse_ me, I should have realized you didn't need _me_ to make you look like an idiot, you're quite capable of doing it on your own!"

"Oh come on you guys, don't start this already." Varan pleaded as the two of them crossed their arms, looking away from each other childishly. "It hasn't even been a full day yet."

Fraggle blew some of his hair out of his face and glanced over his shoulder at Angel. "...Ange you know I love you, right?"

Angel laughed and put his hand over his face. "Yeah yeah, love you too Fraggle."

"There, all better." I said and Varan nodded contentedly.

The elevator doors opened once again and Wasp practically climbed over me to get out. "Which room?"

"Number eight." I recalled, looking down at the rows of numbered doors. "Down that way." I pointed, leading the way and a sort of hush fell over us as we moved past the doors. The silence pushed in tight against my skin and it felt hard to breathe; it was as if any even slight noise was intrusive to the quiet that existed up here and I felt like some unseen force was glaring at me for even just the soft thuds of my boots against the floor.

Somebody had written 'Feonix' on a dry-erase board that was pegged to the door of room number eight and I felt the urge to wipe it clean and write 'Stork' instead. I glanced at the others who were waiting for me to go ahead and open the door and swallowed again, my throat feeling like it was clogged with nettles. The creak of the door as I pushed it open made me flinch, sounding like a crack of thunder in the silent hallway and I stepped into the cool room beyond with a shiver, feeling like I was walking into a morgue.

And there on the starchy white sheets of a hospital bed lay Stork, wired up to a collection of different machines which were making slow beeping and gasping noises, monitoring her vitals. She had tubes in her nose and arm as well and she looked like she was an alien that had been brought in to be vivisected with all those things hooked up to her. She was ghostly pale and seemed so, so small on that bed, like this place was sucking the life right out of her. I had the sudden urge to run over there, tear all those wires from her and take her away somewhere safe, out of this horrible whitewashed room that seemed to be pulling her closer and closer towards death.

Instead I moved slowly around the foot of her bed and up towards the pillow that had propped her head up at what seemed like a painful angle and crouched down beside her, taking her cold hand in my own gently, careful not to rip the butterfly needle from the back of her hand. "Hey Stork." I whispered, my eyes prickling and stomach knotting tightly. "It's us. We came to see you..."

"Jeez..." Fraggle muttered, his voice abnormally quiet. "I thought she'd look a little better than this, eh... hey kiddo." He said, touching her cheek very gently. "How you doing?"

"Well she doesn't look as bad as she did yesterday." Varan reminded him, trying to cheer us up. He looked over the charts briefly that were attached to the foot of Stork's cot. "Yeah see these say she's already getting stronger... oh, Wasp, look I don't think you should..." he trailed off as Wasp carefully crawled onto the cot to join Stork, curling up against her hipbone like a faithful pet and resting her chin on Stork's stomach, her eyes shining painfully.

"She looks so small..." she murmured, splaying her fingers across Stork's body as if making a little shield over her. Then she caught sight of the thin tube that trailed down to the needle that was embedded in Stork's pale skin and her ears went right back alarmingly, her hackles twitching. "What is _that_?" she hissed. "What's it doing to her?"

"It's okay, Wasp, it's just an IV drip." Varan assured her, dropping heavily onto the only chair in the room. "It makes sure she stays hydrated and gets the electrolytes she needs. It's helping her."

Wasp was still bristling. "It's not hurting her, is it?"

"No honey, of course not. She probably doesn't even know it's there." Varan soothed. Wasp glared at it for a moment longer before looking up at Stork's face, her lips trembling.

"...My friend Fli fell down three flights of stairs and broke her spine." She whispered, shaking. "When I went to see her in the hospital she looked like Stork does now..." her voice was choked off and she pushed her face into Stork's stomach, fingers gripping at her sheets and uttering a muffled sobbing sound. "Stork's gonna be okay, right? She's going to wake up and be the same old Stork, isn't she?"

I looked up at Varan desperately, my own fears about the same thing taking over any ability I had to try and be optimistic; I urgently needed somebody else's confidence in this situation to tell me everything was going to be okay, like I was five years old again.

"I know for a fact Stork is going to be just fine." He said, sounding very certain of himself for once. "She was fine last time, remember? She just needed to rest. Sure this might take a little longer, but there's no way she's going to be like this forever, or that she's going to be any different when she wakes up. Come on, this is Stork we're talking about here, there's no way she would just fade on us, she's got too much spirit for that."

Wasp sniffled. "That's true." She lifted her head and gave a tiny smile, her fingers making delicate patterns over Stork's ribs and tummy. "Oh little Storky..." she sighed. "I hope wherever she is right now is nice."

"Oh it probably is, eh." Fraggle said, trying to sound positive. "Probably some sort of giant racing convention eh. With lots of good-looking racer dudes."

Angel was standing behind me and put one hand on my shoulder comfortingly; I leaned back against him, gripping his wrist tightly. "God she looks weird with her hair like that..." he muttered and I'd forgotten that he hadn't been there when her hair had made the startling jump to pure blonde. He reached out carefully and ran his fingers through it gently, his teeth tugging at his lower lip as he took in her wane face. "Why did you have to go and do something so stupid, Baby Girl?" he asked her quietly.

I traced my fingers along her arm, feeling her faint pulse thrumming very slowly in her wrist. "Do you think she can hear us?" I asked, concentrating on her face as if waiting for a flicker of acknowledgement.

"She might be able to, depends how deep her coma is." Angel said.

"Well just in case you can, Stork, just know we're thinking of you." I told her softly. Hell there was a lot more than that that I wanted her to know, things I wanted to tell her, but I'd save those for when she was awake.

"Hey, who brought the flowers eh?" Fraggle asked then and I glanced up, only just noticing them. A large bundle of multi-hued flowers was sitting in a vase on the windowsill.

"Must have been the Storm Hawks." I said. It looked like each Storm Hawk had picked their own bunch of flowers and then they'd all combined them in one large bouquet. There were vibrant blue and orange sunflowers that I figured must have come from Finn, some little pink bell shaped flowers that hung below the stalk that I knew must have been Piper's choice and a nasty greenish purple one that kinda looked like a large spider that was definitely from Stork.

"Awww..." Fraggle cocked his head thoughtfully. "Think we should get her some too eh?"

"I dunno, Stork never struck me as a flowery kinda girl." Varan pointed out. "Plus flowers die eventually."

"Thank you for that depressing sentiment, Var." Angel said and Varan rolled his eyes.

"We should get her something though." Wasp insisted. "Like a card or something, so in case she wakes up and we're not here she'll at least know we were thinking of her. It has to be homemade though."

I smiled. "That sounds like a good idea, Wasp. You're really creative, how about you make it and then we'll all write something in it." I suggested, brushing my thumb over a bruise on Stork's upper arm absently.

After that we sat in silence, a collective, unspoken mourning for our absent friend, the only sound the beeping of Stork's heart monitor. I was incredibly relieved to know she was alive and for the most part unharmed, and that she was getting better as well, don't get me wrong. But it still made me ache to see her like this, to have her be so far away from me despite the fact that her body was lying right there before me. I missed her. I wanted her to be with us so we could all step into this new life together. I wanted to hear her laughing and making her stupid jokes and smiling like she used to before all the shit hit the fan. Wasp was right, for something this huge and life changing I felt like we should all be together and at the moment we weren't, making me feel incomplete. And that sort of bothered me; I knew Stork was okay and that should have been enough. I mean it wasn't like the others weren't enough for me, I just... I guess that's just the more childish side of myself, the desire to have everyone together when the really big things started to go down. I needed all five of them at my side to feel properly whole myself.

I don' t know how long we sat there for but at some point another nurse pushed the door open and started to see all of us packed into the tiny room. "Oh, sorry!" she said. "I just came to check her stats... oh, dear, listen, it might not be a good idea for you to be up there on the bed with her." She said to Wasp, whose ears folded back dangerously.

"Why not? And what are stats? You're not going to stick her with anything else, are you? She's not a pincushion you know!" Wasp growled, curling over Stork protectively.

"Wasp..." Varan warned in a low voice. "Calm down, it's okay. She's just going to check Stork's vitals and make sure she's okay."

The nurse's eyes swept over the rest of us as she took a hesitant side step away from the irritable Faerieshian and the side of her mouth cinched. "Oh, um, I hate to tell you this but there can only be four people in this room at a time when visiting. I'm terribly sorry."

I felt Angel bristle next to me. "Hey, look lady, this is our little sisterlying here and if we all wanna see her then we can damn well-"

"Angel." I stopped him, putting a hand on his arm as I straightened up. "It's okay, we can go."

"You sure there, Chief?" Fraggle asked. "I mean I can step out for a bit if you wanna stay longer, eh."

I shook my head. I was glad to have finally seen Stork, but it was making me sad to see her lying there like that, completely cut away and immune to the outside world. "No, it's okay Fraggle. We can always come back tomorrow, see how she's doing then."

Fraggle looked at me as if to make sure I was absolutely positive about my decision before nodding and then turning to the nurse. "Maybe you could leave us be for a second there, eh? I mean she's not going anywhere and you're kinda making this whole thing really awkward."

"Plus I believe you _really_ push us over the four person limit." Angel added snidely. The nurse flushed and backed out of the room without a word and I wasn't sure whether to give the two of them a disapproving look or a grateful one.

"Alright, well..." Fraggle turned to Stork and brushed some of her pale bangs from her face softly. "See you around then, girly. Looking forward to you getting your butt outta here, eh."

"Bye bye, Stork. Hope you get up soon." Wasp said, kissing the tips of Stork's fingers. "I'll start working on your card right away, okay?" Then Wasp glanced with narrowed eyes at the door and licked the pad of her thumb, swiping the digit over Stork's forehead and leaving a streak of spittle. "There, protection." She muttered, nodding in satisfaction as Angel coaxed her off the bed. He looked at Stork's still face for a moment before ruffling her hair without a word and followed Fraggle and Wasp out the door.

Varan heaved himself to his feet, muffling a groan in his throat and stumped his way up to Stork's other side. "She kinda looks like an angel like this, doesn't she?" He said quietly and I had to crack a grin at the irony of his statement.

"Yeah, this'll be the one and only time she'll look anything close to that." I said and Varan smiled.

"I think we should enjoy the quiet while we can." He said. "Just kidding, Stork. Kinda miss your chatter, actually... tell you what, if you _can_ hear me right now, as soon as you're awake I'll make you a big batch of chocolate chip cookies, how's that sound? If that entices you to get up a little sooner I mean."

I chuckled softly while Varan stroked her arm briefly with the back of his scaly knuckles and then glanced at me. "We'll be waiting outside." He added in a softer tone and turned and limped out the door, leaving me alone with my comatose best friend.

I looked over Stork again, not liking how frail she seemed and sighed, taking her hand gently once again. "...Why do you do this to me?" I asked her quietly, my throat suddenly very raw. "You're always getting into trouble and leaving the rest of us to freak out about it. It's not very fair you know. Remind me to kick your ass once you're in good shape again." I swallowed the lump that was rising in my throat and crouched down next to her again. "...God damnit Stork, why couldn't you just have listened to me for once? I mean I know you saved us... hell, you saved us all doing what you did. But Christ, what if..." I trailed off and sniffled, willing myself not to cry. "Anyways I just hope you get up soon. We miss you. I miss you." I stood up again and leaned over her still form, kissing her forehead gently. "We'll be back tomorrow." I promised. I stared at her for a moment longer before prying my fingers from her cooler ones and stepping quietly around her cot, leaving her alone in silence once again.

The others were waiting for me just outside and both Angel and Fraggle wrapped their arms around my shoulders while Wasp pressed her hand into the small of my back briefly. I sighed and wormed a smile onto my face as we strode back down the hall towards the elevator, Angel shooting the nurse a nasty look as she scooted past us.

"There there, Shade." Fraggle said, mussing up my hair sympathetically.

"I'm fine." I assured him. "I just kinda wish she could be closer, you know? Not in this stupid place, all by herself."

"Yeah, I don't trust the people here. What if the try to steal her bones? Or peel off her freckles or something?" Wasp demanded, her eyes widening in horror.

Varan sighed. "Wasp, I don't know what kind of horror novels you've been reading, but I can assure you that _real_ doctors don't do that kind of stuff."

Wasp snorted as if she didn't believe him.

We made it back down the elevator without running into any more nurses and by the time we made it to the square I was starting to feel a little better. Maybe it was just leaving the foreboding hospital vibes behind, or maybe it was how bright the sun was shining, making it impossible to feel too negative on a day like today, despite how much I wished Stork could be enjoying it too, give the sun a chance to put some colour back in her skin.

I heard a scuffling noise next to me and caught the soccer ball beneath my boot as it rolled towards me. One of the kids broke away from his friends and hurried over, panting. "Hey, can I have that back, please?"

I grinned and kicked it back to him. He scooped it up, smiling and showing off a gap where he was missing one of his baby teeth and then paused, looking us up and down with interest. "Are you guys the Gargoyles?"

"Uh..." I blinked. "Yeah that's us. Why?"

The kid's eyes opened wide and he quickly turned and ran back to his friends, saying "Yeah, it's them! See, I told you!"

Varan furrowed his brow. "That was weird. Since when did we become... recognizable?"

"It's probably you, Var, you kinda stick out. Just a little bit." I teased, showing off a small space between my thumb and index finger to show just how little I meant and he rolled his eyes, shoving me playfully.

Angel stretched, popping his back and looking around absently. "Hey you know what I was thinking? I mean a card is cool and all, but maybe we could get Stork some of those gummy frogs she likes too."

"Ew, you mean those nasty things with the juice inside that she pops at us like giant zits and gets all the sticky stuff matted in my fur, eh?" Fraggle said, wrinkling his snout and Varan pulled a face at his description.

"Yeah, those things."

I grinned knowingly. "_You_ just wanna find a sweet shop and get some chocolate."

Angel grinned innocently, a scary sight indeed. "Hey, you promised me chocolate and I'm gonna hold you to it."

I was about to say something about not promising him anything when Varan cocked his head and grabbed him by the shoulder, spinning him around slightly. "...Angel are you _taller_?" He asked curiously, brow furrowed.

Angel stiffened right up and looked over himself very carefully. "...That didn't change?" he asked slowly.

I looked him over critically; I'd been so worried over his current weight I hadn't really noticed anything else, but now that Varan mentioned it, he _did_ seem taller. He'd seemed larger after getting implanted with that crystal, but I thought that would have changed along with everything else once the crystal was removed.

"Christ." Fraggle commented. "I think he is bigger, eh! He's like, my height now."

Angel lifted one leg as if judging the distance from hip to foot and then suddenly a maniacal grin cracked over his face and he burst into a fit of alarming laughter, spinning around and whooping.

"_HA_!" He shouted, jabbing a finger at Fraggle and I. "Now you can't call me short anymore! No more putting things on the top shelf to hide them from me, assholes! No more _Cupcake_!"

"How come that didn't revert like everything else though?" I asked.

"Who _cares_?" Angel demanded, dancing about and looking happier than I'd seen him in ages. "I've been the same old stupid height since I was thirteen, this is fucking _brilliant_!" Suddenly he paused in his triumph and stared at Wasp with wide eyes. "Here, hang on, hold still for a second." He instructed, turning her around and standing back to back with her. Wasp cocked her head, confused.

"No, Wasp just stand straight for a second." He insisted and then looked at me for a verdict. I eyed up the distance between the tops of their heads and had to push my fist up against my mouth, clearing my throat and trying not to laugh.

"Sorry, Ange, she's still got about three inches on you."

"Oh you gotta be shitting me!" He said, his face falling. "Fuck me in the ass, that's not fair!"

"What's wrong with me being taller then you?" Wasp asked, looking hurt.

"Nothing I guess." Angel huffed, kicking at a stone on the sidewalk. "Just kinda sucks, I actually get a growth spurt and it barely counts for squat."

"Yeah no offence there buddy but you're still pretty short compared to the rest of us." I pointed out and he glared at me.

"Thanks for kicking me while I'm down, Shade."

"No, sorry, you're right, go back to being all ecstatic and what not."

"Now I don't feel like it." He sulked, folding his arms moodily.

"Hey look at it this way, eh, chicks will think you're cute. You're like, travel sized." Fraggle said and I laughed so hard I thought I might puke at the look on Angel's face at that one.

"I don't _wanna_ be _cute_, god damnit!"

"Oh and I don't think you're ever gonna shake off Cupcake by the way, not as long as you're still smaller than me." Varan added, grinning. I know it was kinda mean to be picking on the poor kid after everything he'd been through, but by getting a rise out of him like this it brought him back to his old snarky self and that's what we all really wanted to see. It meant the beginning of healing if we could get him to act like himself again, shake some of the guilt from his chest.

"And you're stuck with Angel Cakes for life." I informed him, wrapping him in a headlock with my good arm. He made a grumbling sound in his throat but didn't pull away as I practically crushed him into my chest.

"How come I don't have a nickname?" Wasp asked then, hopping on one leg and mimicking Varan's lurchy movements as we made our way down the street.

"Wasp, trust me, you don't want one." Angel muttered irritably.

"Oh but I do!" Wasp said, her eyes wide and beseeching.

"Alright then eh, from now on I dub you, uh... Waffles, eh." Fraggle decided and we all stopped to stare at him. "What? Oh come on, Waffles is a badass name!"

"I was kinda hoping for something more imaginative." Wasp sighed.

"I think Fraggle should be Waffles then, since he thinks it's so cool." I suggested.

"You're not supposed to just assign someone a nickname." Varan said matter-of-factly. "It has to have some sort of deep meaning."

"How in hell did I get pinned with Angel Cakes then?" Angel demanded. "What kinda deep meaning is that?"

"Well that despite your frosty exterior deep down you're actually all squishy and soft and sweet." Varan invented.

"Wow did you think of that off the fly?" I asked. "I think that deserves an award."

"Oh pshaw, it's Varan _job_ to think of cakes and cooking and that kinda stuff." Angel huffed. "And I am not _sweet_. Never have been and never will either."

"Sure you are." Wasp said and Angel's cheeks went red.

"_You_ are not allowed to comment on this."

"How dare you speak to Waffles in such a tone!" Fraggle scolded and Wasp laughed.

"You know, the more I hear it, the more I like it."

See this, this had been what I'd needed. No guilt-ridden friends, no stress clogging up my lungs, no cold hospital rooms. Just some normalcy from my crazy-ass friends, even though our standard of 'normal' was considerably stretched. If things could just be like this from now on, no imminent death hanging over our heads and nightmares plaguing our sleep, once Stork was up if we could all just stick together then I was convinced I'd never need anything more in my life than this. I knew it wasn't always going to be peaceful in the Atmos and that even now there was still a lot of chaos going on, but I could handle all that as long as I had a continuous supply of moments like these.

* * *

Later that afternoon the Storm Hawks returned to find us sprawled lazily across the bridge. The moment they stepped through the doors I was on my feet and Wasp made an irritated noise at me, as she'd been decorating my cast with some markers she'd found up until then.

"Did you guys find anything?" I demanded and Finn held up his hands to hold me off.

"Whoa, down boy! I mean I'm happy to see you too but could you tone it down just a little?"

I fidgeted, trying to keep out of their space and having a hard time with it. "Well come on, you left us alone here all day, I can't help it if I'm a little eager."

Piper sighed. "I thought I told you to _relax_." She scolded and I sagged a bit.

"I did for a while." I said defensively.

"Well, good. Did you go and visit Stork?"

"Yeah we did. She looks alright, although she's really pale." I said, my stomach turning cold at the memory of poor little Stork, seeming so fragile and small in that hospital bed, veins leaping out from beneath her pale skin.

"The doctors said that's normal." Piper assured me, dropping a satchel on the table and carefully pulling out a stack of parchment. I cocked an eyebrow at her and her cheeks flushed slightly. "Oh give me a break, we're talking about never before seen crystal technology here, how could I leave it behind while they blasted the place to kingdom come?"

"Yeah Piper likes to act like Miss Goody Two Shoes but deep down her core's just as rotten as the rest of ours." Finn said and Piper glared at him. Then he looked at me seriously. "Did the doctors say anything about Stork? Like has she made any more progress? Did she respond at all to you guys being there?"

My heart went out to the poor guy as I realized that he must be even more worried about Stork than we were, just as disheartened by her current state. "I'm sorry, Finn. A nurse came into the room but she didn't tell us anything." I told him, mentally kicking myself for not asking.  
"Actually she told us to get out, if I recall." Angel grumbled.

Finn sighed and sat down at the table, examining one of Piper's research sheets distractedly. "Ah well... maybe I'll go down in a little later and check in on her."

Aerrow put his hand on Finn's shoulder comfortingly and turned to us. "Now I'm just going out on a limb here, but I think you guys had some questions?" he asked and we sort of pounced on him.

"Were there any soldiers still kicking down there?" I asked quickly, finally letting loose the questions that had been building steadily less ignorable in my mind.

"A few. They really seemed lost without anyone to tell them what to do. They were just milling around in the tunnels. I think some of them were still following their patrol routes, like they thought they still had to defend the place." Aerrow said. "We took care of them."

"What about the Heart Chamber? Were there any remnants of the Eternity crystal there?" I asked. This had worried me; if even a small sliver were to be found by the wrong person it could be disastrous.

Aerrow shook his head. "Trust me, we scoured the place with crystal scopes and everything, there's nothing left of it."

"There's not even an energy signature left." Piper added. "Usually when a crystal releases its energy like that you can pick up a signature of it up to a week afterwards, depending on the crystal size, type and strength. But there's nothing there. It's like it never even existed."

"Weird, eh." Fraggle mused. "Uh... what about the _Merlin_, eh? I mean was there anything left down there that might have been from her, eh?"

"We found this." Junko said, holding out a small chunk of metal, roughly the size of a paperback novel. "I think it might have been a part of her hull."

Fraggle took the piece of scrap metal with trembling fingers and examined it closely before pulling it into his chest and sniffling. Wasp wrapped her arms around his waist and pushed her face into his armpit sympathetically and he dropped his muzzle onto her snarled mane of hair with a shaky sigh. I rubbed his shoulder condolingly.

"What about the Nursery?" Angel spoke up then. "Did you guys find that? Cyclonis had a batch of Blitzkrieg, fuck, I mean Berserkers down there, ready to mature after... well after she thought she'd have defeated you guys." That dark look came back into his eyes and I stroked his hair, trying to soothe him.

"Oh we found it alright." Stork muttered darkly. "Nasty little hell hole. I no longer want any part in advances in medical science."

"They were all dead in the tanks." Aerrow told Angel. "She'd been pumping the crystal essence directly into them through tubes, right?"

"Right, so when it was destroyed the little fuckers didn't stand a chance. Well that makes me feel better." Angel muttered, a slightly manic look passing over his face. "What about the ones she'd deployed to the other terras though? They weren't all there when you guys stormed the place."

"Their regenerative powers died with the crystal; the other squadrons are cleaning up the last of them as we speak." Aerrow assured him.

"Regenerative powers or not you guys are going to have a hard time bringing down Kronos."

"Was that one of her specially designed ones?" Piper asked.

"Yeah, big motherfucker, she designed him to go into a rage at the scent of blood. He's a walking catastrophe."

The other Storm Hawks looked rather worried but Junko scratched his head, thinking. "Wasn't that kid from the Red Eagles talking about something like that? Somebody brought him down, the woman from Vatican's squadron..."

"Ozprey?" I demanded, perking up. "Oh man if that thing tried to mess with her than I feel sorry for it."

Angel's muscles unknotted with relief. "Well that's a load off my mind." He said and I had a feeling he must have been on edge this whole time, having known unfortunately well what Cyclonis had been planning for the rest of the Atmos. Varan ruffled his hair and then peered at some of Piper's plundered research. "So if this is Cyclonis' research on the Eternity crystal do you think it may give us some answers on what's going on with Stork right now?"

"I was thinking the same thing." Piper said, smiling at him. "I'll see what I can find in here... actually Angel..." she looked at him and cleared her throat slightly before continuing. "Um, well I don't want to ask you to do anything that you're not comfortable with, but if you were okay with it I was wondering if you could help me look through some of this? I'm not sure I understand all of it and I wondered if you might since..." Piper trailed off awkwardly and I saw Finn kick her in the shin under the table. I glanced at Angel but he didn't seem bothered. He simply shrugged and glanced over some of her paperwork.

"Sure, I can try. No promises though, I don't even know half the things that little witch was up to."

"You should feel special there, Piper, he's not usually this helpful, eh." Fraggle said and Angel swatted at him irritably.

"So that was it?" I asked. "There was nothing worth mentioning down there?"

"Nope, just some of her old equipment and a lot of corpses." Aerrow said. "It's all lying under two hundred tons of rubble now. Cyclonia's finished once and for all. Now we can focus on the repairing damage Cyclonis wreaked on the rest of the Atmos."

"What's the death toll at right now?" I asked quietly, although I really would rather not know.

Aerrow's face lost its exuberance. "It's reached the thousands. Everything's chaos right now, we've got thousands of people who've lost their homes and we're still trying to find places for all of them to stay, it's hard to keep track of the numbers. There are also terras that haven't been accounted for yet, relief teams are doing all they can but it's hard since we've been stretched across the Atmos. But now that we don't have to worry about soldiers nipping at our heels we're having an easier time getting aid to the terras that need it. It's going to be crazy for a while, but we're going to be alright now, thanks to all of you."

I felt my face heat up. "Oh come on, we weren't the only ones defending the Atmos." I muttered. "Everybody was doing what they could."

"Yeah, but you guys got to the heart of what was going on while the rest of us had to run around like fools trying to defend the front." Aerrow insisted. "If it weren't for you setting out to find out what your nightmares meant, Falshade, Atmos would still be at war right now. And there's no point in denying it, we were losing."

I stared at my boot, my face burning. I didn't think I'd done anything significant, nothing anyone else wouldn't have done in my place. I wasn't personally responsible for the victory of Atmos and I didn't want to be either. I hadn't set out chasing after my nightmares for glory or honour or anything like that. I'd just wanted to make sure my world and the people in it I cared about would be safe.

"That's why you're coming with me to speak to the Council of Atmosia tomorrow." Aerrow went on and my head shot up in alarm.

"I'm doing _what_?"

"The Council and representatives from the Sky Knight Legion want to hear from you personally a detailed account of the events that led to the downfall of Cyclonia." Aerrow explained, seeming to enjoy my discomfort. "They're calling you and the Gargoyles heroes you know."

I scissored my mouth a few times before the words would come out and out of the corner of my eye I could see Angel snickering to himself. "But... but I can't do that! I'll look like an idiot!"

"More so than usual you mean." Angel added and I cuffed him around the head.

"No you won't. You don't have to impress anybody, Falshade, you just have to tell them the truth." Piper soothed.

"Yeah and since when have we gave a damn what they think about us anyways, eh?" Fraggle added. "I bet they're all feeling pretty stupid right about now for ignoring you all this time, eh."

I sighed, scratching uncomfortably at my scalp. "Still it's just...ugh. When I set out to do all of this I didn't do it to be a hero or anything."

"It comes with the territory, dude." Finn told me, clapping me on the shoulder. "I'd just accept it if I were you. Personally I find it a nice little perk after nearly being decapitated so many times."

* * *

My good luck of sleeping in until noon was put to an end the next morning.

I could feel someone shaking me gently and groaned, pulling my covers over my head. "Go away."

"Falshade I'm sorry but you have to get up." It was Piper's voice coming to me groggily but I was having trouble differentiating between hearing what she was saying and actually listening to it.

Angel pulling the covers off me certainly did the trick though.

"Angel!" I whined, hunching up in a ball. "Give those back, I'm freezing!"

"Oh quit whining you big baby and get up already, you have to see the Council today, remember?"

I groaned again, unfurling and sitting up. "Shit that's right." I said, blinking a few times to clear the sleep from my eyes. Then I glared enviously at Fraggle and Varan, who were still deep in peaceful oblivion on the couch. Don't ask me how Fraggle managed it but after refusing to spend another night on the floor he'd _made_ space for himself on the couch; Varan's bad leg and tail were now draped over him lazily and he had one foot resting on Varan's stomach, the other propped up on the back of the couch, each of them using an armrest as a pillow. Despite my grouchiness I felt a grin worm its way over my face and shook my head at the spectacle.

"I know right? I wish we could take a picture." Angel said, putting my blanket over Wasp, who was still curled up on the floor like a kitten. She sighed in her sleep and burrowed under the covers until only one leathery ear was peeking out. I stepped around her quietly and retrieved my boots, following Piper down the hall towards the kitchen, Angel stalking silently along behind me.

"So are Aerrow and I flying all the way out to Atmosia?" I asked, sitting at the table and helping myself to a slice of toast. I couldn't see how that would work though; we were only two hours out from the Scar and last time it had taken us over a day to reach it starting from Atmosia.

Piper shook her head. "No, you'll be meeting the Council on Mesa, it's about three hours from here."

"Home of the Interceptors, right?" I asked as Piper came over to the table and handed a mug to Angel. Aw, she'd made him tea.

"Right." She said. "Sugar's over there, Angel."

Aerrow strode in to join us then and looked at me with a grin. "Ah, he lives!" he teased and Angel snorted into his mug.

I scowled. "Whatever. So I assume we're heading out soon, since you guys insisted on waking me up while it's still dark out."

Aerrow mussed up my hair. "Yeah, soon as your done eating we'll go."

"He's not going anywhere with his hair like that." Piper insisted, coming up behind me with a comb in hand. She gently tugged it through my messy hair, trying to get it to lie flat and her actions sent a shiver down my spine, something that did not go unnoticed by Angel. He smirked at me and I felt blood rise to my face; making sure Aerrow and Piper weren't looking I shot him the finger across the table.

"Piper it's just gonna get messy again when I start flying." I pointed out and she sighed, accepting it as a lost cause and taking her comb away.

Aerrow clapped me on the shoulder. "I'll meet you down in the hanger when you're ready, alright Shade? I should probably go and check Finn's skimmer, make sure there's nothing jammed up in the gears like last time I had to borrow it."

Piper watched him go and shook her head. "He says last time like it was only a few days ago." She said, a strange tone entering her voice and Angel and I looked up at her, concerned. "It's like he doesn't realize it's been almost eighteen years since last time."

"Is it weird, having him back?" I asked her quietly and she leaned against the counter, folding her slender arms and looking at the ceiling, thinking.

"Well at first it wasn't because I guess I was just in so much disbelief to see him back. And then I was just so happy I didn't really think much about anything else. But... yeah it is sort of weird. We've gone through so much and had lives of our own all this time but now he's back and acting like we never missed a day since the way we were before, you know? It almost bothers me a little..."

I furrowed my brow, not sure what to say about that. How must it feel to have a friend been gone for so long and then just walk back into your life as if he'd never been away? I thought about when Stork had come back after a month of us thinking she'd been dead, how we'd made sure to go over everything that had gone on while she was away. I felt like I'd be a little bothered by it too if she'd just come back acting as if nothing had happened. "Well... maybe because he's been with us for so long now he feels like he's still been in a squadron all this time, you know? But then again, he was with Finn for a long time before that, when Stork lived with him. Maybe he feels like he knows what you guys went through and doesn't know how to bridge that."

"Yeah... I'm not even sure how _we_ bridged it, when Stork gathered us all back together. I guess sometimes there are things you can't bridge and you have to just try and accept it."

"I dunno." Angel spoke up, looking at his mug with the utmost of concentration. "Sometimes there are things you shouldn't just leave unsaid either."

I grinned at him, pulling at a lock of his hair playfully. "You're starting to sound like Wasp." Then I started, having just remembered I'd promised to go and visit Stork again today. I know she probably wasn't aware that I'd told her that, but it mattered to me anyways; I'd always tried my hardest to be a man of my word. "Hey, um, are you planning to go see Stork again today, Piper?"

She came out of her reverie and smiled. "Yes, and I'll tell you how she is the moment you get back, alright?"

"Alright, thank you. Can you tell her I said hi too? I know it's kinda stupid, but..."

"I'll tell her for you, Shade." Angel said and I smiled gratefully at him.

"Well, I should go then." I said, getting up and shoving the last of my toast into my mouth.

"Good luck." Piper said as I left the kitchen and I waved at her, my mouth crammed full. Angel followed me down the hallway and I swallowed, turning to speak to him.

"So what are you up to today?"

"Well I figure since I'm up anyways I'll help Piper with those notes she took from Cyclonia." He said and I looked him over critically, feeling slightly apprehensive about it.

"You're sure you'll be okay with it?" I asked him, thinking back on what Varan had observed about him punishing himself; I had a nasty feeling that even if it _did_ dig into the deep wounds he obviously carried from everything that had happened he'd make himself do it anyways and that worried me. "I mean it won't be too much for you or anything, will it?"

"Hey, I'm a tough guy, don't worry about me." He said and then dropped the act when I continued to look at him seriously. "I'll be fine, Shade. Besides, if it makes the time I spent in there useful, well then I'm going to do it."

I paused briefly to wrap my arm around his shoulders, squeezing him slightly. "Alright, if you're sure. But you were their against your will, remember. You don't have to try and make up for that."

"Oh yeah right, you bloody hypocrite, you act like you wouldn't look at it any differently." He said, teasingly but there were some truth to his words as he shoved me away playfully. I shoved him back and was suddenly reminded of something we'd talked about before jumping down that pipe to get to the Heart Chamber.

"Hey, Ange." I said, catching his arm as he attempted to tenderize my side. "I was just thinking, you remember how you told me my mom was supposed to adopt you?"

He stopped trying to wrestle with me and glanced up at me from under his bangs. "Yeah, what about it?"

"You told me I could bother you about it later, about you coming to live with us." I pointed out. "Well, it's later now."

He blew out a sigh and attempted to free himself of my grasp. "I dunno, Shade, I just don't think it's a good idea."

"Well why not? Mom won't have a problem with it and you're already my brother anyways. I think it'd be good for you." I wheedled.

"Shade first of all I'm almost eighteen, I'm too old to be adopted. And besides, I feel like if I did I'd be like, crossing a line with you, moving into your territory, you know? It's your family, not mine."

"Hell are kidding? I've wanted a brother since... well since mom told me I was getting a brother, you're not crossing a line at all. We made a space for you and it's been waiting there this whole time. And nobody's ever too old to have a family, dummy." I told him truthfully, giving him a nougie.

He heaved an annoyed sigh. "I'll _think_ about it, alright? Doesn't mean I'm saying yes." He relented finally and I smiled.

"Alright, that's good enough for now." I studied him for a second and then, without really thinking about what I was doing, leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.

His face turned red and he absently touched the spot on his cheek, seeming rather confused about what had just happened before looking up at me with a raised eyebrow. "The hell was that?"

"That makes us even." I stated matter-of-factly, trying to mock his nonchalant attitude despite the fact that my own face had heated up slightly.

He furrowed his brow for a moment before a taunting grin spread itself over his mouth. "Oh come on, that does _not_ make us even, I gave you a little more action than that." He said, pressing in closer to me mischievously. "You're not even going to give me a walk to first base here, Shade?"

I rolled my eyes and pushed him back out of my bubble. "So we're back to this whole thing, are we?"

"What thing?"

"Your whole man crush on me." I teased him and he pretended to look insulted.

"Oh yeah right, don't even _try_ to act like that's one sided." He said and I laughed.

"Yes Ange, if I were gay I'd totally be all over you. Now before this gets any more awkward than it already is I should probably go." I said, mussing up his hair once more for good measure and continuing towards the hanger.

"Don't try to deny your feelings, Shade!" He called after me and I could hear the grin in his voice.

"I'm _leaving_ now!" I called back.

"Whatever, you can try to hide it but I can see _right_ through your little charade, lover boy."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to keep my laughter at bay. "_Goodbye_, Angel."

"Yeah, see ya, try not to die without me."

"Oh what am I going to do about him..." I muttered to myself, stepping through the hanger doors and leaving Angel to his satisfied laughter.

Aerrow was waiting for me when I got down there. "All set? Great. Now I know you don't have a skimmer anymore, but Piper said you could borrow her Heliscooter if you want."

I eyed up said sky ride and felt apprehensive; I'd never flown anything like that before and I wasn't about to try and learn with a bum arm. "Uh... I think I'll just take Wasp's Gremlin, she won't mind." I wasn't even going to bother thinking about so much as touching Stork's Hornet; as much as she proclaimed she loved me I knew the moment that girl found out I'd messed around with her precious skimmer she'd claw my eyes out.

The flight to Mesa seemed to drag on longer than three hours to me. Aerrow didn't say much and I didn't really know how to strike up anything with him; to be honest I was still in a state of shyness around him, what with him being my hero and all. Mind you I felt a little more comfortable around him with the knowledge that I'd already sort of known him for a while, but that in itself made me feel awkward too. I was used to flying with the others anyways, trying to sneak up as close as possible behind them to tap them on their shoulders or tug their hair (or tail in Varan's case) when they least expected it or playing Chicken with them, ramming and banging into each other like idiots. It just didn't feel right going to explain to the Council what had happened to us without them there with me; it was their story just as much as it was mine, they'd been up to their necks in it and now to retell everything like they'd had nothing to do with it felt wrong to me. That coupled with my nerves and the fact that Wasp's Gremlin had have the most uncomfortable seat on the planet made the flight seem to go on twice as long and by the time we landed on the dry docks of Mesa my legs were numb and I had to stagger about like a drunk for a moment before the feeling came back, much to Aerrow's amusement.

By the looks of it Mesa was one of the terras that had opened its doors to the masses of refugees who'd been displaced by the war. There was a long, ragged line of weathered looking people waiting for their share of food in one of the streets Aerrow led me down and I could see a mass of tents pitched just outside the city, people milling about between the rows looking sad and lost. I saw a little girl staring longingly into the window of a sweet shop and paused, digging through my pockets until I unearthed some coins and tapped her on the shoulder, smiling and pouring them into her small hand. She stared at them and then looked up at me, beaming so widely her cheeks dimpled and she hugged me tightly around the knees before taking off down the street a little ways and tugging at the hand of someone who looked like her younger brother, showing him the coins in her hand and then pulling him back towards the candy store.

Aerrow smiled at me and put his hand on my shoulder in that brotherly way he had, shaking me slightly. "You're a good kid, Shade." He commented and then looked out towards the refugee camp. "We're lucky the battles didn't drag on as long as they did last time; we've been able to support the refugees so far with food and medical supplies." He said, nodding to the line of people waiting for their rations. "Last time this sort of thing happened by the end people were starving both in the camps and on the terra streets and nobody wanted to take in victims anymore. They hit us hard and we were ill-prepared but at least we had seventeen years to stock up on supplies without Talons raiding us."

I nodded. Mom used to tell me stories about that when I was younger; she'd been on one of the escort crews that guarded the carrier ships that came in to deliver supplies to Vatican during the old war when Vultures and Talons alike would jump the barges and try and steal their cargo to feed their own troupes. She'd only been a couple years older than me way back then and that's how she'd ended up meeting my dad. The rest, of course, was history. "Well that's some good news at least. Are some of these people going to be able to go home eventually?"

"Most of them definitely, once we get their terras cleaned up." Aerrow said confidently. "But some of them are going to have to find somewhere else to live I'm afraid."

I nodded again; more than likely Vatican would be welcoming some new residents in the days to come.

We reached the square where the meeting hall was located, a large white marble building with streaks of blue veins and a tall, spiked tower rising from the back. The Wind Fang, if I recalled, the watchtower of Mesa, it's vantage point said to allow anyone on lookout to see the enemy coming from forty miles away. A large statue sat in the middle of the square, much like the one of Fabian the Peace Keeper back on Vatican and I paused to look at it as we passed. It was carved from the same marble that the Wind Fang was constructed from and it depicted a group of four people, all with fierce, proud faces and weapons held with brave determination in their hands. The gold plaque beneath told me exactly who they were:

'_This statue honours the memory of Mesa's esteemed Interceptors, Vallen, Fledge, Mercury and Jero, who gave their lives valiantly trying to aid the distressed people of terra Bogaton. May their spirits rest in peace.'_

Aerrow looked up at the statue as well, his emerald eyes shining with sadness. "This was Starling's squadron." He muttered, almost sounding like he was talking to himself as he touched his fingers to the gold plaque. I looked into the faces on the statues, my stomach knotting painfully as I recalled the story of the devastating fall of the Interceptors. That was back in the days of the original Storm Hawks, when a small group of Terradons attempted an uprising against the Raptors, disagreeing with the way they were running the terra and attacking the people of the Atmos. The Interceptors agreed to help the small band of rebels but Repton was tipped off to the attack the two groups had been planning by an insider and both the group of rebel Terradons and all of the Interceptors save Starling were slaughtered in the resulting skirmish. It was this event, coupled with the Raptor's actions thereafter, that made it difficult for people to have much sympathy towards the Bogaton genocide fifteen years later. It was almost like nobody cared about the fact that it all had happened _because_ not all the Terradons agreed with Repton's tyranny. Then again, when facing the loss of some of their most beloved heroes I guess I could understand; it's hard to feel sorry for the people you associate with the death of your soldiers, even if they had shared a common enemy. Varan had explained that to me once, when I asked how he could take the reproach that was aimed at him in the glares of some people and not return it with any of his own. I guess I was able to understand things from both sides and I touched the marble boot of the closest stone soldier, sending the fallen Interceptors some quick thoughts, letting them know I admired them for what they'd done. I was glad this statue had been placed here in their memory, because it was people like this that deserved to be remembered; it just upset me that no one had ever made a memorial for the innocent lives lost in the Bogaton massacre as well, because that too was something that should have been remembered.

Aerrow continued on his way towards the hall after a moment and I followed after him, swallowing down the twitching bundle of nerves that suddenly started struggling in my stomach. "Hey, Aerrow? I was just thinking, well... what are you going to tell them about you? I mean everyone's thought you were, er, well, dead this whole time. How are you going to explain that?"

Aerrow paused on the marble stairs that led up to the massive oak doors and turned to me, something both mischievous and serious glinting in his eyes and for a split second I thought he looked a little like Stork. "I have that all worked out; I'm going to tell them Cyclonis and I were in fact alive all this time. Falshade listen to me for a second, this is important." He added when I opened my mouth to ask him how in hell he thought he was going to pull that story off. "I don't think it's a good idea to tell them anything about Stork's connection to the Eternity crystal. For all they know, she had nothing to do with its destruction, or Cyclonis and I for that matter and I think we should keep it that way. I know that if they find out about her, about how she was created and all that crazy shit, she'll never be able to live a normal life again, they'll always be hounding her, wanting to study her like she's their own little guinea pig, you know what I mean? People with no ethical standards will want to get their hands on her, just like Cyclonis did."

I bristled at this thought and nodded. "Right, good point. What they don't know won't hurt them, and I think they'd have a hard time believing us anyways."

Aerrow winked. "Exactly." He eyed me up and down critically. "You nervous?"

I swallowed again. "A little bit."

Aerrow grinned. "Oh sure, you can take on a whole Berserker army and bring down an enemy commander _literally_ single handed no problem, but the thought of facing a group of stuffy old Council men is what intimidates you?"

I gaped at him, because right then he sounded so much like Stork it actually made my chest ache. He didn't seem to realize this though and placed a hand against one of the doors. "Alright well, here goes nothin'."

I straightened up stiffly, my back cracking in the middle as I followed after him into the cool inner halls of the Wind Fang, rolling my shoulders uneasily. The hall we found ourselves in was lined with statues of the terra's past Sky Knights and squadron members much like the inside of the Honey Comb and I studied each of them briefly as we passed. Aerrow led me along the long, silent hallway until we finally reached a set of doors that had been opened wide, welcoming us. The room inside was circular with a high ceiling and I figured we must be on the inside of the Wind Fang itself. The walls were lined with balconies that were filled with seats, not all but many of them occupied by important looking people who all fell silent as Aerrow and I entered the room and I had to fight down a shiver, feeling like I was in one of those old fashioned operating theatres. Aerrow didn't seem fazed at all as he strode confidently to the centre of the room, stepping onto a raised circular platform in the middle of the room and I tried to embody the same assurance, trying hard not to stumble as I stood next to him on the podium. Glancing up from under my bangs I took in the people who were sitting in the veranda seats, recognizing the faces of the Council men who'd been there the day we'd registered as an official squadron on Atmosia. I also picked Harrier out from the crowd and felt my muscles stiffen, a pulse of dislike thrumming in my veins. As my eyes continued to wander, hoping I might catch a familiar face I spotted a purple haired woman who was watching me intently and felt like I should know her. I didn't have much time to think about where I might have seen her before however because one of the oldest looking of the Council had cleared his throat and stood up, a warm smile on his wrinkled face.

"Sky Knights Aerrow and Falshade I'd like to welcome you to the Wind Fang!" he said, his voice weathered and raspy but clear none the less, filling the entire room. "We are all very pleased that you could make it here to join us today."

"We're pleased to be here." Aerrow greeted in return, dipping in a slight bow and I followed suit. Man this was such a different welcome than the one we'd received last time we'd stood before the Council, trying not to squirm under their scrutinizing gaze. Today I felt as if they were all overly eager to make us feel comfortable, almost frantically willing to please. And for some reason that made me feel angry; I didn't like that just because I was supposedly some big hero that only now I should be shown some respect. I was exactly the same person now as I was before, minus a functioning arm. I straightened up and set my shoulders firmly, casting off any nervousness I'd felt earlier; Aerrow was right, I'd gone through too much shit to be intimidated by these guys.

The Councilman went over some brief introductions before sitting back down in his chair, looking down at me in a sort of grandfatherly way and I stared back unwaveringly, not fretting about how dishevelled I probably looked, my hair sticking up in odd directions and my cast coated in multi-coloured splashes of marker that Wasp had written and drawn all over it with, spouting things like _Falshade- Hi! Love Wasp._ I wasn't concerned about the Council of Atmosia thinking I looked like a scruffy adolescent punk anymore, not like last time. I'd proven I had substance despite what my appearance and attitude might have said about me and I didn't feel like I had to change that just because of them. I was who I was and if they didn't like it, well, that was their problem.

"So this is the great Falshade Ravenscroft. Let me tell you how honoured we are to be able to speak with you today."

"I'm honoured to be here, sir." I said. Hey just because I didn't feel like I had to impress these people didn't mean I was going to be rude. I wasn't _that_ defiant when it wasn't called for, not like _some_ unruly little punks I happened to know.

"I trust you and your squadron are well? You've all been tended to and are in good shape I hope."

"Oh, yes, we're all fine, thank you."

"Good, good." The Councilman nodded before looking at me seriously, tenting his fingers. "Now Falshade I assume you've been told why we've requested to see you here today? We'd appreciate it if you could tell us your account of everything that you and your squadron experienced while Atmos was under siege. We require this information for our records and there are still quite a lot of grey areas in our knowledge that we were hoping you could clear up for us."

My confident composure slipped a little. "Records?" I repeated hesitantly.

"Yes. The events of this war will go down in our history and that includes the actions of the Gargoyles." Another Council member explained and I felt my stomach drop a few inches. Oh Jesus...

"Um..." I swallowed, my throat suddenly very dry and looked at Aerrow, who nodded encouragingly and motioned for me to continue. I looked back up at the Council. "Well... where would you like me to start?" I asked, trying to keep the unease out of my voice. Speaking to the Council was one thing but knowing that our story was going to be something solidified in the Atmos' history was quite another. I really wished the others were here now, for comfort and support and to make sure I didn't miss anything crucial. God so much had gone on in such a short amount of time it was hard to put everything in order.

"Wherever you think is the proper place to begin." Another younger Councilman told me kindly. I ran my tongue along the roof of my dry mouth and tried to think where the beginning of this whole messy knot was.

In the end I started with my nightmares, giving them a brief synopsis of what kind of things I would see and how this had driven me to put together my own squadron, unable to shake the gut feeling that there was something out there waiting to raise from the shadows and consume us all. I told them about how I'd met all the others and how we'd come to be the Gargoyles, setting off in search of some sort of clue that would tell us what my dreams meant. And then I just went from there, reeling it all out in a long, uninterrupted spool, telling them about all our adventures and encounters since we'd left Atmosia that day as an official squadron. God it was hard to believe that was barely three months ago; so much had happened, so many things had come along and changed our lives since then it seemed impossible that it should all be packed into such a short length of time. I'd nearly died and nearly had my best friends torn from me forever, I'd grown and learned things about myself and the others I'd never known before, I'd experienced so much and done things I'd never thought myself capable of. As I got lost in the story I was telling the Council I had a hard time looking at myself as the same person I'd been before all of this, like the old me and the me standing here now were a little further apart then I'd thought. Deep down I still felt like the same old Falshade, but with a few subtle differences; I felt a little stronger and maybe a little wiser too, a little more mature (although I'm sure Varan would tell me otherwise) and a little older as well. Life lessons had been learned, scars had been made, calluses toughened, bonds tested and deepened. And I suppose all that was necessary; Varan had said it before, if we could change the things that happen to us then we'd never learn anything, never grow at all.

The Council let me go on for the most part uninterrupted, only stopping me once and awhile to ask a question or two. It was weird having them all listen to me so avidly; half the time my own squadron didn't even listen to me this well. It made me feel awkward at some points and I skimmed over anything that was too personal, feeling that some things need only stay between me and my friends. I was as honest as possible for the most part but as Aerrow had advised I left out some of the big chunks that I didn't feel they needed to know. I told them nothing about Stork for instance; I told them about her going missing and her connection to the Storm Hawks of course but other than that to them she was just an ordinary little grease monkey (well, as ordinary as Stork can be of course) with nothing abnormal about her. I edited pretty much everything out of the conversation Wasp had had with Cyclonis down in the lower tunnels of that outpost terra we found, told them nothing about the things we'd discovered about Stork's origin and explained that Stork had destroyed the crystal using the Black Hole device Piper had made and the reason she was in a coma now was that she'd been too close when the crystal had exploded, injuring her head. I also left out everything about what had happened to Angel. It was nobody's business but his what Cyclonis had done to him and the last thing I wanted was for people to start hassling him the way they hassled poor Varan for something that wasn't his fault. The Dark Ace's name was still something of a blight in the Atmos after all and it scared me to think what people might do to him if they found out he was his son.

And I left out all the parts where one or more of us had broken down in fits of despair and hopelessness, not because I wanted everyone to think we were just so tough and hardcore, no. But again those were the things that was nobody else's business but ours. What had happened between us Gargoyles stayed between us Gargoyles, the tender and tearful moments that no one else should have privy to.

By the end of it my throat was starting to feel sore and I was drained, feeling like I'd just explained a whole lifetime of events in the length of only a couple hours. The Council and some of the others who'd been listening this whole time then asked me a bunch of questions which I tried my best to answer, editing some of the more messy of details out. Once they'd seemed satisfied that I'd filled them in on everything they'd needed to know the turned to Aerrow and asked him to explain his version of things. He began by telling them that neither he nor Cyclonis had been killed that day seventeen years ago during the final battle on Cyclonia, but rather when Cyclonis tried to summon the Eternity crystal's energy in a last ditch resort to destroy Atmos' armies they'd been overwhelmed by the flux of power and both had gone unconscious. This part sounded not too far from what had probably happened if you ask me. Later, when he came around, Aerrow explained, Cyclonis was holding him in a prison made by the energy of the crystal deep under the terra itself, deeper than even the Wastelands. There he'd remained while Cyclonis' power over the Eternity crystal grew until she was able to start building a new army of the crystal fuelled soldiers who been attacking us, all while he'd looked on helplessly. When the crystal was destroyed he was finally set free of the bonds that had held him in his terrible prison all this time. His story had some holes in it I had to admit (for one thing he was in rather good shape for someone who'd been held in a subterranean prison for seventeen years) but he told it well and since they had nothing else to make them believe his story was all a thoughtful lie they accepted his answers with minimal questioning. I think they were all too pleased that Aerrow, one of their most legendary Sky Knights in history, was back in action and that the skies of Atmos were safe once again to question him too harshly. I'm sure Angel would have made a comment of ignorance being bliss, but I couldn't blame the Council for wanting a straight forward and simple answer after everything that had happened. I would never be the kind of person who could easily accept things for being what they seemed, but I had my nightmares to thank for that. In fact I sort of envied the people who could take the answers that were given to them, nod and go on their way. Life was probably a lot simpler that way.

Then again it must also be boring as hell.

"Well..." The head of the Council said at last once everything had been recounted, more than three hours after Aerrow and I had first entered the chamber. "This is certainly a long and strange tale indeed. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that I am very grateful for you giving us all this information. However that doesn't even come close to how grateful we are for the things you've done for the rest of us. Thanks to you the Atmos has been saved from what surely would have been a nightmarish future. We are forever in your debt, Falshade Ravenscroft, you and your squadron. The Atmos shall honour all of you as heroes. "

I scratched at the back of my head uncomfortably, not sure what to say. I'd never been motivated by things like fame and glory when I set out to do all I did. I could say I just wanted to do it to make sure the things I saw in my nightmares wouldn't come true, and for the most part that was true. But I'd also been driven by the relentless, unquenchable desire for action and adventure. I'd never been the type of person to just sit around and live a quiet life, that just wasn't my cup of tea. I'd wanted to fly and fight and explore the uncharted corners of the world ever since I could remember; I suppose anyone who signs up to be part of a squadron must feel something like that deep down, this undying, uncompromising urge to sink your teeth into the kinda life where you don't know where you'll be the next day and never let go. Whether I'd been plagued by nightmares all my life or not I knew deep down I would have ended up doing the sorts of things I did in the end anyways, hungry for excitement and danger. It was the sort of person my dad had been and it was the sort of people my friends were too. I'd set out on my quest for my own personal needs and reasons with the notion of the Atmos' safety behind me to push me forward when I faltered. When I looked back on it all it was almost like one big high-stakes game, one I was just born to play. I'd been determined to win only to insure the survival and safety of the people I cared about, and the people they cared about; admiration, glory and fortune had never meant much to me.

I cleared my throat and looked up at the Council members. "Well... thank you. But it's not necessary, really. I was always just doing what I needed to do, what I thought was right. Anyone would have done the same. I think everyone who helped fight for the Atmos in one way or another is a hero."

The Councilman smiled at me in that grandfatherly way again. "Well said, Falshade. I know your father would be very proud of you for what you've done."

I smiled as well, always pleased to hear mentions of my father. However it didn't mean as much to me this time hearing it from the Council. Somehow it just meant more from the people who'd actually known my dad, knew what he'd been like and how he'd think and act. From them it was always said with real, honest feeling and I took it deep to heart. From the Council though it just seemed like formal words.

"Thank you, sir. I know he would too."

"Now that we've finished asking you our questions we would like to ask if there's anything either of you wish to discuss with us. Is there anything you and your squadrons might need? Anything pressing matters to be attended to? If there are please speak up." The Head of Council invited and I shared a look with Aerrow, who shook his head.

"No, thank you sir but I think we'll be alright." I assured him.

"Are you certain? From what we've heard you've all been through so much, are you sure there's nothing we can do to..." He trailed off as I held up my hands, shaking my head.

"No, thanks for your concern, but we're fine, we've got all we need."

"Alright." The Councilman stood once again. "If that is all the matters that need be addressed I think we can release you back to your squadrons now." He looked over the rest of the present audience as if waiting for anyone to say otherwise. When no one added anything he nodded and extended a hand towards the door. "Well then we will let you go on your way. Again we thank you for coming here today and for your services in the name of the Atmos. We extend our gratitude and hope you and your squadrons recover and find yourselves well."

"Thank you again for having us. May peace find you well." Aerrow returned, bowing again and then turning to leave. I bowed as well and followed after him, eager to be heading home and see how the others were doing when suddenly a thought came to me so violently it was like lightning struck the top of my head; I recalled the statue outside and turned, climbing hurriedly back onto the platform, ignoring Aerrow's raised brow.

"Wait!" I said and those who'd started to get up from their raised seats sat once again, heads cocked curiously and a few mutters travelled between those present. The Head of the Council raised his hand for silence and looked down at me patiently, waiting for me to explain myself. "I'm sorry but there _is_ something I'd like to discuss."

"By all means." The Councilman invited and I fidgeted a little, not exactly sure how to open the subject so I just did what we Gargoyles do best and ploughed right in.

"The Terradons." I said and finally was met with that same sceptical look I'd received so many times before. Ah, familiar territory at last.

"I'm not sure we understand what you're getting at..." The Head of Council said slowly, an uncertain tone entering his voice.

I swallowed and kept on going. "I'm talking about the treaty. We're supposed to be at peace with the Terradons, aren't we? But I've seen how they live on Bogaton and I don't like it. We aren't treating them like we're at peace or that we even trust them. We're keeping them underground and behind walls and it's not right. I made a promise to Repton himself that I'd change that and now here I am prepared to keep my word."

The stunned expressions that rippled through the spectators up in the balconies reminded me of the looks I'd been given my whole life when trying to explain my concerns I'd had about the Atmos' security. I knew I was digging into a touchy subject here; I was standing in the hall of Mesa after all, the terra that had the most reason of any to keep the Terradons locked behind bars, the most reason to hate them. I wasn't trying to pick at old wounds or hurt people's feelings but I just couldn't ignore what I felt needed to be said either.

A different Councilman stood and spoke now, tone even but firm. "Falshade you are young and I understand how you feel, that you want justice and equality for all. But there are things that you don't understand, events in the past that make things more complicated than you may think."

"I understand plenty." I said in the same reasonable yet determined tone. "I know it's not simple, everything that's happened between us and the Terradons. I know very well, probably better than you do, with all due respect. I know about the atrocities Repton and the other Raptors committed. I saw the statue outside and my heart goes out to Starling and all the other people who lost those they loved to the rogue Terradons, please believe me. But I also know about some of the things we as humans seem to want to ignore, such as the horrors that were committed on Bogaton fourteen years ago. My friend Varan can never forget about it; he was there, waist deep in the remains of his people when he was only four years old. A group of humans hurt the Terradons just as badly as a group of them hurt us. But we can't just hold these grudges forever. We all have to try and let it go and start over, on both sides."

"You really believe the Raptors will be willing to let it all go?" Harrier's clipped, accented voice rose from the balconies and I met his disapproving gaze with one of my own. "You are naive, Ravenscroft. Those creatures will not so easily forgive us, even those of us who had nothing to do with the crimes committed on Bogaton."

Harrier was the only one I was going to exempt from any attempt at being polite; full defiance was allowed here I figured. "Actually, Harrier, I think _you're_ the naive one. The Terradons have already proven well enough that they are willing to let things go. Varan, Repton's own son, has grown up with humans and holds no ill will or resentment towards them for the horrible things they did to him and his family, despite the fact that many humans, you being one of them if I recall, treat him like dirt. He's done nothing to deserve the disgust and anger that he receives wherever he goes and yet he accepts it all without complaint anyways. In fact he showed you respect and understanding despite your atrocious treatment of him on your terra, something that _you_ didn't have the decency to return."

Okay so that was a cheap shot, calling him out in front of the Council of Atmos like that but both the appalled and disapproving looks he received from the other members present and the heated look of embarrassment that rose to Harrier's face was totally worth it. I didn't think it was any less than he deserved anyways.

"We believe that your friend Varan is an admirable fellow indeed and we hold him in the highest regard for his tolerance of the actions made by the types of people you mentioned." Here the Councilman shot Harrier a disdainful look. "However he is only one Terradon and although obviously a unique and impressive representative for his species he cannot reflect the feelings of the entire population."

"Repton helped us." I said, refusing to let this go. "We asked him for help in finding terras that used to have Cyclonian activity and he gave us coordinates without being threatened or bribed. He offered us assistance and I'm not going to just forget about that. That matters, it counts for something. The Terradons have made the first step towards putting the past behind them and starting over new, so why can't we as humans try to make a step as well? Don't Sky Knights stand for forgiveness and the belief that people deserve second chances? I know it's not all that simple and I don't think Repton and the other Raptors should just be set free; I don't agree with the things they did in the past. But they don't deserve to stay underground for the rest of their lives either, and what about the other innocent Terradons, the ones who had nothing to do with the actions of the Raptors? Why should they have to live behind walls with armed men hanging over their heads? Why should we get to control their lives? If we really are at peace with them like we say then they should live free on their own terra with their own rules and ways of doing things."

The members of the Council looked at each other, seeming both thoughtful and conflicted. There was some more muttering for a few moments before the violet haired woman stood up and a hush fell over all present. Even down below I felt awed by her presence, compelled to listen to what she had to say.

"Falshade is right." She said, her voice crisp, clear and strong. "I know as well as anyone the horrors that the Raptors were capable of and so I understand the fears that have compelled us to keep them under lock and key. But our fears should not be allowed to control the existence of an entire species. Keeping them caged and under surveillance will never allow the resentment to die, for them or for us. We have to stop looking at them as prisoners and start accepting them as our fellow people. By allowing them freedom and rebuilding the bonds between humans and Terradons we can assure that history will not repeat itself and that a new, brighter future for both of us will rise. I say we make this step as Falshade has suggested and free the Terradons from our regulations."

Stunned silence followed after the woman's speech and I racked my brains, trying desperately to remember how I knew this woman and why on Atmos she felt compelled to take my side. As if she could read my thoughts the woman smiled warmly down at me and identified herself.

"You remind me of your mother, Falshade. You're just as righteous as she is." She told me, her voice carrying a softer edge than it had a moment ago and it almost sounded a little teasing. "I am Starling and the statue you mentioned outside is of my dearly departed squadron."

I nearly fell right off the platform. Holy shit, _that_ was _Starling_? I felt blood go rushing to my face; I couldn't believe I'd just said what I'd said about her without realizing she was sitting right there the whole fucking time! Lord strike me down now and spare me the humiliation. I mean Starling was up there with my most favourite of Sky Knights, one of my idols since forever and there I'd been rambling like an idiot without realizing she was right there in front of me.

"Uhhh..." I stammered, trying to recover before I made myself look even stupider than I already did while Aerrow laughed under his breath beside me. "I, um... well you pretty much summed up my point there so... I'm just gonna... stop talking." I trailed off and wanted to kick myself as a few good natured chuckles rose from the Council members. Apparently being some kind of 'honoured hero' did not spare you from looking like a flabbergasted moron in front of the Council of Atmos. Right then I was glad the others weren't there or I never would have heard the end of it.

The Head of Council was shaking his head slightly, an expression of both bewilderment and amusement on his weathered face. "Well you've certainly made an impression here today, Falshade." He told me and I had to fight to hold eye contact, wanting nothing more than to turn tail and slink on home with a little bit of dignity intact. "And you've really given us something to think about. We will have to discuss the proposition you've made for it is not something to be taken lightly, but I think you've struck on an important point, one that some of us seemed to have too easily pushed to the back of our minds and we're not just going to set it aside."

I cleared my throat. "Well, um, good. It's not something I just want swept under the rug, you know?"

The Councilman nodded. "Now, I'll ask again, is there anything _else_ you wanted to discuss?"

I felt another flicker of embarrassment but grinned and shook my head. "No, I think that's it."

"Good. Then we will bid you and Aerrow good day." The Councilman extended his hand towards the exit, allowing us to leave and this time I didn't turn back. I meant to head back outside but as we started off down the hallway which we'd come in Aerrow grabbed my elbow and nodded off down one of the side corridors.

"These stairs take you to the top of the Wind Fang." He explained. "You really should see it, the view's fantastic."

I glanced down the hall towards the massive oak doors but then shrugged, following after him up the stairs. I couldn't see why not and after spending all that time in that audience hall with those in the raised seats towering above me and making me feel slightly claustrophobic, I wanted to be outside, somewhere high and clear. The stairs Aerrow led me up wound around in a slowly tightening circle, making me feel dizzy as I lost count of the number of marble stairs we climbed. By the top my injured hip was throbbing slightly and I think it'd started bleeding again but I didn't mind so much, especially when I took in the rewarding view from the top of the Wind Fang.

"Wow..." I breathed, leaning against the stone railing and looking out at the expanse of the Atmos that was cast wide before me. I mean I was used to viewing the world from high up; I'd spent about ninety percent of the past two years in the sky. I practically felt at home up here. But it was nice to just stand still and take it all in from such a vantage point. Below my feet the terra sprawled, streets connected like the threads of a spider web, people little ants scurrying about, tending to their own purposes. Directly below I could see the statue of Starling's fallen squadron and felt a touch of sadness knowing they'd never see the skies from this angle again. I hoped that wherever their spirits had gone after their untimely deaths that they approved of what I'd tried to do for the Terradons. They didn't seem too different from my own squadron really; they too had set out on a dangerous, unusual mission in order to help the repressed Terradons, doing what they felt was right despite the doubts of others. Right then I hoped someday I'd get the chance to be with Starling under better circumstances, to tell her how much I respected her for everything she'd done.

"Pretty incredible, huh?" Aerrow said, grinning and leaning against the railing next to me, his crimson hair flung up in all directions by the wind. "Nothing like the wind in your face."

I smiled. "Yeah. I'm going to have to get myself another skimmer, I'm not going to be able to stay grounded for long." I glanced down at my cast and tried wiggling my fingers in vain. Nothing. I chewed on my tongue absently, wondering how I was going to be able to pilot a skimmer and hold my scimitar if I only had one arm. My stomach shrivelled with unease at that thought, the notion of my Sky Knight days coming to a close because of a bum arm. But then I shoved the uncomfortable thought away; there were ways to work around only having the one arm, it'd just take some getting used to, that's all.

I looked at Aerrow's face then, noting a few old scars on his jaw and cheeks and the fire that danced, roguish and indomitable, in his emerald eyes. Stork's eyes. As he pushed a handful of his fly-away red hair from his face I really saw how much this was his place, the wind rushing across his features and tugging him away to some far off place or other, undaunted in the face of the unknown. He was a vagabond warrior, at home nowhere but besides his friends with adventure and danger calling his name. This was the only life for him, a Sky Knight tied to no one terra but the entire world and everything it had to offer. Maybe it was his influence that had compelled Stork to follow recklessly after me, suturing herself to my side right from the very beginning. Then again Stork had always been an adventurous girl all on her own; I think even if there had been none of this Aerrow/Cyclonis stuff playing a part of who she was she would have chased along after me anyways.

"Hey, Aerrow?"

His green orbs flicked towards me. "Yeah?"

I put my good arm on the cool stone railing and set my chin on top of it, gazing distractedly off into the clear blue sky that stretched before me in all directions. "I'm just thinking... what happens to us now? What are we going to do, now that Cyclonis is back in the grave and there's peace again? I know we have a lot of work to do still, people to take care of, homes to rebuild. But what about after that?" I looked up at him seriously, feeling slightly uneasy, like I'd been cast into open air all of a sudden. What did Sky Knights and their squadrons do, after the danger had passed and the nightmares had come to an end? What did people like me and him and our friends do then?

He put his chin on his hand and stared out at the sky as well, thinking for awhile before answering me. "You know no one's ever mapped out every inch of the Atmos. There's still miles of space out there that hasn't been seen, unexplored corners, terras that haven't been discovered, lost cities, unmapped caves... there's enough unknown territory out there for people to write books about. Maps are always changing. And Cyclonis may be gone, but there's always going to be pirates out there, people who just can't sit still and leave well enough alone, they gotta take what's not theirs, they gotta break things and ruin other people's lives. It's always going to be that way, my friend." Aerrow turned to me and smiled that sort of smile that makes you want to leap up and go along with whatever the wearer has to say, no matter how crazy or risky. The others have cursed me for that smile more times than I can count. "But that's why there's people like you and me, Falshade. There's always going to be a place for us in this world, we just gotta carve it out for ourselves."

I smiled too, his answer more than satisfying me. "That's just how we roll, huh?"

Aerrow mussed up my hair playfully. "Yep. That's just our style, man."

I stuck my hand out over the edge of the platform, feeling the wind crashing against my palm. "Hey, there's something I've been meaning to ask you... about Stork."

Aerrow quirked a curious eyebrow. "Shoot."

I wrinkled my nose, trying to put my words in order. "Well I just... I'm just trying to understand how it all worked I guess, with her and you. I mean she never knew about you or Cyclonis, right? But for you, how did it work?"

"I think the others have been trying to ask me the same thing." Aerrow mused, running his fingers through his hair again. "I still don't really know how to explain it. It was like... like she was an anchor to this world, she tethered me here; I was connected to her and I couldn't become unconnected even if I wanted to. I don't know how Cyclonis did it but then again she knew more about everything than I did, how the crystal had done what it had done and how to change it in her favour. It was only when Stork made contact with the Eternity crystal that I finally got pushed out, like the tie was severed or something. But before that I was always just a part of her, there without her comprehension, able to feel what she felt, see what she saw but I couldn't affect how any of it got processed. I was like a spectator, basically, I couldn't control anything, not how she moved or where she went or what she thought."

I mulled all this over, trying to grasp it. "So... you were like her appendix?"

Aerrow blinked at me and then burst out laughing, clapping me on the shoulder. "That's the _perfect_ way to describe it, yeah!" He exclaimed. "It was like I was a part of her, this dormant, unknown section that she wasn't aware of. I still had all my own thoughts and memories and feelings but it seemed like my wires were all disconnected from hers, she ran on a completely different circuit. Even if I'd wanted her to say things for me, and there were times when I really did..." here his face lost its laughter. "...Shit if I could have only said something during all that time..." He looked so sad then, so worn down by guilt and sorrow that he looked really old all of a sudden, like Finn did in the picture I'd found of him in Stork's room. I grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it gently, trying to convey some sort of understanding. Aerrow sucked in a deep breath and shook the weariness from his face. "Anyways I think it was really like... well I believe that there's a part of you that exists without your body, beyond your body. Your soul, or spirit, or whatever you wanna call it. And mine was attached to her; she was her own being and she just kinda piggy-backed me and Cyclonis around this world with her. I dunno, does that make any sense?"

"...Sort of yeah." I said slowly. "I've really started to believe in all this otherworldly stuff; I mean look at me, all these things I saw in my dreams ever since I was little, things that hadn't happened yet. And then there's people like the Oracle who can connect with this totally other state of reality, she can see and hear the dead, so there's gotta be spirits somewhere, and wherever they go when we die I think sometimes they must be able to step back over and visit the people they left behind, you know? So as much as I'll never really understand it, not in a million years, I can believe it. Hell I've seen too much not to believe."

Aerrow was quiet for awhile, thinking. "...Stork was talking to Varan to, a few weeks ago maybe." He said in a low, almost uncertain tone after an immeasurable length of time stretched by during which I waited patiently and dipped my hand through the wind current. "She was saying she was worried that without me and Cyclonis, she'd stop existing, that she was simply this... shell that was safeguarding our spirits or something like that? And that made me feel horrible. Because all this time she's been her own person. Cyclonis and I, we couldn't touch her, we couldn't influence or decide or make or change anything about her. It's always been her; I still don't really understand it, but however it happened the crystal created a complete, singular person all on its own. Cyclonis and I, we were like little branches off of that, pegged to her but not _her_. I hope she'll realize that when she wakes up. I hope _you_ realize that." He turned to look at me pointedly. "Do you think I was part of her, Shade?"

I thought hard about this. "...Yes and no. I mean... fuck, you look at me and I can see her face. You talk to me and some of the things you say sounds just like her. But maybe that's just 'cause I miss her. But I know she's her own person, and you're your own person too. But maybe after all this time, little reflections of yourselves wore off on each other, sort of? That happens with everyone who gets close to other people. I think the others and I are starting to blend together at the seams by now, but we're all really different, you know what I mean?"

Aerrow cocked his head thoughtfully. "I like that way of thinking. I'm just... well I guess I'm used to people looking at her and seeing me in her eyes. That's what my friends saw when they looked at her. I guess I'm worried about her having an identity crisis. Hell who knows, maybe I have one too."

Despite the trickle of guilt I felt at his statement (I mean here I'd been looking at him and seeing Stork in his eyes) I smiled, trying to convey sympathy and reassurance. "I wouldn't worry too much about that, Aerrow. You two are completely different people, you'll see that when she wakes up. I haven't known you long or anything, but from what I can see you're a pretty upbeat and reasonable guy, like really cool and easy going. Stork's, well... a cantankerous little grease monkey with a short fuse and an obsession with driving me up the wall."

Aerrow laughed and caught me in a headlock, digging his knuckles into his scalp. "Oh come on, you love that girl despite all of that." He teased and I had to laugh too, attempting to struggle free and finding it difficult with only one functioning arm.

"Yeah, I do. It'll probably be the death of me, but what are you going to do, right?"

"Right." He released me and looked me up and down, smiling. "Man you know, I always liked you, Shade. I'm glad Stork met you that day back at Finch's."

I grinned and flushed a bit, scratching the back of my head. It's not every day your hero tells you he likes you after all. Thinking of my heroes though and of the conversation we'd been having I was struck with another question and looked at Aerrow seriously.

"Hey... back in the hospital you told me my dad said hi. What was that all about? Like could you..." I trailed off, revolving my hand uncertainly in the air, not sure how to express what I meant. It was a weird subject in general to discuss, trying to process how everything had worked all this time that he been a part of Stork, and I was having a hard time trying to find the right words without making anything too uncomfortable. If Aerrow was still having a hard time figuring it all out it must have been exasperating having me asking him all these questions he wasn't certain of the answer to.

"Talk to the dead?" Aerrow finished for me and I nodded awkwardly. "Well... I'm not sure how that worked. It was like... I had a foot on both sides, you know? Or at least... I could hear them here. Like I said, I was tethered to Stork, so it wasn't like I could just wander across the borders but... I think what happened when the crystal absorbed Cyclonis and I is we sort of passed from this world onto the next one for a bit, until Stork was there for us to be attached to. So after that I could feel things from that side, whenever spirits decided to step back over to see someone, I could feel them. Sometimes I could hear them. Your dad would come around once and awhile, to see how you were." Aerrow paused, looking at me with a sad little smile, sorrow shining in his sea green eyes. "I never knew my father either. Guess that's something a lot of us have in common, huh?"

"Yeah..." I returned his grim smile of understanding. "Seems like everyone I know has a sad story behind them."

"Ain't that the truth." Aerrow muttered, snaking his fingers through his hair distractedly. "Anyways when Stork came back into contact with the crystal it was like it reversed the process that had happened the first time and I got pulled back through the rabbit hole I guess you could say. I know it all must have happened really quickly but it seemed to take a long time to me and while I was passing back into my own body I was able to see some of these spirits I'd felt around from time to time and they were able to see me too. Some of them asked me to pass things on to the people who couldn't hear them over here."

"Wow..." I said, not really having much else to comment about such a thing.

The corner of his mouth ticked up into that roguish grin of his "Yeah, my FUBAR adventure through time and space." He joked. "Can't say I didn't enjoy it though. You guys brought me along on way too many adventures to regret it." His face slipped a little then. "I do feel bad though." He muttered, suddenly seeming very small and unhappy, nothing like the confident man he'd been all the short time I'd know him so far; even his untamed hair seemed to deflate slightly. "About my friends, everything they went through, how much they suffered and I wasn't able to do anything for them. It killed me, Shade. Sometimes when I'd watch you guys messing around and looking out for each other like we used to..." He trailed off, unable to sum up the words to describe such a heart wrenching feeling and I ached for him. I understood his feelings of guilt and agony over not being able to help his tormented squadron and knew it would have killed me too. Not really thinking too much about my actions I flung my working arm over his shoulders and squeezed him slightly like I'd always do to my own friends when they were troubled. I know I'd only really met him a few days ago, but after all this time he'd unknowingly been with us and all the things he'd witnessed, I counted Aerrow as my friend now too and wanted to convey my empathy.

"I think your friends know all of that and know if there was any way you could have been with them you would have." I assured him. "What matters now is you're all together again and I'm sure you guys will be able to heal and move past everything together in time."

"Yeah." He agreed, nodding. Then he looked out at the sky again for a long time before blowing out a sigh and stretching, turning to me. "Well, speaking of those guys, I think we should head back and check on them, see what kind of trouble they're getting into."

* * *

As it turned out, it didn't take all that long at all for the Council to finish discussing my proposition and come to a verdict.

It had been three days since Aerrow and I had flown to Mesa and for the most part we'd been trying to make ourselves useful, some of us flying out with the _Condor_ to the nearby terras to deliver much needed supplies while two or three would stay behind on Mauruvia, keeping a tab on Stork's progress and staying updated on the news reports that were flooding in from all corners of the Atmos. None of us liked to say anything about it out loud but we all took our turns combing neurotically through the death lists, which were constantly being updated as more and more bodies were recovered, searching for names we knew and hoping to god we wouldn't find them. So far we'd been lucky, but the lists were long and there was still a lot of chaos going on out there.

We'd spent the day delivering relief aid to terra Illaussica, who'd apparently taken in stricken refugees from neighbouring terra Toledos back when the attacks had first started only to be attacked themselves less than a week later. The terra had been struggling to support both suffering populations this whole time and you could see the utter joy on the relieved faces of the people when we stopped by with their much needed supplies, thanking us over and over again. It was bittersweet delivering those crates of food, crystals and medical supplies really; on the one hand I was really glad to be helping out those in need, but at the same time it was awful knowing they'd been in distress all this time and that it had taken this long to get them help. It was such a humbling and frightening experience, seeing this other side of the story that had gone on while Cyclonis had been sending her ghouls after us and realizing it was just as nightmarish and chaotic as the side we'd grown to know so well. I wasn't much help with my bad arm and everything but I did as much as I could all the same, determined to see that these people could embrace peace and comfort once again.

Now, back on Mauruvia, I was sprawled on the couch on the bridge of the _Condor_, leaning against Angel lazily as he flipped idly through a book Piper had lent him, something about combining multiple crystal types together to create hybrid ones; the two of them had really hit it off, both of them evidently ecstatic to finally be able to talk to someone who understood what all their scientific mumbo-jumbo was all about. Wasp was lying on the floor at our feet, a pair of borrowed headphones clamped over her leathery ears as she worked on Stork's get well card with the utmost of concentration, kicking her feet in the air childishly. Fraggle was playing poker with Finn and Junko at the table, using a collection of small, multicoloured crystals as chips since none of them had any money. I wasn't sure where Finn had got the pouch of crystal shards, a collection of unknown origin, but I had an unfortunate feeling it had come from Piper's lab, which was why I wasn't playing as well, determined to keep on the dark skinned woman's good side. That and as Angel will insist I have a terrible poker face.

The air of tranquility was broken a moment later however when the bridge doors clanged open loudly to reveal Varan, who looked like he was quite unsure how he should be feeling at the moment. He scanned the bridge before spotting me and jabbed a scaly finger at me menacingly.

"_You_." He said, sounding both disgruntled and incredulous. "What did you _do_?"

"Like, recently?" I asked, cocking my head, confused.

"Like about this!" He said, limping over and throwing a newspaper at me. I picked it up, baffled about his strange mood and tried to read the first few lines. However the pressure of trying to read the small font as quickly as I could only made the words harder to put in order and after a moment I grunted irritably and thrust it at Angel. He cleared his throat importantly and put on this voice he always used when reading something to me, just to annoy me.

" 'Two days ago the Council of Atmosia called all Sky Knights of the Legion who could attend to the Council Hall to debate a matter of extreme importance and secrecy; no details of what this debate may have been in regards to were released until today, when the Head Councilman finally opened the Hall's doors to announce a conclusion which many are saying will change the ways of thinking of the entire Atmos. After thirteen years of harsh jurisdiction and Legion enforced regulations it has been announced today that'..." Angel trailed off, his eyes flashing across the page at his own rapid reading speed, face growing with steadily more disbelief as he went.

"Hey!" I said, hitting him to get his attention and feeling frustrated. "If I'm gonna ask you to read something it's because I'd like to know what it says too!"

He dropped the paper and looked at me. "They're letting the Terradons go."

I did a bit of a double take, blinking. "What... seriously?"

"Yeah, says right here, they're relocating them to a nearby terra where they're going to be allowed to build their own settlement, no more regulations or anything like that. There goes your breeding programme, Var."

Varan gave him a nasty look before turning his gaze to me. "_You_ had a hand in this, didn't you?" He demanded, looking more displeased then I thought he would given the situation.

"Well, er, yes, I brought it up when I went to see the Council on Mesa." I said, feeling slightly nervous. "I promised Repton I would, remember? Jeez though, I didn't think they'd make a decision this quickly."

"Yeah, imagine that, somebody actually took what you said to heart." Angel commented and I rolled my eyes while Fraggle giggled to himself.

Varan heaved a sigh and dropped into a nearby chair, wincing slightly. Although he wouldn't say anything we knew his leg was hurting him and that's why we'd made him stay behind today; not like he would have been much help with his crutches anyways.

"Dude what's up? Isn't this a good thing?" Junko asked, sounding just as confused as I felt.

Varan's tail flicked back and forth uneasily. "People aren't going to like it. There's gonna be problems about this, I can just see it now. We're talking about releasing the people who've been living behind walls for thirteen years. They're going to have things to say. The humans are going to have things to say. And last time when that happened people got angry and..." He trailed off and swallowed, hugging his arms around himself and staring at the floor fixedly. "...And then people died."

My heart contracted at the brittle tone in his voice. "Varan..." I had to pause to clear my throat to get it working. "Listen the Council's not stupid, they know that this is a really touchy subject, that's why they took two days to come to a decision. It's not going to be like last time. I promise it won't."

"A lot of people didn't like what happened on Bogaton last time either." Finn added helpfully, grabbing Varan's arm and squeezing it reassuringly. "I think everybody's changed since then, grudges have burned down a bit. I mean there'll be work to be done for sure but I really think it's all going to go over better the second time around."

Varan made an uncertain humming noise and seemed to try and think of some way to voice what he was feeling. "...Okay pretend you don't know me for a second." He said to us. "Pretend you're just like the other humans out there."

"Ugh, why do I have to be a human eh?" Fraggle asked and Varan rolled his eye, ignoring him.

"By other humans I mean the ones that didn't like what happened on Bogaton but they also don't like what the Raptors did to all those other humans out there. Pretending all that do you think the Terradons should be set free?"

"Sure." Angel said with a shrug. "I mean why not?"

Varan gave him a scathing look. "I really do love your heartfelt responses." He growled and Angel scowled.

"You want me to get up and have a whole crusade over here? Varan look, there's probably some hard feelings left over on both sides but does that mean that for the rest of their existence Terradons should live the way they do, with people keeping them under wraps and telling them when it's okay for them to fuck? Stop being a righteous little asshole for a second and think about what all those shit-for-brains little cocksuckers have told you over the years, all the 'other humans' who called you a monster and said you should be dead in the ground. You're gonna look me in the face and tell me they were _right_? Who gives a shit about how they feel! Most of them only do it because they have nothing better to do! But think about that whole 'two wrongs don't make a right' thing you love to preach all the time; can't you just stop trying to be a saint for five seconds and admit that maybe, this time, just this once, two wrongs _can_ lead to something right?"

Varan blinked at him, seeming to be at a loss for words. Fraggle glanced from him to Angel and back again and said "See this is why you shouldn't ask for his heartfelt responses there, eh."

"Yeah, heaven forbid you people should stop and think about something." Angel muttered and I gave him a shove, squishing him into the back of the couch.

"Vocabulary choices aside, Var, he's got a point." I said. "I mean what are you waiting for to come along and prove the Terradons should be set free? I don't think they should have to live like that for another thirteen years. It's just... well enough already."

Varan wrinkled his snout thoughtfully before seeming to unwind a little bit. "You're probably right." He relented. "It just worries me that's all. So many things could go wrong..."

"Maybe. But things might go right too, right?" Junko said in that childish way of his, like it was hard to believe anything could go wrong in the world. I had to admire him for having an outlook like that, especially considering some of the things he'd seen.

"Finished!" Wasp declared suddenly, shouting over the roar of her music and making all of us jump. She clambered up onto the couch beside me and held out her card proudly as if she wanted me to judge it. Then she stared at us and wrinkled her nose, pulling her earphones down to her neck. "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing too important." Varan said, tiredly but amused none the less. "Let's see what you've got, kiddo."

Wasp sprang off the couch and placed her card in the middle of table gently as if it were very precious indeed. I came over and leaned over Fraggle to get a good look at it. The outside simply bore our squadron crest but it was the inside that Wasp had poured in all her efforts. Five gargoyles prowled over the inside panels and on closer examination I realized Wasp had made each of them different to illustrate each one of us: the largest one had a particularly long tail and a few spikes on its head that must have been for Varan and another was wearing Fraggle's toque, cartoon skull and all. I located mine, one with violet eyes and a heart shaped patch sewn onto its arm. Over in the corner of the back panel sat a sixth gargoyle, smaller and distinctly more streamline than the others which I knew had to be Stork; Wasp had even drawn a few freckles on its delicate snout. Stork's gargoyle still seemed to be made of stone, waiting for the sun to go down so she could spring to life again. Next to it Wasp had scrawled a message in shaky, spidery letters: _Stork- Please wake up soon so we can all roam the night together! We miss you! Love- Us._

"Wow, Wasp..." I said, marvelling at her artwork. "This is fantastic, Stork's gonna love it!"

Wasp beamed as Fraggle mussed up her hair. "Didn't know you were such an artiste there, Waffles." He commented.

Wasp looked like she was about to object to the name when suddenly the hanger doors opened again and Piper stepped through, back from visiting Stork at the hospital. She opened her mouth to say something when Stork (green Stork) pushed his way past her with a desperate whimper, rushing across the bridge and tearing things from the shelves where the Storm Hawks kept their charts and various other odds and ends, throwing them unceremoniously on the floor.

"Hey Stork, nice to see you too." Finn said sarcastically, watching the Merb's frantic actions with interest. "What's up?"

Stork's entire body seemed to be twitching. "Ack my skin is BURNING! Oh for the love of anti-venom where ARE YOU?"

Finn quirked an eyebrow at Piper for an explanation, who tented her slender fingers on her forehead and shook her head. "He got sneezed on in the hospital." She explained tiredly.

"I wasn't just _sneezed_ on!" Stork yowled, outraged and hysterical. "I was caught in the line of fire of a substantial explosion of billions of unknown germs all encased in a lovely coating of nasal slime! Oh _god_ I can feel them crawling all over me at this very moment!" He scratched viciously at one of his arms before shouting "AHA!" and freeing a canister of disinfectant spray from the shelves. Holding it about a foot from his face he emptied what seemed to be the entire canister in one lethal blast before any of us could stop him and caused the rest of us to double over, choking for air.

"Ju-heeesus, Stork!" Finn coughed, covering his nose with both hands while Wasp buried her face in Angel's hair, gagging. "Gas us all to death why don't you!"

Stork dropped the empty canister, his eyes streaming as he evidently must have forgotten to close them. He turned his bloodshot glare on Finn. "Would you rather I bring some unknown disease home with me? I'm sure you'll have wished I'd sprayed us all when your lungs start rotting from the inside..." he trailed off, a dark look on his face as he rubbed his fingers together thoughtfully. "Although I suppose that's a better way to go than some..."

Piper waved a hand back in forth in front of her face to clear a space where she could breathe and then must have remembered what she'd been about to say before Stork's outburst and abruptly wrapped her arms around Varan's neck.

"We heard about the liberation of the Terradons!" She exclaimed, smiling widely while Varan's face got dark and I suppressed a grin. "That's so great, Varan!"

"Actually he was just telling us about how not-great it was." Angel decided to point out and Piper's face lost all its excitement as she released Varan and stared at him with wide, questioning eyes.

"What do you mean?" She asked and Varan looked uncomfortable, his tail lashing back and forth.

"I didn't say it was a _bad_ thing, per say." He argued weakly. "I just... worry. It's what I'm good at. It's such a huge change to make, especially when things are still so crazy out there and that aside well, I'm not too good at dealing with change."

"Well, yes it is a pretty big deal." Piper admitted. "But sometimes things have to go through big changes to make the world a better place, don't they?"

"I know, these two already kindly pointed that out to me." Varan assured her, waving a hand at Angel and I although he still seemed far from ecstatic. My own euphoric feelings that the world seemed to be making a change for the better dissipated and I worried that Varan really wasn't happy about this at all. It seemed odd to me considering he'd always been a supporter for peace and equality, but then again when it came to his own species he was rather timid about being too outspoken about it. Maybe he felt like being this dramatic wasn't the best way of going about fixing things between Terradons and humans, or maybe, a more heart wrenching thought indeed, he really didn't believe they deserved to be set free. Well maybe that wasn't what _he_ believed but he knew it was what a good chunk of the world believed and Varan was the kind of guy who'd rather keep his own feelings quiet if it meant avoiding turmoil.

Varan glanced up at me and must have seen all this on my face because the corner of his mouth tilted down and he hauled himself back to his feet unsteadily to abruptly sweep me into a crushing hug. The wind got knocked out of me in a combination of both surprise and the fact that Varan effectively punched my cast into my ribs and I gave him a confused look when he released me, holding me by the shoulder seriously while also maintaining his balance.

"Listen... it's not that I don't appreciate what you did." He told me and underneath all the uncertainty and anxiety he wore I could finally see a little bit of his own excitement shining through, the possibilities in his eyes. "And I'm not upset that the Terradons are being set free either. I may seem like it but that's because I'm always thinking of the worst things that could possibly happen and admittedly it's a strange concept to get used to. But you guys are right; it's something that needed to be done and despite everything... I'm glad it did. So thanks, Shade... thanks to all of you, really." He said, scuffing his tail over the floor and not meeting any of our eyes because he'll always be a shy little newt that way. "I mean it's because of people like you guys that things like this are able to happen and I for one am really grateful for it. It's people like you guys who gave me a family again..." he trailed off with a bit of a sniffle and a bittersweet lump welled up in my throat.

Fraggle clapped him on the shoulder. "See this is all we wanted to hear, eh, was some of your classic lovey-dovey speeches that you're so gosh darn good at."

Varan finally loosened up a bit and grinned, tugging the rim of Fraggle's toque into his eyes. "Yeah, sorry for being a buzz kill back there. You know how I get."

"Yeah that ulcer of yours is going to rupture any day now." Angel commented innocently and Varan caught him in a headlock, giving him a ferocious nougie.

"No thanks to you there, Cupcake." He said teasingly before both of them were seized in one of Junko's bone crushing hugs, the Wallop smiling widely, evidently pleased that Varan seemed to have come around.

"Man I think it's so great that we all can like, support each other and stuff." He said cheerfully while Angel clawed at me desperately for assistance. Jeez was it ever weird seeing Varan being oversized by someone; Junko made him seem as helpless as Stork did whenever he actually decided to help us catch and hold the little bugger for some well deserved tickle torture.

Piper's good spirits seemed to have returned now that everyone was in a better mood and she gently pried Junko's massive arms open, freeing Angel and Varan. "Well now that that's been smoothed over I think it's time to discuss what we're going to do with the five of you." She stated matter-of-factly and the five us in question looked at her curiously.

"What'd you mean?" I asked, feeling nervous again.

"We've been talking about you behind your backs." Finn explained with a mischievous look on his childish face. "No offence kiddies but we don't want you hanging around anymore, mooching off us and what not."

"Finn!" Piper scolded, smacking his shoulder with the back of her hand, a reflexive movement. "He's just being a twerp." She added to the rest of us. "We really don't mind having you guys here at all."

"But...?" Fraggle asked what all of us were thinking.

"But despite how much we love your company we've decided that we're going to send you on a bit of a holiday." Aerrow joined us then, stepping from the doorway as if on cue.

"Holiday?" I repeated dumbly.

"Yeah dude. We think it's high time you guys took some time off and went back to see your families for a while." Finn said, more serious now then he'd been a moment ago.

I blinked at the three of them as if waiting to see if they were really serious before shaking my head roughly. "Oh come on, don't get into this again. Seriously you guys act like we fought the whole war ourselves and we didn't. I don't see any of the other squadrons getting time off and they deserve it as much as we do."

"Nobody's arguing with you there." Aerrow agreed with me. "But Falshade look at this logically, you guys aren't really very much help right now, no offence. I mean you don't have a ship anymore... sorry Fraggle." He paused to rub Fraggle's back briefly as the Blizzarian sighed and slumped when he was reminded of the _Merlin_. "And that means you can't carry any supplies to the terras that need them."

"And Varan's the only one of you who knows much about providing medical aid, which is something a lot of terras need more than anything." Piper added.

"And then of course there's the obvious fact that the five of you are a pack of cripples at the moment and are next to useless at carrying supplies or rebuilding terras." Stork piped up nonchalantly, examining his arms meticulously as if looking for some kind of rash.

"Gee thanks for sparing our pride." Angel grumbled, folding his arms moodily and Junko patted his shoulder condolingly, almost bringing him to his knees.

I felt a little insulted too. "Hey we've been helping these last few days haven't we?" I pointed out indignantly.

"Oh we know, nobody's denying that you guys aren't trying to be helpful." Piper said quickly, stroking my arm soothingly. "We're just saying given the circumstances we think it'd be best for you guys to just take some time to relax and let yourselves heal after everything, you know?"

"Yeah, come on you guys, the Atmos will be alright without you for a little while." Junko added encouragingly.

I chewed on my tongue absently, trying to come up with another argument; I couldn't deny that the Storm Hawks had some good, if ego bruising, points and a guilty little part of me sort of did want to jump on their offer. I glanced at the others, figuring this wasn't just my decision to make after all. "What do you guys think?" I asked evenly.

The four of them were silent for few moments, mulling things over before Fraggle cleared his throat awkwardly and fiddled with his sleeve. "Um... well look, I want to help out the rest of the Atmos as much as you do there, Chief, but... I also kinda wanna go home for a bit there, eh. See how my mum and my sis are doing..."

I felt really bad right then; what with everything else going on I'd forgotten that he had a family outside of us who he hadn't seen in ages and was probably sick with worry over, especially after the attack on Nord. Fraggle more than deserved to spend time with his family and now what I thought about it I wanted to see how my mom and the Beast Keepers were doing too.

I clapped Fraggle on the shoulder and looked up at the Storm Hawks. "Alright you got us. Since you seem so eager to get us out of your hair we'll go. But not for very long, okay?"

Finn snorted. "Jeez aren't you a rabid little go-getter. If it were _me_ I'd be all over this vacation deal."

"How's a week sound?" Aerrow asked me, ignoring Finn's comment and pulling at his hair playfully as he spoke.

"Week sounds good there, eh." Fraggle nodded.

Stork stopped scratching himself and strode over to join us then, his eyes still running slightly. "Alright well since I'm going to be playing the role of chauffer here I suppose I should know where you cretins are going." He said in that nasally tone of his.

"Cretins?" Wasp repeated, rolling this around in her mind. "Well there's one I've never heard before..."

"Well we're going to Vatican, right?" I asked Varan for conformation, who nodded.

"Nord for me, if you guys don't mind making the boot all the way out there, eh." Fraggle said.

"No problem. We're heading down to the south quadrant for a few days anyways." Aerrow said and Stork shuddered.

"Yes, celebrated land of blizzards and hypothermia." He muttered darkly and Piper rolled her eyes, swatting at him playfully. Then she turned to Wasp and Angel.

"What about you two?" she asked kindly and the two of them exchanged a glance.

"...Well I can just tag along with you guys." Angel said after an awkward moment. "I'm not in too bad shape, I can still be useful."

"Me too, I can..." Wasp trailed off and examined her bandaged hands thoughtfully. "...kick things."

My heart contracted miserably for the two of them as Piper's face faltered. Junko looked like a very confused puppy as he stared at them. "You guys... don't have anywhere to go?"

"Sure they do." I interjected before they were forced to answer, refusing to let them stand there like a couple of stray dogs. "You two can stay with me at my place."

"Yeah eh, time off means for all of us." Fraggle added, leaving no room for argument. "No way you two are fucking off while the rest of us spend time at home."

Angel didn't look very forthcoming (big surprise). "You sure you're mom will be okay with that?" He asked me haltingly.

"Of course she will, she'll love having you guys. Besides it's your home now too, remember?" I pointed out and he scowled at me.

"I don't recall agreeing to that." He reminded me sullenly and I rolled my eyes, grabbing him in a headlock.

Wasp seemed to be deep in thought. "Your mom was the pretty lady with the goat, right?" She asked me and Varan snorted with laughter.

"Yeah that's her." I said while Finn raised as eyebrow curiously. Wasp seemed to think this over a little more before nodding.

"Okay. That sounds alright."

"So Nord and Vatican then." Aerrow concluded. "Great. Well then we'll probably be heading out within the hour, if that wouldn't be too much trouble, Stork."

Stork hugged his arms around himself, looking snubbed. "I suppose it wouldn't be _too _much no, although I _did_ have plans for this afternoon, not that any of you take those into consideration..."

Finn raised his eyebrows. "Oh really, and what might those have been?"

"Well for one thing I have a large quantity of tar traps that need to be laid out, I've been noticing quite a few more spiders around the place than usual, which unfortunately I can't help but think has something to do with you people sleeping on the floor." Stork looked us over critically, eyelid jumping neurotically. "Have any of you noticed any strange rashes on yourselves lately?"

Wasp's eyes widened in alarm. "You can't just _kill_ the spiders! They eat all the other annoying buggies and don't ask for anything in return! And the little ones are cute!"

Stork seemed unfazed by this fact. "The little ones also happen to be of the more poisonous variety. And did you know there's a special kind of your 'cute' spiders that are small enough to borrow under your skin and breed colonies of thousands? At first it just might seem like bad acne, until your skin starts moving."

Fraggle's ears shot up in alarm and I glanced at my own arms subconsciously, looking for any raised marks.

Stork seemed to enjoy watching us squirm, continuing right along as if our discomfort was amusing and he wanted to see more of it. "There's also the larger ones to consider and I have a hard time believing even _you_ would think some of those ones are cute."

Wasp shrugged. "No, but hey once you pull all that hairy stuff off them they're pretty good eating."

"WASP!" the four of us Gargoyles howled while Piper put her hand over her mouth, taking a subtle step away from the Faerieshian and Stork turned a different shade of green altogether.

Junko unexpectedly took Wasp's side. "Hmm, she's right you know. I've had chocolate covered ones before and they were actually really good. A little crunchy, but..."

"Oh please..." Varan groaned, covering his ear slits. "_Please_ just stop."

"What a perfectly good way to ruin chocolate." Angel muttered, sounding both disgusted and outraged.

I shook my head, trying to clear out any mental images of chocolate coated spiders and my eyes fell on Wasp's get well card still on the table. "Hang on a second." I blurted suddenly. "What about Stork?"

"Oh don't worry about her." Aerrow said calmly. "She'll be staying with us. We just talked to the doctors and they said she was in good enough condition that we can take care of her here on the _Condor_. She can stay in Starling's room."

"It makes more sense than always flying back here and this way she'll be closer to us. Don't worry, we'll take good care of her." Piper added and I felt relieved. This whole time a spot in my stomach had been constantly knotted, worrying about Stork alone in that deathly quiet hospital room. Now I was finally able to relax; I trusted the Storm Hawks completely and I liked the idea of Stork staying with them much more than her being at the hospital.

"And we'll let you know ASAP if she wakes up." Finn added. "Even if you're not here she'll have your card to let her know you're thinking of her."

That made me feel a little better too; I'd hate for Stork to wake up and for us not even to be there to see her (and more than likely maul her as well).

Piper noticed our card then and smiled, picking it up. "Aw, you guys made her a card? That's adorable!" She exclaimed, making the rest of us squirm awkwardly because we didn't really _like_ being adorable. Piper opened the card and blinked in surprise. "Oh wow, this is really-FINN!" she thundered suddenly, making Fraggle and Junko jump as she finally noticed the crystals strewn over the tabletop.

Finn gave her an all-teeth grin, attempting to appear innocent and I swear I've seen Stork pull off that exact same expression. "Yyyyyyes?"

Piper snatched up the empty pouch and began stuffing handfuls of her little crystal shards back into it furiously. "Do you know how _rare_ and _expensive_ these are?" she demanded and the rest of us stepped back from the pair, safely out of range of the dark woman's fury.

Finn scratched the back of his head. "I dunno, they don't look all that special to me."

"_Extremely_ rare and _very_ expensive!" Piper snapped, ignoring his comment, clutching the filled pouch close to her chest protectively. "And how many times have I told you to stay out of my lab? What if these were unstable? Did you know at certain temperatures some crystals turn to acid? Or if they're not refined properly they can spontaneously combust? Did you ever stop to think of that?"

Finn made an irritated noise. "Piper you tell me lots of things. Besides, those things obviously aren't any of those kinds of crystals, they don't even look useful. More like those stones people put in goldfish bowls than anything."

Piper glared at him before turning on her heel and marching off down the corridor, slamming her boots down hard. "You know I think I might just go on a bit of a vacation myself! A very _long_ vacation!" she declared angrily as she stomped off.

Aerrow, Junko and Stork levelled Finn with disapproving and tired looks while the rest of us fidgeted, not sure what to say and trying to hold back fits of laughter. Finn regarded the looks he was getting from his teammates casually and leaned back in his chair with a shrug.

"Oh come on, she's totally bluffing." He said without concern. "She might act all pissy but deep down she loves me."

"Hmm..." Stork rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We might want to get that checked out. Sounds like a serious case of mind worms to me."

* * *

It took us about six hours to get to Vatican and it had already been dark for a while by the time the _Condor_ touched down at the dry docks. As the Storm Hawks had said Stork had been moved from her room at the hospital and was now resting peacefully in the spare room on the _Condor_ that Piper explained to me was meant to be Starling's but had remained empty and waiting all this time. It was a cozy little room although I couldn't say I liked the colour they'd chosen and it made me kinda sad to be in there, seeing how lovingly the Storm Hawks had decorated it only for it to be left unoccupied. However much it depressed me though I found myself stopping in every ten minutes to check on Stork, infected with the delirious hope that maybe she'd be awake each time and unable to stop myself from checking. Eventually the others got fed up with me and Fraggle and Angel pinned me down on the couch, refusing to let me up to so much as go to the bathroom.

Now Varan, Wasp, Angel and I were standing on the wharfs outside the _Condor_ and saying quick goodbyes to the others, who were planning on heading to terra Ray, still another three hours away, where they'd stop for the night and see if the residents there needed any assistance before continuing to Nord tomorrow.

Piper gave each one of us hug as if it'd be a long time since she'd see us again but I didn't really mind, hugging her back warmly. "Make sure to say hi to your families for me." She said. "We'll radio you if there's any updates with Stork, okay? And for god's sake try to just relax and enjoy yourselves, alright?"

I laughed. "No promises. Take care, you guys."

"You too. See you in a week." Aerrow said and Finn added in a salute, waving goodbye before following the others back to the bridge and leaving us with Fraggle.

"Alright well you kids be good while I'm gone eh. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." He said in a fatherly sort of manner which made me laugh.

"That leaves us a pretty broad range of activities." I pointed out and he grinned deviously.

"I know, enjoy it. And say hi to your mom there for me, eh. And Pippa." He added to Varan who smiled and nodded.

"Yeah you tell your sister we said hi too. Anyways have a good time Fraggle, we'll see you in a week."

"Jeez a whole week. I don't think I've ever been away from you guys that long, eh. Gonna be kinda weird." Fraggle rubbed at his toque absently. "Welp I better get going, eh. Try not to miss me too much."

"I'll try my damndest." Angel said dryly and Fraggle swatted at him before heading back into the hanger, waving as the bay doors clanged shut. The _Condor_ lifted gracefully from the docks and I could see Junko waving at us from the bridge. Stork blasted the horn once, effectively deafening us and then the old bird turned and melted into the inky night sky.

I turned and looked over my home terra as it stretched out before me. Even from here I could pick out the silhouette of the Plateau jutting out against the night sky and felt something tug in my heart, happy to be home and eager to see how my mom was doing.

Varan clomped over beside me, still awkward as ever on his crutches and I glanced at him with concern. "The walk won't be too much, will it?"

He shook his head. "I'll be fine. Come on, let's get going before it gets any later."

We made our way down the streets which were lit by the soft glow of the streetlamps without saying much; Varan and Angel were both quiet, seeming to have something on their minds and Wasp usually didn't say much anyways. She was happy skipping ahead and running along the tops of any stone walls we happened to pass. In fact it wasn't until we were staring along the winding dirt path that trailed lazily out of the town proper and led to all the houses that lay beyond that Varan finally broke the silence.

"You know I'm thinking I'm going to fly out to Bogaton tomorrow." He blurted out, apropos to nothing.

I paused to wait for him to catch up, tilting my head. "You are?"

Varan cleared his throat, seeming uneasy. "Um, yes. I mean it's sort of monumental what's going on, isn't it? And I've just been thinking over everything you guys were saying earlier and I think I should go."

"...But you're coming back, right?" I asked, suddenly having a terrifying thought of him staying with the other Terradons for the rest of his life.

He grinned reassuringly. "Yeah, of course I am. I just want to go for a little while, see what's going on over there, you know? Plus I..." he coughed and cleared his throat again, his tail whipping back and forth. "I sort of... want to see my dad again."

"Dude there's nothing wrong with that." I assured him. "I think it's important that you do go, actually."

"So there's going to be a whole bunch of Varans living on a new terra, right?" Wasp clarified, hopping on one leg. "That sounds great."

"Well hopefully it will be." Varan agreed. "And we're called Terradons, Wasp. They're not all like me."

Angel finally spoke up then, a mischievous tone in his voice. "Hey are you going to stop by and see Roo before taking off tomorrow?"

I couldn't see Varan's face in the dark but I knew it must have just turned darker and I grinned. "Yeah what's going on with that? Don't tell me you're going to leave that poor girl waiting."

Varan sighed. "You know I'd feel a lot more inclined to go and see her if you guys _didn't_ keep bothering me about it. Besides it's not like there's really anything going on with her and I anyways, I don't even know what she wants from me."

"All the more reason to go and talk to her." I said matter-of-factly.

Varan made a humming noise but made no further comment. By then we'd reached the fork in the road that divided my mom's house from the rest of the terra and it was time for us to go our separate ways.

I paused, looking down the path to where Varan's house lay. "Well if you're going to Bogaton I guess that means we won't see you for a few days."

"Yeah, I guess so. Say hi to your mom then for me and keep an eye on these two monsters." Varan said and pulled me into a brief hug.

"Yeah, say hi to Marle and Pippa. And Repton too." I added and saw him give a small grin in the dark before pulling Wasp into a quick hug as well.

"Now you be on good behaviour while I'm gone, got it? Or Falshade's mom will flog you." He said and Wasp saluted him. Then he turned to Angel who held up his hands to ward him off.

"Dude please, we'll be seeing each other again in like, six days." He said but Varan caught a hold of him anyways, crushing him and mussing up his hair. "Argh!" Angel said, struggling free but he was grinning anyways. "Alright, alright, get going, Gimpy. And have fun with your Daddy."

Varan rolled his eyes and turned around clumsily, heading down the path into the night. "Stay out of trouble you three!" He called back to us as he left.

I watched him go until I couldn't see him through the shadows anymore and turned, looking down the path towards my mom's lonely house and motioning for the others to follow. Wasp trotted along happily but Angel seemed to be dragging his feet, hanging back slightly until I grabbed his arm, tugging him along.  
"What's up?"

"Nothing." He muttered, shaking his bangs out of his face; he needed to get his hair cut again, it was down to his shoulders by now. "You're_ sure_ your mom's not going to mind having us hanging around?"

"Of course not, she likes you guys." I insisted. Then in a lower, gentler voice I added. "Are you nervous? Because you know she really did want you to come live with us." I remembered that time after she'd returned from Saharr, how unhappy she'd seemed at times, staring off into space despondently.

"That was almost ten years ago, Shade. People change."

"Not about things like this." I said adamantly.

Wasp had stopped ahead of us. "This is it, right?" She asked, pointing to my mom's house. A light was on at the front porch, welcoming us.

"Yep, this is it." I said, leading the way to the front door. Wasp was craning her neck, trying to get a glimpse of Raphael out at his doghouse. I shook my head, still not able to believe Mom had got a goat of all things. I'd begged for a puppy for _years_ growing up and had she ever said yes to that? Noooo, puppies are messy, Falshade, puppies are a handful, Falshade, and when you leave who's going to look after it, Falshade?

Ahem, anyways...

I stepped onto the porch and knocked on the door, feeling both excited and nervous, wondering if Mom would be angry for not coming by sooner or at least calling to let her know I was okay. I was apprehensive to see her, afraid to see anymore of the loneliness and misery that had been etched subtly around her eyes last time. But I really wanted to see her too; it took me to right then to realize just how much I'd missed her.

I swallowed as the door creaked open and there stood my mom, just as proud and strong as ever but her face looked a little hollowed and there were dark circles under her eyes that made my heart hurt. Still she leaned against the doorframe with folded arms and did a very good job of looking disapproving as she looked me up and down.

"You know you're lucky Piper had the decency to call me ahead of time and warn me that you'd be stopping by or you'd have no dinner waiting for you." She informed me, cool and scolding like I was six years old again and coming home late and filthy. But I could see in her eyes how worried she'd been, terrified that she'd never get that call and that she'd never see me again, just like her husband.

"I'll try to be more considerate in future." I promised. She stared at me scrupulously for a moment longer before striding forwards and wrapping her arms around me tightly as if I were still small enough to be pulled into her lithe body. I hugged her back fiercely, pushing my face into her thick blue hair and breathing in her comforting, motherly smell. God was it ever good to be home; I didn't care if I was a guy going on eighteen, the feeling of warmth and security I always felt when in her arms was something I'd missed. It might have slipped from my mind as I got occupied with fighting against the creatures of my nightmares and looking out for my friends, and I suppose growing away from your parents is all part of growing up, but it wasn't something you ever forgot, your love for them and the occasional craving for their contact.

"You really are you father's idiot son, aren't you?" she murmured, stroking my hair. "But I suppose I wouldn't want it any other way." She sighed and held me tighter. "My boy..."

I swallowed down the lump that rose in my throat and sniffled a bit as she released me, wiping at her eyes briefly before tapping her fingers on my cast.

"What happened here?" she asked, trying to sound reprimanding but there was concern in her eyes.

"It's nothing, Mom. It's broken but the doctors said it should heal just fine." I said, deciding not to mention that I'd more than likely never use it again.

Mom nodded before looking past me at Wasp and Angel. "Ah, so we have guests do we?"

"Yeah, they don't really have anywhere else to go so I thought they could stay with us."

"I see. Well then our home is your home for however long you're staying." Mom said, smiling warmly at the two of them. "Where are the other three?"

"Varan's gone home and Fraggle's heading out to Nord to see his family. Stork's... with the Storm Hawks." I explained.

"Good. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to one of you." Mom said as if all of them belonged to her a little bit too. "Now am I allowed to hug you today or are you going to bite me?" She asked, approaching Wasp.

Wasp seemed to think about this for a moment before shrugging. "No, I think you can hug me." She said and my mom smiled, pulling her into a hug. Wasp snuffled at her hair with interest and nodded to herself as my mom let her go as if agreeing with something. Then she moved aside and Mom focused her attention on Angel.

I don't think I've ever seen him flat out cower like that, shrinking down and taking a small step back as Mom locked him in her sights. I think he was even shaking slightly as Mom folded her arms and took him in critically. The two of them stared at each other for an uncomfortably long time until I started feeling nervous. Finally Mom broke the brittle silence between them.

"Well here we are, nine years down the road." She said. "Do you think you've changed your mind, after all this time?" Her voice never wavered but I saw her fingers grip tightly at her arm and knew she was nervous too.

Angel fidgeted, swallowing uneasily. "...Yeah, I guess so." He said hoarsely and then cleared his throat. "I mean if you haven't changed yours."

Mom's expression softened and she closed the distance between them, pulling Angel into her as she wrapped her arms around his thin frame. He stood ramrod straight for a moment before collapsing against her, giving in to the affection that was radiating from her and dropping his forehead onto her shoulder with a shaky sigh, hugging her back. I smiled, feeling relieved and warm inside and Wasp leaned against me with a smile of her own.

"Yay." She said quietly and I nodded in agreement, tugging on her ear affectionately.

After a moment Mom released Angel, stroking his bangs out of his face and smiling before turning and motioning for us to follow her into the house. "Well I suppose I'd better feed the three of you." She said. "And then maybe you can tell me the real story behind what everyone has been raving about."

I grinned, grabbing Angel around the shoulders and tugging him along as he seemed a little dazed, mussing up his hair playfully. He allowed my rough love for a few seconds before coming back to himself and pushing me away. Behind me I could hear Wasp murmuring to him quietly as we followed Mom down the hallway and I trailed my fingers along the wall absently, soaking up the soft, yellow light that filled the house. I'd been missing that certain homey atmosphere I'd gotten used to on the _Merlin_ and found it waiting for me here inside the walls of my childhood. Deep down I had to admit it, the Storm Hawks were right: I'd needed this.

True to her word Mom had made dinner ready for us and the smell alone was enough to get me drooling; roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy. I grabbed Mom around the waist.

"I love you Mommy." I warbled and she laughed loudly, pushing me away.

"Oh _I_ see how it is. The way to man's heart is through his stomach indeed. Go sit down and stop being a suck up." She instructed teasingly and I did as I was told, helping myself as she set out plates for Wasp and Angel. The three of us were starving, not having eaten since breakfast and Mom waited patiently for us to have our fill before she started asking questions.

"Now I don't expect the whole story tonight. But I would like to know a few things, one of them being why in hell I'm suddenly being bombarded at all hours of the day by people I don't even know, telling me what a huge hero my son is and stuffing my living room full of gift baskets."

I raised my eyebrows. "Seriously?" I said, meaning to get up and see for myself but Mom held me with her gaze.

"That and I'd love to know more about these monsters Ozprey's been raving to me about, something about the walking dead or some bad horror novel material like that."

"So I take it that means Ozprey's okay then?" I clarified before getting into the whole messy story. "And the other Keepers?"

"Oh yes they're fine. In fact tomorrow you can go and see them if you like, they're here for the time being looking after the refugees."

I nodded, tapping my fork on the edge of my plate thoughtfully while Mom waited, watching us. I took a deep breath and started in, finding it a little tiring to have to go through the whole, steadily worsening story again and I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time I'd repeat it either. Luckily I had Wasp and Angel there to add in points I missed; we started from our first encounter with Halo and Carrion and went along from there, skimming over the hard parts which Mom accepted thankfully without prodding. She listened through it all for the most part silently, only clearing her throat now and then pointedly when Angel or I used language she didn't approve of or stopping us to clarify something briefly. I knew she knew we were leaving lots of holes and I could see her eyes harden or turn glassy now and again as if she knew about all the hard, painful things we didn't mention but she didn't press anything.

It was when we got to the part where Angel was taken capture that I really faltered. I was prepared just to skip through that whole point in time and act like nothing had happened, but when I got to it I found myself stumbling, still having a hard time going anywhere near that dark time. However I needn't have worried because Angel did something that completely shocked the hell out of me and told Mom everything all on his own. It wasn't easy on him that much was obvious; he started shaking violently and his voice got all raspy but he made it through and I was proud of him. Mom's fist clenched subtly at her side at one point and it worried me but she never showed any hostility on her face and when Angel was finished she reached out and touched his chin, making him look at her through his bangs and she smiled at him, her expression caught between sympathy, hurt and pride and I knew the two of them would be alright.

Mom didn't seem to have anything to say when we finally reached the end of our long, blood spattered story. She simply looked over the three of us as we fell quiet and sighed, shaking her head. "You damn kids." She muttered, but there was a thin smile on her lips as she said it. "World's still just as crazy as it's always been I suppose." She stretched and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Well it's late now alright. At the risk of treating you like children, I think the three of should head to bed, sounds like you've had a long day."

I was feeling too tired to argue by then, full and content and ready to just sink into my old bed and sleep. I glanced at the sink when I stood up though and knew I should probably help with dishes, but Mom held up a hand. "Don't worry about them, I'll get them."

I wrinkled my nose. "Aw, Mom, I can-"

"Don't argue with me and enjoy it while you can, because starting tomorrow you're going to get a start on three years' worth of overdue chores." She cut me off and I made a face, which she ignored. "You go show these two where they're staying."

I sighed, motioning to the other two to follow me and waiting until I was out of earshot before grumbling to myself. Jeez you'd think I'd just been goofing off for the last three years they way she made it seem; damnit wasn't I supposed to be on vacation?

I paused on the way to the stairs, staring into the living room with wide eyes. "Whoa." I said, stepping into the room which, true to Mom's word, was crowded with dozens upon dozens of various wrapped baskets and packages.

"Oooh, shiny!" Wasp said, pouncing on a nearby ribbon.

Mom came up behind me, arms folded. "Yes people seem to think I own a warehouse at the rate they're dropping things off here."

I blinked at it all, stunned. "Jeez... I can't keep all of this." I muttered and then looked at her. "Think the Beast Keepers would take it to give to the refugees?"

Mom smiled, an expression that made it all the way to her azure eyes and made them sparkle and it made me just as happy inside to see it now as it did when I was a kid. "I'm sure that can be arranged."

Angel was fidgeting next to me, seeming torn. "Argh...look if you're giving them away then can I have this one?" he asked at last, caving into his desire and pointing at a small wrapped package nearby, which was filled with assorted chocolate. I grinned and handed it to him.

"Merry Christmas. Wasp you wanna pick one?"

"No thanks." She said, seeming more interested in the wrappings than what was actually inside them. I spotted a nearby bow and plucked it from the paper, placing it on her head and she smiled wolfishly, content with the decoration.

We made our way upstairs then and I pointed out where the bathroom was and the closet with the towels like a good host. I passed the door to my room still, complete with its biohazard warning poster, and reached the room that had lain empty at the end of the hall. The door creaked when I pushed it open and the desk and empty shelves had a fine layer of dust on them. I was reminded of Starling's empty room back on the _Condor_ and felt a twinge of sadness looking over the room, which had also remained unoccupied for so many years now.

"You can stay here." I told Angel, moving so he could pass me. "It's, um, yours, actually. Mom and I set it up when we thought you'd be coming to stay with us." My throat ached a little when I remembered how excited I'd been back then, thinking I'd soon have my very own brother. Angel glanced at me and I saw the guilt on his face so I cleared my throat, trying to lighten the mood. "I picked the colour." I informed him proudly.

The corner of his mouth hitched upwards. "Ah, that explains why it's so tacky."

I scowled at him and caught him around the neck, unable to do much more then tussle with him a bit. Man this one arm thing was seriously going to put a damper on how much playful abuse I'd be able to dish out; Angel was able to struggle free too easily for my liking, carefully putting his box of chocolates on the desk before coming back to lay it into my ribs.

Wasp squirmed past us and made a flying leap onto the narrow bed in the corner, rolling over and stretching her fingers towards the ceiling, dark electric blue in colour and definitely _not_ tacky thank you very much.

"I like it!" She declared. "Now if you got some glow-in-the-dark stars it'd be perfect, it'd be like night time all the time!"

"Oh no you don't." Mom said then, placing some blankets on the desk and putting her hands on her hips. "Wasp I've set you up on the pull out couch downstairs, unless Angel or Falshade feel like being gentlemen and letting you have their bed." She told her, kindly but firmly.

Wasp cocked her head, ears flicking. "Oh, no, you don't have to do that, I'm happy here." She said, as if she thought maybe Mom was only offering because she thought she'd be uncomfortable up here.

Mom wasn't budging. "Look don't think I don't know what's going on here." She said, pointing from Wasp to Angel. "And I'm not having any of that going on under my roof."

I started snickering to myself uncontrollably while Angel's face went red. Wasp still looked confused. "Any of what?" she asked with genuine perplexity.

Angel sighed and tugged at her sleeve, muttering something into her ear and Wasp's eyes grew huge.

"We don't do any of _that_!" she exclaimed and Angel pinched the bridge of his nose with a groan while I practically killed myself laughing.

Mom looked mildly amused too. "Well I believe you, Wasp, but you're still staying downstairs. I don't trust teenage boys, they're nasty creatures."

"Hey!" Angel and I objected while Wasp giggled, sliding off Angel's bed.

"Okay." She agreed at last. Mom handed her another bundle of blankets and then stood on tip toe to drop a kiss on top of her snarled mane of hair. Wasp beamed and scooted out into the hallway and after a quick glance at Angel I followed out after her, figuring Mom might want to talk to him alone for a second.

Wasp was chewing on the bow I'd placed on her head. "Your mom smells good." She reported to me. "Like how I always figured a mommy should."

I grinned. "So I take it that makes her okay in your books?"

Wasp nodded. "Yes. All my favourite people smell good." She looked at me with her large, owlish eyes. "Thank you, for inviting me to come here." She said, that rare form of clarity making it past the shredded ribbon hanging out of her mouth. I sighed half heartedly and tugged it away from her.

"You're welcome Wasp. Hey listen, you sure you'll be okay on the couch? 'Cause I can sleep downstairs if you want and you can have my room."

She shook her head, ears slapping against her neck. "Nah that's okay."

"Alright if you're sure. Goodnight then, Wasp."

"Nightie night." She said, making her way back downstairs. I made sure she was all the way at the bottom before clicking off the light and then ambling back down the hall.

I was stepping out of the bathroom when Mom intercepted me, wordlessly wrapping her arms around me again and clinging to me tightly. I hugged her back, feeling a tug of concern when I realized she was shaking slightly. I could barely count the number of times I'd seen my mother cry on one hand but it had always made me feel so sad inside it made me want to cry too. I don't think she was actually crying today but I could see all the same cracks in her courageous front breaking through and I was really able to feel how much I'd scared her, how downright terrified she'd been this whole time. I felt all the fear and sorrow and ache she had always worked so hard to keep at bay when I was small, determined not to let her pain interfere with my childhood. I'd always admired her bravery, her sheer will to stay strong for my sake and her own. And to feel it all crumble like that because of how worried she'd been about me, how much she loved me, made my entire chest cavity sore, my throat closing up. At the same time though it made me feel really grown up, like I was finally old enough that she didn't always have to be strong and brave in front of me anymore, that sometimes I could be the strong one.

"I love you, Mom." I muttered into her hair and she squeezed me even tighter.

"I love you too, Falshade." She said quietly, letting me go eventually and wiping at her face. I guess she had been crying after all and as always it startled me to see the tears on her face. In the childish part of my mind I always thought that anything that could shake my indomitable mother had to be something very frightening indeed. "I'm really happy you found time to come back and visit."

I felt a wave of remorse wash over me as Mom stroked my hair out of my face like she always did when I was little, complaining that she couldn't even see me under my bangs. We'd both always known I wouldn't stay home forever, that eventually I'd grow up and have to spread my own wings, but I still felt guilty from time to time for leaving my poor, widowed mother here all alone. As if she knew how I was feeling she straightened up, bold and tough as always. "Your father would be so proud of you, for everything you've done." She told me.

"Are you proud of me?" I asked, suddenly finding that this was much more important than anything Falco might have said about me. I'd always been told I was my father's son but right than I wanted to be my mother's son more than anything else.

Something like sadness passed over Mom's face and I worried I'd made her feel bad about something. She gripped my shoulders tightly and looked at me with her fierce, shinning eyes and for a moment I wished I'd have inherited them instead, so I could have a little bit of both my parents in my face. "Yes. I am so very proud of you, Falshade. I've been proud of you since the day you were born. Hero or not you'll always be my son and that's all I need to know to be proud of you."

And that was all I needed to hear.

* * *

The next morning I made my way down to the Honeycomb on my own. Angel and Wasp had decided to stay home but that was alright with me; after all they didn't really know the Keepers as well as I did and I wanted to let them settle in a bit since they were going to be staying here all week, spend some time with Mom while I wasn't around.

Now that it was daylight outside the streets in town were crowded with people, most of them people I recognized but some I didn't and I figured they must have been refugees. However it didn't seem to matter whether I recognized any of them or not, they all seemed to recognize _me_; I could barely make it five steps before someone would stop me, thanking me or congratulating me or asking how I was, occasionally shaking my hand wildly or, in the case of one woman, even hugging me. A few times a small crowd ended up gathering and they all started asking me questions at once: what had gone on in the bowels of the Scar? How had I known this was going to happen? Was I psychic? Where and how was my squadron? Did I know if anything else was going to happen in the near future? They just kept coming and I could barely begin to answer any of them before someone else would throw something else at me, leaving my completely baffled and overwhelmed.

One girl even shyly asked me if I had a girlfriend, which did nothing to calm my frazzled nerves.

It ended up taking me a lot longer than usual to make it to the Honeycomb due to all the interruptions and by the time I got there I was feeling a little dazed, stunned by all the attention. I know Aerrow had told me people were calling us heroes, but I hadn't really believed him up until now, and even then it still completely boggled me. I mean it had only been about a week since we brought down Cyclonia and it seemed everybody and their cousin knew who I was and what I had done. It was just plain weird to go from a nobody to apparently famous Sky Knight almost overnight and I wasn't really all that comfortable with it. I mean I wasn't exactly as shy as Varan or anything but it made me feel awkward to suddenly have all these people paying attention to me.

It seemed the square outside the Honeycomb had been turned into an impromptu refugee camp; the Honeycomb itself had several wings designated specifically for housing war victims, made as accommodating as possible for any who had lost their homes, but several tents had been pitched outside in the square as well and I figured the inside halls must have been packed full. Still, even the people outside seemed comfortable enough, in good shape besides a few scrapes and bruises here and there and most of them were smiling. There was a small medical tent pitched outside as well where volunteer medics were tending to minor injuries, changing bandages and administrating needles, and another tent full of supplies which were being handed out, food rations and clothing and even some toys for the smaller children. Vatican had always been prepared for this sort of thing and I was glad to see that both natives to the terra and newcomers alike all seemed to be in good health and spirits, given everything that had been going on for the last two months.

I asked around inside the Honeycomb to see if the Beast Keepers were there and was directed to one of the chambers at the back of the stronghold, where sure enough I found them, talking to a group of carrier pilots who must have just finished delivering more supplies. I leaned against the doorway, waiting and checking them all over for injury until the pilots left before speaking up.

"Well look at you guys, slacking off as usual." I commented and they turned in my direction, Ozprey looking about ready to bark something nasty in response. Her expression changed dramatically when she realized it was me and she galloped across the room before literally pouncing on me, wrapping her legs around my waist and hugging her arms around my head, slamming into me so hard I staggered back into the wall. "FALSHADE!" she cheered, planting messy smooches all over my face and making my cheeks burn. "Am I ever glad to see you, man! How're ya, little brother?"

"He'll probably be better once you stop killing him." Rayvin commented. "Come on, Oz, let the poor boy breathe."

Ozprey slid off me, bouncing around me like a hyperactive puppy and the moment she let me go Rayvin caught a hold of me, crushing any air I'd managed to regain out of my lungs and giving me a ferocious nougie as if I were one of his own sons before passing me off to Aries, who was considerably more gentle.

"You know next time I might not be as inclined to come and visit." I muttered to him and he laughed, clapping me between my shoulder blades.

"Oh pshaw, you love us, don't try to deny it." He teased before the shadow of Nimbus fell over me and I held up my hands to shield myself.

"Oh god have mercy." I begged and he laughed, totally ignoring my pleas and crushing me between his massive arms and I could feel my breakfast being squeezed back up my throat.

"Well Shade, now that your organs have been properly compressed, how are you?" Rayvin asked once Nimbus had released me while I clutched my side, panting.

"Internally haemorrhaging, but I think I'll be okay." I wheezed, managing a grin. "What about you guys? How have things been around here?"

"Pure insanity but hey, it's what we're used to." Ozprey said with a shrug, her face seeming stuck in a wild grin. Her right arm was heavily bandaged but she'd obviously suffered no serious damage judging by the way she'd been able to jump on me like that. Rayvin looked liked he'd have a few more scars to add to his collection and seemed to be favouring his left leg and Aries' arms and face were plastered with bandages. The hair on the right side of his head had been chopped dramatically shorter than on the left and I wondered if maybe he'd been burned. And of course Nimbus had a patch slung over one side of his face just as Stork had told me, still healing from that shrapnel he'd taken. But they were all smiling like idiots anyways, as full of zeal as always. They were my father's squadron after all; they could have had the shit beaten right out of them and they'd still manage to kick ass six ways 'til Sunday, cracking a few jokes along the way. They were a lot like us Gargoyles really.

And then of course there was Drake, who'd been standing off to the side as if he wasn't a part of anything that was going on. He was roughed up too, supporting a row of stitches across his cheek and patches of bandages here and there, thoroughly bruised. The others fell silent as he cleared his throat uncomfortably, extending a hand in my direction. I met him halfway and shook it, feeling the awkward tension crackling between us that was always present when we did this. However he was exuding something new today as well, something that felt like shame and there was something genuinely friendly in his voice when he spoke, however strained it was.

"Hello, Falshade. It's good to see you."

"Yeah, good to see you too." I said, trying to fight down my surprise; I was pretty sure I'd _never _been on the list of people Drake was happy to see and to be honest he wasn't high on mine either. "You alright? What happened there?" I asked, motioning to his cheek and he shrugged.

"That's nothing, just a scratch."

Aries snorted. "Bullshit. He had a nice window in the side of his head there for awhile; I swear you could see his teeth through it."

"He took it like a champ though." Rayvin added, clapping him on the shoulder and a wane grin twitched in the corner of Drake's mouth. Then Rayvin looked back at me. "How's your little gang of maniacs doing? We saw Varan this morning but what about the other four punks?"

"Varan was here? You didn't maul him like you did me, did you?" I asked reproachfully.

"Nah we save the aggression especially for you, Shade." Ozprey assured me and I laughed. "Yeah the overgrown newt stopped by to ask if he could borrow one of our skimmers. I guess he's going out to Bogaton, right?"

"Yeah, that's what he said. And the others are alright, a little banged up but they'll live."

"Well, good. We were starting to get worried about you kids, flying off to try and save the world and what not." Aries commented.

"Yeah that reminds me!" Ozprey said, tugging on a handful of my hair. "How's it feel being a big shot, Ravenscroft? What's it like being Falshade, Oh Great Master of Heroics, Good Deeds and All That Rot?"

"I think you've got the wrong Falshade." I informed her, trying to get my hair out of her grip. "My title's a lot smaller."

"Seriously? 'Cause I only know one Falshade and everyone's been saying he's a big hero all of a sudden." Nimbus added teasingly, bodily lifting Ozprey off the ground and moving her aside when she started clambering all over me again.

"You've been sadly misinformed." I told him.

"You see, I _told _you. That can't be our Falshade I said." Aries said. "Ours is probably off being an idiot somewhere."

"Exactly what I was doing." I agreed. "Anyways look, I don't want to get into all of that. I want to know what's been going on out here, I want to know what everyone else has been up to. Come on, you guys have to have some stories for me."

After a little more prodding I got said stories out of them and I was reminded of when I was a kid, sitting up late with my mom while they'd go on about their old adventures, listening to everything with wide, amazed eyes. Apparently they'd been all over the place, run ragged between fighting against Cyclonis' mutant armies and trying to make sure the refugees that had poured into Vatican were taken care of. They'd been all over the map, escorting cargo carriers delivering relief aid and taking on the enemy soldiers that invaded terra after terra and using any moment they could spare to take care of their own terra. At the time I knew they must have been at their wits' ends, trapped neck-deep in the thick of chaos, but now they made it all seem like it all had been one hell of a party, laughing and recalling personal highlights. And I finally found out what had become of Kronos, the tale told animatedly by Rayvin and Aries.

"-so then out of the smoke comes this fucking mountain that made Nimbus look like a pixie-"

"And I shit you not, Shade, this thing picked up one of the turbines from a battle cruiser that crashed on the terra, tears it from what's left of the airship and _threw_ it at us."

"Yeah and the thing was we were trying to get this group of civilians out of the line of fire, right? And this monster just hones in on us and comes charging towards us like a god damn meteor and we have no idea how we're going to stop this thing before it turns us all into roadkill."

"But then Ozprey stopped and fucking _turned around_ to _face_ the thing, climbed onto a pile of rubble before any of us can stop her and chucks one of her Nuclear Butterflies at it. The bomb goes off practically in this mo-fo's face but do you think that stops it? No way."

"Of course it does do a nice job at pissing it off." Rayvin added, giving Ozprey a disapproving look which she responded to with a big, all-teeth grin. "So then this thing goes after _her_, which I don't think is what you intended, did you?"

"Well hey, at least I was able to lead it away from you guys." She huffed, folding her arms.

Aries was shaking his head. "Anyways so there's Ozprey running for her life and throwing Butterflies behind her but they might as well have been firecrackers for all they did to stop this thing. And then what does she do? She _trips_ and goes down in front of it!"

"No way." I said, ogling at her while her face twisted, disgruntled.

"You guys make me sound like an idiotic rookie." She said indignantly. "What _happened _was there was a crack in the ground where the road used to be and I caught my foot in it. I wasn't paying much attention what with that monster on my tail."

"Whatever, the point is she went down and this thing caught a hold of her. At this point the rest of us were pretty sure this would be the last time we ever saw her as it lifted her up and opened its mouth like it was gonna drop her right in." Rayvin carried on and Nimbus looked distressed, pulling Ozprey into his chest tightly as if to make sure nothing had actually happened to her.

"But then in a stroke of sheer dumb luck it turns out she's got _one_ Butterfly left and she throws it right down the bastard's throat a split second before it drops her in." Aries continued.

"Yeah I was close enough to count his molars when the bomb went off." Ozprey added, shuddering slightly. "He finally felt that one when it exploded, that's for damn sure."

I made a face, having a brief vision of Hydra's guts spraying out in every direction when we'd pulled a similar stunt. "Christ, Oz, you must have nine lives or something."

"Well she's got one less now." Drake interjected, trying to seem chastising but not quite achieving it. "Two, actually, considering how close she was to that explosive when it detonated."

"Yeah took us an hour to find her, she got flung pretty far by the shockwave. Scared the crap out of us alright, but wouldn't you know it, by time we finally found her she was sitting pretty on a pile of junk wondering what the hell took us so long." Aries concluded, mussing up Ozprey's hair playfully.

I shook my head, laughing in disbelief. "Wow. You guys have been up to some pretty intense shit from the sounds of it."

"You bet your ass we have. And right when I was starting to think I was getting too old for all that shit too. Willow's going to have me on a tight leash from now on." Rayvin said, stretching and cracking his back.

"Tell me about it." Nimbus muttered. "I could barely handle half the stunts I used to pull when I was Shade's age like they were nothing. I even think I'm getting arthritis..."

"Yeah but you're gonna be _fifty_ in a couple years. That's like, _ancient_." Ozprey pointed out and then squealed and hid behind me when Nimbus advanced on her.

"Watch who you call ancient, pipsqueak, because keep in mind arthritis or not I can still tie you in more knots than you know the names of." He told her, only half-kidding and I was glad I'd kept quiet, because I'd secretly been thinking the same thing. Then again I wasn't even twenty yet and that seemed almost unfathomable to me.

Aries ran his fingers through his lopsided hair and glanced around absently. "Hey, I hate to break up the reunion special, but we should get to work on organizing those supplies that came in..."

"Right." Rayvin nodded. "Not that we want to send you off so soon, Falshade, but we've still got a hell of a lot of work to do."

"I understand." I said quickly. "Do you need any help?"

Ozprey snorted. "Not from _you_ we don't." She said and I huffed, pouting to myself. Jeez you bust one arm and suddenly nobody needs you anymore. Hero indeed.

"Alright well I can take a hint." I said sourly and Nimbus clapped me on the shoulder consolingly. "Mom told me to say that when you have time you're all invited to the house, maybe have a barbeque or something."

"Sounds good." Rayvin said. "If you want, Shade, you can stop by my place on the way back, Sparrow's been asking about you."

"Okay." I said, wondering absently if Varan had gone to see her or not. "Well I'm gonna get going then. Take it easy you guys."

"Yeah you too, and say hi to your friends for us." Aries called after me as I turned to go. Just as I was entering the hallway again though I felt someone come up behind me and was surprised to see Drake standing there.

"I'll see you out." He said, walking beside me. I blinked at him but said nothing and for a moment the two of us walked in one of the most awkward silences of my life before he spoke up again. "Actually, I was wondering if I could have a quick word with you, Falshade."

I paused and turned to him. "Sure."

Drake glanced around the corridor uneasily as if checking to see if we were alone, seeming on edge. He was twisting his fingers together nervously when he looked back to me. "I..." he paused and cleared his throat, trying again. "I just wanted to tell you... well I've been feeling rather... ashamed, I guess you could say, for these last few weeks. Once everything started happening like it did the realization really hit me that everything you'd been saying over the years, everything I'd scoffed at, had been the truth, that you were right. I got to thinking that maybe if I'd listened we'd have been a little more prepared. Maybe not as many people might have died..."  
"Drake..." I started but he held up a hand to stop me.

"Please, let me finish. Anyways what I'm getting at is... well I'd like to apologize for the way I've acted towards you over the years. It was unnecessary and unprofessional of me and I'm sorry that it took me until now to realize that."

I started at him, completely dumbfounded by his sudden change of heart. He looked honestly and deeply remorseful about everything and right then I could really see how hard everything had been for him since the very beginning when he'd first taken charge of the Beast Keepers. He must have had to swallow a lot of pride to come out and say all those things and I was both moved and completely taken aback by his words.

I stared at him for a moment before finding my voice; I think a very small, immature part of myself was pleased just by the confirmation that people had finally begun believing me after the years of ridicule I'd faced because of my nightmares, but that didn't mean I wanted to rub it anybody's face, not even Drake's. "Drake, listen." I started slowly. "There's no need to apologize. I didn't come here to try and make you feel bad about anything. I'll admit we never really saw eye to eye and I probably said some things I shouldn't have too. But I'm willing to put all that behind us." Drake never had been and probably never would be someone I'd call a friend of mine or anything, I could never bring myself to dislike him either. Maybe part of that was because he accepted and respected Varan, in comparison to (for example) Harrier, who hadn't, which was a sure-fire way to get on my bad side. But I also knew that despite how hard it must have been for him, a young man taking on an older squadron who'd never look at him in the same light as his predecessor, he'd given the Beast Keepers everything he'd had and looked out for their well-being since day one. He was a fellow Sky Knight and a good guy at heart and that was good enough for me. "You looked after this terra and I don't think my dad could have had anybody better to lead the Keepers then you."

Drake's eyes got really wide and his mouth trembled and for a second there I worried he might start crying or something; I think somewhere deep down he'd needed to hear something like that since he'd taken over in Falco's place. He composed himself after a moment though and I was relieved; even if it pained me to see them like that I could handle my guys in teary states, but I don't think I'd be able to handle a hysterical Drake. "Well, aside from you." He said, giving a small but sincere smile. "From what I've heard you're turning out to be quite the Sky Knight yourself. Anyways, I'd better get back to the others. You take care of yourself, Falshade." He said, holding out his hand again and I took it, feeling some genuine warmth with the gesture.

"Yeah. I'll see you around, Drake." I said and watched him go, feeling good inside. As much as he bothered me I'd never liked being at odds with the guy, especially considering how close I was with the rest of the Beast Keepers and I figured this would only bring good things from now on, eliminating all the uncomfortable feelings that had always been present when we were in the same room together.

I turned around again and nearly ran right into Ozprey, who must have popped out from one of the nearby corridors without my noticing. "Dawww, look at you two kids getting along." She crooned, throwing an arm around my shoulder. "I'm gonna walk with you here for a moment, dodge some work."

I laughed. "Glad I can assist in your procrastination."

She nudged me in the ribs. "So how're things in the world of Falshade?" she asked as we made our way back towards the square.

I blew my bangs out of my face. "Pretty weird, but not as bad as they were. I guess I'm just not used to standing still and taking it easy, you know?"

Ozprey nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it takes a while for things to get into a rhythm again. I'm really glad you guys are okay." She added, pushing in a bit closer to me. "You Gargoyles dropped off the radar back there, we weren't sure where you guys were or if you were even alive. Last we heard of you was from Nimbus after your little friend Stork stopped by. Your mother was a mess."

I winced. "Jesus, I'm sorry."

"Oh don't be, you saved all our butts, you kids and the Storm Hawks." She said, nudging me again to try and cheer me up. "Oh and did I tell you? I _almost_ managed to convince your mom to come out and help escort the carrier ships." She reported.

I gawked at her. "Shit, seriously?"

Ozprey nodded enthusiastically, grinning maniacally. "Yeah. Man those bastards would have been running for the hills with your mom out for their blood, I'll tell you that much. You do _not_ fuck with Caspia."

"You don't have to tell me." I said, imagining just how fearsome my mom would look with a sword in her hand.

"You still have to show me some of _your_ moves one of these days." Ozprey commented. Then she went quiet for a moment, looking thoughtful. She seemed to try to say something then changed her mind and ended up simply sticking her hand in front of my face, stopping and waiting for me to say something. I stared at her bronze digits for a moment, not exactly sure what she was trying to show me before I noticed a silver band on her ring finger, a glimmering diamond set in the middle like a very tiny star. I stared at it, thinking absently how odd it was for Ozprey to be wearing jewellery when suddenly it clicked and I turned to her with wide eyes.

"Is that what I think it is?"

She grinned, suddenly seeming uncharacteristically shy. "Yeah." She mumbled, turning the engagement ring around her finger absently.

"...Aries?"

"Aries." She confirmed and I could hear the giddiness in her voice. "He proposed last week, once we heard that you guys took down Cyclonia."

I felt a wild grin spread over my face. "Well final-fucking-ly!" I said and she gave me a shove, giggling ecstatically. "About time you two finally stopped pretending and made it official!"

"Shut _up_!" Ozprey squealed, sounding like a schoolgirl and shoving me again. I couldn't stop laughing. Since I could remember Ozprey and Aries had been attached at the hip; from what Mom had told me they'd been best friends since they'd escaped together from slavery in a Cyclonian crystal mine when they were only sixteen (the years spent underground and with constant exposure to raw crystal energy is what had caused Aries' pigment deficiency- Ozprey hadn't been there long enough to lose her colour, obviously) and they'd been together ever since. It seemed everyone but them could tell how obviously in love with each other they were and I guess after surviving a second war Aries must have finally realized it at last.

"Man that's so great for you two!" I said, grinning like an idiot. "When's the wedding?"

"Next spring. Figured we'd wait until things calmed down again. Oh that's right." She said, grabbing my arm and giving me a bit of a shake as if I hadn't been paying attention. "Aries wanted to know if you'd be one of his groomsmen."

My eyes widened. "Seriously?"

Ozprey laughed as if it were ridiculous that I'd even ask such a thing. "Of course, nimrod. You're pretty much our family after all."

I swallowed around the lump in my throat, feeling a little overwhelmed here. "Oh, well, jeez... I mean yeah of course, I'd be honoured to." I strung out awkwardly, feeling like I was being a total girl about all of this.

"Great!" Ozprey cheered, wrapping me in a hug so tight my broken nose was almost crushed against her collar bone. She was practically vibrating with excitement when she released me. "Now we just have to get a hold of Varan and ask him too, Aries wants you, him and Nimbus up there with him. Ray's already agreed to be his best man."

I nodded, trying to absorb all of this and feeling pretty excited myself; I'd always looked at Ozprey as an older sister of sorts and I was ecstatic for her. "So what about you, who's in your party?"

"Well your mom's already agreed to be my maid of honour, and Willow and Roo are going to be some of my bridesmaids of course but I don't know too many other women is the thing." Ozprey admitted a little sheepishly, then brightened. "Oh hey what about one of your girls? Stork or... oh jeez what was the other one's name... Wasp?" She asked hopefully and I laughed, nodding and she blew out a relieved sigh. "Oh good, you know me, I'm terrible with names and I only met her once so..."

"No worries. I bet either of them would be happy to, but I gotta warn you, I don't think it'll be an easy task getting either of them into a dress." I said and Ozprey laughed.

"Tell me about it, _I'm_ having a tough enough time warming up the idea." Then she glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. "Actually your mom offered to let me use her wedding dress." She added, suddenly sounding a little uneasy and I cocked my head at her curiously. She swallowed and then asked. "Would that okay with you?"

I furrowed my brows. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well because it's... the last time anybody wore it was when she and Falco got married. It doesn't seem right, for me to use it. It seems sort of, you know, like, _sacrilegious_ to me." She strung out, fiddling with her bandages awkwardly.

I could see where she was coming from; she'd been there when my parents had gotten married after all, she'd seen my mom wearing that dress. After what had happened to my dad it would probably feel awkward to wear the same dress at her own wedding. It'd be bringing back a lot of bittersweet memories that shouldn't affect such a happy occasion.

"I see what you mean." I said slowly. "But I don't think you should worry about it, if you like it than you should wear it, if you don't want to than Mom will understand."

"Hmm..." Ozprey hummed thoughtfully. "Well it _is_ a gorgeous dress, I'll tell you that much. I like it better than all the others ones I've looked at so far and seems like a shame not to show it off. But hey the wedding's still pretty far away, we'll see how things go." She relented after a moment. Then she perked up once again. "Anyways I should probably get back and help or Rayvin will have my head." She said, giving me another quick hug. "I'll see you around, Shade. Try not to get too much of a swelled head or anything, Hero Boy."

"I'll do my best." I said sarcastically, giving her a gentle shove. "I'm glad you guys are all okay. And, you know, tell Aries I said congratulations and everything."

"Will do." She said with a bit of a salute. I could hear Rayvin shouting from somewhere back in the Honeycomb, demanding her immediate presence or face his wrath and I grinned to myself, heading back towards home. Didn't matter how old the Keepers got or what kind of shit they got themselves into, they'd always be the same.

**x.x.x. Fraggle x.x.x.**

Kinda sad that I'd finally scored the couch all to myself and now didn't want to sleep on it.

When the Storm Hawks had decided to stop for the night I'd been in a pretty good mood, excited to be heading home and eager to finally get a decent night of sleep without having to share the couch. Not that I minded sharing with Varan, since the poor kid was in pretty bad shape, but he's a big guy and takes up a lot of space. It'd be nice to finally stretch out the old bones and not have to worry if I was kicking him in his bad leg or anything.

But then, with the _Condor_ moored for the night and the others gone to bed I started feeling lonely out there on the bridge. To be honest I'd never really liked being on my own; all my life I'd always been in the thick of people: before the Gargoyles it had been the crew of the _Merry Geronimo_ and my friends at the Shanty and before that it had been my family and friends on Nord. This was just fucking strange, suddenly being all on my own. Well the Storm Hawks were around of course but you know what I mean, I was suddenly by myself at night after spending the last week sleeping next to my buddies. Guess I'd gotten a little too used to it (although I suppose I could have used the alone time, if you catch my drift).

Anyways after tossing and turning for a few hours I decided the novelty of the couch had worn out and got up, moving down the dark hallway to the room where Stork was staying. The narrow bed she was on wasn't much bigger than the couch but I made due, nudging her prone form over slightly and curling up on the edge of the mattress, comforted if not a little creeped out by her silent presence. And after that I was out like a light.

Now here I was the next day, stepping off the ramp of the _Condor_ and the moment my feet hit the snow it was like something that had been laying dormant in me since I'd left suddenly rose back to life.

"So depending on where we are we'll stop by to pick you up first before we head back to Vatican for the others." Aerrow was talking to me but I was only paying part attention to him. The other half of me was busy drawing in deep breaths of cold air, nose prickling with the crisp smell of fresh snow. Aw man, that takes me back...

Aerrow whistled at me and I glanced back up at him, ears pricked to show I was listening. "Yeah eh, heard ya loud and clear. Six days and you should be back."

"Oh you _were_ listening." Aerrow grinned. I'm always listening actually, I just have really good selective hearing. "Alright then, have a good time and say hi to your family for us."

"Will do, eh. Take care, and don't you be forgetting about me in six days." I said and Aerrow saluted me, stepping back in the hanger as the _Condor_ lifted slowly from the docks, heading off once again into the blue-grey skies and I felt a sharp little stab of pain at my heart as I thought of the _Merlin_.

Throwing my backpack over my shoulder I started trudging my way through the powdery layer of snow; they must have had a few dumps of it since the last time there'd been any cargo ships through because the pathway into town hadn't been cleared yet. Not like I was complaining though, that's the way we Blizzy's like it. Man I'd missed the cold; it always seemed to be a little too warm for my liking back on the collection of airships I'd called home for the last three years (Christ had it really been almost three years now? Felt like it had been longer, and yet shorter too). I'd lowered the _Merlin_'s thermostat on one occasion alone and I might have only changed it a few degrees but you better believe Angel noticed and then I didn't hear the fucking end of it. That was the last time I ever tried that, even though it was my goddamn ship. I paused for a moment now, letting the cool wind glide through my fur with a sigh. You can't ignore your roots I suppose and this was the kinda stuff I'd been built for.

After a few moments of relishing the temperature I carried on clearing myself a trail through the snow, one ear cocked to the tundra listening for wolves. I'd doubt there'd be any out right now what with it being the middle of the day but you never knew. Always better to keep an ear out just in case, or so my mum would always say. Looking back on it I'm still surprised she let Starla and I wander as far as we did as kids, right up to the foot of the mountains.

Kicking the last little pile of snow out in front of me I reached the crest of the steep hill that looked over the town nestled below. The Hollow was practically Nord's only settlement, cradled safely from the terra's vicious winds in the bottom of the dale that stretched before me. Hills closed around all but a third of the small town in something of a bowl; I'm not sure but I think it used to be the mouth of a volcano, long since extinct of course. The opposite end from where I was standing levelled out into the tundra, and beyond that stood the Spine, a jagged range of snow-capped mountains that tore into the skyline. Looking over the little town I'd grown up in I felt my heart cinch, spotting some tell-tale signs of the damage that remained after the terra had been attacked. People here had obviously been hard at work repairing after the attack but you could still see lingering reminders of it here and there, patches of rubble where homes used to be. I was just glad there was no black smoke billowing out in the tundra; I'd learned as a kid that when the smoke was that thick it meant they were burning bodies. Can't bury the dead in the snow after all...

Still, reminders of the devastation my terra had faced aside, I felt a wave of happiness roll through my entire body, my fur standing on end. Not like I'd been constantly homesick the entire time I'd been gone or anything, but still, it was good to be back. I made my way down the slope faster then I'd moved in awhile, slipping and sliding occasionally and sort of wishing I had a toboggan; when I was a kid that had been practically my only mode of transportation and just 'cause I was supposed to be an adult now or whatever didn't mean I'd forgotten what was fun.

The Hollow's streets were unusually busy when I reached them, the snow packed down solid under dozens of boots. The native humans were bundled up against the cold while some of the Blizzarians that had made Nord their home were milling about in t-shirts as if the terra was in the middle of a heat-wave. I recognized a few old friends but decided to stop and chat later; I was on a beeline for home and nothing could distract me. Although, okay yes, I did pause for a moment when I spotted a trio of Hybrids standing in front of a butcher shop. I'd seen some of the reclusive nomads on a few occasions before but it was still always a bit of a shock to see them, especially here in the middle of town. Usually they kept to themselves out in the tundra and that aside they had a way of catching your attention. Nasty creatures those guys, taller than Varan and hulking with muscle under their thick pelts, strong, sharp muzzles filled with wicked teeth. They'd always reminded me of werewolves to be honest; almost hard to believe we Blizzarians are distant cousins to them, considering how cute and cuddly we are. Ah well, they weren't so bad as long as you didn't piss 'em off. I suppose since the attack they must have been mingling with the rest of Nord's inhabitants more than they used to.

Moving away from the main streets of town I finally found myself staring up at my old house. I was relieved to note that it hadn't seemed to suffer any damage during the invasion. I also noted that the front steps had been shovelled rather unprofessionally and shook my head with a grin; tut tut, Starla.

I paused at the front door, swallowing uneasily and shifting my backpack again. It was full of last minute presents I'd managed to collect during the past week, substitution for every missed birthday and holiday, and of course just for bribery's sake. I mean hey, you _could_ be mad at the guy who hasn't been home in (almost) three years and has been a little forgetful as of late with sending letters, but it's a little harder to be mad when he presents you with gifts. I'd had a whole stash of goodies waiting to be brought home in my old room, but of course they'd been lost along with my poor _Merlin_. But it's the thought that counts, right? For the sake of my sorry ass I better hope it does.

Pushing my inhibitions aside I knocked on the door a little harder than necessary, excitement getting the better of me. Jeez I hoped someone was even home, it'd be just like my family to decide to go out somewhere the day I finally decided to drop by. I fidgeted uneasily and a mound of snow decided to drop off the roof and onto my head. I was brushing it off my toque when I heard someone thumping over the floor inside and the door finally yawned open.

She'd grown some since I'd last seen her and her stubby little ears seemed to have lengthened, sticking out awkwardly from under her customary bombardier hat. She was skinnier than I would have liked, like her baby fat had started to melt away as it often does when puberty first starts to make itself known and she had a scar over her cheekbone that hadn't been there when I'd left but she was still undeniably Starla, blue peach-fuzz and all. I don't know who she'd been expecting but it sure as hell hadn't been me. The moment she saw me her eyes seemed to double in size and her jaw dropped open. She simply gawked at me while icy wind blew in the door and ruffled the pyjama pants that she was wearing. I stared right back, something trembling and close to breaking in my chest as I tried to think of something to say. In the end, unable to come up with anything better I simply said, in that oh-so-suave manner of mine, "Hey, kid."

She gaped at me a second longer before making a sound somewhere between a muffled shriek and a sob and flung her arms around me, nearly taking both of us right off the steps. That trembling thing burst into a thousand little pieces and I practically engulfed her, crushing her into my chest as if I wanted to absorb her into my body and not giving a damn that my broken ribs were screaming under the pressure. I wanted to laugh, I wanted to cry, I wanted to spin her around like I used to when she was small and tell her everything that had happened to me all at once but everything seemed to get stuck in my throat so I just held on all the tighter, face pushed into the leather of her hat.

Starla pulled away from me after what seemed like entirely too short a time, clinging to my arms as she leaned back towards the house and shouted "MUM! MUUUUUUUM COME HERE QUICK BEFORE HE TAKES OFF AGAIN!"

Oh yeah, like I'm the kinda guy to just hug and leave.

"Starla-Louize what on Atmos are you hollering for? And why is this door open? If I wanted to heat the outside I'd..." My mum appeared in the hallway and the words died in her throat when she saw just who Starla was hollering about. "...Fr...Fraggle..." she stammered and for a moment there I was worried she might just faint on me. But then she leapt forward, forgetting all about the open door and sweeping me into one of those suffocating kinda hugs only mothers are capable of, even if you've grown half a foot taller than them. Starla was still clinging to me tightly and seemed more than happy to be crushed between us while my mum all but smothered me, squeezing me around the neck and abruptly bursting into tears. And oh man seeing my mum cry like that nearly made me start bawling, throat closing right up on me.

"Oh Fraggle, I've been so worried, I didn't know if you were alright or even alive and Hail heard you'd joined some squadron and I thought I was never going to see you again-"

"Mum, Mum, calm down, it's okay, I'm alright, see?" I wheezed, trying to sound as soothing as one can when they're being strangled by their own hysterical mother.

Starla wriggled out from between us, gripping Mum's arm gently. "Mum ease up on him, eh, you've got him pretty tight there."

Mum backed off, gulping and hiccupping and trying to quell her sobs before apparently remembering that the door was still open. "Come on, inside, both of you." She said, herding us through the door. Once it was finally shut she rounded on me again, holding me at arm's length while she looked me up and down, tear tracks streaked through her fur. Then she pulled me into her arms again, thankfully a little more gently this time while Starla wound her arms around one of mine as if determined to make sure I wouldn't simply vanish on her.

"Fraggle..." Mum sighed, stroking my ear like she used to when I was little. "I'm so glad you're finally home..."

"I wanna know where he's been, eh." Starla objected, finally starting to sound reproachful, as I predicted she would. She looked up at me, giving my arm a good, reprimanding yank. "Someone told me you're supposed to be a big hero or something. Now tell me how one manages that by sky fishing, eh."

Mum let me go and cocked her head, the same question in her eyes. I coughed a bit, feeling overwhelmed and a little edgy. Usually words come to me pretty easily, I can pretty much talk myself out of anything and I tell wicked good stories. But suddenly I was standing there in this place I hadn't been for almost three years and for the life of me I didn't have anything to say for those years and all the crazy shit that had happened during them.

Scratching at my head through my toque uncomfortably I gave a bit of a helpless shrug. "It's a mighty long story there, eh."

Starla simply grinned, turning me around and putting her small hands on my back, propelling me into the living room. "Well it better be a good one then. We've got all day, brother."

Turns out it did pretty much take all day. I had to keep going back to things that I'd forgotten or trailing off with side stories and since it all had started before I'd even met the others it was a pretty long story indeed. Plus Hail showed up halfway through, returning from a meeting between the Icewind Howlers and the Hybrids where they'd been discussing all that boring stuff squadrons do when they don't actually have something serious going on. He sure had been surprised to find me sitting on the couch drinking hot chocolate and I guess he'd really missed me too because he actually hugged me, something he'd done on only a handful of other occasions. I still got the feeling that he was afraid of me a little bit, or rather was afraid of doing something that would turn me against him. He'd been like that since I was a kid, always being rather uncertain when it came to displays of affection and letting me get away with all kinds of shit as if he was afraid of stepping into territory that should have been reserved for my actual father. He didn't act like I wasn't part of his family or didn't want me to be either, he was just kinda timid with some stuff as if he thought he was on thin ice in my mind. Which couldn't have been further from the truth; I mean yeah I would have liked to have known my real dad, but Hail was a good guy and I liked him, especially since he made my mum so happy. I'd always looked at him like family, even if I didn't call him Dad. Anyways when he showed up there'd been the whole reunion thing again and then I had to backtrack a little since he wanted to hear my story too.

Then of course there was all the stuff I had to catch up on, everything that had gone on in my absence. Mum was a little skimpy on the details of the attack when that finally came up but it gripped at my heart nonetheless and I pulled Starla closer to me unconsciously as Mum and Hail talked. Turns out she'd got the scar on her cheek that day; the reckless, brave-hearted little idiot had run into town when they started evacuating people, determined to find a friend of hers. She'd been running towards her friend's home when a blast from an energy canon tore through the house and she'd caught a chunk of splintered wood in the face. She'd been damn lucky it only grazed her; I've heard horror stories about shrapnel piercing right through people's skulls. But she'd retrieved her friend and both of them managed to get into the mountains with the rest of the evacuees where they'd been safe until the siege was finally over.

And now, stories having come to an end and after sitting down to a good ol' family dinner I dragged myself up to my old room. It hadn't been touched except for the occasional dusting since I'd left and I sighed as I flopped onto my bed. It was nice to be back in some little place I could call my own; since losing the _Merlin_ I'd felt a little lost without a solid, familiar place to call home. With all the madness out there you need something that can keep you anchored, even if it's just a simple place or treasured person.

Starla wandered in through my open door, sitting down next to me. "You know I wanted to make this into a rec room after you left eh, but Mum wouldn't let me."

I snorted, seeing right through her little charade. Starla liked to act like I meant next to nothing to her sometimes but since she could walk that girl had always followed me everywhere.

"Wouldn't mind a pool table eh." I agreed thoughtfully.

Starla grinned, stretching out next to me. "Do you have any pictures of your friends?" she asked after a moment.

"Uh, no, sorry eh. Why?"

"I want to see what they look like. They all sound really cool. Dunno why they'd wanna hang out with you, eh." She added teasingly and I flicked her little human nose.

"Hey, mind your manners there, squirt. If anything I'm the one who brings their collective coolness up to a normal level. They're hosers, eh."

"They don't sound like hosers to me."

"Well tell you what, once Stork's up and running around again and we have some time I'll have to bring them round here for a visit eh, so you can meet 'em and decide for yourself." I said and she beamed.

"Awesome! Do you think you'll have another ship by then?"

I hummed thoughtfully. "Oh, probably. We can't stay with the Storm Hawks forever eh. Not gonna be easy though, replacing the _Merly_." I sighed, the familiar twinge of pain tugging in my chest like it did anytime someone said the name. Man it was gonna be awhile before I'd get over losing her. I was extremely thankful I hadn't lost anybody I'd loved and to come out of a war with my cruiser as my only causality I was one lucky son of a bitch. But the _Merlin_ was my baby, she'd seen me through thick and thin and did it ever hurt to have lost her; I'd have liked to see her through victory. I wasn't ever gonna forget my gutsy little airship, that was for damn sure.

"I'm sorry you don't have her anymore eh." Starla said sympathetically, tugging on my ear gently. "Was she a nice ship?"

"She was a beauty, eh."

"Sucks that you had to blow her up."

"Had to eh, I never would have got her out of Cyclonia and she would have gotten blown apart with the rest of the terra anyways." I sighed unhappily and Starla nudged at my side dolefully.

"What did Falshade have to say about you blowing her up, eh?" She asked and I quirked an eyebrow.

"He didn't have squat to say, eh, it wasn't his damn ship. Stork gave me an earful about it though."

"Yeah but Falshade's the leader, right?"

"Yes." I said slowly, not sure what she was getting at. "But he's never been one to tell us what to do there, eh. He's a good guy like that."

Starla hummed, smiling, and I sat up. "And that's why you call him Chief, right?"

I stared at her. "Yeah. What're you smiling about there, eh?"  
"Nothing." She said innocently but I knew that look and I rolled my eyes. I guess she was getting to that age now when boys suddenly didn't seem so gross anymore and I had an inkling I'd piqued her interest in the aforementioned Sky Knight. "Hey, don't you be getting any ideas there eh, he's almost as old as I am. That's creepy, eh."

"I wasn't getting any ideas!" She argued, although her cheeks had turned a little pink.

I grinned ruthlessly, pinching her teasingly. "Maybe I'm gonna have to stick around and make sure no boys start spending too much time with my baby sister, eh." I said and Starla growled at me, swatting my hands away and pulling on my fur mercilessly.

"Urrrgh, you're such a weenie!" she shrieked in annoyance and I fell back, laughing.

"A _weenie_? Oh well you just cut me to the heart there, girly." I said, clutching my chest dramatically. "Don't think I've ever been called something as insulting as a _weenie_, eh. I'm devastated, seriously."

Starla huffed, folding her arms tightly. "Oh I can go ruder, eh, if you don't quit being a twerp."

I snorted. _Twerp_. She was still so young and innocent. "I'll try to eh, but I can't make any promises. Weenieness is in my blood."

"I know." She said shortly and I frowned at the bitter tone in her voice. Her playful attitude had subsided and been replaced by something else; suddenly she refused to look at me and was grinding her teeth loudly, jaw muscles twitching. I sat up and tried to look her in the face but she kept twisting away until she had her back to me, limbs wound together angrily.

"Hey..." I said, touching her shoulder but she shrugged me off. "What's up?"

She ignored me for a very long time while I waited silently, my stomach twisting uncomfortably. Finally, while staring fixatedly at out the window, she whispered "You didn't write me for my birthday."

That nearly killed me. There are few things in the world that'll make you feel worse inside than the reproachful voice of an injured kid and I felt so bad right then I wanted nothing more than to crawl into a nasty hole somewhere, where a dirty, slimy slug like myself belonged.

"You promised when you left you'd write me all the time." She went on, sounding both angry and hurt and my heart felt like it just might break. "But I haven't heard from you in months, eh. And then all this crazy stuff started going on and I... I thought maybe you weren't writing because you'd..." she trailed off and swallowed roughly like something was trying to force its way up her throat and she was determined to keep it down.

My eyes started to burn and my stomach started cramping badly like it always did when I felt guilty for something. And oh man did I ever feel guilty right then. "...I'm sorry, eh. I'm so, so sorry." I whispered, a pitiful response to her accusations.

Starla glanced at me over her shoulder, her eyes icy but her lower lip was trembling. "Do you still have my necklace?" she asked, changing the subject and I coughed, staring fixatedly at her feet because I couldn't look her in the eye.

"Um... no." I mumbled and she lunged at me, shoving me right onto my back and hammering her little girl's fists into every inch of me she could get.

"You _turd_!" she yelled, whaling on me and I whimpered pathetically when her knuckles connected with my ribs. "I made that especially for you to keep you _safe_ and you _lost_ it?"

"Starla, honey, _please_, you're killing me here!" I yelped, trying to catch her flailing arms. "You can hit me all you want eh, but not in the ribs!"

"How could you?" She demanded, completely ignoring me. "I gave it to you so you wouldn't forget about me, eh! What happened to it? You stupid, lousy old _fleabag_!"

"OWWW, Starla _stop_!" I pleaded and she paused when she heard the pained, desperate tone in my voice. I think she must have been surprised that she actually had caused me some pain; she used to try and beat me up all the time when we were younger, climbing onto my back by grabbing handfuls of my fur and raining blows down on me with her tiny fists, but she'd never gotten such a reaction out of me before.

Panting and utter small whining noises to myself I kept my hands raised in front of myself protectively in case she decided to start up again while she scowled down on me, waiting. "I gave it to Pippa." I muttered finally after the pain had subsided from my ribcage.

Starla's enraged expression softened slightly and she shifted back slightly. "The little girl you found on that burned down terra?" she clarified.

I nodded. "Yeah. Look I know you made it specially for me, eh. But I thought she needed it a little more than I did."

Starla stared down at me, her mouth twisted in an odd expression that I couldn't figure out. "...She needed a big brother too." She said quietly after a long time and I did a bit of a double-take, surprised by her statement.

"I just wanted her to have something nice to hang on to." I said honestly. "But listen to me, kiddo. I never forgot about you, not even for a minute. I know I stopped sending letters eh, and I'm really sorry for that, believe me. But I'd never just forget about you, eh."

Starla sniffled and rolled off of me, curling up against my side once again. "...Sorry I hit you, eh." She said finally and I grinned a bit, tugging on one of her little baby ears playfully.

"No worries eh. Was pretty rotten of me to have missed your birthday, I deserved it. I'll be home for your next one, I promise. Turning twelve is pretty special, I wouldn't want to miss it."

She smiled and snuggled into my side with a sigh. "Maybe your friends can come too." She said and I grinned, nodding. She was quiet for a while and then added in a very tiny voice "...Did you ever miss me, Fraggle? Even though you were off having big adventures and getting other little sisters?"

I stared at her, feeling terrible and sore inside, wishing I would have just sat my stupid ass down and written her more often, or stopped by when I had the chance. Her uncertain, wounded tone made my heart ache and I felt like the world's worst big brother right then. I felt like I'd failed some sort of crucial test and made her believe I loved her less than I did when I left.

Wrapping an arm around her and squeezing her tightly I twisted until I could speak directly into one of her stubby little half-breed ears. "Starla-Louize I'll tell you something right now that I want you to remember for the rest of your life, eh." I said. "I've met a lot of girls since I've been gone. I can't tell you about some of them, because you'll hate me if you knew what I got into with 'em. I've met pretty ones, boring ones and some real crazy bitches in my time, eh. I met two that could kick my ass into the middle of next week, who I trust with my life and love like crazy, eh, and they made it a little easier for me when I really started missing you. And I met one little girl who stole my heart. But you..." I tapped her nose to really get the point across. "You, little sister, are my most favourite girl in the whole damn world. I will _always_ love you the most. And don't you ever forget it, eh."

**x.x.x Angel x.x.x**

It's happened now on more than a few occasions that I've thought for sure I was going to get myself killed doing whatever it was I about to do. I've always gone and done it anyways of course because well, hey, it's me. I'm pretty sure that sort of recklessness is listed as a necessity when you sign yourself on with the Gargoyles anyways, so it's worked out for me so far. But I don't think I've ever felt more certain of the fact that this next endeavour was indeed going to get me killed, nor have I ever felt so uneasy about the thing I was risking my life to do in the first place. But as always I found myself wandering into dangerous territory anyways because I'll always be a stubborn idiot that way.

Since the moment I'd gotten here something had started gnawing away in the back of my mind and it had grown more and more persistent as time went on. At first I wasn't really sure of what it was aside from this relentless, ruthless drive that was knocking away in my brain somewhere, but as it got to be less ignorable I realized it was the repressed bundle of unanswered questions that had been sitting like a bloated, dead thing in my subconscious somewhere all this time. There were things I wanted to know about my mother that had always been lost to me and I realized now that Caspia was the one and only connection I had to that piece of history, everything that might have been before I'd come along. Up until now I'd been trying to ignore that fact because I kept telling myself over and over that I didn't care and that I shouldn't waste my time with it because it was just going to bring up things I'd rather avoid. But this insistent, uncompromising drive just wouldn't leave me alone, the want got to be too overpowering and in the end I caved.

So now here I was standing in Caspia's room, shaking like a leaf and calling myself every horrible name I could think of as I crouched down on the floor and started rifling through her closet. I really did despise myself for doing that; Caspia had been good enough to let me into her home despite everything I'd done and not only that but she'd been prepared to make me a part of her family as well. And how was I repaying her? By rummaging through her belongings. God I was scumbag...

I really couldn't help myself though. I was still too scared to tell her I didn't like mushrooms for god's sake, no way I was going to be able to ask her anything about Pegasus (yes I'd actually eaten mushrooms today, which Falshade evidently found hilarious because he made no attempt to save me when Caspia passed them too me). I was being haunted by all these things I needed to know about my mother and I just wanted to put them to rest at last. It had been something that always plagued me, this deep rooted need to know that, if I was at all like her, there had to be more to her than just what I'd known, for the sake of my own identity. If someone like Caspia had been her friend way back when then there had to be _something_ redeemable about her and I needed proof of that. I don't know why it suddenly came over me to be honest; I'd done my best at burying it over the years under loathing and ignorance. But now that I was trying to fit into the place I'd been given here and going through something of a self-improvement kick, the pitiful little need rose up in me from some repressed area of my childhood and I realized it wasn't going to leave me be until I saw it through.

There were a lot of boxes stacked in the bottom of Caspia's closet that I figured were things she needed to keep but couldn't bear to look at. That woman had a lot of secrets and dark history of her own and I felt bile rise in my throat for unearthing it all. I had a feeling any relationship she'd had with my mother was something she probably didn't want to look back on, which was the other reason I didn't want to ask. I didn't really want to know about it either; no doubt it'd bring up a lot of anger and hurt I didn't feel like dealing with. I was supposed to be happy here. But I had to know so I kept digging. I found one long, slender box and out of curiosity cracked it open to find an old sword sitting inside, a little dull from years without polish but still rather impressive. I sliced my finger open running it along the edge of the blade so it was evidently still in good condition. Sucking on my finger absently I moved the box aside and uncovered at stack of photo albums. Ah, here we go...

I swallowed uneasily as I picked one of them up and opened it in my lap gingerly, careful not to get blood all over the pages. My stomach was twisted in painful knots as I turned over the first page uneasily; my need for answers wasn't strong enough to overtake my fear of what I might find.

This first album seemed to be full of newer pictures however and I felt relieved. Most of them were of Falshade throughout various ages of his life before meeting the rest of us and I grinned despite myself. He always appeared to be in the middle of something when his mom had stopped him to snap a picture, halfway up a tree or blowing out candles on a cake. His smile hadn't changed over the years; even when he was really young it was always the same, part reckless charm and part soft-hearted goofball. Christ he'd been a cute kid... I wonder what happened, ha ha. Oh man, I'm a jerk. Varan appeared in more than a few pictures too and man, was it ever weird to see him so _small_. He looked like he might have only been five in one of the pictures and he barely even had a tail back then, stubby little mohawk-spikes almost non-existent. He had a habit of always looking rather uncomfortable in the pictures; I guess he'd never really changed either. There was a girl in a few of the pictures too, usually climbing all over Falshade and it took me a moment before I recognized Roo. Her black eyes were pretty distinctive but without the bull ring and the orange hair I almost didn't recognize her; I guess she must have been almost normal at one point in her life anyways. She and a few older boys which I assumed must have been her brothers appeared in a few shots, as well as the Beast Keepers from time to time. It seemed Falshade had always had someone at his side during his childhood and for a tiny second there I was jealous of him.

And then, at the back, I found something that surprised the hell out of me. At first I didn't even recognize myself as I stared down at the picture, but the barren landscape in the background was unmistakable. I carefully pulled the picture from its plastic casing and flipped it over: _Angel, age six _was scrawled on the back. I blinked at it and turned it over again. Christ. I couldn't even remember having this picture taken. Caspia must have asked my mother for one, because I don't think she'd ever taken any pictures of me before or since then. Ugh was I ever a little whelp. My hair was shorter back then because my mother always got sick of the tangles and would simply hack it all off with a pair of scissors and I looked pretty nervous standing there, hands clasped behind my back and a very small smile on my face. Man had I ever been timid as a kid... I replaced the picture and shut the book, not wanting to look at it anymore.

The second album was full of baby pictures. I could tell instantly which ones were of Falshade because there was no confusing his violet eyes, which were always staring at something with fascination. Most of them were of him but a few I think must of been again of Roo and her brothers. Falshade had told me Rayvin and his dad had been close friends so I guess both families must have been tied together since the beginning. I put that one down pretty quickly; I didn't really want to see baby pictures, they made me feel strange. It was hard to imagine any of my friends ever being babies, except maybe Stork since she still kinda looked like a baby sometimes even now, not to mention she acted like an infant. I hoped none of my own baby photos had ended up in there, that would just be embarrassing.

I knew right away that if anything I was looking for was to be found, it'd be in the third album I picked up. The pictures were all older and instead of focusing on Falshade they displayed a much younger Caspia. _Whoa. _I knew I wasn't supposed to think that way anymore because well, she'd adopted me, but still, permit me a two syllable _damn_... ahem, anyways, moving on.

She didn't seem to be as guarded back then from the looks of it; she still looked like she could beat the shit out of anyone she wanted but her face was softer and her eyes didn't have that lingering sorrow in the corners that they did now. She looked a lot more carefree, laughing and wearing a reckless grin I'd seen on Falshade's face so often. She had her arms around a teenage Ozprey in one shot and in another, in which she herself was just a teen, she was wearing a leather jacket that suddenly made her seem a lot like Wasp, a weathered girl who could take on the world. Younger versions of the other Beast Keepers appeared throughout the photos too, a young gang of wild punks that didn't seem so far off from us now really.

And then I finally got to see a shot of the legendary Falco and lord, people were right, he really did look like Falshade. At first I couldn't even tell the difference, but of course what would Shade be doing in pictures that had been taken before he was even born? Shade's face was practically identical to Falco's though, right down to the shapes of their mouths and eyes. They had the same jaw line, the same roguish smile, the same violet orbs shining with life. Falco was a little taller than Shade was now I think and his hair, although it still flopped into his eyes and stuck up at odd angles, seemed a little shorter and tamer, but other than that it could have been Falshade standing there, idiotic grin on his handsome face. He had his arm around Caspia's shoulders and the two of them looked so damn happy it made my chest ache. God was I ever thankful I hadn't lost anybody I loved in these last few months...

Then when I turned the next page I found exactly what I'd been looking for and of course I wasn't at all prepared for it.

I was reminded of all those picture booth shots Stork had made us take way back when; both of their faces were pressed up close to the camera as if they had a limited amount of space and like we had been they just seemed to be messing around. And lord when I saw my mother in that picture I honestly thought she was a different person altogether, like maybe she'd had an identical twin or something. The woman in this picture was _nothing_ like the wraith I'd grown up with and suddenly I wished I hadn't come looking for those god damn answers because I remembered _exactly_ how much I hated how she'd been and knowing that yeah, she hadn't always been that way just made it a hundred times worse. It was like I'd come along and wrecked everything.

I gripped at my hair with a shaking hand as I stared down at the picture. Caspia's hair was shorter then, chopped off at the chin and her eyes looked a lot younger, like they hadn't witnessed nearly as many things then as they had now. Pegasus had an arm thrown around her leather-clad shoulders, cheek pressed in against hers with a cunning, daring grin plastered over her face, which wasn't nearly as hollowed as it had always been whenever I'd seen it. Her angular eyebrows were arched suggestively as if she were challenging the camera, her cotton candy hair done up in loose pigtails at the sides of her face and it seemed she was the one taking the picture, part of her arm cut off in the corner. But it was her eyes that really got to me, bright as steel and blazing away with a spirited fire that I had never, ever seen in the eight years I'd spent at her withering side.

My entire body was shaking at that point and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to throw up or cry. Oh fuck help me, that was my god damn face... I slammed a fist into the wall, unable to tear my gaze away. What the _fuck_ had I been thinking? I hadn't wanted to see her happy, it just made it all the more unbearable to know that she... that I... that things could have been different if maybe I'd tried a little harder, that I'd ruined everything and why why why had she been stupid enough to keep me in the first place? I never asked for any of it, damnit, so why was it my fault? I'm _sorry_, I _tried_, but you...

"...You stupid little _bitch_." I wheezed, feeling on the verge of a breakdown.

"Did you honestly think you'd be able to snoop around in here and get away with it?" Someone demanded from behind me and I jumped, my blood running cold as I turned very slowly to the doorway and saw Caspia standing there, arms folded with a formidable expression on her face, her eyes turned to ice.

And here was that part where I got myself killed.

"I'm sorry!" was the first thing I managed to blurt out, wanting nothing more than to get to my feet and run but I seemed rooted to the spot. _Shit, run, Angel, run! _Oh man it was all over, Caspia would kick me out, Falshade would disown me and I'd forever be forsaken. _So much for trying to own up for things, dipshit. _I was the goddamn _king_ of fucking things up, that was for sure.

Caspia strode over next to me and I flinched, expecting to be beaten within an inch of my life. She didn't make a move for me though, not yet anyways, but instead leaned over me to see what I was looking at and I felt some of her anger dissipate, her muscles unwinding.

"I figured you'd want to know about her eventually, although I didn't think you were stupid enough to pull something like this." She commented coldly and I cringed.

"I'm sorry." I muttered again, my voice hoarse. My entire chest cavity felt constricted and I wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and die. God damnit I should have just sucked it up and asked her everything instead of coming to this, now I'd gone and ruined everything.

Caspia let out a long, irritable sigh and glanced over me, her face softening slightly. "You can stop cowering like that, I'm not going to hit you." She assured me but that did nothing to calm me. Then something dark came into her eyes. "_She_ never hit you, did she?" she asked, her tone quiet but lethal and her question caught me off guard. I shook my head; my mother couldn't have been bothered with things like that.

"Alright." To my surprise Caspia sat down on the floor next to me, gently taking the album from my hands. She stared down at the picture in silence until I was finally able to cough up my voice.

"I really am sorry." I muttered and she looked back up at me. I swallowed hard, my throat clogged. "I knew I shouldn't have come poking around in here and I'm sorry, I just..." I trailed off, not sure how to begin explaining myself.

Caspia watched me for a moment longer and I had to fight to hold her piercing gaze before she nodded. "It's alright. Like I said, I knew you'd want to know. I would have preferred if you'd asked me though." She said like she was scolding a five year old but I deserved it so I took it without complaint. She turned back to the photo again while I sat there nervously, pulling it out from the plastic and holding her forehead in her hand. "Lord..." she murmured almost to herself. "It's been a long time since I've looked at this picture..."

I fidgeted uncomfortably, clearing my throat a bit. "...How old were you two there?" I asked hesitantly, still half prepared to leap to my feet and take off like a bat out of hell at a moment's notice.

Caspia bit her lip as if thinking. "I don't think we were much older than you and Falshade here." She said after awhile. "It was before she left for training, anyways. God we were idiots back then." She added, laughing at herself quietly.

I nodded, my muscles seized painfully from trying to keep myself from trembling. I stared at the picture again, unable to look away from the mirror image of my own eyes, shining like frost. "...I never saw her like this." I muttered, barely aware that the words were coming out until I'd already said them. I drew my knees into my chest tightly, feeling very brittle and vulnerable all of a sudden, like all my protective armour and toughened calluses had simply been torn right off and now anything could simply swoop in and slice me to pieces. It scared me; I hadn't felt this way in a very long time and I didn't like it. Like a large hole had been torn into me and now everything was spilling out, slimy and ugly, for anyone to see. I suddenly wanted to be with Wasp more than anything else in the world; at least if I was near her I'd feel a little bit safer, even if the other feelings didn't go away. I twitched and started to stand but Caspia's hand reached out and grabbed mine and the look on her face made me stay. I sat back down, trying to calm my erratic heartbeat and reminding myself that I wasn't supposed to try and block out my feelings anymore. For better or for worse, this had to happen.

_No more running, Angel_.

Caspia rubbed my arm and I glanced over at her, feeling horribly sick inside. The corners of her mouth were cinched in and there was a hard look in her cerulean eyes like she really didn't want to be doing this either. But something was compelling us both to stay and she sat there silently, watching me expectantly and waiting patiently for me to say something. I swallowed hard and tried to sum up some scrap of courage. I'd wanted answers after all and now I had the opportunity to get them.

"...What was she like?" I finally managed to choke out, sounding strangled. "What was she like, before..." Before it all got fucked up, before death seemed like a much better alternative. Before him. Before me.

Caspia blew out a long sigh and was quiet for a while, like she was trying to decide on the right way to say everything. "She was stubborn." She started at last. "She was stubborn and reckless and never liked staying still very long. She always had to be doing something, picking fights and getting into trouble. Feisty, cunning little thing. Daring to the point of stupidity." She added scornfully but there was something in her eyes that seemed amused by that stupid streak despite her disdain. "She had moxie, I'll give her that much. She was always dragging me into things like she thought it was her job to make sure I had any excitement. I think she had it in her head that she had to look out for me, make me live a little." A tiny smile graced Caspia's lips here and I couldn't tell if it made the ache in my stomach better or worse. "She didn't like Falco very much." She recalled and I cocked an eyebrow curiously. "She was jealous of him I think, of how much time I spent with him. I think that was part of why she decided to run off and join the undercover agents in Cyclonia. I think she wanted to spite me a little."

Well fuck me, did that ever sound like the way I'd been about Shade and Stork or what. Apple doesn't fall far from the goddamn tree.

"So how'd you end up meeting her?" I asked, trying not to draw too many similarities between myself and Pegasus. It scared me to think that we were so alike; if I was too much like her than did that mean I'd end up straying down the same path as her in the end as well?

"She used to live here." Caspia explained and I blinked in surprise, never having known that. "She came to Vatican when she was nine, after her home terra was overrun. She was by herself by then; I never knew what happened to your grandparents."

I shrugged, not really caring. I already had enough trouble with the only two blood relatives I knew, the last thing I needed was more of them to worry about.

"Anyways once I met her that was it, we were attached at the hip. We joined the escort crew together when we were sixteen and we stuck together until Starling showed up one day and told me she was joining the infiltration unit they were putting together. Well Pegasus caught wind of that and decided she wanted to join too. She was like that, she always wanted to be where the danger was, she liked pushing the limits. It was all a big game to her, everything was a challenge." I could feel Caspia's demeanour shifting again, her anger returning in roiling black clouds. "She was an idiot." She muttered, glaring down fixedly at the picture in her lap. "She acted like she looked after me but in reality I was the one who had to look after her. She pushed her luck, she challenged everything, it was always a contest that she just had to win and I always had to be there to make sure she didn't piss off the wrong person, didn't take things too far. I was always worried she was going to get herself killed and there she was _laughing_ about it. She was careless and she thought she was invincible. Arrogant. Stupid." Caspia went on bitterly, tracing my mother's face with the tip of her finger, fury practically radiating from her. "...And I think that's why he ended up doing what he did to her." She whispered, the muscles in her jaw twitching.

I clenched my hands so tightly my nails bit into my palms. I didn't want to hear about this part. I wanted to turn my back on any reasoning I'd had to come here and disappear into the night forever, fuck Caspia, fuck Falshade and the others, fuck everything, I should be dead. I should never have existed in the first place.

But no. Against every fibre of my being I stayed. Because if I left then I was just like her.

Caspia was suddenly gripping my arm very tightly as if she'd heard my thoughts and had to make sure I stayed, that I was still there. She held onto me as if she wished she could have grabbed Pegasus like this and made her stay, never let her join that stupid unit in the first place. She clung to me and stared at the floor, eyes on fire. "He saw her spirit and wanted to crush it. He wanted to prove that she was just as damn vulnerable as the rest of us, the one goddamn time I wasn't there to protect her. And it broke her. She fell too far and she didn't know how to recover from it. She wasn't indestructible anymore and I think she believed she could never gain back her pride and confidence because she'd let someone steal it, she'd failed herself. It completely shattered her inside and that's exactly what he wanted."

I didn't want to hear all of that again. I'd already come to the same conclusion years ago, back when I still tried to understand and justify why she'd done what she'd done. I knew all too well how it felt; someone had gotten past my barriers too, had dug to the very core and exploited the one thing I'd promised myself would never happen. Cyclonis wanted to break me too.

But I was still here. I was trying to put everything back together. So why the _fuck_ couldn't she have tried too? Why couldn't she have even _tried_?

Caspia sniffed and straightened up, spine a stiff, solid line, chin held high like she was mediating. She turned and looked at me and I got that feeling again that her eyes had pierced right into my mind and could see everything that was tearing me apart in there. "When we found out she was pregnant it put everything in a different light for me." She said and I wished she'd stop looking at me. It unnerved me, how she could just keep talking about all of this. I was struck by the realization that Caspia had known me before I'd even been my own person, before I'd even been aware of myself. It seemed surreal to me. "I... I thought we could take it as something good coming from something so terrible, something to make up for what had happened."

Caspia wasn't so different from Wasp. They needed to hang out more. I found it odd that she kept saying 'we', like she had shared one half of the whole experience with Pegasus, like she was the second parent in the whole messed up situation. Then again I guess she sort of was.

"That's why I thought we should call you Angel." Caspia continued and I winced. What, was I supposed to be some guardian spirit sent from some place on higher, a shining gift from the Fates to make up for the shitty hand my mother had been dealt? Yeah fucking right. Look how that had turned out. In the end I hadn't been a good enough angel.

I think I must have snorted and not realized it, because suddenly Caspia shook me, hard, and I had the fleeting, insane urge to bite her, sink my teeth right into her arm to make her let me go. She was staring at me again god damnit, trying to push something into my mind through her electric blue eyes and for the life of me I couldn't look away.

"It wasn't you." She told me, enunciating every syllable. "I tried to get her to see everything another way, lord help me I tried for eight _fucking_ years to get her to snap out of it." She was seething now, the pot was boiling over with all the things she'd needed to say and have heard for all this time. "It wasn't because of either of us. She just gave up, Angel. She'd given up before we even had the chance to try. She didn't want to get better so she shut us out. Both of us." Caspia's mouth was full of fury but there was something building up like ice in the corners of her eyes too. "In the end I just couldn't take it anymore. I tried to stay in touch when she moved out to Saharr, tried to get her to come back around but she blocked me out. I came out to visit at first but she didn't like that either. And then I finally had enough one day. I just couldn't do it anymore, it was sucking the life out of me trying to get through to her and I had my own life to live, I had Falshade to take care of so... I just... let her go. I had to let her go."

Caspia's body seemed to crumple then like a paper crane and she cradled her forehead in her hands like she'd given up on trying to stay strong and impassive about all of this. The tears crested and broke, rolling down her face and I felt my throat close up. "...And then I got a letter a year later telling me I had to attend her funeral." She rasped and I buried my face in my knees, wishing I could just block out the world. I didn't want to go back there again, never again.

"God the whole time I couldn't stop thinking that maybe if I'd just tried a little harder, if I hadn't dropped out of contact maybe she wouldn't have done it. Maybe I still could have saved her." Caspia's voice wavered and she uttered an almost silent sob into her hand and right then her and I were in exactly the same place, staring down into that casket and asking the question that would never be answered: could I have stopped it from coming to this?

I couldn't stand hearing her cry. Enough fucking tears had already been spilled on my mother's account and I didn't want to see them coming from her, this woman who already had a lifetime's heartbreak. Not really sure what I was doing but knowing I had to do something I reached out and grabbed her elbow, trying to say everything in that one touch. And something must have gotten across because she looked at me and then without warning reached over, grabbed me around the shoulders and physically dragged me across the space between us, pulling me right into an embrace I hadn't expected. I stiffened right up as she folded her arms around me, pulling me into her chest and everything turned to a dull buzz inside me. But then I found myself sinking into her, because something inside me had needed this since I'd been just a little kid, lost and alone in the big wide world.

And for the first time since Falshade had proposed the idea I felt like maybe Caspia could be my mom after all. Maybe I could be her son.

"I'm so sorry." Caspia was muttering, stroking my hair. "I shouldn't have left you behind all those years ago. I just... I saw the way you looked at me and it reminded me of her. I thought if I brought you here you wouldn't want to stay, that maybe you'd even hate me. I couldn't handle that again, not after what I went through with Peg. But I was wrong; I wanted to let go of her at last and I let go of you in the process. And I shouldn't have, I should have come back and looked for you..."

I felt a pang of guilt and another of disgust, knowing that even back then I'd come off just like my mother. "...Look if I hadn't wanted you to you never would have found me out there." I told her. "Don't feel bad about leaving me. I didn't want to be with you back then."

"Has that changed now?" she asked softly and I swallowed uncomfortably. I'd never been any good with this touchy-feely stuff.

"...Yeah." I muttered honestly. I liked it here and as much as she scared the shit out of me I liked Caspia too. Besides, even if she hadn't, Falshade had managed to adopt me in the end anyways. I belonged to him (and yes I know how gay that sounded, thank you) and I guess with our shared history I belonged to Caspia now too. And somehow that felt alright with me. "You know maybe it's better we came to this the long way round anyways." I added on an afterthought. There were a lot of things I wish I hadn't gone through but I think I was really starting to see the truth in what Wasp and Varan had always said. Sometimes the bad stuff has to happen to you, you have to make your mistakes and deal with the hurt or you never really get anywhere, never really grow. That was proving to be the hardest lesson I'd had to learn.

Caspia hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we both just needed time."

I found myself staring at that picture again and chewed on my tongue absently before asking "Did you ever hate her?"

Caspia pushed her hair from her face again, wiping at her nose. "No. I could never hate Peg." She muttered, tracing my mother's face with her fingertip distractedly. "I was angry with her, bitter, and I hated the way she _acted_ yes. But I could never hate her." She sighed, sounding tired and drained. "I think back then I was just too angry and distraught to see everything clearly. But after all this time I think I've come to terms with everything. I can't change what happened and I can't keep asking myself if I could have done anything more. I wanted to let Pegasus go from my heart because it just hurt too much to have her there. But that was wrong of me; what I should have done is let go of who she became, not who she was underneath. I'm going to remember her how she used to be from now on."

I nodded, not really having anything to say. Caspia pulled me in close again and as much as hugs and other affectionate contact had a way of setting me on edge I really didn't mind. "Did you know you have a middle name?" she asked me after a long time, brushing my hair back from my face with an easy stroke of her hand.

I quirked an eyebrow curiously. "No, I didn't. Did you give me that one too?"

Caspia grinned. "No, just the first one."  
"Yeah, thanks for that by the way." I grumbled. "You couldn't have picked something more masculine?"

Caspia laughed, digging her knuckles into my shoulder in a way I assumed was gentle teasing. "I think it's a lovely name." She said and I ground my teeth slightly. _Lovely_ was not a word that I wanted on my list of personal descriptions. Then she dropped the taunting tone and turned serious again. "It's Falco." She murmured and I started, staring at her. She smiled grimly, the expression pained but sincere nonetheless. "He... he died a few weeks before you were born." She said, voice holding strong but I could hear the ache in it. "I like to think it was Peg's way of telling me she was sorry, that some part of her was still in there deep down and even if she couldn't salvage it for herself she still wanted to let me know she loved me. Maybe she even wanted to try and say something to both of us, that she wanted us to be connected to each other even without her. Lord maybe she knew what she was going to do even then... I don't know... but it stuck anyways. It's on your birth certificate." She informed me and I felt rattled inside, not sure if this sat well with me. I didn't think anybody deserved to have Falco's name passed on to them, even if it was a tribute to his memory (except maybe if like, Shade ever had kids. God there's a scary thought...). But to give it to me of all wretched people? I felt like I had tarnished it.

"...Why do you have my birth certificate?" I ended up asking because I had nothing else for all the world to say. You better believe that had given me a hassle, trying to register at the Academy without a single piece of identity to verify I was who I said I was. Luckily Atmosia keeps records of everyone who's ever been issued a birth certificate so they were able to find me eventually.

"It was in Pegasus' will that you were to be placed in my care in the event that something happened to her. They gave me everything of yours to hold on to, since you weren't of age. I've been holding onto your inheritance actually, you have a small fortune to your name."

Oh well gee, look at that, my mother had actually paid me some thought after all. Seemed like she'd set up a whole life for me before removing herself from it. How fucking nice of her. The hurt and the anger all came storming back in; it was just salt in the fucking wounds, knowing the only time she'd ever cared about my wellbeing was to insure I'd be alright after she abandoned me.

I was going to give all that money to charity. I wasn't using a cent of her fucking blood money on myself.

Caspia must have sensed my shift in attitude and uttered a sympathetic noise in her throat, squeezing me securely against her warm body. "...You know I'm really happy you came back here." She said softly and I shoved my nasty thoughts away to listen to her. "I've felt bad all these years for leaving you and... even if I couldn't save Peg I still have you. I have this shining, precious thing that survived when everything else crashed and burned. You are special to me, Angel. You are all the good things I remember and loved about Pegasus. And now that you're here, even if we took the long way round getting to it, I can put everything else to rest at last."

I swallowed hard, willing myself not to completely lose it. Until I'd met Falshade and the others I'd never meant anything to anyone. I'd tried to convince myself that this was no big deal, that I didn't need other people to validate myself but despite everything I told myself this crack had always existed in me somewhere, this empty place that craved something I didn't understand. Maybe it was just a leftover childhood defect that would have liked if just once my mother would have looked at me and smiled even just a little bit, just to show that I mattered to her, no matter how little. So when Caspia said that it was like every unrequited thing I'd ever felt got smoothed over in one gentle sweep, filling in the crack with all the right words I never knew I needed to hear. And it was completely too much for me; those big slices of the emotional, heartfelt pie are always too much for me to swallow all at once.

For the life of me I couldn't think of anything to say; I could barely understand how to feel but Caspia didn't seem to expect anything further from me. She'd said her piece and was content to sit there with me, stroking my hair and humming some quiet tune I vaguely recognized. But the longer I stayed there with her, trying to put everything back in order inside, something started to form with slowly brightening certainty in my mind. The way I saw it, Caspia had all these good memories to look back on in terms of my mother, even if they'd been frayed and stained over the years. She had the old Pegasus to cherish, she could let go of her image of what the new one had become. But me, I didn't have that. I only had what Caspia had told me about her and that wasn't enough to satisfy me. I had to let go of all of her, because that broken, pitiful creature she'd become was all I'd ever known. I didn't want to carry that with me anymore; it'd caused me enough misery and occupied too much space in my heart for too long now. Wasp had told me time and again that it's important to hold on to the things that keep you going, even if sometimes they're bad things. But she'd also said that once you have enough good things to pull you back on your feet when you get slammed hard by the weight of the world then you should let go of some of the older stuff. Especially if they're just dragging you into an early grave.

I'd barely acknowledged that the idea had come to me but the words were coming out of my mouth all on their own, as if for once the rest of me had decided on something before my head could warn me otherwise. "There's something I have to do." I said, more to myself than anything to confirm that yeah, I was going to do this.

Caspia answered me anyways though, rubbing my back briefly before letting me go and standing up. "You can take my skimmer."

**x.x.x Varan x.x.x**

Staring out over the parched scrublands of the terra I had a brief little flicker of nostalgia spark in my chest. I couldn't remember very much about the short time of my life I'd spent on Bogaton, probably because I'd been very young at the time of course but also more than likely any memories I did have of the place had been buried under trauma. Only a few smudges had survived after all that and to be honest I didn't really look back on those very much. Like I said, I'd been too small to really retain much of anything and thinking about those four short years I'd lived on Bogaton only got me thinking of what had inevitably caused me to leave, well, I generally tried to avoid thinking about that. That memory, unfortunately, had been branded permanently into my young mind.

However looking out at what was now the new home of the Terradons I felt something stir in my stomach, some subconscious part of myself that remembered this place. Any of those lingering pieces that remained of my early childhood came to life and I felt a strange, bittersweet feeling sweep through me like a calm breeze. It was both a foreign and yet familiar feeling to be standing here, with these people who I both belonged with and was a stranger to.

Repton moved up beside me then, arms folded over his chest and tail flicking absently. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, trying to decipher the expression on his face. He looked rather impassive standing there but there seemed to be a lot going on behind his eyes. He was a difficult man to read I'd decided, practically indiscernible if he didn't want anyone to know what he was thinking, very much like Angel. I suppose it must have stemmed from the practice of not exposing signs of weakness; I imagine as someone who was once the leader of a vicious gang of rogues and also under Cyclonian employment he'd have to of been that way.

"Impressive, isn't it?" he asked me after the two of us stood in silence for a while.

I nodded. "Hard to believe a terra this big was left uninhabited for so long."

Repton shrugged. "Most people wouldn't want to live out here. Too hot and dry, never enough rain to grow crops, it wouldn't sustain a human population. Perfect for us lizards though."

I nodded again. The temperature here was high and unwavering, almost as if the sun hung in the middle of the sky all day long and the dry, dusty heat of the place was glorious. It felt perfect here, not like the lukewarm rays I'd catch during our brief expeditions on other terras but like when I'd find the perfect sunbeam on the runway of the _Merlin_ and was able to just sit and soak in it for hours on end. It was as if the whole terra sat in the direct path of a constant shaft of sunlight that never faltered but never became excruciatingly hot either. I glanced at Repton again, wondering if he was enjoying the sunlight as much as I was. After all he'd been stuck underground for seventeen years now, it must have felt incredible to have the sun on his scales again.

Then again he'd seemed on edge the whole time I'd been here, maybe he was too preoccupied with other things to be enjoying his freedom. I knew he was angry too, I could feel it flaring up from time to time off him, the way his muscles would get tense and he'd grind his teeth so loudly it'd make my skin prickle under my scales. There weren't humans here right now but there had been for the past week apparently and there would be more dropping by constantly during the months to come. And that didn't sit well with Repton, that much was obvious. When I'd arrived yesterday he'd been in the middle of working out details of the new treaty with a group of them and I'd been dragged into the whole awkward discussion once they realized who I was. I'd apparently become famous without even being aware of it: Varan the prodigy who rose up from the desecrated remains of his species to defy all stereotypes and judgement. Or something. Anyways I was apparently being regarded as something of a hero by the humans who were organizing everything with the Terradons and they all were practically ecstatic to be able to speak with me. And so I'd spent the afternoon sitting in the temporary council hall on Bogaton III, discussing the terms of agreement that were going into the new treaty, the new, much more liberal rules that were going to be enforced, what sort of involvement the humans would have in the terra's development, etcetera. I'd been quite honoured to be involved in such an important meeting at all and even more so when I realized they were actually taking my opinions to heart; the representatives from Atmosia had been so open to suggestion and willing to compromise it was almost frightening. Still, the whole thing had put my nerves on edge, especially whenever something was brought up that I knew Repton didn't like. He'd sat next to me the whole time and every once and awhile I could hear a low growl rumble in his throat.

To give a brief explanation on what had been agreed upon thus far, this new terra, dubbed Bogatri, was going to be inhabited by the Terradons alone, no more armed guards or imprisoning walls. The Terradons were allowed to live as they pleased with no enforced laws from the Council. That meant the breeding programme had been put to an end as well; it had only been put in place to try and bring back the population of course, since the Terradon species had come very close to being annihilated thirteen years ago. But the programme itself consisted of a lot of outside selection; Terradon DNA was studied (it was a small gene pool we were dealing with after all) and potential mates were paired up based on strong genes, health status and, naturally, fertility levels. Not exactly what you'd call an idealistic relationship; I'm pretty sure, since there were less female Terradons than males, that those who wanted to have more than one child didn't even always end up with the same mate. Needless to say the Terradons were glad to be rid of that whole regime. Of course the humans would still be involved with some of the things that went on on the terra, particularly right now while it was still being built. The Terradons didn't have any of their own supplies yet, nothing to build their homes or even feed themselves with. The Council was supplying them with the materials they needed to get their new settlement functioning and in return they asked that Bogatri trade with the other terras once they had everything up and running. The terras in this general area weren't any good for agriculture, but there was plenty of mineral and crystal deposits beneath the surface of the scraggly landscape. This could mean nothing but good for the people here, in my opinion; the terra would find a steady income through trade and even without sustainable crops no one would go hungry, no one would be forced to turn to piracy to provide for the terra. And by joining the other terras of the commonwealth Bogatri would have allies, they'd be protected by the Legion and have a voice in the Council of Atmos.

Even the former Raptors were seeing far less hostility then they once did. They still had some restrictions binding them however, which I thought was perfectly acceptable all things considered. Repton and his old accomplices were all under confinement on Bogatri; they were allowed to move freely around the terra but that was it. They were not allowed to leave the terra under any circumstances unless given special permission by the Council to do so. Repton was by no way happy to be bossed around and 'put on a leash' as he'd muttered to me later that evening, but deep down he must have grudgingly realized that it was far better than living behind bars and that the Council had every right to keep him somewhere they could keep an eye on him. Or so I felt anyways. Repton himself was still leader of the Terradons it seemed; he made the final decisions about what was going to be done around the place, but even that had changed. The other Terradons all had fair say as to what was decided on their new terra and Repton seemed to be listening to them. He was bitter and standoffish and even rude about everything that was going on but he'd reluctantly agreed to the Council's propositions thus far, swallowing his pride and anger in doing so for the good of the rest of his people and I had to admit, I was proud of him for it. All of it made excitement bubble nervously in my stomach, amazed and overwhelmed with joy at everything that was happening here. I was still uneasy of it all of course, unsure where I fit in with it and paranoid something would go wrong but despite all of that I felt like this was the beginning of a fresh start for everyone. Things were changing in the world and I liked it.

Now, on my second day here, I finally had a chance to see how the terra was progressing. Repton and I were standing on a low, jutting cliff that overlooked the terra's interior, giving me a great view of the activity that was going on below. Terradons were hard at work, moving material and constructing the frameworks for new structures. I'd attempted to help out this morning but I'd been shooed away due to my bum leg. There were Terradons up here as well, most of them carving away with pickaxes at the lone mountain, building tunnels that would soon be hallways into the interior. The small mountain jutted up from the scrubby landscape like a solitary tooth and Repton had decided to build the main settlement in its shadow. Again, I'd wanted to help out, but swinging a pickaxe or pushing a wheelbarrow laden with stone wasn't something I was currently capable of and I'd started to feel rather useless. I wanted to be a part of the construction of this new home and I figured it'd give me a chance to meet some of my fellow Terradons as well. It was astounding to see so many of them milling around and I felt rather self-conscious to be among my own people once again. I'd gotten so accustomed to humans it was almost intimidating to be surrounded by my own species. Most of them were younger than me but they were all strong and healthy, some of them even taller and more muscular then I was. There were some who were older than me too, those like Repton who'd been imprisoned on Atmosia or who were being questioned at the time of the attack on old Bogaton. I'd spoken to some of them briefly this morning, just quick small-talk before we'd both continued on our way and once or twice I'd gotten the feeling I was talking to someone who'd known me when I was a toddler. They all must have known my mother anyways and I think that mixed with my mysterious upbringing made them feel just as awkward around me as I felt around them.

Repton was watching me and seemed to have read my feelings on my face. "They'll get used to you." He assured me. "They all just think you're a little... strange. Being raised by humans and all."

"Yeah, I figured." I said. "How many of them are there here?" I asked, as this had been something I'd wondered for a long time.

"Including you? Eighty four."

My stomach made a weird lurching motion when he included me in the total. I'd wanted to come here because I felt I was a part of what was going on, but once I'd arrived... I wasn't so sure. I felt very separated from the rest of my kind, an outsider returning to a place that was once familiar but had now changed. Maybe it was because I hadn't experienced what the rest of them had, I hadn't grown up behind towering walls, living by strict rules under the watchful eye of armed men. None of them had experienced what I'd gone through either; to my knowledge I'd been the only Terradon who'd been on Bogaton at the time to survive the massacre. Maybe the others all felt too much grief and resentment over that dark place in our history to know how to bridge it. Maybe they didn't know how to talk to someone who'd lived through it. I wasn't sure. I could only hope that eventually the barriers would come down and I'd get to know some of them better.

"So this place here is going to be the stronghold." I confirmed, changing the subject and turning to Repton.

"Yesss. The Dragon's Haunt." He said proudly and I coughed, trying hard not to grin. Repton gave me a look. "What?"

"Nothing." I said too quickly. "It's, um, original."

Repton looked a little confused for a moment or two, as if he wasn't sure he wanted to be angry with me or not, but then he must have realized I was just teasing and gave me a quick, playful snap with the tip of his tail. It surprised me a little to be honest but I found myself smiling slightly anyways. I hadn't spent much time with him since I'd arrived here really, since he was busy directing the other Terradons around and smoothing over details with the Council. And, truth be told, I still wasn't sure how I felt about Repton at all; I felt an insistent, tugging urge to be around him that I couldn't exactly explain, something that wanted the chance to learn more about him and try and build a bond with him. But at the same time I was carrying a lot of unease and wariness in my stomach towards him too, and what with the added stress of not knowing how stable his current temper was, I felt rather hesitant to get too close to him and I had very little I could think of to talk about.

Repton seemed to be feeling the same way and maybe that accounted for some of the tension he carried. He cleared his throat and glanced absently around before continuing. "We're planning on building a forge in the base of the mountain." He informed me.

I hadn't known about that. "Oh really? What for?"

"Airship parts, mostly. Some of the others think we could sell them to the shipyards." Repton wrinkled his snout here as if this notion seemed like pure idiocy to him but I thought it was a good idea. From what I knew Terradon engineers built almost everything that had been used on old Bogaton, manufacturing their own skimmers, weapons and tools. Terradons were pretty well-suited as blacksmiths too, what with our natural strength and love of high temperatures.

I'd just finished thinking that when suddenly I furrowed my brow and looked at Repton curiously. "Mostly?" I repeated uncertainly.

Repton shrugged. "You can't honestly expect us to build a forge and not use it to produce some weaponsss."

My stomach tightened and attempted to crawl up my throat. "...Does the Council know you're planning on this?"

Repton shot me a nasty look, a growl stirring in his throat but I held my ground. Funny how I've been downright terrified of people who, if I ever had the inkling too, I could simply pick up and probably throw a good twenty feet, but Repton didn't elicit an ounce of fear from me. Well, that wasn't entirely true; he _did_ make me feel incredibly nervous and uncertain, but that was simply because I didn't really know how to communicate with him, or how I felt about him at all really. But I didn't actually feel physically frightened by him; I guess I must have some steel nerves somewhere deep down after all.

We held eye contact in a bit of a staring match for a few minutes before Repton snorted and looked away. "They're aware of our plansss, yes." He said shortly, tail twitching irritably. "I told them we were going to build an armoury here and they had no objections."

I held up my hands to try and calm him. Afraid of him or not I really didn't like upsetting people if I could help it, and he had an even shorter fuse then Angel did. "Okay. I didn't mean to sound accusing or anything, I just... well it's important that you and the Council stay on the same page."

Repton made a huffing noise, blasting a puff of air out his nostrils and I could almost imagine smoke curling from his nose like a dragon's. "You sound like the humans do." He quipped.

I was certain that was meant to be an insult but I've never been the kind to rise to a challenge when someone tried to rattle my chain. However as much as I wish it wouldn't have, his words stung. It wasn't even so much that I wanted to impress him or get on his good side, and I certainly didn't take the human association offensively. It was just... I already felt like an outsider here, almost as if I really didn't belong with the other Terradons. I think Repton wanted me on his side about everything that was going on, to share his disgruntled attitude towards the humans who were really just trying to help him and the others out. And since I didn't it was like a barrier had gone up between us and he'd lumped me in with the humans he disliked so much. Which was ironic, since all my life most of those same humans had lumped me into the same monstrous stereotype that they viewed _him_ as. It made me feel as if I wasn't meant to belong anywhere.

Except with the Gargoyles.

I'll never be as good as thinking up witty retorts as quickly as Stork or Angel can so in the end I simply shrugged; Repton had too much pride and bitterness in his heart to change his feelings overnight and I didn't feel like arguing with him. After all I'd come here to try and bond with him, although I was starting to get the feeling that hadn't been a great idea. "You think so? You'll have to meet some of the ones I have then." I said tiredly and Repton cocked his head as if surprised I wasn't fighting back. "I know you don't like them coming here and laying down these rules, but is it really so bad, considering how it was before? At least you get to have an opinion now, and you're not living behind bars."

Repton made that snorting sound again but looked out over the open terra thoughtfully. I figured that by not retaliating to his bad mood and remaining reasonable it didn't give him the satisfaction to get into a fight about anything. Funny, I've been using the same tactic on Angel for years. "I'm still living behind bars. Grounded here on my own terra." He growled, staring out at the horizon.

I let the subject go, since it was obviously bothering him. I guess I could understand where he was coming from; easy going as I am I wouldn't have liked people coming along and telling me what to do, laying down boundaries I wasn't allowed to cross. But of course, I wasn't a criminal. I thought the Council was being pretty fair with Repton on that matter and you know, I'd like to think deep down he was pleased to be out of his underground prison at least. But of course he'd never admit that and I didn't want to push it.

Repton glanced back at me after a moment as if waiting for me to respond and when I couldn't think of anything to say he shook his head and turned around again. "Never mind, forget it."

I sighed, glancing down at the dust bathed stone and scratched at it with my claws absently. I've always been plagued with the ability to see things from both sides, which had led me to declare neutrality in any of the others' petty squabbles less I be torn in two. I knew where I stood about all of this; I thought things were progressing well here, better than I could have ever imagined and I felt like everybody's rights and feelings were being respected. But then, even if I didn't agree with his mentality, I could understand Repton's feelings too. And despite my desire to try and get him to see this all from a different perspective, I really hadn't wanted to upset him or anything. That's me and my marshmallow heart for you.

I shuffled forward on my crutches, glancing over Repton's scowling visage before staring out at the dry, rolling scrublands instead. "I'm sorry. I can see where you're coming from, I just..." I felt his bald gaze on me and swallowed uncomfortably. "I'm just paranoid I guess. I'm seeing everything that's being done here and I like it. But I feel like I'm waiting for it all to blow up in my face."

Repton continued to stare at me for a long time and I shifted uncomfortably, wondering if maybe I should just head home. "You don't trust me do you?" He said abruptly, no hostility this time, just like he was stating a fact and it completely caught me off guard. I turned to look at him and saw a lot going on behind his yellow eyes but I couldn't read any of it. I tried to understand what they were saying but whatever he was feeling it was too closely guarded for me to decipher it and I suppose that meant he didn't trust me either. But there was honesty on his face and I knew there was more to him then what he let show through. Why would he of asked if there wasn't?

"No." I said honestly after awhile. "But I'd like to."

He blinked and looked away again, seeming interested with something below and I wondered how many times before he'd had someone put their faith in him. If he was touched he didn't show it but he dropped his bad mood anyways, looking at me thoughtfully. "How're your friends?" he asked, surprising me. He still said the word 'friends' strangely, as if he weren't used to using such a phrase, but there was sincerity in his voice nonetheless.

"Um, they're good." I said, sort of thrown off by the change in subject, although I was glad to be on a different topic. "They're all in about the same shape as I am but they'll be alright. They're all visiting their families right now."

Repton nodded and wrinkled his snout as if debating on something. "That Sky Knight of yours, what was hisss name again?"" he asked after a few moments.

"Falshade."

"Right... he was the one who did all of this, wasn't he?" Repton said, more like a clarification then a question and again I was taken aback. Repton took in my baffled expression and chuckled dryly, a harsh, grating sound. "I've got a good memory for certain things you know, and I remember him saying something about speaking to the Council if he made it through all this madness alive. I can't really think of anyone else who'd sympathize with a Raptor anyways."

He had a good point there. "Yeah, that was him. I wasn't there, so I've no idea what he actually said to them, but Falshade's always had a way of getting people to go along with his harebrained ideas. I guess now that he's made a name for himself the Council's actually willing to hear him out."

Repton's tail flicked from side to side as if he were struggling with himself. "...Do you think when you see him again you could give him my gratitude?" He asked after a few moments and despite the grudging tone in his voice that said he didn't like giving gratitude to anybody there was honesty in there too. I blinked, more than a little shocked, but tried not to let it show.

"Of course." I said, managing to get the words out without stumbling on my own tongue.

"Good." Repton said and then added in a mutter. "I know you don't think I appreciate the change of events, but despite how much I'd love to chase those miserable little humansss off my terra, I'll admit you're right. It _is_ better than living behind bars."

I was starting to wonder if he'd been replaced with an entirely different person. I swallowed a few times because my throat seemed to have snagged any response I could have made and Repton regarded my stunned expression with a grunt.

"But not _much_ better." He added, just to make it clear he wasn't having a change of heart or anything.

"Right." I said, figuring I should take would I could get for now and acknowledge that at least he was making progress.

"The reason I ask about them is because I was wondering if they'd be willing to assist with something." Repton continued and I cocked my head curiously. "The other Terradons here are still rather wary of humans, and I don't think they much like the ones that have been hanging around." He explained. "So I thought that maybe you could bring your friends here, get them used to outsiders, ones who aren't here to tell them what to do."

"Well if you want it to be a gentle transition I'm not sure if my friends are the best candidates." I said, only half-joking. "They're a pretty odd bunch. Might make them even more wary."

Repton laughed. "I'd gathered that about them." He assured me. "But all things considered, I'd prefer that over nosey little Council bootlickersss. Besides, I wouldn't mind seeing them again. If they're as important to you as you say then I suppose I should get to know them."

And the astonishment parade rolls on. I raised my brow incredulously, wondering if he was honestly trying to adopt a real father role with me. I didn't think Repton wanted nothing to do with me, not at all, but I wasn't sure just how deeply he _did_ want to be involved with me. I didn't even know what_ I_ wanted from him; when I'd first met him I'd called him Dad right from the get go, but since I'd gotten here I don't think I'd used the word once. I guess I couldn't decide what and how everything should be right away; everything would just have to go one step at a time and I was willing and patient enough to see that through. If Repton wanted the others to come out here then I was all for it, it seemed like a good idea to me, especially given how comfortable the others already were around Terradons. Besides, I kinda wanted Falshade to see everything out here too, to show him what he'd made possible.

Repton was watching me as if waiting for a response and I snapped out of my reverie. "I'm sure the others would like to come out here and see what's going on." I agreed. "And despite their tendency to get into trouble, I think it's a good idea too. I doubt we'd be able to come out right away though, we've still got a lot of work to do and of course we have to wait for Stork to wake up..."

Repton furrowed his brow. "Wake up? How'd you mean?"

"Oh, well she's... sort of in a coma right now." I explained, my tail twitching unhappily at the memory.

"Is she going to be alright?" Repton asked with what sounded like genuine concern. I don't think he cared personally, since he didn't even know Stork, but it mattered that he cared for my sake anyways.

"I'm confident that she will." I said. "The girl's a fighter, I know she'll be alright. We just don't know how long it'll take her to come out of it."

Repton nodded again and seemed to consider something. "What about that human mother of yours?" He said shortly and I blinked at him in confusion.

"Marle? What about her?" I asked uncertainly and Repton uttered a short, disconcerted growl.

"What did she think of you coming out here?" He asked, sounding disgruntled. I had a feeling he didn't really want to know anything about her at all, maybe out of awkwardness surrounding the whole situation or maybe because thinking of my surrogate mother only reminded him of the loss of my biological one, a subject he didn't seem keen on getting anywhere near. I didn't blame him for that.

"Uh, well, I think she was a little uneasy about it." I said honestly, recalling the nervous look that had come into Marle's eyes when I'd told her where I was planning on going. I think most of it had stemmed from her protectiveness of me, worried that I might get hurt immersing myself in such a tumultuous atmosphere and attempting to bond with Repton. But I think a little part of her had also been afraid that I might begin to distance myself from her now that one of my real parents had suddenly reappeared in my life. That concern was ludicrous though; I loved Marle as much as any child would their mother and no matter what kind of bond I managed to form with Repton I'd never disown her as a parent.

"Oh? And why was that?" Repton asked and now I could sense his temper returning. Something bubbled angrily in my stomach at his tone and I felt myself bristle in response.

"I think she was probably worried that being out here might bring up some bad memories." I said defensively and Repton looked mildly surprised by my reaction. It's not often I get snappy, but when I do it does tends to throw people off. "She knows what I went through after what happened on Bogaton. But it wasn't like she tried to stop me, she knows I'm old enough to make my own decisions."

Repton huffed. "I see. I was just curious. Somehow I can't imagine she was very enthusiastic about you spending time with me."

Just as quickly as it had flared up my anger seeped away again and I shrugged. "I'm not sure how she feels about that." I said earnestly. "Maybe you'll have to meet her someday and the two of you can talk about it." Repton didn't respond so I decided to change the subject. "I have a little sister now." I reported and Repton quirked his brow.

"Human?"

"Yes. Her name's Pippa. We found her on a terra that had been attacked by one of Cyclonis' goon squads. We brought her with us to Vatican and Marle adopted her." I explained and Repton gave a short nod, although I could tell he wasn't very interested. A strange thought burst into my mind randomly then and I realized I was speaking before I could think better of it. "Do I have any brothers or sisters here?" I asked. That got his attention alright; he turned to look at me again as if I'd said something completely ridiculous and I was worried he was going to get angry again. Lord who knows, I might have just probed at a very deep wound. For all I knew I may very well have had older siblings (perhaps from a different mother) and they may have died on Bogaton without my ever having known about them.

But after a moment Repton's mouth quirked into a grin and I could see a few places where new fangs were growing, sharp points among the collection of filed, flat teeth that filled his mouth. "I'm not sure if I should be offended or not." He said and I backtracked quickly.

"Oh, jeez, I didn't mean it like-"

He held up a hand to cut me off, chuckling. "No, you're the only one. I wasn't much interested in being a father, but I'm not the kind of lizard to run out on a woman with an egg in the nest, you know. Give me a little credit here, Varanus."

I cracked a small grin of my own, relieved that I hadn't upset him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything, I was just curious."

Repton gave me playful cuff on the shoulder, which actually nearly knocked me right off my good leg. "You do have a few cousins." He informed me. "You'll have to meet them before you leave."

"I'd like that." I said. I was going to ask more about them when a bleating sound distracted me and I looked down at the terra below again. A large trailer, pulled along behind two skimmers, had arrived below, coming to a halt a short distance from some of the framework for the new structures. I watched as a ramp was lowered from the trailer and the wooden doors of the crate on top were hauled open. A large billy goat poked his head out from the crate and sniffed the air uncertainly before trotting down the wooden ramp, bleating at the rest of the small herd who followed after him obediently. Once all the goats were unloaded they picked their way across the arid landscape towards a collection of dry, scraggly brambles, spreading out slowly and vanishing into the scrublands.

I wrinkled my snout. "What are they doing?" I asked.

"Goats are really the only livestock that can flourish out here. We figured we'd let them roam." Repton explained, a disturbing grin splitting his face. "After all, they're no fun to hunt if they live in a pen."

"Oh..." I said, suddenly feeling queasy. Clutching my stomach I watched the last of the goats disappear into the dunes and shimmering heat waves and wondered if they even realized their apparent freedom came at a price. '_You can run, little goats, but you can't hide..._'

Repton was examining me quizzically. "You don't hunt?" he asked, sounding confused.

I swallowed, trying not to think of how easily Terradon claws would be able to slice through a goat's flank. "Uh... well actually I..." I coughed uncomfortably. "I don't actually eat meat." I said, staring fixedly at a nearby pebble. "I'm a vegetarian."

Repton stared at me blankly for about ten seconds before bursting into loud, rough laughter, clutching his side. However when he realized I was still standing there in complete silence he sobered up and raised his brow. "You're ssserious?" he said incredulously and I scraped my claws against the stone awkwardly.

"Yeah." I mumbled, shuffling with embarrassment while he gawked at me. "It's not really even like a righteous thing." I added lamely. "It just... it makes me feel sick. I physically can't eat it."

Repton continued to gape at me as if I'd just announced I was from another planet entirely and I felt like more of an outcast than ever. I mean as if there weren't already enough strange things about me, by Terradon standards anyway, and now I didn't even share the same diet as the rest of them.

However after a few dumbstruck moments I saw a flicker of something that looked like understanding pass over Repton's face. He shook his head as if snapping out of a trance and to my surprise he clapped me on the shoulder. "Well maybe we'll have to plant a vegetable garden here, if that's the case." He said and right then I knew that despite our difference of opinions, he and I would be able to make this whole father-son thing work.

I snorted. "Out here? Only plants that I could see doing well are cactus."

Repton grinned. "We'll see."

"Repton?" A slightly higher, less-gravelly voice called out hesitantly and the two of us turned to face a slender Terradon who'd joined us on the precipice. It was a female with shiny, dark teal scales, a hue I'd never seen before. I was fascinated by the colour but quickly averted my gaze when I realized she was wearing a cropped leather vest that, worn like pretty much every other Terradon, myself included, hung open at the front. Not that she needed to worry about covering herself, since female Terradons don't have breasts, but it was force of habit of mine after spending so much time around Stork, who'd grilled it into my brain that to look at a girl's chest for any length of time was a serious crime. Of course Fraggle insisted that was a natural impulse for males of any species and got a serious kick out of flashing nudie magazines in my face whenever possible, since apparently my squeamishness is just hilarious.

"Sorry to interrupt but one of the excavating crews has discovered a vein of crystal deposits in the base of the mountain where we're tunnelling. They wanted to know if you'd like it to be left alone for now or if we should just keep going around it." The girl asked and Repton flicked his forked tongue over his teeth, thinking.

"Leave it alone until we know what kind it is." He decided. "Last thing we need is to be swinging pickaxes around unstable crystals."

The female Terradon nodded and trotted off back down to the base of the mountain, leaving us alone once again. I watched her go with curiosity, I couldn't help it; I hadn't yet met any of the females here and I guess after spending so much of my life around human females (and Wasp) she interested me. The difference between the species was pretty incredible really, considering how easy it was to differentiate between gender when it came to humans; with Terradons size was usually the only hint at first glance.

I could feel Repton watching me and when I took in the smirk on his face I felt my stomach knot uneasily. "What?"

"Nothing." He said innocently and I suppressed a sigh, figuring I was about to be made fun of again. "You know there are a few females here who are around your age..."

"I'm going to stop you right there." I grumbled. "That wasn't what I was thinking about."

Repton chuckled to himself. "Alright, no need to get defensive." He said and then looked me over critically. "Is there a reason you're not interested?" he asked and I let the sigh out this time.

"What do you mean?" I asked warily, although I already knew what he was getting at.

"Well you've been all over the Atmosss from the sounds of it. Perhaps you've met someone already?" He said evenly, although I could still hear a taunting undertone in his voice.

I hummed absently to myself, trying to think of something to say. I was still unsure about what exactly was going on between Roo and I, if there was anything at all, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to bring it up. But then, Repton seemed like he was making an honest attempt to get to know me a little better here, and that's what I'd wanted after all. Wasn't it natural for a father to be curious of his son's social life? Not like I really had much of one mind you, but...

I cleared my throat, tail scuffing back and forth over the grit. "Well... I dunno. Maybe. There's somebody I know but I don't know what exactly she wants with me."

Repton seemed genuinely interested by this. "Oh? A human girl, I take it?"

"Yes." I said edgily. I could feel his prying gaze on my scales and elaborated. "Her name's Roo. Or, well, Sparrow is her actual name, but everybody calls her Roo. We grew up together."

Repton nodded. "I see. But there's nothing going on between the two of you?"

You know, you'd think being away from the others would mean I'd be spared these sorts of interrogations. "I'm not sure." I said honestly. "I suppose I should try to find out sometime. The others keep insisting I should, anyways."

The corner of Repton's mouth twitched as if he couldn't decide to grin or not and he looked out at the horizon thoughtfully. I shifted on my crutches, noticing that my leg was starting to throb again. I sort of wished I had my lounge chair and a good book to read so I could simply stretch out my bad leg and relax in the sun for a while.

"Your leg's not bothering you is it?" Repton asked, having noticed my awkward shuffling. I shook my head and he uttered an affirmative noise in his throat. Then, apropos to nothing, he said "You should go home, Varanus."

I staggered back from him in surprise, a shock of hurt shooting through my chest. "W-what?" I stammered, sounding like an injured child. Where had that come from? Had I done something wrong? Had he decided that he'd filled his quota for emotional connection with me for now and wanted me to go away? Or maybe had he suddenly come to the conclusion that he wanted nothing further to do with me at all? Had I been too disappointing for him to accept? I mean I knew I wasn't the poster image of his ideal offspring, but I thought we'd been getting along for a while there...

Repton turned to take in my baffled expression as I stood there stupidly, mentally reeling and rendered speechless, and for the first time since meeting him I saw his face soften just slightly. "I don't mean that I don't want you here." He said quickly. "I... I'm glad you came out here, to be honest. But I think right now you should be with your friends. There's not really much for you to do out here what with your leg the way it is anyways."

I swallowed hard, still feeling rather wounded, although I could see his point. Seemed like I was going to be treated like I was completely incompetent by everyone until my damn leg healed. "But I wanted to come out here." I argued. "I feel like I should be a part of all of this."

"And so you should." Repton agreed. "And once you're off those crutches you should come back. I'd like it if you did. In fact we could use your help out here, especially concerning these terms with the humans. You have more practice at dealing with them than I do, and I think you'll have an easier time negotiating with them. But for now I think you should spend time with your family and take it easy. Go and work things out with that girl of yours."

I felt heat rise to my face at that. "...Aren't you part of my family too?" I pointed out, acting on a sudden spur of recklessness. I saw every one of Repton's muscles tense and he turned away from me again, his tail whipping back and forth agitatedly and I wondered if I'd gone a step too far. Honestly though I didn't really care if I'd over stepped my boundaries; I didn't know if I was really ready to count him as actual family just yet, but, biologically, he was the only real family I had. I needed to know where he stood on that fact.

The two of us stood in silence for a painfully long time and a slight breeze rose up from the dunes below, wedging sand under my scales and grinding it against my eyes. Blinking irritably I slid my clear, membranous second eyelid over my eyes to protect them from further intrusion and waited for him to answer me, feeling like we were on the verge of something very important here. Depending on his next words, this could very well decide if I'd return at all. I wanted to be able to build a better bond between him and myself, but if he wasn't interested then I wasn't going to waste my time on a lost cause; I'd spent too long trying to earn the approval of others to tackle any walls between us all on my own.

"...If that's what you want from me." He said at last in a low tone and a small wave of relief rolled through me. Although his response seemed nonchalant I knew Repton wasn't the type of person to come out with something heartfelt and meaningful and I also knew that the fact he'd responded positively at all was something big from him. That was all I needed for now.

A small smile wormed its way onto my face and I lurched up alongside him clumsily. "How about I stay until tomorrow then? How's that sound?" I suggested evenly, not feeling quite ready to return home just yet.

Repton glanced at me from the corner of his eye and returned my smile with a quick one of his own. "Alright."

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

As it turns out, Angel decided to take off in the middle of the night. And I was the only one who didn't know about it.

Of course nobody bothered to say anything to me either the next morning; I was halfway through breakfast when it struck me odd that he wasn't up and about yet since he's always up before I am. So I asked Mom if she knew where he was and she simply said 'oh, he left last night' like it was no big deal; I nearly had a fucking heart attack. I started thinking that I'd pushed him too hard to come here and he'd snapped, or that he was still harbouring the self-loathing he'd been carrying when he first came back to us and it had driven him away. I panicked, imagining him running off on his own because he wanted to punish himself and didn't think he deserved to be with us, that he'd taken off into the night and I might not ever see him again. Then Mom took one look at my face and started laughing at me, being _such_ a good parent and all. I think she felt bad afterwards when she realized just how worried I actually was and explained he'd just flown out to Saharr and that he'd be back either tomorrow or the day after. Then she added "He'd better be. He took my bloody skimmer."

Now I doubted even Angel was foolhardy enough to risk facing my mom's wrath, so I figured he would indeed be back. And then of course I felt stupid for freaking out and promised to give the little bugger a good pounding for taking off like that without even giving me a head's up. Making me worry and what not... shit, Stork was right, I _did_ act like I was married to the kid. Sigh.

Anyways due to that little change of plans I ended up spending the day with Wasp, something that turned out to be one of the best days I'd had in awhile. It reminded me of the days I used to spend hanging out with Stork in the terra square back when I was in the Academy, the two of us ambling about with no particular purpose, experimenting with different ice cream flavour combinations (for future reference, never, ever mix liquorice with bubblegum. Just don't do it), poking around through random shops and trying to solve crossword puzzles together (try being the operative word there). There's something nice about girl company, you know? Of course Wasp was a very androgynous being but she had a way of talking and listening that displayed that hidden feminine side of her we didn't often see. So we were able to have that time we'd wanted to get to know each other better. I showed her all around the terra, the scraggly woods that sat beneath the Plateau where I used to play for hours on end as a kid, the caves and the Plateau itself, keeping a fist bunched securely in her jacket when she spread her arms and leaned out over the edge of the cliff. I showed her the stream that wound its way through the pale stone and fed into a shallow pool on the other side and taught her how to skip rocks, something she apparently hadn't known was possible. I think it sort of made her day actually, although eventually she got bored and was more interested in collecting pebbles than throwing them into the water. And I told her every story that came to mind, all the things that had gone on before she'd joined us. It struck me randomly that Wasp had no idea how I'd come to meet the others; after all she'd been the last of us to come along, solidifying us as a squadron and when I thought about it it seemed wrong that she didn't know how any of the rest of us had come to be Gargoyles. So I made sure to tell her all about how I'd met the others; she really enjoyed that and made me go into great detail about everything:

"So Varan lived here too, after what happened on his old terra." She clarified, paddling her feet in the water. We'd stayed at the pond when the sun climbed to its midday position in the sky because the area was well shaded and it was pretty hot out. She'd pulled off her boots and plunged her feet into the water, watching the small sunfish that came to investigate with the utmost of fascination. But she had one ear trained directly on me so I knew she was listening.

I rolled up my jeans and sank my feet into the water too. I almost felt like swimming it was so warm, except I couldn't with all the bandages still plastered to me and my arm as useless as it was. "Yeah. The Keepers were the first squadron to arrive on Bogaton after shit hit the fan, and Rayvin was the one who found him there. He brought him out here, against the Council's wishes." I'd always respected old Rayvin for that; disobeying a direct order from the Council can get you in some serious shit, especially if it's over anything as serious as the Bogaton genocide, but did he care about that? Fuck no. There was no way he was letting the Council take custody of Varan in the traumatized state he was in and he was willing to put his whole career on the line for it.

"How'd you meet him?" Wasp wanted to know, kicking her feet as a few bolder fish tried nibbling on her toes.

"Well he'd been here for a few days and wouldn't say a word to anybody, wouldn't eat or let them touch him or anything and Rayvin was really worried. So he asked my mom if she could bring me to the Honeycomb, since he figured I was around the same age and that maybe he'd be less afraid of me."

Wasp looked at me with interest. "Did it work?"

"Yep, he started talking to me after a little while. They didn't even know his name up until then." I said. I had very little memory of this, as I'd only been three at the time, but I had a few fuzzy little images; I remembered Mom taking me down to the Honeycomb at least, which had been very exciting at the time. And I remembered a little bit about Varan himself; I recalled his eyes the best, which had been so wide they practically took up his whole face. It made me sad when I took the context of the situation into perspective, but it was a fond memory in my mind, my very first meeting with Varan. I guess since I didn't understand what had happened at the time it got imprinted in my toddler brain as simply a good thing to have made a new friend and it had stuck that way.

"How old were you?" Wasp asked.

"I was three, so he would have been about four." I said

"And you've been friends ever since." She confirmed, her eyes wide and enthralled.

"Yeah, we have. He's never been far away from me since then. Well, except for the time I spent at the Academy."

"Where you met Stork and Angel." Wasp clarified and I nodded.

"Unfortunately." I said, joking of course but Wasp didn't seem to get it. "I'm kidding." I assured her. "Meeting them was probably two of the best things that ever happened to me."

Wasp smiled. "Were you all friends right away, like with Varan?"

I laughed. "Hell no." I said and Wasp looked slightly disappointed. I guess she wanted to believe that we'd all fallen for each other right from the get go, as if we knew we were all destined to be together. "I dunno so much about Stork and I... I think we had something from the start anyways. It was hard to get used to her but we got along alright, rough patches aside. But Angel? I think he actually hated me in the beginning."

Wasp seemed to think about this notion for a moment before flicking her ears agreeably. "I guess that makes sense, for him. He likes to act like he doesn't like people."

"Well I assume he didn't like that suddenly he had a roommate. You know how he is: 'don't touch my stuff, stay out of my bubble, don't breathe next to me, mind your own business'." I said, doing a rather good imitation if I do say so myself. I'd have to try it when he was around, just to piss him off. "Anyways he ignored me for the longest time until one day we were doing hand-to-hand training and I got paired up with him because nobody else wanted to spar against him."

Wasp wrinkled her nose. "Why?"

"You seriously have to ask?" I asked dryly and she giggled. "The kid's a nasty son of a bitch when he's in a _good_ mood. Anyways I surprised him, I don't think he expected me to already know how to fight. Tell you the truth I think he was glad to have a challenge. He surprised me too, honestly. Believe it or not he used to be smaller back then, and I underestimated him. Next thing I knew I was flat on my ass."

Wasp grinned. "Always gotta watch the little ones."

"Ain't that the truth." I muttered. "So after that I got kinda serious and we had a good exchange going on and then bam- I punched him right in the jaw." I winced at the memory even today, still able to hear the awful cracking sound. "I thought I broke his jaw at first but he shook it off and he was fine. And after that he started talking to me. All of a sudden he was my buddy."

Wasp smiled widely, fangs glinting in the sunlight. "I like that. It's very fitting of the two of you."

I quirked an eyebrow. "You think so?"

"Oh yeah. It's a testament of how deep your friendship is with someone when you can beat them up on a continuous basis and then hang out with them like you never laid a finger on them." Wasp said wisely and I laughed, mussing up her hair.

"You're just full of fortune cookie quotes, aren't ya kid?"

"Yep, that's me, mistress of proverbs and the answers to the questions you never asked." She said, grinning her werewolf grin while the sun glared into her eyes and made the amber one shine like gold.

Eventually I got her to tell me more about her old life too, since I knew as much about it as she'd known about mine. Probably even less come to think of it. So I learned about the years she spent on Macabre, and how that even though she confirmed it was a vile, crime infested place she'd managed to find a few good things about it, like the club she used to go to almost every night where she'd discovered her love for music. And she told me all about the friends she'd had there, Sketcher, Fli and of course Rainer, someone whose name I'd kept hearing from time to time but had never learned anything more about.

"He taught me almost everything I know." Wasp said, pulling her feet out of the water and lying them on her thighs like she was meditating. "He taught me how to read, and how the outside world works, and about people and why they do the things they do. He knew a lot of things, like the names of the stars and the parts that make up your body, and how things work out here, like machines and stuff. He always had an answer for my questions, and I asked thousands."

I nodded. "When you say 'out here' I assume you mean like, the rest of the Atmos, outside of Faerûn, right? I've heard you mention the jungle before, but I was never clear on it, did you actually use to live there, before?"

Wasp nodded. "Yes, until I was thirteen. Then I left. And when I left the first place I ended up on was Macabre."

"Right." I was tempted to ask why she'd left in the first place but there was a very slight edge in her voice that, while not necessarily hostile, told me she didn't want to discuss the matter further. "Man, it must be weird out here then huh? I mean after spending most of your life in the jungle. Did you guys even use crystals out there?"

"Nope. We only used what the jungle gave us." Wasp sighed, a look of nostalgia crossing her face. She caught my expression out of the corner of her eye and perked up again. "Anyways yeah, it is pretty weird out here, although I'm getting used to it by now. I like a lot of it. Like music and flying and having adventures. It's a very interesting world you people have here. Some of it though I just don't understand."

I grinned. "Oh yeah, like what?"

"Oh just little things I wonder about. Like how do you make things smell like other things? Like you know that squirting stuff Stork would spray on you guys sometimes because she said you smelled? How do they get that to smell like vanilla? And how do they get the little bubbles into soda? And don't even get me started on microwaves."

I laughed. "What's wrong with microwaves? Makes things a hell of a lot easier on those of us with culinary handicaps."

Wasp snorted. "But they're so _awful_! Doesn't it even strike you a little strange that you can put something in there and it gets cooked without any flames or anything? Ugh, it makes my teeth hurt just walking by it. I can't believe you actually _eat_ stuff that comes out of there, with all those wave things radiating from it, ick!"

"Hmm..." I said thoughtfully. "You've got a point. Remind me to cut back on those microwavable mini pizzas."

Wasp pulled a face but made no further comment. "Anyways Rainer was the first person I met when I wound up on Macabre. I didn't know anything about the world out here so he took me in and took care of me. He fed me and bought me clothes, taught me how to function and survive out here. And that's how I got to know Sketcher and Fli. They were his friends, and then later they were my friends too. Rainer sort of looked after them too, although they didn't live with him or anything. They were both sort of lost and alone in the world too and he took them under his wing, made sure they were always okay, made them happy." Wasp cupped her chin in her palm, looking distant and thoughtful. "I don't know whoever took Rainer under their wing. He lived on Macabre all his life, and I always wondered if someone had cared for him the way he cared for us, and that's why he was like the way he was. Then one day I decided that maybe he'd been alone all his life, and that sometimes people are just born that way, you know? That sort of heart is just something that comes installed." Wasp turned to me and smiled. "Like yours."

I flushed a bit. "Uh, well, thanks, I'm flattered. I guess it all depends on what you have and what you decide to make of it. I mean maybe if I'd grown up on Macabre, or even just differently than I did here I might be different, who knows?"

"I dunno. I think it all comes down to who we are inside and who we want to be. I think you'd be like you are now, no matter how you'd grown up. It comes too naturally to you to be something you had to learn."

"Enough with the compliments, I'm no good at accepting them." I said, nudging her gently with my elbow and she swatted at me with a playful growl. "Anyways I like your line of thinking. Kinda goes along with that whole 'we shape our own destinies' thing. Comforts me, really. Means we all have the chance to be whatever we want to be."

"Exactly."

"So... about your old friends. I don't think you'd ever just leave them behind to start a new life with us on a whim, would you?" I strung out awkwardly after a few clumsy attempts. I was pretty sure I knew that Wasp's old friends weren't around anymore but I didn't want to just out and out ask such a thing.

Wasp seemed to think about my question very seriously and I was worried she might not have quite understood what I was getting at. "I don't know if I would have just up and left them like I did." She said at last. "Although I did feel very drawn to Stork for some reason... anyways it doesn't matter. Fli and Rainer both died and Sketcher... well I actually don't know what happened to him. He might still be around, but he was into a lot of nasty drugs so he might have died too, I'm not sure."

Like I said, I'd already been pretty sure that had been the case but it didn't mean it hurt any less to hear it. I was impressed by the way Wasp was able to keep her voice so steady when she spoke of such heartbreaking things but I could hear a note of sorrow in it too and I wrapped my functioning arm around her shoulders, giving her a comforting squeeze.

"I'm sorry." I murmured and wished I could think of something better to say. The sentiment was there and everything but the words themselves felt so overused and useless.

Wasp gave a grim, crooked smile. "It's alright."

I cleared my throat and tried to think of something else to say. "Hey listen, if you want we can always make a trip to Macabre to see if we can track down Sketcher. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you if he's still, you know..."

Wasp hummed and shook her head. "No, I'd rather not. I mean Sketcher was my friend but I wasn't as close to him as Fli and Rainer were and anyways... there are some things I'd rather leave as I remembered them. Macabre's a part of my past now and I don't ever intend on going back." She looked at me thoughtfully and added "Thanks for offering though, Falshade."

"No problem, I just wanted to put the idea out there in case you did want to go..." I trailed off and a sudden notion popped into my head and I took her hand carefully, squeezing to try and get the emphasis of how important I felt this was across. I guess all this talk of friends loved and lost reminded me of something I hadn't yet had the chance to tell her. "Thank you for bringing Angel back." I said quietly and Wasp flicked her ears at me, wrinkling her nose as if confused. "I don't think any of the rest of us would have been able to do it." I elaborated. "Hell, he and I nearly ended up killing each other, I never even came close."

Wasp sucked on her lip ring absently. "I think Cyclonis wanted to use him against you especially." She said thoughtfully. "I've been thinking about it lately and it makes sense to me. She knew you'd never let her get a hold of Stork, so she made him into a weapon to cancel you out. Kinda poetic really, fighting one best friend to protect the other..."

"Oh it was something alright, but I wouldn't call it that." I muttered darkly. "But I think you've got a point. Cyclonis might have done it to get to me, but what she didn't see coming was you." I grinned and ruffled her tangled mane of hair fondly. "Our little ace in the hole."

Wasp giggled. "That look on her face when I spat that crystal shard at her was priceless."

"I'll bet." I said, grinning. "It's funny looking back on it all. I'll be honest, I had my doubts about you back in the beginning. But if Stork hadn't convinced me to bring you along, nobody would have been there to get that crystal out of Angel. We could have lost him..."

"And if you'd never met Stork she wouldn't have invited me along in the first place." Wasp added, her eyes lighting up with inspiration. "Interesting how it all interweaves, isn't it?"

"Yeah, let's hear it for coincidences."

A bottle green grasshopper miscalculated its leap from a nearby stalk of grass and landed on its back in the pond, spindly legs kicking uselessly. Wasp scooped it out of the water as the fish came to investigate, sunlight skipping off their murky scales. Wasp raised her hand to eye level to peer at the insect now effectively caged between her gangly fingers and I kept a wary eye on her to make sure she didn't pop it into her mouth or anything. After a moment however she let it go and watched it spring away before flopping back, spreading her arms through the grass and blowing out a deep sigh.

"You know, when I think about that night I met Stork... I don't really know even today what it was about her. It wasn't like I sensed anything unusual about her, nothing that screamed 'hey, go with this girl, she's going to be where big things happen'. But something down in my gut got a good feeling from Stork. From all of you, really. So when she asked me to come along... I dunno, maybe I'd been on my own for too long, you know? Some little part of me wanted company again. I mean, I'm good at being alone, I'm good at surviving. But that's not always enough, not by a long shot. I've come to learn that it's no fun going through life by yourself."

"I imagine not." I agreed. Hell I couldn't even imagine spending more than a few days on my own, the others were all permanent extensions of my own existence and I didn't feel complete without them. Not sure what else to say I gripped her kneecap in what I hoped was a warm, comforting gesture and it must have sufficed because she plucked up my arm again and licked at my dead fingers where they were poking out from the plaster before continuing.

"At first I wasn't sure what your game was, what you guys were all about. I made up all sorts of stories about you, like maybe you were renegade undercover agents with a mercenary band out for your blood. Or that Varan was an alien and you guys were all trying to keep him from being captured by scientists or something." She said and I laughed so hard it made my nose hurt.

"Woo ha ha, oh _man _you're going to have to tell him that one!" I said, holding my sides. "Shit will he ever get a kick out of _that_! An _alien_, ha!"

Wasp gnawed on my cast irritably. "I'd never seen a Terradon before!" she said defensively and I patted the top of her head condolingly, trying to rein in my laughter.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you, but you gotta admit that's funny! Hell I would have thought if any of us _were_ actually aliens the most likely candidate would be Fraggle. Or, you know, you."

Wasp grinned despite herself. "Maybe."

"So were we a bit of a letdown when you realized what we were really up to?" I asked and her eyes widened in alarm.

"Oh no no no! I thought it was all very interesting! Your nightmares, the mission, everything. The more I learned about it the more I felt myself being drawn into it. It's funny, all my life I've never been a part of something bigger than myself, I've always just tried to find my own way and that was enough for me. But with all of you... it was different, it was big and exciting and I liked it." She tilted her head back and the shadows cast by tangled tree boughs above fell over her face, cutting it into pieces. "You know I don't know when it first occurred to me but somewhere along the line I started feeling like I was where I really belonged. Like I was right where I was meant to be all my life. I don't mean that I think everything else that happened just happened because it was leading me up to this and... well sometimes I wish some of it hadn't happened." She admitted in a very soft voice, almost as if saying so was something to be ashamed of. I looked right into her off-set eyes, trying to push my thoughts into her mind, that there was nothing wrong with longing for the things you'd lost now and again and in that unspoken, instinctual way of hers she must of understood. The small wistful pool that had been forming in the rims of her eyes drained away and she sat up again, pushing herself under my arm and pressing her face against my chest, snuffling me contentedly. "But at the end of the day, when I'm with all of you... I feel like I'm home." She concluded and I smiled, dropping my mouth onto her coarse mane of hair.

"I'm glad." I said. "I've always felt that way too."

* * *

"I should have _something_ that'll fit you in here." I said, rooting around through my dresser for an old t-shirt or something that I could lend Wasp. It had occurred to me earlier that evening that not only did Wasp and I both only really have one set of clothing, but Wasp had been wearing hers at night as well as during the day. And as much as she insisted she didn't care I figured it couldn't be nice to be wearing the same grungy old clothes for days on end and she should at least have something different to wear to bed. Problem was any of my old clothes that had not been brought down to the Honeycomb for the refugees by my mom hadn't been worn since I was fourteen, and I'd done some serious growing since then. And since Wasp was around my height and had pretty broad shoulders (for a girl anyways) I doubted my old kiddie shirts would fit her much better than they did me. "I guess we'll all have to take a day and go shopping for some new clothes, huh?"

Wasp was lying on my floor, peering under my bed curiously. She made an uninterested grunting noise at my statement and fished an arm beneath the depths of my bed, pulling free an old lunchbox covered in stickers and a few stray dust bunnies.

"Yeah I'm not so big on shopping either, but hey it means you can get more t-shirts." I pointed out as Wasp sat back and started brushing the coating of grim from the top of the lunchbox carefully as if she were uncovering some ancient piece of artwork. She glanced up at me and grinned slightly.

"That's true. I had a pretty good collection of band shirts you know, I always bought one after a show. Suppose I'll have to start over again... that's okay though 'cause I like to collect things. Hey what's in this thing? Is it a treasure chest?"

"You can open it if you want, I think it's just some junk I used to think was cool. You know, kid stuff." I said, opening up another drawer. Wasp repeated 'kid stuff' to herself with a small nod and popped the latch on the lunchbox open, looking inside with the utmost of fascination. She took out the objects one by one and looked each one over meticulously as if she were trying to learn the ways of some long dead civilization based on what she could find in my old lunchbox. She neatly stacked a collection of trading cards that, having been deemed the best of the best by yours truly, had been stashed away in the box to make sure they stayed in mint condition and were never accidently traded away. A special issue, limited edition of one of my all time favourite comic books was unearthed as well as a handful of small stones that Roo and Varan had painted to look like frogs and given me as get well presents when I'd had pneumonia. Wasp seemed especially interested in those, arranging them in some sort of order that I didn't quite understand but seemed to please her anyways. A few odd photos, a miniature model skimmer, a tiny box with one of my baby teeth inside and an old brass key I'd found one day but had never learned what it opened were all laid out on the floor before her before she began slowly touching each object with her fingertip as if counting it all, completely enthralled. She was just getting back to the stone frogs when suddenly her left ear twitched and trained itself on my closet.

"Oh, here we go!" I said, unearthing a t-shirt with a dark green dragon painted across the front. "This might work, was always kinda big on me back in the day... Wasp?"

I'd turned to find she'd abandoned the lunchbox and its contents and glanced around my room, wondering where she'd gone. Just then my soccer ball rolled out of my closet, which she'd opened without my noticing, followed shortly by Wasp herself, who was clutching something fluffy in her hands.

"Who's this?" She asked, her eyes sparkling with fascination as she held out the stuffed animal in question.

I felt my cheeks start to get hot. "Oh, that's, um, Snarg."

"Snarg." Wasp repeated, nodding as if this made sense to her, cradling the worn out puppy against her chest. Poor thing had been through hell with me as a kid, I used to take him everywhere with me. His stuffing was out of shape and deflated and his lining of fake fur was flattened and matted together from so much handling. I figured he'd welcomed his retirement in my closet.

Wasp seemed completely captivated by the roughed up old thing. "Fli used to have all sorts of stuffed animals." She reported almost dreamily. "I really like this one. Where'd you get her?"

"Oh, Mom got him for me when I had chicken pox." I explained, relaxing slightly when I realized she wasn't about to start teasing me. Stork and Angel pretty much had me trained to prepare for a full onslaught of torment when it came to anything they deemed dorky.

Wasp smiled crookedly. "You must have spent a lot of time with her as a kid."

I grinned a bit. "Well, Mom wouldn't get me a real puppy, so... wait a second. Did you just call Snarg _her_?"

"Yeah, her."

I shook my head. "No no no. Snarg's a dude, Wasp."

Wasp giggled. "No she's not, she's a she."

"Hey, he's mine, I get to decide what gender he is." I said, folding my arms defiantly. "It's in the rules."

Wasp was still laughing softly, shaking her head and pushing her nose into Snarg's plushy body. "She's a girl." She insisted. "She's got a girl's voice."

I froze, my stomach churning uneasily. "Um... what?"

Wasp nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's definitely a girl's voice. Don't worry though, she's not mad or anything. In fact she really missed you; she was calling out to you from the closet."

I swallowed as all the old, unnerving feelings I used to get around Wasp started to swarm back into my chest. "Wasp, honey, listen, I think maybe you should put Snarg back now, okay? Please?"

Wasp hugged Snarg to her chest and backed away from me. "She doesn't want to go back in there." she argued. "She likes it out here. She misses being cuddled."

I chewed on my tongue, trying to keep my discomfort under control. After all Wasp had recounted the Prophecy to us from a voice inside her head and despite the bloody episode that had ensued I'd believed every word she said. And I'd seen her listening to that dragon figurine of hers as it told her things none of the rest of us could hear and I'd taken that in stride. It was just a whole new level of eerie when it was one of my old stuffed animals that she could apparently hear now too.

Wasp, in that innate way of hers, must have picked up on my sudden distress. "...I'm scaring you, aren't I?" she said bluntly.

"No, no, it's just... well I can't hear anything so it's sort of... weird, for me." I strung out awkwardly, not even having to lie.

"Oh..." Wasp looked at Snarg, sucking on her lip ring absently before holding her out to me. "Here, she wants to see you. She says you really loved her." She said and my cheeks flushed again as I accepted the stuffed puppy from her.

"...Hey Snarg." I muttered, taking in her shiny little button eyes. "So you can talk too now, huh?" God this had to be one of the most uncomfortable situations I'd ever been in, right up there with the time I'd had to haul an inebriated Fraggle out of a women's bathroom.

"She says hi. She wonders where you've been for so long." Wasp said.

"Oh, you know, here and there."

"Chasing your nightmares. She remembers those. She says she used to sleep with you to try and keep them away." Wasp went on with a smile and my face burned all the way to my ears.

"Would you kindly ask Snarg to keep certain things a little more private, please?" I asked weakly.

"Oh she can hear you, but she knows you can't hear her, that's why she asked me to say it for her." Wasp explained, then scrutinized my face and frowned. "You're not happy to see her, are you?" she asked, sounding accusing and upset, like it was an old friend I was standing here with and not a stuffed animal. I felt those little button eyes boring into me and suddenly felt an absurd surge of guilt shoot through my chest. Yes she was an inanimate object and no it didn't make me question Wasp's sanity any less to have her giving me messages from said object, but Snarg had always been special to me and if Wasp could really hear her... well... shit, I didn't want to hurt her feelings or anything.

I cleared my throat. "No, I'm happy to see her. She was my favourite thing in the world when I was little." I said honestly.

Wasp looked at Snarg and smiled once again. "That made her really happy. She says you're her favourite person in the world."

I managed to grin slightly. "Hey, tell you what Wasp, since I can't hear her why don't you keep Snarg with you? That way I'll always be around her and she won't have to go back in the closet. Maybe she'll get along with Shadowfax."

Wasp's eyes grew wide. "But she's yours!"

"Yes I know, I'm not giving her away or anything, we can share her. You'll probably be better at looking after her then I was anyways." I said, holding Snarg out to her. "What do you think?"

Wasp scanned my face for a moment before looking at Snarg. She seemed to listen to the voice I couldn't hear before nodding. "Okay, it's a deal. Snarg likes the idea too, but she wants you to still come and visit her and keep her with you sometimes."

Oh lordy... "Yeah, of course I will."

Wasp seemed content with this and took Snarg from me, opening her jacket and sticking her in one of the inside pockets, leaving her head and paws sticking out. "There. A special place for Snarg." She said and I nodded my approval while trying to think of how I could get Wasp out of my room before anymore of my childhood toys started talking to her.

Luckily Mom saved me from any further awkward situations. Leaning through my open doorway her eyes roamed over my already messy room disapprovingly before landing on the two of us. "I don't know about you two but I'm tired. I forgot how much energy young people take out of me."

"I think you're just getting old." I teased and she narrowed her eyes at me dangerously.

"You, my dear, best watch your mouth, because there are several little projects that need doing around here and due to my _old_ _age_ I've been thinking about enlisting someone much younger for the tasks." She warned and I fought to keep the grin off my face. I knew I'd end up doing those odd jobs either way, so I might as well get a few little wise ass comments out of it.

"Duly noted."

"Anyways since I'm feeling so _aged_ and _frail_ I'm heading to bed." Mom continued. "Are you two staying up?"

I stretched, glancing at my bed absently. It must have been the lack of stress or something but recently I'd gotten into the habit of sleeping much more than I used to and to be honest I liked it. I was feeling kinda tired by now too after ambling around the terra all day. "I think I'm gonna call it a night, guess I'm getting old too." I said and Mom swatted me, but she couldn't keep the grin entirely off her face. "Unless you wanted to do anything else, Wasp?" I added on an afterthought, turning back to her.

"Nah that's okay, I think I'm going to start one of my new books." Wasp assured me. I'd shown her around town this afternoon and after noticing her staring longingly into the window of a bookstore I'd managed to coax her into letting me buy some books for her.

"Okay well goodnight then, Wasp. And hey if Angel gets back sometime tonight tackle him or something for sneaking off like that, would you?" I added, passing her the shirt I'd found. She grinned deviously and saluted me on her way out.

"Goodnight honey." Mom called after her and then turned to look at me, hands on her hips. "You know you have an amazing ability to make any room you stay in for more then ten minutes look like a bomb hit it." She informed me and I glanced around my room, feeling snubbed.

"It's not that bad." I argued, insulted. I mean I wasn't perfect but I was a lot tidier than someone like, oh, say, Fraggle.

Mom smiled and ruffled my hair to show she was just teasing, although I knew she'd make sure this place was spotless again before I left. "I have something for you." She said, dropping her displeased attitude and I perked up curiously.

"Oh?"

Mom made a sighing noise as if she were still debating on whether she should actually give whatever it was to me before apparently making up her mind and pulling a folded sheet of paper out of her pocket, holding it out to me before she could think better of it. "This is yours." She said as I took the paper hesitantly. "You're father wrote it for you, before he died. I think you're old enough to read it now."

I stared at the aged piece of paper in my hand and then looked back up at her, suddenly feeling very nervous. "You really think so?" I asked as if I were a little kid again and needed her reassurance.

She nodded. "I really think so. But you don't have to read it right now if you don't want to." She added, taking in my sudden apprehension. "I just think you should have it, for whenever you decide you're ready to see what it says." She stepped forward and kissed my forehead while I stared down at the letter dumbly. "Goodnight, Falshade."

"'Night, Mom." I muttered as she turned and left, closing the door behind her. I sank slowly onto my mattress, turning the folded piece of paper over in my hands and swallowing down the lump that was lodged in my throat. I'd always know this letter had existed; I'd thought about it that night we'd decided the nine of us were going to storm Cyclonia, and I'd thought about it before that too, I used to wonder about it when I was little, what words my father might have left for me. But now that I actually had it in my hands, those secret words from someone long dead, I started to think that maybe I just wanted to keep on wondering. I was afraid to see what he'd written for me. All my life I'd built an image of my dad in my head, what he would have looked and acted like, how he would have spoken and smelled. But that's all I'd had, an image, something pieced together from photographs and the stories others had told me about him. I was scared to see something real, something that had come directly from him, something that would make him actually connected to me, because then the loss too would become all the more real and I was afraid of being sucked into the same kind of grief my mom dealt with every day since he'd been torn away from us. There was a difference between missing someone because you'd never known them and missing someone because you _did_ know them and I wasn't sure if I was prepared to change sides.

I sat there for a long time, staring at the folded letter and mulling everything over, trying to figure out what I felt and how that could change, trying to find the courage to open the letter. In the end though I decided that my dad had written that letter for me because he wanted me to have something, some personal little piece of him that was meant just for me. And I wanted to have that piece of him. If he could really watch over me from time to time like the Oracle and Aerrow said, then I wanted him to know I knew what he'd said.

So with trembling fingers I carefully unfolded the letter and for once my dyslexia didn't hinder me, as if whatever part of my brain was responsible for my reading difficulties knew these words were precious and didn't muddle them. I was able to read the whole thing without any trouble, the first and only thing my dad ever said to me:

_Dear Son,_

_I'd like to start off by saying I hope you never have to read this. Because if you do it means I never got the chance to meet you, and that thought alone makes me want to lay down my sword and go home. I want to meet you more than anything in the world; I already love you and you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. _

_But if you are reading this letter then that means I never got that chance and I hope you can understand why. Nothing I can say can justify growing up without a father, but I want to at least try and explain. My friends need me and I can't let them face this war alone, but it's more than that. When you're born I want it to be into a world that is happy and peaceful, I want you to be able to grow up in a world that is full of laughter and love. I don't want you to grow up with chaos and tragedy looming over you and if by playing my part I can help this war come to an end then I'm going to do whatever it takes. I don't want you to have to see this ugliness and misery. You deserve better than that. So if you're reading this letter I hope you can understand why I didn't come home and stay with you and your mother, even though right now that's what I want more than anything else. I hope you can understand, and forgive me for having to read all of this instead of having me tell it to you in person._

_I don't even have words for how incredible and special you are to me. I desperately hope I'll be able to watch you grow up, because I know you are going to be something amazing. Hell, you already are amazing. It's hard for me to believe something so beautiful and brilliant and golden came from me, honestly. You probably get it all from your mother. I just know every moment of your life is going to be extraordinary and if you're reading this, son, then I'm sorry I've missed it. I want nothing more than to be there to witness every second of it, because I know you are going to be something great, not just when you grow up but for your whole life. Whatever you chose to be and become, I just want you to know that I will always be proud of you, son. Always. Please don't ever think you have to follow in my footsteps for me to be proud of you. Whatever you do, wherever your life takes you, you do what's in your heart. Do what you think is right, fight for what you believe in, cherish those you love, have adventures and never let anyone stand in the way of who you want to be and what you want to do. Live by what you feel inside and I will always be proud. And I will always love you. With every inch of my being, I love you._

_Your old man,_

_Falco _

I'll be completely honest, I started crying pretty hard after finishing. I pushed the letter away so I wouldn't get it wet but I kept it close enough that I could still see it, reading it over and over again through blurry eyes until I knew every word by heart. I imagined how hard it must have been for my dad to write all of that, to swallow the grim fact that he might not ever get to meet me and get it all his feelings down on paper anyways. That had taken more bravery then I could ever hope to possess. And god, I loved him too. I'd always loved my dad, even though I'd never met him either, but I started loving him more right then than I ever had before, so much that it hurt. I don't think I'd ever wished he was still around more than I did right then, now that I felt like I finally had met him, even if it was through a letter that had been written nearly eighteen years ago. I'd changed sides and I missed him so badly it made my entire body ache. But it wasn't completely a bad feeling, because despite the tears that were rolling down and soaking into my jeans I was smiling.

I don't know how long it took but eventually I calmed down and wiped at my face with my sleeve. I read my dad's letter over one more time before glancing at the lunchbox Wasp had left lying open on my floor and, after replacing all the other little things that I'd treasured so much as a kid, I placed the letter on top and closed the lid. I knew that lunchbox was going to be coming with me and would probably live under my bed wherever our new home may be. I guess Wasp was right; that silly little stickered lunchbox was my own personal treasure chest.

I wasn't exactly sure how I was feeling, too many bittersweet emotions tumbling through my chest to decide on just one, but I knew I didn't want to just lie here by myself and go to sleep. So, following an urge that had led me there so many times before when I was kid, I left my room and stumbled along down the hallway, my entire body feeling shaky and brittle like I was on a bad sugar crash, to my mom's room. She was still awake, sitting on her bed with the lamp on, reading a book. She looked up at me as I pushed the door open, her surprise turning to concern when she took in my face; I guess I must have looked like a bit of a mess. Without saying anything I moved over to the empty side of her bed and flopped down on my stomach, crushing my cast underneath me and not really caring.

Mom made a soft humming sound and stroked my hair comfortingly. I sighed and glanced up at her. "Am I too old to be doing this?" I asked honestly.

Mom smiled. "I don't think so."

"Good." I said, pushing my face into an extra pillow; she had like, six of them on her bed and I'd never understood why. I figured it must have been a girl thing. I laid there for a long time while Mom rubbed my back like she used to do when I was little and would crawl in beside her after one of my nightmares. I'd kinda missed it really, the more childish part of myself still felt soothed by it. I thought back to when I was nine and had tried to get out the habit of coming to my mom's room for comfort and had to shake my head at my younger self, wondering why I'd been so eager to put an end to such a thing.

"How did Dad know I was going to be a boy?" I asked after awhile. Man it had been ages since I'd last asked anything about him; it made my stomach tighten a little just to use the word, although it wasn't in a bad way. "I thought you always said you wanted it to be a surprise."

"I did, although your father insisted on ruining that for me." Mom said and I moved my face from the pillow so I could look up at her again. Despite the slightly scornful tone of her voice she had a small smile on her face and I felt relieved. "He used to see things in his dreams too." She informed me and I blinked in surprise, never having known that. "Nothing as terrible as you did of course, just little things, but they always came true. He knew Willow was going to have twins before she even did." Mom's smile grew as she thought back on it, closing her book and setting it on the bedside table. "I remember one day I was making a list of names, I had a sheet of paper and on one half of it I'd written boys' names and girls' names on the other. And your father came up behind me, read over what I had and said 'there's no point in thinking of girls' names. It's going to be a boy'." I grinned as Mom rolled her eyes at the memory. "I asked him how he was so sure and he said he'd dreamed of having a son and after that he wouldn't budge on the subject. I even asked him to just humour me and help me pick a girl's name just in case he was wrong but he shook his head and said 'Caspia you can decide on any girl's name you want and I won't argue with it, but you're not going to be using it. Maybe next time'."

I laughed, although I felt a small twinge of pain in my heart, wondering absently if Mom had wanted a bigger family, if she'd have liked the option of having a daughter one day too. This concern must have shown on my face because Mom grinned and flicked my forehead. "Don't worry, I think you're just about as much as I can handle. Besides I look at the pack of wonderful monsters Willow and Rayvin have and consider myself lucky I only have to deal with one." She teased and I made a face at her. Then she paused and seemed to think about something. "Although I suppose I've saddled myself with two now, haven't I?" she mused and I smiled, nodding.

"Yes and quite a monster that one is indeed." I added and Mom dug her knuckles into my scalp playfully. I swatted her away and shifted, rolling onto my side because my cast was staring to bruise my ribs. "Did you ever read the letter?" I asked abruptly. I wouldn't care if she had, I just wanted to know.

"No." Mom said. "I figured it was something that should just stay between the two of you. He did tell me about it though. He said he felt like it was important he leave you something, just in case..." Mom trailed off, her eyes losing some of their sparkle and my throat seized up. "I remember the look he'd get in his eyes whenever he was around Rayvin's boys. I knew he wanted children of his own for a long time. From the day I told him I was pregnant you were all that was on his mind. God was he ever crazy about you... " She sighed, brushing her hair back from her face before looking at me seriously. "I'm sorry you never got to meet him, Falshade." She said quietly.

I rested my head against her pillow again, feeling sore inside. Yes, I was sorry for that too. I knew my dad had been a great guy and I felt like I'd missed out on something special for not having known him. But at least I had all the stories about him, collected over the years from my mom and the Beast Keepers. And now I had his letter too.

I thought about my poor mom then, about how she'd lost the person she'd loved most and how I was sorry for that, too. Looking up at her again I asked her something I'd never asked her before. "Does it still hurt, to think about him?"

Mom looked at me as if she was a little taken aback but thought about it anyways. "Yes. But not as much as it used to." She said earnestly after a few moments. "I mean it still makes me sad but I think I've reached a point now where it makes me happy too. Now whenever I think about him I can smile instead of cry."

I felt both intense admiration and overwhelming sorrow for my brave-hearted mom right then. Despite the fact that her husband had been torn away from her she still managed to hold her chin high and embrace the light, cherishing and caring for everyone she loved. I don't know if I'd ever be able to recover like that from such a tragedy, and I hoped I'd never have to find out either.

Mom must have heard my thoughts or something because she swept my bangs out of my face and looked at me seriously. "I'll tell you something, Falshade. There are very few things that are more rewarding than loving someone, whether they're your friends or family or that one person you want to spend the rest of your life with. But it's also a very frightening thing when you realize that you wouldn't feel fully complete inside if something happened to them. It's a terrible feeling and when you do lose someone who you loved with all your heart it shatters you, it's devastating and I'm still not sure if it's something you ever fully recover from." She said all of that with a distinct ache in her voice and it made me sad right to the very core of my heart. But then she managed a very small smile and added "But you know, I wouldn't take back any of the time I spent with your father if it meant I could make the hurt go away. Not a single second. Because even if all you have left of a person is memories, at least you still have the memories. And concerning Falco, I have nothing but good ones."

I smiled, because although her words made me feel sad they also made me feel comforted somewhere deep down, some of those bittersweet words of wisdom that help you get through when everything else has gone hopelessly wrong. "It's better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all." I concurred and Mom nodded, stroking my hair again.

"Exactly. I guess I'm just trying to tell you that although loving someone can bring about just as many bad feelings as good, you shouldn't ever be afraid to love someone." She said and I cocked my head slightly.

"Are you trying to teach me some sort of life lesson here or something?" I asked, only half-joking.

Mom gave me one of those infamous Mom smiles that made it all the way to her crystal blue eyes. "No. I think you've already learned that one well enough."

**x.x.x. Angel x.x.x**

I'd forgotten over the years how hot the desert was.

It was like Saharr was somehow closer to the sun then some of the other terras I'd been too, so close that the relentless stream of unbroken sunlight had bleached the stone so completely that the heat had sunk right into the structure of the terra itself, the sand composed of little granules of solidified solar heat.

Those grains of sand were rubbing against my skin now as I strode across the scorched landscape, scraping against my bare skin as the short blasts of hot wind kicked the loose sand a short distance and left it there in a new heap. I must have been gone longer then I felt like I had because the gritty gusts of wind stung slightly and the heat was a little more intense then I remembered it, but I relished in it anyways, soaking up the pure, untempered rays because I felt like it had been too long since I'd basked in the sun.

Most of Saharr is pretty barren, devoid of vegetation aside from tufts of harsh stalks of grass and the occasionally cactus here and there. For the most part its rock, dunes and the occasional cluster of homes with windows boarded up against the sand storms. I was headed for the only place on the entire terra where fresh, green grass grew all year long and I wasn't very eager to get there let me assure you. With every step I felt the insistent urge to turn back and leave, as this had always been the easiest course of action and it didn't risk bringing back so many desperately repressed feelings. But I kept on going stubbornly anyways, legs working on their own accord and ignoring all the frantic messages my brain was sending them to turn around and run.

I was distracted from the wave of memories that kept tumbling loose from the hidden corners of my mind when I saw a sidewinder making its diagonal way across the loose sand, leaving a winding trail behind it. It stopped and coiled defensively when I passed by, faking a strike at me but I simply ignored it, knowing that vipers tended to bluff when they weren't really being threatened to preserve their precious venom for when they might actually need it. Plus I've been bitten by those buggers more times than I could count on both hands and by now I was pretty much immune to the venom, so I wasn't concerned. A moment later it unwound itself and continued on its uneven course, looking for somewhere to bury itself in the finer sand and wait for an unsuspecting mouse to pass by. I watched it go and could just imagine how fascinated Wasp would be by such a creature, mimicking its strange way of moving. I knew it wasn't nearly as lush and green as the jungle but I figured she'd like it here too, especially after she saw some of the wildlife that called the harsh environment home. She'd love the burrowing owls; I could imagine her lying on her belly all day long, facing the mouth of one of their burrows and chatting away to them, mimicking their large, staring eyes. I'd used to do the same thing for hours as a kid. I'd have to bring her here one day, under better circumstances.

Not today though. Today I needed to be on my own.

Thinking of Wasp gave me fresh strength though and I made it the last leg of distance towards my destination without losing my nerve and turning back. I took pride in that; it was more than I'd ever managed in the past.

The cemetery on Saharr was rather small, as the terra's population wasn't very large to begin with and most people decided to be buried elsewhere when they died, away from what they deemed such a desolate place. The small cluster of headstones that were here sat upon a thick layer of emerald green grass, which was watered three times a day and sprayed constantly with fertilizer to keep it healthy. I, frankly, thought it was a waste of water, being too precious a resource in the desert to be wasted on the dead. I knew that without the grass the sand would eventually blow away and expose the coffins that lay beneath as if they were fossils from some other point in time, but still, three times a day? Come on. I'd never understood what the big deal was with spending so much effort keeping graveyards preened and groomed. I mean if someone you loved passed away then cherishing and honouring their memory was important sure. But spending all the time and money just on upkeep for their tombstone? It seemed dumb to me. Why not give it to the people who were still living?

My boot sank into the spongy layer of grass and a shiver rolled down my spine despite the immense heat. Such lushness was foreign and strange in the desert for one thing and this grass seemed almost too healthy, too verdant. It seemed disturbing that it should flourish so well in a place of death and I got the uneasy feeling that it was trying to suck me glutinously into the earth alongside the buried caskets. Cemeteries had always given me the creeps, knowing the dead were resting right beneath my feet and I had to fight with myself for a few moments, wanting nothing more than to turn tail and flee into the comforting arms of the parched desert.

But I swallowed down that urge and ploughed forward across the carpet of grass, hands clenching and unclenching uneasily at my sides. I was sick of running and besides, I'd told myself I wasn't going back to Vatican until this was finished, so I might as well get it over with now, while I was here and still had some shreds of determination left.

My mother's tombstone was located at the back of the cemetery and it seemed to take me an agonizingly long time to get there, apprehension and nausea coursing through me every step closer I got. But after what seemed like a lifetime I was standing in front of it again. I hadn't stood in this spot since the day of her funeral almost ten years ago now. It seemed like such a long time ago and at the same time it could have been yesterday for all the heart wrenching memories that rushed over me like black water and my heart started to beat so quickly it hurt. I glanced around absently, checking to see if anyone else was here before looking back at the pale grey stone and read over the name that was etched there. _Pegasus Thaenshar_. There was something there that mentioned her service to the Atmos, honourable and courageous soldier blah blah blah. That was it. Nothing like _beloved wife_, because she'd never been married. Nothing like _beloved mother_ either, and for that I was grateful. Honouring people's memories was one thing. Lying was quite another.

I blew out a long, shaky sigh and tried to steel myself, searching for some sorely needed bravery. Every fibre of my being was opposed to being here and I was seriously starting to doubt ever having thought it was a good idea. But I knew _why_ I was here and I knew it was important and I clung to that, reminding myself of all the things that had happened since I'd last stood here, all the shit I'd put myself through, my time in Cyclonia and all the nights I'd been plagued and robbed of sleep because of all of this. I thought about Caspia and Falshade and Wasp and how much I admired them and it set my resolve better than anything. Glancing around again to make sure I was alone I then cleared my throat and attempted to start.

"Hey Mom." I muttered, hands deep in my pockets to try and keep my arms from shaking. "Long time no see, huh?"

I shoved back the thought of how stupid this seemed, to be talking to a fucking headstone for god's sake and tried to put aside my pessimistic beliefs about spirits and the afterlife and whatever just for now. I didn't really care too much about what happened or where we went after we died and I still had a hard time believing that our spirits visited this plane of existence after they left their bodies behind, no matter what the Oracle had said. But on the off chance I was wrong and that maybe they did come back once and awhile I figured they had to have anchors to allow them passage between this world and whatever other ones existed. Rainer said he came to see Wasp sometimes through Shadowfax so maybe there were things like portals that allowed them to look into the world of the living every now and then, if I pretended I believed in that stuff. Which, right now, I had to. So maybe headstones were sort of like transistors, things could be heard through them by the people they belonged to. Maybe that was why people made such a big deal about looking after them even when their namesakes were cold and six feet under the ground by then.

Or maybe I just made myself think all of that because it was more credible then simply talking to thin air.

I shook my hair out of my eyes, trying to grasp something from the spinning ball of tangled, bloody emotions that were roiling in my chest. "Look... I dunno if you can hear me or not. But I came to tell you that I'm... I'm letting you off the hook, Mom. I'm letting it all go."

Then, suddenly, as if I'd opened the floodgate words were staring to come out in an unstoppable reel, like my body was trying to purge itself of toxins that had been festering too long deep down, as if they'd been waiting all this time to finally have the chance to get out. And once they started coming up there was no stopping them. "The Oracle told me that wherever you are now you feel regret for how you were when I was younger, for what you did. And... well I don't want you to feel that way. It's time we just let all of this go. I just... I can't do it anymore. It'll kill me if I do. It almost destroyed me once and it's not worth it. Because I've got people now, I've got friends and I have family and I love them but until I let this all go I'm never going to be able to live my life properly with them. I'm just going to end up like you. And I hate that thought." I hadn't wanted to get angry, but suddenly I was and I wasn't holding it back. If I was going to do this then I had to say all of it, no more letting it all rot in the back of my mind. "I hate you, Mom, for what you did, for what you became. I hate that you couldn't just look at what you still had and try, at least fucking _try_, to fix yourself. Because I..." My voice cracked and was choked off briefly. I could feel tears blazing hot little lines down my face and did nothing to stop them. "I loved you, Mommy. I _loved_ you and you... you abandoned me. You abandoned me and you abandoned Caspia and you abandoned yourself. You just gave up and died because you were weak and stupid and cowardly and you just couldn't see what you had, that you had people who still loved you and wanted to help you. You just turned your back on everything. You destroyed yourself. But I'm not letting it destroy me. That's how me and you are different. It was a long time coming but I realized I've got things worth living for, worth moving on and forgetting about him and what he did to us. I've got my whole life ahead of me and I'm not just going to give up on it like that. No fucking way. So..." I trailed off, feeling the rush of intensity and delirium that had seized me ebbing off. I wrapped my arms around my chest, realizing I was shaking violently like an animal in shock, shedding off trauma. My voice was hoarse when I spoke up again, hoarse but steady. "So I'm just letting it all go, Mom. I'm forgiving you for everything. I don't want to feel bad anymore and I don't want you to feel bad either. So I'm letting go of the grudges and the hurt and the sorrow. I don't miss you, but I don't want to hate you anymore either. I'm sick of feeling this way all the time. It's fucked up my life long enough and I'm putting it to an end. It just needs to be over at last. Someone very wise told me you've got to hold on to the things that matter to you. But sometimes you've got to let go of some of them too. So that's what I doing, Mom. I'm letting you go."

I felt something splash onto my arm and glanced up, wondering if it had started raining. But the sky was as devoid of clouds as it had ever been, the sun beating down relentlessly and I realized my tears had made it all the way down to my chin and now were dripping off in a steady little rhythm. I wiped at my face absently but I didn't make myself stop crying; they weren't really sad tears anyways when I thought about it. My chest was aching fiercely and my stomach was one big twisted knot but other than that I didn't really feel so bad inside. Rather I felt like something huge had finally been lifted from my shoulders, like there had been a splinter festering away deep down inside of me and now it was finally gone, the infection slowly weeping away. I felt relief, a feeling of peace and freedom I'd never felt before sweeping through me and just like the harsh rays of the sun I revelled in it, letting the heat soak through my body and dry the tears from my face.

I breathed in and out deeply for a moment before looking back at my mother's headstone again, knowing this would probably be the last time I ever laid eyes on it. That thought didn't bother me at all. I cleared my throat and bent down so that if she were there, I'd be speaking right into her ear. "Rest in peace, Mom." I murmured, pulling something from my pocket and placing it at the base of her headstone. I stared at it for a moment longer before straightening up and turning around, making my long, slow way back into the desert, my homeland.

And yeah, I knew the sun would probably melt it within minutes and that it might have been a lost gesture, but somehow a chocolate bar seemed more personal than flowers to me. After all, like my eyes and my proneness to insomnia, I must have gotten my love of chocolate from someone.

And despite all the other things that were tumbling without restraint through my mind, one thing was sticking out from all the others, burning with as much certainty and promise as the hot desert sun:

Things... things were gonna be okay now.

**x.x.x Varan x.x.x**

I didn't realize how much I'd missed Vatican until I was limping my way down its streets and received smiles and warm gestures from everyone I passed instead of the usual quick head turn or dirty look. I'd gotten used to the looks and the comments over the years I'd spent beyond Vatican's borders and I understood where they were coming from, but sometimes they still hurt my feelings. It was just so... nice to see those friendly expressions again. It made me feel warm inside and one day I hoped other Terradons would see those same expressions and be able to return them and feel how I felt and then maybe we'd all understand each other and things... things would get better, at last.

Maybe it was these kind, non-judgemental looks, or the optimism I still carried after my trip to Bogatri, but something was giving me the courage to go through with what I was doing as I made my clumsy way down the street, occasionally catching one of my crutches in the gaps between the cobblestones. Damn things were almost more troublesome than my injured leg...

However the problem was I kept being stopped on my way by people who wanted to thank me or congratulate me or tell me how much they admired me, or something. It wasn't that it annoyed me, although of course I'd never be able to take compliments well and it did unnerve me, but with every interruption I felt a little of my determination slide, all the words I'd been trying to set in order falling out of place again. So needless to say by the time I made it to Roo's house I was a bit of a mess, my intentions and will to go through with them fighting with my raging nerves and it was making me feel sort of queasy. It took me three times before I worked up enough bravery to knock on the door and I couldn't help but feel like my fate had been sealed; there was no turning back now, any chance of escape thwarted by my damn crutches.

It was Roo's mother Willow who opened the door and I couldn't tell if this made me feel relieved or not. Her eyes grew wide and her full lips twisted into a smile. "Varan!" she exclaimed, sounding both surprised and delighted. "My goodness we haven't seen you around here in ages! Would you like to come in?" Then she noticed my bad leg and her smile slipped a notch. "Oh gosh, do you want to sit down?"

"No I'm alright Willow, thanks." I assured her, hopping into the space she made for me in the hall. "I was actually wondering if, um, Sparrow was home?"

Willow's mouth twitched into a charming, cunning little smile that she was famous for and I felt my face heat up, feeling as if she knew what my intentions were. "Yes she's up in her room, one second." She said, moving off down the hallway and calling for Roo. I glanced distractedly at the wall, taking in the row of family photographs that hung there, Roo and her three brothers in various stages throughout their childhood. My favourite had to be the one with all four children gathered together in the backyard, Roo front and center with pigtails in her hair and smiling so widely her whole face was squinched up, both of her front baby teeth missing.

Suddenly from upstairs I heard a muffled scream and then thundering feet coming down the stairs and out of instinct I flinched, my stomach knotting tightly. "You're serious? He's really here?" Roo was shouting before she entered the hallway and screamed again. "VARAN!" she shrieked like I was her favourite rock star or something and I braced for impact. She must have noticed my bad leg, or maybe Willow had warned her, and I think she restrained from actually pouncing on me but she still threw herself at me rather hard and I staggered a bit as she wrapped her arms around my chest. I swallowed uncertainly but let go of one of my crutches to hug her back, happy to see her.

She let go of me after a moment and stood in front of me, bouncing slightly. "Oh my god you're really here, yay! Hi! How are you? What's up with your leg? How long you been back? I heard about the Terradons, that's so fantastic! Everyone's calling you like, a big hero, what's up with that?" She demanded in rapid succession and I was rendered speechless for a few moments, trying to sort out all that she'd said.

"Uh..."

She shook her head as if snapping out of a moment of madness. "Jeez, I'm sorry here I am giving you the third degree. I'm just so happy to see you." She smiled widely at me and my heart skipped a little. "What I _meant_ was how are you?"

"I'm alright." I said, feeling nervous all over again. "How about you? Your hair's changed colour again I note." I added and she grinned, twirling a lock around her fingers.

"I know right? I gotta say I like this one best so far." She said and I had to agree with her. I hadn't thought the orange looked bad or anything but I liked this hue a lot better; it was vibrant purple in colour now, similar to the shade of Falshade's eyes and glossy as if electrically charged. She'd lost the headband for today, her hair parted at the side of her head in a weaved sort of pattern and flared at the bottom. It looked really nice and I had a sudden, insane urge to run my fingers through it. I gripped tightly at my crutches instead, swallowing again. Good lord when had she gotten to be so beautiful and why in hell hadn't I noticed before? My eyes kept roaming over her without my permission and it was making me all the more uneasy.

"Varan? You okay?"

"Yes." I said quickly, snapping out of it and trying to remember what I'd wanted to say. Oh Jesus... "I like it like that too. Your hair I mean." I strung out disjointedly, feeling more uncomfortable by the second. Shit, what had I been thinking coming over here? I should have just stayed at home.

Roo smiled so widely I was reminded of the photo of her younger self. "Really?"

"Y-yeah. Well I mean I like your real colour too, but, uh..." '_Shut up, Varan!' _I told myself and cleared my throat, reminding myself of the original reason for dragging my sorry self here. "Hey, are you busy?"

"Hmm let me see..." Roo looked around thoughtfully and then pretended to glance at an invisible wrist watch. "Nope."

"Good. Um... look do you want to come take a walk with me... or something?" I asked clumsily and wanted nothing more than to club myself in the head with something.

"...Is walking a good idea, with your leg the way it is?" She asked me uncertainly and I berated myself for not thinking of that.

"Oh probably not." I muttered, thinking about how much of an idiot I'd probably look like hobbling along on my damn crutches. "But do you want to come anyways?"

She smiled again; actually she hadn't stopped smiling the whole time but her smile seemed to get even bigger and it made my heart start beating faster. "Yeah, of course! Man I've been hoping every day you'd stop by, you kidding me?" She asked as she pulled on a pair of electric blue high-tops and I wondered absently how many pairs she owned. "Going out, Mom!" she hollered before skipping out the door, me following more slowly. She bounced around on the curb for a few moments like she was on a sugar rush before she calmed down a little, walking beside me as I limped along, not exactly sure where I was going.

"So how are you?" I asked awkwardly after a few very long moments of silence. "How have you been during... well, everything?"

"I'm pretty good." She said cheerfully. "I mean things have been absolutely bat-shit around here lately but I've been alright. Was worried about Dad of course, and about you and Shade. I've been checking the death reports every day since shit hit the fan, scared out of my mind that you guys might be on them."

I looked at her as her voice wavered slightly. "I'm sorry." I said remorsefully. "Mom said the same thing and I felt so stupid, I should have tried to contact you or something-"

Roo held up a hand. "Dude it's totally fine, you guys were busy, I understand. I just worried, you know? It sucked being stranded here with no idea what was going on. Everyone was worried we'd be attacked next or something. You know now that you're back I might get you to teach me some of those fancy sword moves or something, just so I know if I have to I can whoop ass."

I grinned a little too, although I still felt bad for having worried her. "Maybe you should ask Shade instead, he's a little more advanced in the whoop-ass department than me."

Roo snorted. "Psh, yeah right, and you got all those muscles doing dishes." She scoffed, running her hand over my upper arm and then giving me a sly look, cocking her eyebrow suggestively. "Which, may I add, give you some serious brownie points in the swimsuit division."

I felt heat rush to my face and I stumbled slightly, missing a step. Roo bit her lip, trying to hold back her laughter for my sake. "Jeez you just can't take a compliment, can you?" she asked and I shook my head, completely tongue tied. I had to scissor my mouth a few times before any words came out and she waited patiently.

"What about your family, are they all okay?" I asked, trying to change the subject and she nodded.

"Oh yeah, everyone's fine. The boys all went to try and help out on the front. Thane ended up joining the reserve teams and poor Mom was hysterical about it. I think she was even more worried about him than Dad, because well at least Dad has what, fifty years of experience with that sorta thing, right?"

I laughed. "Oh come on your dad doesn't look that old."

"Well he _seems_ old." Roo insisted, grinning. "Griffin joined in too, escorting the cargo cruisers and he saw a bit of action but he says nothing too serious. And then Beau, well he's been in school to be a doctor, right? So he joined the emergency teams as a field medic, got some serious hand's on training and I guess because he did such a good job, considering how young he is and all, the school board is gonna grant him full tuition for the rest of his time in school, which I thought was pretty sweet."

"Wow." I said appreciatively. "That's great for him. And all three of them are okay?"

Roo nodded. "Oh yeah, none of them got hurt or anything. Beau was a little shaken up though, shell shocked I guess? He saw some pretty nasty stuff." I grimaced in sympathy, understanding Beau's trauma all too well. "He's at home right now actually, Mom's been babying him." Roo went on. "Thane's fiancé was living with us for a while too, she was really stressed out and scared with him being gone so Mom let her stay. She's a sweetie but she's a little too sensitive if you ask me. Like she'll start crying at the drop of hat: 'Oh no I burned the pasta, oh no I chipped a nail, oh no we have to go with lilac instead of lavender for the tablecloths at the wedding, boo hoo hoo!' No idea how she's going to last in my family I'll tell you that much."

I laughed again. "Well maybe if her future sister-in-law wouldn't be so judgemental she might be a little less sensitive. Give the poor girl some credit, her fiancé was fighting in a war."

"Hmph. Well so was Mom's husband and all her sons and she held together just fine." Roo huffed, but she was still grinning slightly.

"Your Mom's had practice." I reminded her. "Anyways I'm glad your family's safe and sound."

"Me too. I'd get pretty scared for them all every now and then. It'd come and go in waves I guess and some days I'd be a right mess over it." She hugged her arms around herself here, losing some of her cheerful attitude and I paused, putting a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. She sighed and looked around distractedly. "I think what sucked the most was being stuck on this rock with no idea what was going on. I tried to help out; I've been hauling crates of supplies for weeks now and helping around the Honeycomb with all the refugees but it wasn't the same, you know? Like I still felt really... useless. Like any day we could have been attacked and what the fuck was I gonna do about it? Don't get me wrong, I'm one tough little bitch of course but..." she trailed off and then glanced up at me, her dark eyes wide and glassy. "It made me think I should have come along with you when you asked before. I would have felt safer, somehow. Or at least I would have felt like I was making a difference."

"Roo..." I trailed off, my throat feeling sore and dry and I wasn't exactly sure what to say.

"I guess it doesn't really matter." She said, trying to conjure up a brave face. "I guess I just wanted to feel a little more independent, you know? Like I could look after myself if I had to, and the other people I care about. I don't want to ever feel that helpless again."

I wasn't sure what to say but I sympathized with her completely. Hell there had been more than one occasion in which I'd felt completely powerless to help my friends and it was one of the most awful feelings in the world. I couldn't imagine how it must have been here, with chaos crashing around you like a hurricane and with no idea what was going on or when the next attack would be.

On an impulse I reached out and squeezed her hand, hoping to try and convey my understanding through touch. "You know, for the record I always thought you were really independent." I told her, quietly but honestly and the grin managed to worm its way back onto her lips, her face shining as if caught in a ray of sunshine.

"Thanks, Var." She said and when I moved my hand back to grasp the handle of my crutch she left hers on top, fingers curled over mine and it made a warm feeling spread up my arm and into my chest.

"Well enough about me." She said, bouncing once again. "I wanna hear all about you and these insane adventures you've been having! Come on, spill! What happened to your leg? What went on after you left? Did you seriously blow up half the Scar or is everyone making that part up? Man I hope not, please tell me you blew it up, that'd be _so_ sweet!"

I sighed once again but gave her what she asked for, answering her questions to the best of my abilities. I'll never be very good at telling stories, that's more of Fraggle's forte, but I seemed to do a decent job anyways because her eyes grew wide with awe from time to time and she uttered amazed squeaking sounds and choice words at some points too. By the time I finished we'd reached the outskirts of town, our street leading up to a dead end against a low wall. From here I could see the Plateau past all the outlying homes and the small clumps of trees sprawled over the terra. My leg was starting to ache a bit so I sat on the wall and Roo perched beside me, picking at a small clump of grass that had sprouted from a crack in the concrete.

"So Falshade's home, in one piece, and he hasn't even come by to visit me? Prick." She muttered sourly. "And tell me again, you _squashed_ some psycho with her own hammer? Man that's epic!"

I pulled a face. "I didn't _squash_ her, thank you. I just kinda... hit her."

"With a giant-ass hammer."

"Yes."

"That, my dear, counts as squashing."

I sighed, not really liking to think back on that. I had to admit there were some moments that, looking back on, seemed pretty exciting looking at it from an outside perspective, but I'd never be as gung-ho about gore and violence as someone like, say, Wasp. Roo seemed to think everything was just one fantastic adventure but then again I suppose now that we didn't have armies of mutant soldiers swarming in all around us it was okay to look back on some things in a better light. I knew once the others recovered a little more they'd be all about recapping the fighting and close calls, always eager to compare who could kick ass better then who. I didn't mind or anything, nor did I look back on our experiences with total dislike; I guess I'd just seen a little more blood then I would have preferred was all.

"And now they're letting the Terradons rebuild a brand new terra for themselves. Wow." Roo said appreciatively. "Man it all sounds so exciting. Like the stories Dad used to tell. Jeez, you guys are gonna be a _legend_."

I snorted. "Lord I hope not." I muttered.

"Oh come on." Roo scoffed. "You can act all indifferent about it but I _know_ you wouldn't have gone along with Falshade way back when if you didn't like this sort of thing even a little bit."

I wrinkled my nose but thought about it. There had been times during the last few months when I'd thought my number was up, or one of the others' lives was about to end before my eyes. There had been too much gore and near misses and stress for me to ever simply brush off; I think I was always going to be a little shell shocked now, bruised deep down with sores that would never completely go away. There had been times when I'd just wanted to curl up in a dark corner and let it all pass me by, and even now I didn't like all the attention I was getting because of it. But looking back on it all, I wouldn't take back a second of it. While there were a few scenes I wished I hadn't had to see I knew there was nowhere else I would have rather been then there with the others, through thick and thin. I guess Falshade must have managed to plant a few adventurous seeds in my head when we were kids. And knowing that I had some small role in how things had turned out in the Atmos gave me a good, glowing feeling in the centre of my heart that soothed over the more battered places. "...Yeah I guess you're right." I admitted, not bothering to try and keep the grin off my face. "But you know I'm pretty happy with the way things are now too, just taking it easy."

Roo nodded. "Yeah, I hear that. I mean I wasn't even really doing much but still, the lack of stress is nice." She touched my hand again. "How long are you staying for?" she asked in a more serious tone. "I mean what are you guys gonna do now? Does Falshade have any more plans?"

"I'm not sure. Probably not, knowing him, but he'll think of something." I said, glancing off in the direction of his house where it rested in the shadow of the Plateau. I hadn't thought of that yet, what with everything else that was going on, but I wondered about it absently now, wondered what the other Gargoyles intended to do now that we had no more nightmares to chase after.

Roo hummed to herself, swinging her feet as if preoccupied with something and I looked back at her, suddenly feeling nervous again. I'd been putting off my original purpose of coming to see her and now I wasn't sure if I could come back to it, what with how thick and ungainly my tongue felt in my mouth and how unnerved she made me feel. But there was a tiny little voice inside me somewhere, timid yet insistent, that kept pushing words into my mouth and I cleared my throat, trying to put a lid on the unease roiling in my stomach. "Hey, Roo?" I asked, my voice sounding very hoarse all of a sudden. Roo looked up at me expectantly and I swallowed, trying to get my vocal chords to work properly. "I... I wanted to talk to you about something, actually." I continued after a few awkward attempts.

"Okay." Roo said, her fingers gripping at the edge of the wall. God was she ever gorgeous... I had to stop looking at her, focusing instead on my lashing tail and wishing it would hold still for once and stop betraying my nerves. Then I had to laugh at myself; yeah right, like I hadn't been acting nervous in the first place.

"Um... right, well..." I trailed off, hating how much I was acting like a kid about all of this. Christ I was eighteen, girls weren't supposed to frighten me anymore! Well then again Stork and Wasp could instil a lot of fear in me, but I'd never been this uneasy around Roo before.

Roo was waiting for me to say something and I coughed up my voice. "I guess I wanted to ask you... about us, really." I managed to say. By now I was so far outside my comfort zone that I couldn't even see the line that marked its boundaries anymore.

Roo tilted her head. "Like how do you mean, us?" she asked and I wondered if she honestly didn't know or if she just wanted to see me squirm a little more.

"Well... last time I saw you, you, um... well your toenails were, um... green." I stammered, feeling like a complete idiot. Roo smiled when I mentioned her toes and that didn't help, although I don't think she was laughing at me. "So I'm just...curious... are they still...green?" I asked, my tongue feeling like stone and I could barely push the words past my teeth.

Roo pulled her foot up onto her knee and started unlacing her shoe, smile still on her lips. Pulling off her sock and shoving it into her pocket she turned slightly and put her dainty little human foot on my knee proudly. All five tiny nails still wore the same shiny coat of dark green polish and a warm wave of happiness rolled through my whole body at the sight.

"Still green." She confirmed, her dark eyes shining under her violet bangs. "My other foot is a complete technicolour nightmare, I painted each nail a different colour for Dad and the boys, and Shade too but... yeah, this one's still all green."

"Wow a whole foot, just for me?" I asked, both teasing and incredulous and she grinned, nudging me with said foot.

"Yep, it's yours, take good care of it."

I laughed softly and then looked at her face seriously. "So... what does that mean, then? I'm just asking because... well I don't want to assume anything." I strung out brokenly and Roo shook her head as if she couldn't believe me and my lack of elegance with all this.

"It means I like you, Varan. Hell, I've had a crush on you since I was eight. Then you left and you were always on my mind and when you came back I really realized, shit, this guy's got me completely hooked." She said and I felt blood rush to my face, heart thrashing around wildly. I was in awe of how easily she'd said all of that, like she had no fear at all; I could try all my life and never have that kind of confidence.

"...Really?" I breathed out in a very small voice, unable to believe that I had inspired those kind of feelings in anybody, let alone such a pretty, out-going girl like Roo.

She laughed, hitting my arm softly. "Yeah. Why not? I always thought you were a great guy." She said all of this while looking directly at me with those dark, gold-flecked eyes as if it were the easiest thing in the world and I was envious of her. "What about you?" she asked then and all my organs seemed to recoil.

"What do you mean?" I wheezed.

"I mean how do you feel about me?" She repeated patiently, as if we were just going over some well-rehearsed scene.

I knew that question would come up eventually but I was no more prepared for it when she finally said it. My brain seemed to break into thousands of pieces, leaving me scrabbling to find something to say. My heart was hammering so fast it was making it hard to breathe and I swallowed, trying to clear a path through my clogged throat, get some air in so I could think. How did I feel about Roo? I'd been asking myself that since she'd kissed me all that time ago now. Well... we'd been close when were young, revelling in our shared, outsider friendship, something I'd always treasured. But then we'd gotten older and something had shifted, especially once Shade left. She got very clingy back then and although it made me nervous and even downright uncomfortable sometimes I'd never disliked it. But I'd thrown so much time and energy into training with Owhl, into trying to become what I had to be if I was ever going to go along with Falshade in pursuit of his nightmares, that I didn't pay enough attention to Roo's affection to judge my own reaction to it. But it had started then, a tiny spark of something that stayed burning like a little candle with me when I left, something my mind would wander back to time and again. And then when she'd kissed me that day we'd come here to drop off Pippa it seemed to catch, that little burning spark turned into something bigger and warmer that suddenly made me start noticing things, like certain memories of her that unfolded in a whole new light, or how right now with her sitting there, so achingly beautiful, she could make me painfully nervous and incredibly happy just by looking at me a certain way. Once I paid it enough attention I realized it had always been there, this shiny little collection of feelings for her that had just been waiting to be realized. And I realized them now alright; I liked Roo. I liked her a lot.

My mouth was suddenly working on its own accord. "I like you too." I said. My voice was still quiet and raspy but there was confidence in me now that made the words come out easier. About bloody time. "I mean I've always liked you, since we were kids. But I've got feelings for you now that were different than they were back then." I said slowly and somehow I was able to hold eye contact with her.

The corner of her mouth twitched. "Yeah, puberty does that to you."

I pinched the top of my muzzle and sighed. "Here I am pouring my heart out to you and I'm rewarded with two-bit comedy. I might as well be talking to Fraggle."

Roo giggled, pulling my hand down from my face. "You're right, I'm sorry." She said quickly. When I glanced at her face I noticed a slight pink flush decorating her cheeks and felt slightly more relaxed knowing that even she could be affected by the admittance of feelings. Maybe she was feeling just as uneasy as I was and was just better at hiding it. I suppose it helps when you don't have a tail whipping every which way to give you away.

"So, um..." I coughed slightly. "What... what happens now? I mean if we... if we both have feelings for each other, then what?"

Roo tilted her chin thoughtfully. "I think what happens then is we start seeing each other, like not just as friends. Like date kinda stuff? And if that goes well and the feelings get stronger then we make it official, I guess."

I nodded slowly, having to look away from her again. "Okay. And, um... what's that mean, official?"

I could hear the smile in her voice. "Well it means I'd be your girlfriend, Varan."

My blood rushed around my body at a frenzied rate before shooting straight to my face again. _Girlfriend_. Oh god was that ever a strange concept to try and get accustomed to. Although the thought made my heart hum, excitement seeping through me.

"Right. Okay." I nodded again. "I get it, I think. So right now we're just sort of going to hang out but not exactly like friends."

"Exactly." She said and I had to laugh at how absurdly we were treating this, like walking through complicated plans for a recon mission or something.

"So... what do I do now?" I asked and flinched at the grin that bubbled over on her face. "Look I've never done this before, help me out here." I pleaded and she swallowed down what was more than likely laughter for my sake.

"Well now you just ask me if I'd like to go out sometime." She said as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "Like you did today, asking me to come for a walk."

"Do girls get secret handbooks on how this is done when they hit puberty or something?" I asked and she laughed, nudging me in the ribs with her foot and I had to laugh too.

"Yeah, we get complete packages on everything we need to know about you males." She informed me. "I assume they just left you guys to just fend for yourselves."

"Ain't that the case." I muttered to myself, sounding eerily like Angel. Then I cleared my throat and examined her carefully. "So, um, in that case did you... want to go out with me sometime and... I dunno, have coffee or something?"

Roo smiled. "I'd like that." She said, extending her hand as if to make it official and I shook it, a strange but not unpleasant feeling thrumming in the pit of my stomach. When her hand returned to her side I glanced her over once again and fidgeted, not sure where to go from here.

"...So now what happens?" I asked, feeling stupid for having to constantly ask.

Roo didn't seem to mind though. "This is the part where you kiss me, Varan." She informed me, leaning in and closing her eyes and just waited there for me. I suddenly felt as if my whole body had been paralyzed as I stared at her lips; if I'd felt flustered before it paled in comparison to what I was feeling now as I gawked at her. She couldn't be serious. She might just turn to stone if she waited there for me to make a move. I had no idea what to do; the only time I'd ever kissed anybody had been because she'd initiated it, I had no idea how to move, how to use my mouth, how to hold her. I felt like there might as well have been a gorge between us for how difficult this seemed.

But then I found myself leaning in towards her anyways, some subconscious instinct forcing my body to move without my being aware of it. I stopped halfway, examining every detail of her face and my stomach made a weird lurching movement. Oh god please don't let me get sick all over her...

I shifted forward a bit more and then worried I was going to jab her with my mohawk spikes or something and hesitated, only a few inches away. Then I sucked in a deep breath and on a spur of bravery closed the distance, brushing my lips over hers before pressing in firmly. And the moment the connection was made it was like everything else just melted away, my nerves and fears and knotted muscles, the background and the wall, everything just faded out until all I was aware of was Roo's delightfully warm body pressed against mine. She sighed and titled her head to a better angle, gripping my arm and pulling me in closer and I tucked my hand along the back of her neck, finally allowing my fingers to run through her hair and wondered absently if they'd ever felt anything softer.

**x.x.x Wasp x.x.x**

_**Your love's like rhinestones falling from the sky**_

_**-Rhinestone Eyes, Gorillaz**_

Once, I climbed a tree.

Well not just once; I used to do that a lot back in the old days, forcing my calloused toes into the cracked bark of the ancient trees that lunged into the sky and scaling the rough hide of their backs, a strange flesh invader into the world above. I liked to be up high where the air was fresh and the sun could leave its marks on my skin, where the sweetest fruit grew and I could sit back and watch the dark wedges of eagle wings slice through the sky. I wondered now if maybe some of those far-away eagles had really been airships and looking back on it, it completely blew my mind to think that all the time I'd spent in the jungle there had been a whole other world turning and unfolding out there that I hadn't even known existed. Sometimes I'd look at the stars at night and think 'there has to be more than this', but I'd never realized just how close that more was.

Anyways, on this particular day I pushed myself above the highest tangle of boughs in the canopy, perched like a giant, ungainly bird with my feet on the branch below and the rest of me thrust above the broad umbrella of foliage. From there I could see the whole jungle sweeping out before me, a vast, sprawling carpet composed of every possible shade of green. Up there I could feel the thunder rattle in my bones as it split the heavy air and I turned to watch, hypnotized, as a rolling wall of thunderheads advanced towards me. Cool, damp wind pressed against me with forceful affection, tugging the storm along behind it while the rain fell in one sheer, solid curtain below, painting everything in a warm, wet coat. The foliage turned slick and shiny as the water streamed down, seeking cracks in the vegetation so it could trickle down to nourish the plants below. Lightning lit the tree tops in a violent splash of light and the thunder followed behind, punching into my lungs and taking my breath away. The clouds kept rolling towards me, swirling masses of brooding blues and greys and I found myself rising to my feet, toes wrapping tightly around the trembling branch below as I straightened up, throwing my arms out wide as if to embrace the storm. Every one of my nerves were standing on end, my skin was prickled and my ears were filled with the symphony of the rain, my blood pounding in time to the lilting rush of heaving water.

Seconds later it hit me and it was like I was stripped of every fibre of my being. A hot rush of blood flooded like a bright flash of light through every inch of my body as if I'd become a part of the rain and the energy of the storm, throwing myself into the thick of the seething, spinning core where there was no one definitive thing but the roaring pulse of everything that had ever been or was or would be. In that moment, I had no flesh or bones or feelings or thoughts; I simply was.

Then my branch broke and I was pitched back into the world where things were solid and real. All my life I've always seemed to be falling from something, but that wasn't always a bad thing. If you embrace the fall, the landing's usually not so bad. Especially back in the jungle where the earth was soft and moist and swallowed me up like a warm hug.

I was thinking about that day in the storm when I heard the porch door slide open quietly. I heard Angel kick off his boots and then stalk silently through the house, avoiding the creaking floorboards as if he'd already mapped them all out. I listened to him slink up the stairs like a tom cat returning home after a night of roaming the streets and waited until he was at the top before rolling off the couch-bed Caspia had set up for me and padding after him, as silent as always. That same urge that had always driven me up trees and over rooftops, the insistent, instinctive desire that had pushed me into the thick, bloody center of excitement and danger time and time again was tugging at my stomach, leading me on a little silver thread after him while memories of the rain sparked in my mind. I'm sure it meant something, that there was a reason my brain wanted to remember those few raw, dripping seconds and, determined to find out what, I followed my curiosity without question, even though by now I'd learned well enough that such an endeavour was not always the wisest course. Then again what did I have to be afraid of here? The only thing I could think of was Caspia if she found out I'd disobeyed her wishes. I'd come to learn that females don't really like when you do that.

Angel had left his door open a crack when I reached it, almost like an invitation and I slipped in behind him without a sound, pushing the door shut again behind me with an almost indiscernible click. He'd stopped in the middle of the room and was pulling his shirt off over his head, completely unaware of my presence. In the dark the blanket of bandages that were plastered to his back appeared as a patch of dull blue and I cocked my head, wondering how well his wounds were healing and if they still hurt him. Deciding that they must not, since Falshade had been able to sit on him without consequence, I sprang across the distance between us, ferocious predator coming down on her unfortunate prey, wrapping my arms around his neck and tearing him off his feet. We crashed down onto his bed and I quickly flipped him over, pinning him with my lower body and shoving a hand under his jaw, squeezing his throat gently.

"You are dead." I growled, using my best spooky voice and leering down at him, all fangs and gleaming eyes.

Angel's heart was hammering so hard I was surprised his ribs didn't crack open like eggshells from the force. I took some of my weight off him and let my playful snarl relax a few notches in case I really was scaring him. You never knew with humans after all; the difference between humorous and serious behaviour was hard to judge with them so I figured it might be difficult for them, in turn, to recognize the distinction.

Angel sucked in a deep breath around the light constriction of my hand and fixed me with a steely glare. Oh. So I _had_ scared him.

"Always lovely to see you, Wasp, really." He said, attempting to roll me off of him. "How about next time you give me a bit of a warning before you try to kill me?"

"But that takes all the fun out of it." I explained, letting go of his throat when I heard the annoyance in his voice.

"Does it? I thought it'd be more fun if your prey put up a bit of a fight."

I hummed thoughtfully. "Touché." I looked at him thoughtfully. "Would you like me to go back and do it again?"

"No, that's alright, I think I've taken all the abuse I can for one night."

I frowned. "Are you angry?"

He seemed to think about it. "No." He decided eventually. "But so help me god if you _ever_ do that again I'm not going to take it very lightly, got it?"

I felt my enthusiasm drain away to pool somewhere around my knees. Before, with my old friends, I'd been able to pounce and scuffle with them all the time, tussling with Luka in the dirt back in the jungle like a couple of cubs or clambering onto Rainer's back to bark something into his ear. I guess I'd just hoped I'd be able to do those sorts of things with Angel and the others now; the Gargoyles didn't seem to mind roughhousing after all. But then, I was big and gawky and forgot that humans were sensitive, moody creatures sometimes. Maybe those sorts of things weren't acceptable yet with my new friends.

I don't know if my disappointment showed on my face or not but Angel let out a short sigh and without warning punched the heel of his palm into my side, jerking me back and forcing some space between us. Pushing against my hips with his shin he managed to flip me over onto my back before I could react and suddenly our positions were changed, he was the one grinning down on me. His hand shot out to grab my ear but by now I was ready for him and caught his forearm between my jaws and he froze. I could feel his pulse thrumming against my tongue as I licked the underside of his arm tauntingly and he snorted, easing his arm free.

"Happy now?" he asked, wiping the smudge of drool I'd left on his skin against my cheek and I growled at him, kneading my hands into his stomach in retaliation.

"Yes."

He shook his head, grinning. "Look, tell you what, as soon as your wrists are healed I'll wrestle with you all you want, but you have to give me a head's up first, okay?"

I flicked my ears at him. "My wrists are fine though, see?" I rotated my hands in counter-clockwise circles to demonstrate. Sharp little roots of pain tugged through my arms with the motion but it wasn't intolerable.

Angel grabbed my fingers gently to stop me. "I don't care, until the tensors come off no brawls for you."

I pouted and rolled him off me. He flopped over onto the mattress easily and stretched with a soft groan, joints popping here and there. I looked over him curiously, counting the ribs that stuck out under his dark skin like xylophone keys and wondered if each would make a different note when struck. I tapped some of them experimentally but they all made the same soft thudding sound.

Playing the bones.

"So how you doing, kid? Ya miss me?" he asked.

"Not really." I said honestly and he laughed. "I figured you were doing something of importance." I added in case I'd sounded apathetic.

He shrugged. "I dunno, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't." He said, sounding like he was talking to himself but I nodded anyways.

"All depends on how you look at it." I agreed, even though I wasn't sure what he was talking about. Then I leaned in to sniff at his shoulders and neck, drawing in the strong, harsh scent that was emanating from his skin. It smelled like fierce, hot wind and scorched earth, something almost but not quite burnt. And spicy too, like a collection of herbs I didn't know the names of. I figured this was the smell of the desert, a harder, more concentrated version of his own unique smell. So much different than the heady, lush smell of the jungle, a myriad of different scents all blending together to create something earthy and raw. His was exotic, piquant and I liked it, I wanted to keep breathing it in until it became familiar to me. I drew my tongue along the hollow beneath his jaw, tasting the sweat and grit that was caked on his skin and he shuddered, his breath hiccupping slightly.

"Do you feel better for going at least?" I asked as he blew a puff of warm air into the curled shell of my ear.

"...Yeah, I do." He muttered and I nodded again. That was all that mattered. I wasn't exactly sure why he'd gone or what he'd done there, but when I pressed the flat of my hand against his sternum to feel him breathing I noted that the motion seemed to come easier to him. Something dark and oppressive had been stripped from his aura and it made warmth and pride gather like a tight ball of yarn in my stomach. I slid my fingers into the silky feathers of his hair and pressed my forehead against his, smiling and sending him a telepathic greeting card, drawing a spindling, tangled briar of thistles and roses in my mind, tiny, brightly coloured birds perched amongst the intertwining thorns with the words ' well done' etched in the center.

'_Well done, Angel Cakes. It's easy to run away from things; it takes guts to realize you've forgotten your shoes and turn back_.'

I felt a slow smile spread over his lips and knew the message was received. That smile arched up and nudged against my own softly and I sank into him, stomachs and ribcages jammed together as I kissed him, feeling the cracks that had surfaced on his thin lips. His whole body felt sort of dry against my own but it felt stronger too, like there was more of him present now than there had been before. I wondered if the desert had drawn it out of him the way the sun draws a sprout from the dark depths of soil. My element was water and Angel's was fire and just like how I occasionally needed a good bask in heavy rain to rejuvenate my worn, bored spirit he needed heat and flame and the good, burning earth beneath his feet to pull his back to the surface.

Right then I felt as if the glowing places of warmth he was carrying had smouldered their way into my own flesh and coaxed a blazing ball of light to life inside me somewhere, filling my whole body with a flighty, gripping feeling. I wanted to spread myself thin like a sheet of paper, press into all the small, foreign places of his body, the nooks between his ribs and boney hollows around his moth wing eyes. I nudged and I dug and I pushed, trying to fit my body into the empty spaces in his, my stomach filling the indent next to his hipbone, fingers tucking in along the curves of his collar bone. He made a raspy noise against my neck when I pressed my face to the side of his head, breathing into his ear and his palm cupped around the knobbly little bone at the top of my spine; Atlas vertebrae, holding my head up to the sky. I pushed my fingers into the gaps between his ribs, fitting them in as if I could tear the skin away and poke my fingers into his chest, stir up his innards. I could feel his organs working beneath the layers of membrane, undulating, contracting, shifting, churning. His hands descended slowly and fit themselves along the indent of my spine, drawing warm paths down the plane of my back. I shifted, squeezing his side with the inside of my thigh as if trying to spur him into a run and his mouth moved and found the contour of my throat and with that it was like something tore wide open down in the core of my heart. Everything became disconnected and my hands and mouth and eyes all had minds of their own, unified somewhere in the back, dark pocket of my mind, drawing out a map of his body in blazing, quicksilver notes. I wanted to commit it all to memory, how many notches made up the line of his spinal column and all the scars that decorated his spiced honey skin. His fingers gripped at me, tracing the whorl behind my knee and the muscles on my arms, drawing designs and leaving messages along my shoulders and the small of my back, exploring, learning, playing, finding. He sighed into my ear, his lips brushing the downy inside of the shell and I curled my fingers in his hair, running my tongue along the thrumming blue highway that ran through his neck. One mouth would occasionally find the other as if our lips were shiny little fish waiting to be caught, some quick, touch-and-go kisses and others that lingered, deepened and melted together like lemon drops in the sun. I felt as if I'd spent my entire life kissing those lips and as his teeth clinked against my lip ring and mine caught on his lower lip, tongue swiping over the thin, split surface, I was dangerously sure I never wanted to taste any others' but his.

I felt like we were falling towards something, I could feel electricity crackling on my skin as if the storm were drawing nearer but before I could even pause to turn over these feelings that were swelling and bursting in my guts like big, gossamer bubbles his fingers brushed over my lower stomach and he pulled away as if he'd been bitten. I ran my tongue over my fangs to test for blood and when I found none I cocked my head uncertainly, wondering why he'd stopped.

His switchblade eyes were fixed on my stomach and I felt his thumb roll over the scar that was printed there. Not the old one but the new one that sat like a stamp for a new life below it, blending with it at the seams. I looked down at it as well and was surprised to find that I was naked from the waist up. When had that happened? For a moment I felt like I should panic, my pulse stirring uncertainly, but then the feeling faded like the last remnants of a bad dream. I hadn't been uncovered like this in front of anyone for a long time but it didn't seem like a such bad thing here with Angel. I assumed that was a good sign; it made me feel a little proud actually, relieved that my gut instincts and bad memories weren't staining this moment with him. I even felt a little excited, thrilled by the newness and secrecy of it, of stumbling into territory that had always been forbidden to me. Fli had once told me most men had an 'installed obsession' (her words not mine) for breasts and although I'd never given mine much thought I was curious now to know what Angel thought of them.

However he didn't seem very interested in them at the moment, although I recalled his eyes lingering on them before he'd tensed up like that. He was still fixated on my lower belly and I watched as his face closed up, his mouth titling into a hard, unapproachable line, cinched in guilty pockmarks in the corners. I looked down at the neat little bundle of scar tissue, a much tidier blemish than my other one and extended little tendrils out to him, trying to catch his thoughts. All it took was looking at the shame that was etched into the minute spirals in his eyes and I knew what he was thinking.

My fingers crawled up to his chest and I picked at the corner of his bandages with my blunt nails. I peeled it back gently, finding a coating of sand stuck to the tape that held it in place and then gently pressed the pads of my fingertips to the sticky, coagulating wound that lay beneath. It was healing well, fibres winding themselves back together, no pus or inflammation to reveal infection. It was red and crusty with half-hearted scabs but it was coming together nicely and I figured the stitches would be ready to come out soon. If I looked closely enough I could still see the jagged edges that marked where my fangs had punctured, a depiction of the alignment of my teeth.

"Looks like we got each other pretty good, huh?" I said, scraping my nails around the edges to chip some of the dried blood off and swiping the dry flecks off with my tongue.

"Yeah..." He muttered, chewing at the inside of his cheek. His fingers traced a soft circle around my scar as if he could erase it if he willed for it hard enough. When it didn't work he sighed and looked up at me. "Look I know I already said it, but I'm so-"

I flattened my palm over his mouth and the final word was smothered beneath my hand. "Don't." I said. "You fixed it afterwards. It's no big deal. It was just an accident."

"An accident that almost killed you." He reminded me, tugging my hand away from his mouth.

I shrugged. "A lot of things have _almost _killed me and so far none of them have succeeded. I'd rather be stabbed accidentally by a friend over any of those other things any day." I could still see misery and remorse flickering in his eyes like slimy little eels and I leaned in closer again, folding one hand over his where it was laying against my stomach and spreading my fingers wide over the wound on his chest with the other. "The way I see it we both left our mark on the other. That makes us even. So don't be sorry anymore. It's okay."

Angel sighed again but didn't make any further arguments. I drew my tongue over his forehead to try and cleanse any harmful thoughts from his mind and then pressed my mouth against his ear.

"Did you mean what you said, back in the tunnels?" I asked quietly so as not to hurt his eardrum, wondering just how keen his hearing was compared to mine. Probably nowhere near as sensitive, but then, Angel had the best eyes of all of us, so maybe that compensated for the bluntness of the rest of his senses.

I felt his hand whisper cautiously around the curve of one of my breasts before he took it away again as if my flesh frightened him. "What... oh." I felt heat sing through him and heard the click in his throat as he swallowed. "Well... yeah. Of course I did."

I sat back, hovering over him carefully and pricked my ears, sensing he had more to say. He cleared his throat slightly and continued. "I mean I... sorry I can't really concentrate with you..." he trailed off and waved hand at my torso, staring fixedly at the beam of moonlight that was slicing my calf muscle in half.

"Oh, right." I said, folding my hands over myself helpfully, the corner of my mouth twitching, intrigued and more than a little amused by his awkwardness. I wondered if he'd been taught that it was wrong to stare at someone else's nakedness. Back in the jungle if ever a male, for whatever reason, should stumble upon a nude female she had every right to tear him to pieces. I hoped he didn't think I'd do that to him; at some other point in time, before I understood how gender interactions differed here in the outside world I might have, but I didn't feel like that right now. After all, he didn't have a shirt on either and I couldn't see anything wrong with that.

He glanced back up at me and started again. "Anyways I just... well by now I look at you like I do the others you know. I love you just like I love them." His words got a little tangled when he said that as if he weren't used to confessing such a thing but it made my heart hum anyways. "But at the same time there's something different about you. I've got all these weird feelings that I've never had before so... hell I dunno what I'm saying." He muttered, sounding irritated with himself. "I... guess I just figured I should let you know I changed my mind in any case. About what I said that first night we got around to talking. I have no idea what these feelings mean but I've never felt them towards anybody before so I assume that's gotta count for something. And I like them, so..." he trailed off and grinned in a sort of helpless manner, shrugging. "Anyways I just thought I should tell you that." Then he chewed on his tongue as if something had occurred to him. "But hey, look, I know about you and Rainer and everything so it's totally okay if you don't feel the same way back. I get it. I just thought I should tell you were I stand, since I'm taking a stab at being a better person and whatever." He tacked on quickly and I felt the carousel of fuzzy feelings evaporate from my chest as if they'd been physically cut out. Caught up in everything, this private chunk of night severed up just for us, I'd forgotten about that vital piece of information, that pile of glistening sand that was tucked deep down under the rug.

I sat back again, grinding my teeth together thoughtfully. I felt like I was standing on a precipice here and knew my next step was a crucial one. It was unnerving to suddenly be holding the compass in my own hands, watching the needle spin and trying to decide where it should land. I took in all the points of the multi-barbed star, shook all the loose thoughts and lost trinkets from the pockets in my head and collected them into a pile, sorting through them scrupulously. Like a private investigator I followed Rainer's footprints through my heart, collected the discarded cigarette butts and mint wrappers, lifted his fingerprints from the walls of my chest and took snapshots of his personal effects, making sure that Shadowfax gave me a big, toothy smile. I made myself a full report on Rainer and What Exactly He'd Meant To Me, Wasp. When I rounded it all up, submitted the charts and equations for evaluation, I came up with this: he'd been my saviour, the ragged knight in patchwork armour, peeling my sorry carcass from the grimy streets of Macabre and leading me to his nest, a secret, cosy place, a feather lined burrow snuggled deep within the rotten intestines of one of the worst places in the Atmos. He'd been my protector until I'd learned to walk the lesion-riddled back of the city on my own two rangy legs. He'd been my teacher, filling my wild head with solid facts and cocktail trivia, passing on the skills I'd need to survive on my own. He'd been the supplier of good humour and shiny gifts, the conductor who dazzled me with the circus acts of this new, jagged world, the fountain of knowledge and the guiding star. His hands were always steady when I needed to be patched up, his mouth was full of starlight and whimsy whenever it opened, his voice washed clean the bloody crevasses of my weathered soul, his elfish eyes danced and teased and read the pages of the world, interpreting it like a master scholar and his arms scooped me up when I tumbled down, placing me gently back on my feet like a parent righting their clumsy child. His mind was a temple of insight and intellect and his heart was a flaming chunk of gold from the depths of a dragon's keep, rare, tender and priceless.

And he'd been my friend, my dearest of companions through fair and foul weather. The first person I'd felt I could trust with my life. That was, in the end, the most important piece of the puzzle, the part that clicked seamlessly into place and made the whole picture come together.

And yes, I'd been in love with him. I'd jumped on a train without knowing where it was going somewhere along the timeline of my life with him and when I'd finally gotten around to checking the ticket, that's what it said. You Love Him. Destination: unknown. Time of arrival: who cares. It was the easiest thing I'd done in my life, falling in love with him. I couldn't pinpoint where and when, I couldn't even really describe what exactly changed. A switch had simply been thrown in my head and things were different in a way I can't even explain to myself. My thoughts crawled to him in the heaviness of the night and my heart started yearning for things I didn't understand, whispering away in a foreign language that was both beautiful and sad, a dazzling opera on the stage of the deepest, most secret place in my soul. Maybe I was just too naive to understand; I hadn't grown up with fairy tales and teen magazines, hadn't listened to all the best love songs and watched couples pass by with their hands intertwined through the streets at a young age when your brain absorbs and interprets things without you being aware of them. I hadn't been programmed to recognize those trembling, demanding feelings of devotion and affection, it all was lost in translation to me until I was much older and as I've been told, it's a lot more difficult to learn a new language when you're older than when you're young and immersed in the thick of it. So, in short, I simply just didn't get it, didn't realize my heart had a mind of its own and was bent on him until it was much too late to do anything about it. And for his part Rainer had never done anything about it either; maybe he'd grown to look at me like a younger sister during the three years I'd spent with him, maybe the thought of viewing me in a romantic sense seemed wrong to him somehow. He _had_ beenfive years older than me, and perhaps my mysterious origin and lack of comprehension of the outside world made it seem unacceptable, an older, wiser brother taking advantage of his confused, simple-minded sister.

Or maybe he just hadn't felt the same way at all. I knew he loved me, but it was possible that could have been in a completely platonic sense. It could easily be just that simple. I could accept that.

Whatever the reason, we'd never kissed. We'd never whispered our most sacred dreams and desires to each other in the sympathetic folds of the night. We'd never been like those people you read about in trashy romance novels, two lovers caught hopelessly and irrevocably in the blinding sea of their passion and dedication to each other. The love songs never sang true for us and although I'd wiggled in under his covers on countless occasions and clutched his hand as if it were the only thing tethering me to the corporeal world and spun with him until everything else turned to a nauseous blur to the private symphony of our favourite music it had never meant more or less than the truest, most beloved form of unquestionable, unbreakable friendship. He wrote poems for me and drew me pictures of woodland creatures with charming smiles on their ugly faces, he cracked open the hardened, hideous shell that encased our deplorable home to show me the shining, pulsing center that survived in the smallest and most special of places and he put my shattered existence back in order, one splintered piece at a time. When he wrapped his arms around me I was home. But our love story was one that slipped away as silently as it had come, dragging his bleeding corpse along with it to devour it in peace. Boy met girl, boy saved girl, girl fell for boy, girl inadvertently caused death of her brilliant, precious boy, girl melted into the charred, clotted streets of boy's old world, girl met Stork, girl's life began again.

And then girl met new boy. And this new boy, he was something else altogether.

I looked at the other file, considerably smaller and waiting to be filled, of Angel and What Exactly He Means to Me, Wasp. He didn't write me poems or start each day with a quote of inspiration for me to chew on, I wasn't sure if he knew how to dance or if he'd even want to, he didn't construct paperclip chains to hang from my lip ring, he didn't know how to make paper cranes or wind chimes, he didn't collect lost treasures from the alleys and he didn't know any dragons. But maybe that didn't matter. Because Angel was not Rainer and my feelings for him were entirely his own. He'd thrust his thorny heart into my calloused hands and cradled my broken head when I couldn't hold it up on my own. I'd returned him his life and he'd saved mine in turn. And his lips left words on my mouth that had never sat there before, that same secret, muted language of the heart. To me, Angel meant hope and that was enough for me. There were tiny little roots stretching between us, fragile, uncertain things that pushed carefully into the fibres of our hearts looking for nourishment, testing to see if this was a good place to grow. I felt confident that if we swaddled them securely in rich loam, sprinkled them with sweet water and let them bask in the piercing heat of the glowing sun, something amazing would bloom, something full of colour and brilliance. Arching, wheeling canopies shooting spindly, bold limbs into the sky and should there be flowers they'd be made of silver and amber and they'd smell just like him. A tree rearing up from a crack in the sidewalk, a tree just for he and I, me and him.

I felt my lips roll back in a smile as this image flourished in my mind and I grabbed one of Angel's hands, pressing his fingers over my eyelids so that he could see it too.

"It's important that you understand Rainer's always going to have his own little piece of my heart." I started slowly, making sure each word spun itself out right. "It's not something I want to go away. But you know that. You get it. And when I started spending time with you, it kinda tidied everything up in there, made space for new things. And those new things, these feelings, they've got your name painted all over them. They're the same and they're different than what I felt for him and that seems right to me. I've been thinking about them a lot you see and that's my conclusion: they feel right and I like them too. So I guess what I'm getting at here, the case and point of my big spiel, is that I changed my mind too, about what I said, about not being able to feel that way about someone. Because I'm pretty damn sure I do."

I took his hand away from my eyes so I could open them and studied his face. The corner of his mouth was twitching as if he were trying very hard not to grin and I wondered if I'd said something funny. And there was something flickering his eyes, like a tiny star waiting to be born. The look was confused and possibly even a little frightened, like the look of someone who'd suddenly found themselves in unfamiliar territory. But there was excitement in there too, a whole world of possibilities and adventure cast wide for just the two of us and I felt energy sweep up from my stomach and soar through my limbs, fierce exhilaration at the thought of us stepping into unexplored lands together, a vast, daunting landscape waiting to be discovered right out our fingertips.

We were silent for a while, probing each other's emotions as they unfurled hesitantly like a snail from its shell. We trundled through a maze spun of uncertainty and recklessness, the two feelings coupled together to form a reeling web of chambers and corridors just waiting to be explored. We were like a couple of lone wolves deciding to form a pack together, feeling each other out, getting an idea of the size of their fangs and softness of their pelts. I felt like I was meeting a dear friend from years gone by for the first time to find he'd evolved into something that daunted and allured me. Of course I already knew Angel, but I felt like something had twisted slightly, we were standing at a beginning that had sprung up in the middle of our rickety tale, something we'd skipped over the first time because we'd thought it unnecessary. But when I thought about it, I liked that we had come to it this way, a rough path during which we'd skipped along stepping stones and caught thorns in our hair, cracked our knees on the hard earth when we fell down. It just tasted all the sweeter to find this sparkling note lodged in the depths of our ribcages after everything we'd stumbled through before, clinging to each other's hands without ever quite understanding why. In my mind it made more sense to have done everything backwards, it made everything feel more exposed and raw and whole.

Angel finally touched back down from our little tour through the sharp points and liquid depths of the other's eyes. He raised a hand very slowly as if to give me warning that he was doing so and then touched his palm to my forehead, sliding his fingers into the coarse knots of my hair and pushing them back out of my face, smiling. "So we were both wrong." He concluded.

"Yes." I agreed. "Man, guess our past selves weren't as smart as they thought, huh?"

"Guess not. So... look, I feel it only fair to warn you I have no idea what the hell I'm doing." He said, sliding his fingers down over my sternum, all the way over my stomach until they bumped against my belly button and drew a half-moon under the little nub of flesh there. "And I'm probably not going to be very good at being... well, whatever you want me to be. So that being said, I'm kinda looking for something solid here, a sort of starting place, you know?" I blinked at him and flicked my left ear and _finally_ someone was able to interpret what that meant because he heaved a sigh and continued. "In fewer words I'm trying to ask you where we go from here, because I'll be damned if I know. I've kinda reached my limit for heartfelt revelations tonight so I'm passing the ball to you." He elaborated, picking up one of my hands and turning it so my palm was facing up before pretending to drop something into it. I clenched my hand tight, imagining one of the smooth pebbles I'd collected earlier with Falshade sitting there and feeling its weight with my mind.

"So you want me to sort of..."

"Define this for me. It doesn't have to be big and complex or anything, I just want to have a basis so I know what I'm supposed to do." He explained, settling back and waiting with an interested expression on his angular face.

I hummed, pressing my thumb into the thin dusting of hair that snaked over his lower stomach. I liked definitions to an extent; I liked how some words could string together a whole slew of smaller words in a simple, elegant way. Visceral, staccato, cacophony, colloquial, tenacious, viridian, anachronism, haphazard, a handful of my collection of favourite words, all with inner meanings and inflecting sounds that danced and spiked on the tongue and in the ear. Yes I liked symbols and secrets unlocked behind the understanding of those shaky letters. But words were words and sometimes they weren't big enough to stretch across the distorted dimensions that emerged from our chests. There is no way to define love, that elusive, non-language of the heart has no use for proper nouns and pretty adjectives. People throughout time have tried to pin a meaning to it but in the end the only examples and conclusions are the ones we draw for ourselves, each of them different and as tangible as every colour of the spectrum. Love was in all the small things, something that lived in all of us from the very beginning, innate and fearless, without judgement or laws. A living thing that existed indefinitely and was real as we made it to be.

"I don't want to tack a definition to this." I admitted at length. "What we have doesn't need one, don't you think? That's what made it so special right from the beginning. I wouldn't know how to describe it. It just is. It's simple in the most complicated of ways; we're just two people who found each other. And as for where we go... anywhere. Neither of us have had these feelings before, or know what the mean or where they might lead. But that's half the fun, isn't it? I'd like to see where they take us."

I watched the muscles in Angel's throat twitch as he swallowed, not like a reserving swallow but just a thoughtful motion, mulling things over, turning them on their heads to get a better look at them. "Okay. That's good enough for me." He decided after awhile. "After all, all the best things happened to me because I just said 'what the hell' and went for it."

I smiled so widely it made my ears hurt, fangs snicking against my lips and making them bleed healthy, rich jungle blood.

And so it struck me that I, Wasp, had a somebody.

Not sure what to say I stuck out a hand professionally, deciding some sort of pact-sealing was appropriate here. He laughed and shook his head at me, grasping my fingers tightly and pulling me down into a kiss that stretched and rolled back sheer, glossy curtains until the two of us were bathed in light, hidden in our own private orb in the dark, dripping mesh of the night.

And all at once I understood the subliminal messages my subconscious had been sending me, the waking dream of that day in the storm. We were standing on the brink of something cataclysmic and my legs were bunching with the desire to hurl myself right into the throbbing thick of it. The edge of our current world was yawning wide and invitingly just beyond the grip of our toes and if we should step off the edge I knew there'd be something spectacular waiting for us below. It all made sense to me now, because my love for Angel was like the rain, something that bled and wept and cleansed in the darkest hours and fell in full, hearty drops on sunny days. Something to be basked and soaked in, a ravenous torrent on some occasions and gentle song on others, nurturing, invigorating, purifying. Sweet in my mouth and wrapping my skin in a silky, chilling cocoon. Without a voice I could still speak it and if I were blind I could still feel it.

I wanted him to feel it too. So I pulled him into the storm alongside me.

His eyes faded from confusion to nervousness as I coaxed him, tugging at his limbs silently and he tried to mutter something that came out in a string of uncertainty, snaring in my ear like a spider web but I hushed him, making sure he looked into my eyes long enough for the message to pass through. I wanted this and I wanted him to show me, wanted to know the secret of how it was supposed to be. His voice fell away to a low murmur as I worked my fingers into his muscles, chasing the hesitation out and despite his sudden trembling I could feel a tense hum move through him, eyes glowing like dragonfly wings caught in sunlight. His mouth never left mine as we shifted slowly, revelling in this time here on the threshold, bodies hot and achy with a radiant fever. I knew he wanted to know just as much as I did, felt the thunder and lightning crackling against our itchy skin but that didn't stop him from leaning down and touching his mouth to the place where the leathery tissue of my ear connected to my scalp, sending electricity down the inside of my spine. Hanging by our fingernails from the edge of the unknown he exposed his nerves to me in nothing more than a whisper:

"...I've never done this before."

"It's okay. Neither have I."

But god it didn't matter if we'd never done it before because we fit together like we were made for each other. The gears of my brain simply clicked off and thoughts slowed to a halt, everything was slashes of movement and heat that unfurled in feeling and memory. It was simple and instinctual, like the urge to run and climb and slam my body around to the pounding rhythm of all my favourite songs. My heart purred and thundered and all heat became sight, all touch became smell and it unfolded, jagged, elegant, boney, awkward, bloody, pure, glorious and raw, like a solo woven from all the howling, blazing notes that burn softly in that tiny little scrap of soul that can never, ever be taken. His breath was my air and his eyes flashed like rhinestones in the velvet shadows, sweat on our tongues and blood between our clashing, split lips. His scent was so deep in my lungs I could smell it in my own pores and I could feel his pulse moving fiercely, wildly, in time to my own. Thighs locked tight around his waist I jammed my chest against his so I could feel his heart knocking there, punching into me with every violent burst, screaming that it was there. It was harsh but it merged effortlessly at the seams, we were stitched together at all the worn edges. My ragged nails cracked the fragile tissue on his back and my fangs broke his skin on more than one occasion while his mouth burned into my flesh and his grip left blue smudges on my moon-bathed skin but beneath it all we were lambs dressed up in wolves' clothing, soft, woolly hides pressing in and smoothing over the gnarled, weeping patches, love glowing like proud embers in the middle of our strange, scarred heart. We were no longer two people but equal halves of one definitive soul, submerged to the core in the chaotic, beautiful tempest we'd constructed together, heartbreak churned to hope, our solitary auras blending through the veins and solidifying into something as close to perfection as he and I were ever going to get. And this, I thought, must be what salvation tastes like.

'_This is us now, Angel Cakes, this is letting go of the dearly departed and broken dreams. This is us seizing hold of what will be better, this is us being and not being, this is us ending and beginning again. Right now we simply are and-'_

And as our bodies seized and ripped a pocket of bliss wide open there were lyrics in my head that always meant something to a place they hadn't yet been connected to.

'_-and this place here with you is what my spirit has been searching for since it first learned to crawl.' _

**x.x.x Varan x.x.x**

"Var-aaaaaaan." Pippa whined, stopping to wait for me when she realized I was falling behind again. These damn crutches, they'd be the death of me; my tail had never been a problem when I was simply walking along normally or even when I was training with the others, but now it decided to get caught up under my feet or with my crutches every time I made those awkward, shuffling hops forward. And to make matters worse the path was full of stones and pot holes. "Why'd ya hafta be so slow?"

"Because I like annoying you." I informed her, sticking my tongue out at her. "It's what big brothers do."

Pippa stuck her own tongue out at me in retaliation, giggling. Mimi tugged on her leash, romping around in the grass on the side of the path, investigating doggy smells. A butterfly lifted from one of the flowers nearby and Mimi lunged towards it, dragging my little sister along with her.

"Sweetie are you _sure_ you don't want me to hold the leash?" I asked for the umpteenth time as Pippa hauled the pup back towards her.

"No I got it." She insisted. Mimi turned her attention back to her at the sound of her voice and pounced on her, standing up on her hind legs and placing her paws on Pippa's chest, licking her face ecstatically. Pippa squealed with laughter and did nothing to push the pup away despite how many times Marle and I had told her she couldn't let her do that, because one day the puppy would be much bigger than she was now. I sighed and limped forward, nudging Mimi gently with one of my crutches to make her get down and continuing along the trail. Pippa skipped ahead of me, Mimi bouncing along beside her, yapping away. I shook my head, grinning at the two of them; I'd told Mom she was crazy to take on both a six year old and a puppy at the same time but when I saw how happy the two were together I just couldn't believe it was such a bad idea.

The three of us made it to Falshade's house eventually and Pippa led the way toward the porch proudly. Mimi must have caught scent of Caspia's goat right around then however because she gave a ferocious tug and her leash slipped free from Pippa's tiny hand. With that the pup was gone, taking off into the backyard and barking madly. Pippa looked up at me innocently. "Oops." She said, giggling and I rolled my eyes, tugging playfully on one of the pigtails Mom had put in her dark green hair.

"I _told_ you to let me hold the leash."

Pippa thrust her lip out in a manner that reminded me very much of Stork and ignored my comment, grabbing my hand and tugging me along. "Come on!" she said, pulling me towards the porch.

"Go ahead and knock." I told her, trying to manoeuvre up the stairs while she pranced ahead of me. She rapped on the door as if she'd done this hundreds of times before and waited, clasping her hands behind her back smartly. She must not have expected Falshade to be the one to open it though because when she saw him her eyes grew wide and she darted back beside me, clutching my hand again.

"Aw don't be scared, Pip. You remember Falshade, don't you? He's a friend of mine." I told her and she stepped forward again, taking Falshade in curiously. Shade smiled his winning smile and Pippa brightened.

"Oh yeah, I remember him!" She said, wrapping her small arms around Falshade's legs, hugging him just like she hugged everyone she met. He blinked at her as if surprised and then grinned, ruffling her hair.

"Hey kiddo, how you been?"

"I'm good!" Pippa informed him. "Can I come in, please?"

"Yeah, sure." Shade said, moving aside and letting her scoot past him before taking me in. "What are you doing back so soon?" He asked. He must have only just gotten up because he was still clad in his pyjama pants and his hair was even more dishevelled than usual. Lazy little bugger.

I shrugged. "Repton said I should come back. I wasn't much help out there with a bum leg, and besides, I missed you guys."

"Dawww, really?" Falshade said, motioning for me to follow him inside and closing the door. "Come on, Mom will want to see you and I don't wanna leave you standing on a bad leg."

I followed him down the hall, looking around absently. "So how're the kids?"

"They're fine, fitting right in here. Although Angel's being all... weird." He reported. "He's offering to help with dishes and everything."

My eyes widened. "Seriously?" Jeez I had to either threaten or bribe that kid into helping with dishes back on the _Merlin_.

"Yeah, it's creepy."

Just then we stepped into the kitchen and Falshade slipped into a nearby chair, out of harm's way as his mother rounded on me."Varan what in hell is that thing tearing up my yard and making all that racket?" She demanded, looking rather disgruntled.

"Oh, that would be Mimi." I explained tiredly.

"She's my puppy!" Pippa added proudly. "Hi Caspia! Look, I losted one of my teeth!"

"Hi honey. I like your hair today." Caspia told her, hugging the small girl. Then she stood up and took me in, all faux-annoyance gone as she swept me into her arms with a sigh. "So how're you, Varan? I heard you've been busy."

"I'm alright." I said, hugging her back as best as my crutches would let me. After a moment she stepped back and held me at arm's length, checking me for damage. She frowned at my bandaged leg and clicked her fingers at a nearby chair, which I sat in obediently. "Lots of strange stuff to get used to. Like having this little one around." I added as Pippa climbed into a chair next to me, poking her playfully.

"Varan is my big brother!" she reported importantly.

"Is he now?" Caspia said, eyebrows raised as if astonished. "Well you better take good care of him then, Pip."

"Oh I will." Pippa assured her. "I'm gonna go with him when he leaves again and be a Gargoyle too!"

Caspia gave Falshade a look while he tried to hide his laughter. "See what you've done?" she asked, rapping the side of his head with her knuckles.

"Yes Falshade, how dare you inspire a generation of people to want to follow their dreams and do good in the world." I added and Caspia nudged me gently with her elbow, grinning despite herself.

Just then Angel joined us, looking a little darker than usual and like he'd started to put some weight back on, which pleased me. He glanced around, caught sight of me and quirked an eyebrow.

"The hell are you doing here?" He asked me by way of greeting and I rolled my eyes while Caspia leaned over and smacked him gently.

"Mind your mouth, there are little ones around." She scolded, apparently ignoring the fact she'd used the same word not too long ago.

"I decided to come back early." I informed him. "Why, does it bother you?"

"Not really, I guess. But I thought you were on this whole father-son bonding thing."

"Well I was, but I just missed you _so_ much that I decided to come home. Happy?"

Angel grinned. "S'all I wanted to hear." He assured me. Just then Pippa, who'd been watching him fixatedly for the last few moments, hopped off her chair, trotted across the kitchen and flung her tiny arms around his narrow waist. "Er..." He said, looking rather alarmed.

"I remember you!" Pippa exclaimed, beaming up at him. "You and that girl saveded me!"

Everyone else seemed to flinch at this and stared at the small girl in shock, stunned that she could so simply recall something like that without even batting an eye. She'd come far from the shivering little creature who'd barely uttered a peep when we first found her on that slaughtered terra and it nothing short of amazed me. It had taken me ages to come out of the state of shock I'd been in after Bogaton and even now thinking back to that dark place would make me break out in a fit of shivers and nausea. Pippa had bounced back after only a few weeks, lively and cheerful and impossible to silence. Although according to Marle she still woke up screaming some nights, eyes wild and face tear streaked. Trauma never truly leaves us I suppose, as much as we'd like it to.

"Uh..." Angel looked like he wanted nothing more than to pry the small girl off him. "Yeah..." He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "You seem... bigger than last time we saw you." He strung out awkwardly.

"Mommy says I'm growing!" Pippa reported proudly.

"Yeah she'll be catching up to you soon, Ange." I decided to add and he shot me a dirty look while Falshade snickered into his cereal.

Mimi decided she was bored with romping around in the backyard then and showed up on the back porch, barking at the patio door. Pippa released Angel and he sagged with relief as she skipped over to the glass door and slid it open. Mimi came charging into the house like a hurricane, barking at everyone in greeting and standing on her hind legs to see what was on the table.

"Hey!" I said sharply, flicking my tail at her. "Get down, you!"

Caspia crouched down and Mimi, delighted to see someone at her level, scampered over only to skid to a halt when she came close enough to sense Caspia's stern personality. For possibly the first time in her short life the puppy held perfectly still while Caspia examined her expressionlessly, wagging her tail uncertainly as Caspia opened her mouth and checked her teeth. It seemed even hyperactive puppies were quelled by the will of Caspia.

"Oh lord look at those paws..." She muttered disapprovingly. "She'll be a monster when she gets older. You better train her well." She added to Pippa.

"Oh I will." Pippa assured her, nodding furiously. "Watch, she's really smart. Mimi!" she said, clapping her hands to get the pup's attention. "Mimi, sit!"

So of course Mimi bounded over, pleased to escape Caspia's scrutiny and turned circles excitedly, never even coming close to sitting. Angel snorted with laughter.

"Wow, she's as bad as Stork."

"Take Mimi outside, Pippa, so she doesn't make a mess." I advised as Mimi started sniffing around in the corner with a little too much interest for my liking. Pippa nodded and stuck her hand out, wiggling her pudgy little fingers as I dug the tennis ball I'd been carrying out of my pocket, handing it to her. Mimi's floppy ears seemed to shoot right off her head when she noticed what Pippa had in her hand and chased her out the door, yapping uncontrollably.

Caspia shook her head as she leaned on the counter, although the corner of her mouth had ticked up into a smile. "I can't believe Marle got her a puppy. The woman's mad." She said, pushing her oceanic hair from her face.

"Nobody ever got _me_ a puppy." Falshade muttered sourly, picking at his breakfast.

Caspia pursed her lips and cocked an eyebrow. "I got you a goat." She said, waving a hand towards the backyard. "Who, by the way, was a lot easier to raise than you were."

"Probably smells better too." Angel added and Falshade punched him in the ribs.

Just as I was about to ask about her Wasp slipped through the open door, looking into the yard with wide eyes. "Did you know there are _gremlins_ in the backyard?" she asked, clearly in awe by this fact. "I wonder what it means? Hi Varan." She added, moving to take an apple from the dish on the counter and then paused, turning to look at me more critically. "Oh, _hi_ Varan!" she exclaimed. "What're you doing here? I thought you went to go visit all the other Terra-whatsits."

"If you mean _Terradons_ then yes, I did go to see them, but I decided to come back early, which seems to be a big annoyance to everyone." I said gruffly and Wasp blinked owlishly at me.

"...I'm not annoyed."

"Oh well at least that makes someone." I muttered and Caspia uttered a noise that sounded like feigned sympathy and hugged me around the shoulders. Then she grimaced as she watched Pippa trip over Mimi and do a completely summersault over herself, laughing the whole time. "I think you'd better go outside and keep an eye on that girl before she winds up looking like the four of you." She said and I couldn't argue there, heaving myself to my feet and limping outside; I _was_ supposed to be babysitting after all. Pippa waved at me and then went back to running around the yard, making Mimi chase her here and there. Falshade followed me out and watched as Pippa tried to throw the ball as far as possible, achieving maybe ten feet at best. After a few more attempts he ambled over. "Can I try it?" He asked and Pippa happily passed him the spit soaked ball, which he accepted without complaint before throwing it clean out of the yard and into the scrubby fields beyond. Mimi tore after it as if there were nothing more important in the world than that ball, squeezing under the back fence and leaping through the high grass on the other side, pink tongue flying like a flag from the corner of her mouth.

I sat in one of the lawn chairs that circled the notched wooden table on the shaded porch and smiled at the three of them. Angel sat down across from me and watched them for a moment too, unable to keep the grin off his face.  
"Aw, look, Falshade's made some friends." He commented. "About bloody time."

I snorted and swatted at him half-heartedly. I was just glad Pippa was having fun; she didn't really have anybody to play with at home, which was why I assumed Marle had gotten her the dog. Although there were lots of kids on Vatican most of them were either toddlers or a lot older then Pippa was and she hadn't made many friends her own age yet. However, as she was keen to tell me, she had lots of 'grown-up' friends.

Caspia strode onto the porch after a moment, watching Falshade and Pippa out on the yard and smiling to herself before moving over behind Angel, snaking her slender fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes and sighed, leaning back and Caspia fixed her azure eyes on me, displaying a lot more warmth than she had before. I knew by now that Caspia's severe, no-nonsense attitude was mostly a bluff. She was not a woman to be trifled with of course; hell I was still terrified of her now and again and according to Falshade I hadn't even witnessed her at full wrath. But under her gruff attitude she was sweet and compassionate with a good sense of humour.

"So what's your father like?" she asked me with genuine interest.

"Um..." I said, not exactly sure how to answer. I didn't know Repton very well at all really, having only spent a short amount of time with him after all. I still had a lot of tumultuous emotions about him, unsure where exactly I stood when looking at him in terms of my father. I knew a not-so-small part of myself already felt attached to him and I wanted to get to know him better, maybe was even a little obsessive about it, but other than that I was still confused about how I felt towards him. "He's... eccentric?"

Angel laughed. "That's a polite way of calling someone crazy, isn't it?"

"Yes, in fact I use it to describe you guys all the time." I countered and he laughed again. "I don't really know what he's like." I went on, running my finger along the edge of the table distractedly. "I mean he's... he's still really angry about the way the humans treated him. I don't even want to get him started about what happened on old Bogaton... but at the same time I think he wants what's best for his people, so he's willing to try and get past all of that? Or I hope so anyways... he's pretty okay with everything that's going on right now so I take that as a good sign. He's willing to try and change anyways, and that makes him okay in my books..."

"That's the important part, yes." Caspia agreed and I felt extremely grateful for her. It must not have been easy for her to look at Repton in a good light after all. He and the Raptors had still been a terrifying bane to the skies of the Atmos when she was my age and although I wasn't a hundred percent certain on this I think she might have faced him more than once during her days escorting carrier ships. It made me feel more confident about everything knowing that Caspia, someone I held in very high regards, could forgive Repton for his past. "If he can look past his own grudges to see what's truly important then he's got to have a good heart somewhere deep down."

"That's how I like to look at it." I said. I held fast to the belief that my mother must have seen something good about him and that made me confident that I, too, could warm up to him. Maybe even love him some day. It was all very weird to try and comprehend of course, but I was willing to see where it might lead anyways.

Caspia was watching me as if she was reading my thoughts. "In any case, I'm happy for you, Varan." She told me. "You just make sure he's good to you or he'll have to deal with Marle and I."

I grinned; Caspia had always been protective of me, practically my second (human) mother. "A nasty force to be reckoned with indeed." I said and she grinned deviously, an expression I'd seen on Falshade's face time and time again. You forgot sometimes, what with their clashing personalities, but there were moments when you could just tell that Shade hadn't got all of his reckless desire for adventure from Falco alone.

Loud, high-pitched laughter drew our attention back to the yard. It seemed Falshade was under attack; Pippa was literally hanging from his good arm and Mimi had a mouthful of his jeans, trying to drag him to the ground. Falshade pretended to fall to his knees and then onto his side as if overpowered by the two pint-sized creatures. "Argh, that's it! I'm done for! Fatality!" he wheezed, collapsing on the grass. Then he burst into a fit of laughter when Mimi scrambled onto his chest and started licking his face fiercely, her tail a total blur while Pippa looked on, giggling uncontrollably.

Caspia shook her head. "Look at my son over there. You'd think he was five years old."

I grinned, seeing right through her air of disapproval. "You know there were still some puppies left in the litter." I told her innocently and she furrowed her brow, pretending to look displeased.

"Oh no you don't, Varan. Don't even _try_ putting ideas in my head because you know what will happen: I'll buy him one and he'll take care of it for a while, sure. But then he'll leave again and _I'll_ be stuck with the damn thing, and lord knows it'll give me more trouble than he did growing up." She said curtly and I laughed. Then she glanced back out at the three of them and her expression changed dramatically; suddenly she looked very old and defeated. "Then again maybe it'd convince him to stay a little longer..." she murmured as if speaking to herself and there was such a note of sadness in her voice that it made my heart ache. Angel looked up at her with concern, prodding her arm gently. "Well you know now that he's not off trying to save the world I'm sure he'll have more time to come back and visit." He pointed out. "We'll make sure he stops by sometimes."

Caspia shook the look of sorrow from her face and smiled, mussing up his hair. "I assume you meant _both_ of you will be stopping by." She corrected and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, that's what I meant." He relented and I grinned to myself.

"Good." Caspia said and then plucked at his hair, frowning. "You know it really wouldn't look so bad a few inches shorter." She added and I had to turn away, trying not to laugh too hard while Angel scowled.

"Would you leave it alone already?" he griped, swatting her hand away. Caspia folded her arms and Angel grimaced. "_Please_." He added in a mutter and Caspia seemed content with that.

"Well I can tell when I'm not wanted." She said and Angel rolled his eyes (but not before making sure she couldn't see him). "Anyways I have things to do. Keep an eye on those two." She added, jerking her thumb at Shade and Pippa and I nodded. As she stepped back inside I turned to Angel, who was pushing his fingers through his hair absently.

"I think it looks fine." He muttered to himself and I laughed. "That woman's gonna be the death of me."

I knew he was exaggerating but I let it go. "So how've you been doing?" I asked instead. Falshade had let me in on his whole scheme to try and get Angel to join the family back when we were on the _Condor_ and judging from how he and Caspia had interacted I guess Shade had succeeded. It must have been weird for him though; hell it had taken me a long time to accept Marle as my new mother and I'd been a lot younger and less standoffish than Angel was. It couldn't be an easy transition for him.

Angel shrugged. "I'm good. Happy here, which is weird."

I grinned. "Yeah, Falshade tells me you're even helping with chores. You _must_ be in a good mood."

Angel scowled. "Fuck no, I'm just not overly sure if Caspia's above beating me or not."

"She's not gonna beat you." I laughed.

"Everybody else does." He grumbled.

"Well there's a _reason _for that." I said, leaning over and cuffing him to accentuate my point. "So what have you guys been up to while I've been gone?"

"Hanging around here, mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Yeah... I flew out to Saharr the other day. Took care of some stuff." He said absently and I blinked in surprise. I didn't know exactly what 'taking care of stuff' meant but I had a feeling it must not have been easy, whatever it was. I felt proud of him though, glad that he was making an effort to change the things that had been bothering him, not taking Cyclonis' words to heart.

"I thought you looked darker." Was what I ended up saying, because I really didn't know how to respond to that. Angel had always been touchy about personal stuff anyways.

He snorted. "I know, can you fucking believe it? I'm _sunburned_." He said, glaring at his arm in disgust. "You know you've been out of the desert too long when..."

"I kinda missed it. Bogatri gets a lot of sun, it's nice, except when you get sand wedged under your scales." I said conversationally, feeling the telltale itch of grit in a few places.

"Yeah, bugger that. I have the same problem, what with my scales and all." He said and I flicked him with my tail, grinning.

Pippa made her way onto the porch then, coming over to me and climbing onto my lap. I winced when she put her weight on my bad leg. "Easy, honey."

"Sorry." She said, shifting onto my good leg and yawning.

"Sleepy?" I teased and she pouted.

"No." She lied. She'd stayed up way past her bedtime last night, scampering around the house with Mimi and talking to me a mile a minute, asking me all kinds of questions and telling me about all the adventures she'd had since coming to Vatican. It had overwhelmed me a little, since I had no experience with kids, but I'd listened amicably through it all because it pleased me that she'd been able to bounce back so quickly after the horrors she'd experienced on her home terra. I was glad to hear that she was adjusting well to her life here. My mom seemed happy too and that made my heart lift. Marle had always wanted children; I guess she was just one of those people who'd been born to be a mom. Caspia once explained to me that she'd been pregnant once but lost her husband in the war shortly after finding out the news. Then, to make things all the worse, she had complications with her pregnancy and lost her baby too. Marle never told me about it but Caspia said she'd been absolutely devastated for years after that. Then I'd come along and it was like a new beginning for both of us. And now, even though I was out of the house, she had someone else to nurture and spoil and that knowledge comforted me.

Falshade wandered back over then as well and dropped down in a chair next to Angel. Mimi scrabbled up the steps and put her front paws on his leg, barking and wagging her tail hopefully. I was about to tell her to get down when he gave in and scooped her up, depositing her on his lap. She licked his chin happily and he pulled a face, laughing.

I sighed. "You're not supposed to let her get away with that." I said tiredly. She already had a bad habit of jumping on the furniture, something Marle and I were trying to break her of but of course it didn't help to have Pippa constantly letting her up when we weren't looking.

"Aw, Varan come on, how am I supposed to resist the puppy eyes?" he said.

"Yeah how do you think I get away with half the things I do?" Angel added and Falshade laughed, giving him a shove.

"So anyways how was Bogaton?" He asked, ignoring my withering look. Mimi, as if to spite me, settled her muzzle on the tabletop.

"Actually they're calling it Boga_tri_ now, 'cause it's the third one and everything." I explained.

"How clever." Angel quipped and I flicked him with my tail again.

"Anyways it was alright. They're building all the new homes right now. According to Repton the Council's even letting them reconstruct the energy cannons."

"Oh, wow." Falshade said, eyes widening appreciatively. "That's quite a jump forward there, considering that last time they wouldn't even let them carry weapons."

I nodded. "I think everyone's still a little paranoid after those Berserkers started hitting us from out of nowhere. Apparently a few other terras have asked if the Terradons will build them energy cannons for their terras too."

"And what did they say to that?"

"They agreed. I guess the Terradons really want to show they're willing to work with the other terras, make an alliance." I couldn't help but smile when I said this, glad that both companies seemed eager to work together. "...Repton wanted to know if I'd be an ambassador for the Terradons." I added after a moment.

Falshade gawked at me. "Like, represent them in the Council?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "Pretty much."

"So what did you say?"

"No, of course." Angel laughed and I grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, I declined. Although he wouldn't let it go; I'm now an official representative for Human-Terradon interactions."

Falshade whistled, grinning. "Well look at you, moving up in the world. A full-fledged politician and you're not even twenty."

"Yeah, just so you know I can't be your friend anymore, Var." Angel added and I laughed good naturedly.

"Oh that reminds me." I said. "Repton wanted you guys to come by the terra, once Stork's better and everything. He wants the other Terradons to get used to other humanoids and he thinks you guys would be a good first introduction."

Falshade and Angel exchanged a look. "..._Us_?" Falshade repeated uncertainly. "Is that really a good idea?"

"See that's what I said." I agreed and Angel made a scoffing noise, throwing up his hands.

"Oh thanks, I see how it is." He said, even though I know he'd been thinking along the same lines as Shade. "Now that you're a freaking politic we're just not good enough for you."

"Oh hush, I was kidding." I said. "And as much as I'm sure you guys would probably make a pretty strange first impression I think it's a good idea too. I mean you guys are comfortable around us Terradons already right? And Repton wants to see all of you again anyways."

"Aw, really?" Falshade said, sounding touched.

"Yeah, he asked about you guys, wanted to know if you were okay. Oh, and he told me to tell you thanks, Shade."

Falshade blinked. "He did? Why?"

"He knows you were the one who talked the Council into liberating them." I explained and he flushed slightly, scratching as his scalp awkwardly.

"Well, jeez, I mean that wasn't all me. Other people must have stood up for the idea or it never would have flown." He mumbled.

"Christ would you listen to yourself, Mr. freaking Modest. I have half a mind to smack you." Angel told him and Falshade responded by holding Mimi in his face, letting her attack him with excited licks. "Ack, ptch! Stop that!" he said, holding her muzzle closed with his fingers while Pippa giggled.

"Anyways over all things are going well over there." I concluded as Falshade took Mimi back, fondling her ears. He seemed pleased by this which made me feel better inside; I think my initial reaction to this whole new development with the Terradons had upset him. "Although..." I added, figuring they'd enjoy this. "I _did_ end up telling Repton I was a vegetarian, which I think was pretty much the Terradon equivalent of coming out of the closet."

That got both of them laughing. Pippa looked up at me, small nose wrinkled in confusion. "What's that mean?"

"I'll explain it to you when you're older." I said and she huffed, putting her face in her hands and squishing her chubby little cheeks together in a pout.

Wasp joined us then, sitting in the last remaining chair and pulling her long legs up against her chest, balancing half of some sort of red fruit on her knobbly kneecaps. "Want some?" she asked me, holding it out. "It's pomegranate. Caspia got it for me."

"Oh, well that was nice of her." I said, accepting the segment she handed me.

"Yeah she's been all over Wasp since she got here. I'm starting to get the impression Mom wanted to have a daughter." Falshade grumbled. Wasp frowned and looked at her pomegranate uncertainly before holding it out to Falshade like a peace offering. He laughed and shook his head, passing it back. "No you keep that, Wasp, I was just kidding."

Wasp took it back and pushed a chunk of fruit (peel, waxy flesh, seeds and all) into her mouth, slurping on the juice and then cocking her head at Mimi. "Where'd you get the larva?"

Angel laughed while Falshade hugged Mimi closer as if offended; Mimi, for her part, didn't seem to mind at all. She was sniffing in Wasp's direction with interest, but whether it was because of the whole Faerieshian thing or because she just wanted some of Wasp's pomegranate I couldn't tell you. "Haven't you ever seen a puppy before?" Falshade asked reproachfully.

"Sure. But look at her, she's all wiggly and chubby, like a larva. She does have very nice eyes though." Wasp said, leaning in closer with admiration and Mimi lunged, catching her right across the mouth with a slobbery kiss.

"Ewwww." I whined while Wasp rubbed at her face unconcernedly. "Don't let her do that, lord knows what she's been into."

"She ate a worm yesterday." Pippa reported, eager to be involved in the conversation and proving my point.

"Worm's aren't so bad." Wasp said with a shrug. "Little gritty but lots of protein."

"Oh Wasp." Angel groaned, thunking his head onto the tabletop. "Please, in future, resist the urge to tell us about what kinds of insects you've ingested."

"But what if you need to know? What if you get lost on some unexplored terra and have to eat whatever you can find or else starve?"

"Then I'll starve."

Wasp snorted as if disgusted by how domesticated the rest of us humanoids had become then looked at me with curiosity. "What do baby Terradons eat?" She asked and I suppose I should have seen this one coming.

"We don't eat bugs, if that's what you were hoping." I informed her and she sighed as if disappointed. "And by the way, the whole lizard-habits stereotype might be taken offensively by other Terradons, just to let you know."

"But you guys don't drink milk." Wasp went on undisturbed. "Are babies born with teeth? Can they eat meat? What did you eat then, if that's the case? And what do you call baby Terradons, anyways?"

"I wasn't always a vegetarian." I informed her. "And they're just called hatchlings. You know, like baby birds."

"Was it fun to hatch? I'd love to spend time inside an egg. I bet it'd be all warm and squishy."

"I can honestly say I don't remember." I informed her while Falshade laughed to himself. "Tell you what, Wasp, since you're so interested when we have time we'll go to Bogatri and you can ask the other Terradons all the questions you want. I've kinda forgotten what it's like to be a regular Terradon by now, been around humans too long."

"You say that like it's a terrible ordeal." Angel grumbled.

"Well around some of you it can be pretty draining." I relented and he looked like he wanted to say something pleasant I'm sure but caught sight of Pippa at the last moment and refrained.

"Are there going to be babies hatching on this new terra?" Wasp asked.

"Uh, not sure. There's a few young ones around, one or two years old but I don't think they're expecting any new hatchlings just yet." I said.

"Yeah but they can have kids whenever they want now, right?" Angel said, more like he was confirming something rather than asking. "I mean the Council let go of the whole breeding programme thing, didn't they?"

"Well, yeah, they did." I said, shifting uncomfortably. These are not the sort of subjects I'm comfortable with. "But everyone's busy building this new terra and getting used to everything, I don't think anyone's concerned with babies right now." I scratched at my bandages distractedly, feeling a little awkward. I was still pretty overwhelmed with everything that was happening with my species, having everyone bombard me with questions sort of bewildered me. I didn't mind of course but I was never able to handle sudden fixation and attention very elegantly; even back here with the others I felt a little tongue-tied. "Look I don't wanna talk about just me, you guys will have to come out there with me and see for yourselves, I don't do it any justice. What about you guys, what have you been up to?" I asked, eager to know how they'd been spending their week, even if it had been just doing a whole lot of nothing.

So the others went on to idly tell me how they'd been spending their time off; Wasp was very pleased to inform me that she'd learned how to skip rocks and Falshade mentioned the Beast Keepers, surprising me by reporting that apparently he and Drake were on good terms now. Never would have seen that one coming. He told me about Aries and Ozprey too but I already knew about that, since Marle couldn't seem to stop talking about it. Pippa piped up then excitedly that she was going to be the flower girl at the wedding, a role she insisted was of the utmost importance. After awhile though as we started talking about more things she either didn't understand or had no interest in she started dozing off on my lap, leaning back against me and tickling my snout with her pigtails. I brushed them back slightly and was amazed by just how comfortable the small girl was with me. When I came home I was expecting her to be a little hesitant, maybe even timid, around me like she was when we'd found her on that razed terra. It threw me for a total loop when the first thing she did was grab me in a massive hug, nearly sweeping me off my good leg and then danced around me in excitement, chanting my name. Apparently Marle had told her all about me and gotten her hyped about the fact that she had her very own big brother. In the end I was the one who had to do the most adjusting to suddenly having a little sister, particularly one who couldn't seem to get enough of me. Although it wasn't hard to grow fond of Pippa in a short period of time of course.

It was awhile later, when Mimi had finally started to settle down and her big, dopey puppy eyes were closing slowly that someone started calling out from around the side of the house.

"Hellllllloooooo! Anybody home?"

"We're out back!" Falshade yelled and Mimi sat up as if electrified. She made a flying leap off of Falshade's knees and charged into the yard to head off whoever had shown up, barking wildly.

Apparently Roo had decided to drop by and snorted at Mimi, who was standing with her head low to the ground, growling. "Oh yes, you're a fierce little thing aren't you?" she said, carefully placing the tray she was carrying on the edge of the porch and crouching down. Mimi's posture immediately changed and she bounded forward to greet her, jumping all over her in an effort to lick her face.

Falshade got up and made his was down the porch steps. "Hey Roo!" he said cheerfully but faltered when she straightened up and fixed him with a steely look, folding her arms in an unforthcoming manner.

"So a little birdie tells me you've been home for almost a week now and you couldn't take even half an hour to drop by and see me." She said coldly and Falshade fidgeted guiltily, scratching at his scalp.

"Um... I'm terribly sorry? It's nice to finally see you?" he tried, holding his arm open hopefully and Roo frowned at him disdainfully for a moment longer before shrugging and accepting Shade's gesture warmly.

"Alright, I guess I can forgive you." She said, breaking away from him and delivering two quick punches to his shoulder just for good measure. "But you better mind yourself, Ravenscroft, I might not be in such a good mood if it happens again."

"Duly noted." Falshade grinned.

"Anyways I come bearing food." Roo continued, retrieving her container and coming up the steps. "Mom heard you had company so she made a batch of cupcakes." She reported, setting the container on the table and Angel uttered a whimpering noise in his throat.

"Roo!" Pippa cheered excitedly, evidently awake again. She squirmed off my lap, leaping up to grab Roo in a tight hug.

"Hey Pipsqueak! You've got your hair like mine today!" Roo said as if amazed, grabbing Pippa's pigtails and swishing them to and fro like mini pom-poms.

"Roo, Roo guess what? I have a brother! Do you know him?" Pippa asked, pulling Roo towards me and she met my eye, grinning that sly little grin of hers that made my stomach ties itself in knots.

"Oh yeah, I know Varan alright." She said and then did something that caught me completely off guard, leaning over and kissing me. Just on the cheek but still, jeez, the others were right there and everything. Heat rushed to my face while Falshade and Angel exchanged a smirk. Jerks. Roo pretended not to notice my discomfort, smiling to herself and turning to Wasp and Angel. "Now I didn't get proper introductions last time, so who's who?" She asked.

"Angel's the grouchy looking one and Wasp is the one with the ears." I said and Angel, fittingly, scowled at me.

Roo laughed and held out a hand. "Well it's nice to finally meet you guys." She said politely. Of course Wasp just stared at her hand, nose wrinkled in confusion and Angel always makes it a point to be rude and not return friendly gestures. "Can I have one of these?" he asked instead, pointing at the container.

"Yeah of course." Roo said, seeming untroubled by their lack of response. Well then again she'd grown up with three brothers, I suppose she was used to blatant displays of disrespect by now. I, however, intended to give the two of them a talking to later.

"So how have you been Roo?" Falshade asked, giving Angel a nasty look as he leaned over to take a cupcake for himself. I handed one to Pippa, who'd climbed back onto my lap again while Roo perched on the railing of the porch.

"Good. Haven't been up to anything as awesome as you guys but I make do."

Falshade nodded then gave her a weird look. "Okay I have to ask, what's with the getup? I never pegged you as skirt kinda girl, no offence."

I'd been sort of wondering that too; although not as extreme as Stork Roo had always been a bit of a tomboy and never in the years we'd spent together had I ever seen her in a skirt. Then again lately I'd started to think those girls she'd befriended had managed to rub off on her a little, as she'd seemed to have adopted a taste for fashion. She was wearing a weird ensemble today, a clunky pair of cherry red boots and mismatched thigh-high ripped stockings that ended just below the cut of a rather short skirt that made me feel a strange, fluttering feeling in my stomach; I'd been trying avoid looking at it too much but I couldn't help but notice that it was rather... tiny. She had a baggy t-shirt on top displaying some band logo and long fingerless gloves stretched up to her elbows that looked like they were made from the missing socks. And her violet hair was pulled back in high pigtails that kind of made her look like she had antennae.

Roo grinned, plucking at one of her gloves absently. "I thought I'd try out a new look. I'm kinda going for a Sally Switchblade style here. She's the guitarist from MSI, my newest favourite band." She explained, pointing to her t-shirt in demonstration.

"MSI?" Wasp repeated, who until now had been silently pulling little clumps of fluff from her bandages meticulously. "I saw them play once."

Roo looked at Wasp as if in a whole new light. "Seriously? Man I've been trying to get tickets to a show for ages, I'd love to see them live. They seem like one of those bands who have serious stage presence."

Wasp shrugged. "They were okay, but I thought they were trying too hard."

"Do I want to know what MSI stands for?" Falshade asked as Roo pouted, looking a little hurt.

"Oh, it's Meat Supplement Industry." She explained and Angel snorted.

"I'm sure there's a joke to that, but I don't know if I want to know what it is." I said and Roo giggled, shoving me gently.

"So, Shade." She said, sitting up smartly and clapping her hands seriously. "How long are you staying for?"

"Er..." Falshade seemed a little flustered. "Well the Storm Hawks are coming back for us in a couple of days, so not long."

"Shit, really? Oh, crap, I meant shoot. Honey you didn't hear that, okay?" Roo said to Pippa, who hadn't been paying attention in the first place.

"Hear what?"

"That's my girl." Roo said, ruffling her hair. "Anyways I'm just asking because it's to my understanding that you're rather skilled in the whoop ass department and I am in need of some whoop ass training. Oh damnit, I did it again! Pippa just turn your ears off, okay?" she added quickly when I gave her a pained look.

Angel snorted again. "Who told you that? Shade can't fight his way out a wet paper bag."

"Hey!" Shade said, insulted. "Up yours Ange, I could kick your scrawny ass from here to next Tuesday even with a bum arm."

"Hello!" I interrupted irritably. "Trying not to teach the six year old bad language here!" I said, jabbing a finger at the top of Pippa's head pointedly.

"Oh come on, she's gonna learn it all eventually." Angel said, which I found ironic since he seemed to be the only one to filter his vocabulary choices thus far.

"Sorry Var. Anyways what do you want to learn to fight for? Couldn't you just ask your dad?" Falshade asked, changing the subject back to its original topic.

"Well I could, except my dad's ancient and I'd probably break his dusty old bones by accident." Roo said and I shook my head with a laugh.

"You are so rude. Does he know you say half these things about him?" I asked and she tapped her fingers together nervously.

"No, and if you know what's good for you he won't find out either." She warned me. "Anyways I just thought it'd be good to have some proper skills you know? What with my idiot brothers attacking me all the time and what not I figured it'd be a good idea to have some tricks up my sleeves, you know, in case of emergency."

Falshade grinned. "Well I guess we could show you some stuff, but I doubt you're gonna do much damage with arms that puny."

"_Puny_?" Roo repeated, offended. "Hey buddy, I'll have you know I've been hefting crates full of supplies for weeks now, I've been building some pretty hardcore muscles." She lifted her arm and flexed it in demonstration. "See, check out those pythons."

Falshade did his best not to laugh, nodding appreciatively. "Wow, yeah, with arms like that you might be able to take on Angel. The two of you are probably in the same weight category."

Angel's hand curled into a fist but he made no move to get up. Rather he helped himself to another a cupcake and said "Don't listen to him, body mass counts for squat if you don't know the right moves. Falshade's just jealous because sure, he's kind of a hunk but he's got a skull thicker than reinforced steel." Angel looked up at Shade's scowling visage and simply grinned. "You wanna mess with me, you come right on back."

"Whatever." Falshade grumbled.

Wasp seemed to have been waiting for someone to go back to Roo's original inquiry and finally ran out of patience. "I can teach you some stuff." She burst out suddenly and Roo looked at her in surprise. "I think it's important for girls to know how to protect themselves." She added in that rare tone of clarity that reminded me just how much thoughtfulness Wasp actually had spinning around in that strange head of hers.

Roo was examining Wasp critically, something mischievous glinting in her dark brown eyes. Abruptly she stepped forward and took Wasp's hand, hauling her out of her seat and leading her into the yard. "I think you and I have to spend some girl time." She declared. "So I'm kidnapping you."

"Oh..." Wasp looked puzzled by this, glancing back at the three of us as if she had to ask our permission.

Roo looked back too. "You guys just hang out together, talk about sports or something else manly." She instructed. "Don't worry I'll take good care of her."

"If she comes back with rings in her nose you and I are going to have words!" Angel shouted after her but Roo simply flicked a hand at him dismissively, leading Wasp around the house out towards the path. Frowning he leaned back in his chair and looked like he was going to put his feet on the table but decided against it (wow Caspia really did have him on good behaviour). Instead he dropped them on Falshade's knees, careful not to kick Mimi, who had somehow managed to weasel her way back up on his lap without my noticing. Falshade gave a resigned sigh but accepted that he was going to be used as furniture and made no comment and the three of them stared at me with bald expectancy, Mimi's tongue lolling inquisitively out of her mouth as if she too were in on it, until finally I sighed and revolved a hand in invitation.

"Alright, let's get this over with." I said tiredly.

The two of them cracked almost identical evil grins. "DAWWW!" they both drawled out obnoxiously and I pinched top of my muzzle.

"You two spend too much time together." I said wearily.

"Don't try to change the subject; we're focusing on _your_ relationship here." Angel said and Falshade gave him a half-hearted cuff around the head before turning his attention to me.

"Soooo..." he started in an annoying voice that I had a feeling he'd picked up from Stork. "What's going on with you two? Are you o-ffical?"

"Uh..." I rubbed at my bandages uncomfortably, blood rushing to my face once again. I suppose I'd just have to accept that fact that I'd never be able to conceal my awkwardness. "Well I guess we're sort of dating? And if that goes well then yeah, I think we're official."

"That's sounds like when someone says they're engaged to be engaged." Angel said dispassionately. "Lame."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh really? Well since we're on the topic what the hell are you and Wasp then, for curiosity's sake?"

Falshade covered his face, laughing, while Angel's cheeks turned scarlet. Funny, in the almost three years I'd lived with the little punk I'd never once seen him blush over anything. I'm not usually a spiteful person but this alone made me feel a little requited for all the clever comments he threw at me constantly.

"Fuck if I know what's going on there." he muttered, breaking his vocabulary filter with the worst one of them all and I cleared my throat, pointing at Pippa again but he didn't seem in the mood to care. "I don't know what it is but I'm not complaining about it, so long as she's happy with it anyways."

Wow. Angel had done so much changing in the last three months it really took me aback. Well, I don't know for sure if it had been changing or just letting more of himself come to the surface but it still impressed me. All the others had been surprising me lately with acts of bravery and maturity and it made me really proud in an older-brotherly sort of way. My gawky little group of wayward, golden hearted kids were growing up... about bloody time.

No I kid. Besides I was still one of those ungainly misfits myself.

"You know, Fraggle was right, you can be really cute sometimes." Falshade teased and Angel made a growling noise at him, kicking at his stomach until Mimi, thinking it was a game, started attacking his feet savagely, chewing on his toes with her nubby puppy teeth.

"Hey! Not cool!" he said, nudging Mimi's belly to get her to stop and she promptly took this as an invitation, clambering across his legs to make herself comfortable on his lap, licking his chin. "Ugh, I didn't mean you could... alright fine." He relented, forcing the pup away from his face but scratching her behind the ears all the same. He liked to act all indifferent towards them, but we all knew Angel had a soft spot for animals of any kind.

Falshade grinned then turned back to me. "Anyways Var I think it's great for you two. I guess this means we'll have to stop by more often from now on."

"I wouldn't mind that." I admitted.

"Varan has to visit all the time." Pippa declared. "Mommy said so."

Angel chuckled to himself at this while Falshade smiled at her. "Well we can't argue with that. We'll make sure he visits."

"Good. Can I have another cupcake?"

I handed one to her and thought about Shade's previous statement. It seemed like almost overnight I'd gained a collection of things that, three months ago, I'd never thought I'd have. Suddenly I had a sister, a father and a possible girlfriend and it was almost too much to believe really. I'd always been perfectly happy with the few precious people I had in my life and never could have asked for anything better. Now my motley little family had grown and although I was delighted to welcome these new people into my heart it frightened me a little too. I mean it had all been so simple before; aside from my friends and family on Vatican, the most important people in my life had all been in the same place with me, together on the _Merlin_. Now though... things were more difficult. It was obvious that Shade and the others intended to keep doing what we'd always been doing, hunting in the forgotten corners of the Atmos for any danger that might be lurking there. I'd figured as much; that was just what they were meant to do, it was the only life I could ever imagine them living. I myself could imagine a slightly less intense lifestyle, but I knew deep down I'd never be satisfied with just that. I was one of the Gargoyles and I would always follow them from one misadventure into the next, come what may of that. But I had other attachments now that stretched beyond the Gargoyles: I knew, especially in the near future, that I'd be needed on Bogatri, whether it was for more serious matters or just a simple visit. I wanted to check in on the place the more it got developed anyways; I wasn't accustomed to the knowledge yet but I was a part of that place, I was connected to the people there. Then of course there was Pippa, who I wanted to see now and again as well. I hadn't been her brother for very long but I already adored her. I guess it's the same with any older sibling when they meet their new baby sibling for the first time; there's an instant, instinctive bond formed right from the start and I doubt it ever goes away. Pippa was my little sister and I wanted to be a part of her life, watch her grow up and teach her things about the world. And then of course there was Roo, who I wanted to devote time and attention to as well. After all this middle, not-quite-official stage was important and as awkward and shy as I was I really did want to take her out on dates and stuff. But how was I going to be able to find time for any of that? It worried me, I felt like I'd be stretched thin between all the different places I wanted to be. Did it mean I'd have to make little sections of my heart, each dedicated to these new people in my life and to be left behind with them? I didn't like the thought of that much, I didn't want to be torn between different places. The last thing I wanted was to feel incomplete and unhappy all the time.

I sighed contemplatively and played with Pippa's pigtails again while Angel got up and set Mimi down on the porch, determined to teach her how to sit and stay. I was actually surprised when, on the fourth try, she stayed in place when he backed away from her, waiting for his signal before bounding forward excitedly. She was a smart little pup I'd give her that, but her developing brain was stuck in puppy mode and it gave her a short attention span. I grinned to myself as Pippa scrambled off my lap again, eager to try for herself and I put my uncertainty to rest for now. I figured eventually everything would fall into place on its own and even if things were tough I was willing to accept that in exchange for all the wonderful things I had in my life.

That's one thing I'll always pride myself in I suppose; despite my brittle nerves and underlying anxiety I've always managed to find the courage to push on through for the things that really mattered to me.

**x.x.x Fraggle x.x.x**

I stopped for the sixth time during the very short amount of time I'd been slogging my way through the snow. "Alright, I'm putting my foot down, eh." I declared, turning around to face Starla, who tried to pretend she didn't know what I was talking about. "This is as far as I'm letting you follow me. You go on back home now and quit stalking me, ya little creep."

Starla folded her arms and stuck out her chin formidably. "You gonna make me there, fleabag?"

I took a threatening step towards her and she backed up a few feet out of reach. Yeah, like I really could have given her a good thrashing with my ribs the way they were. Piper had give me some strange root that tasted kinda like liquorice (only nastier) to chew and it had been helping with the pain but just because they didn't hurt didn't mean they were all better, even I knew that. And I think Starla knew it too, although she was willing to humour me. Gotta love that girl.

"Listen, you irksome little munchkin, you notice all the dark stuff around you, eh?" I said, waving my hand at the shadowy tundra. With the snow glowing in the moonlight it wasn't pitch black or anything, but it was getting on into the night nonetheless. "Moon's getting up there and you know what likes to come out and play in the moonlight, eh?"

"Wolves." Starla said in a bored tone that seemed to say 'thanks for the lecture, Mum'. Little twerp was getting an attitude. Can't imagine where she'd picked it up.

"_Exactly_. I'm not coming back this way and there's no way I'm letting my baby sister walk alone through wolf country in the middle of the night, eh. So you go head on home now." I said in the best serious, don't-argue-with-me-young-lady voice I could summon. Which, unfortunately, was not very convincing; being stern just doesn't come naturally to me.

Starla scoffed. "Since when did you start believing you could boss me around, eh? You got some real big cahones talking to me like that without even saying please."

Yes, yes I did.

I rolled my eyes. "Starla-Louize, quit being a pain in my ass and go home, would ya? Look I know what you're trying to pull here, eh, and it ain't gonna work."

Starla feigned a look of innocent bewilderment. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Oh don't pull the wide-eyed innocence stunt on me, eh, I taught you how to do that one." I scolded. Then, in a softer tone I said "Honey, you can't come with me."

Starla stamped a foot, abandoning her charade. "Well why not?" She demanded, her eyes full of stinging reproach.

"First of all, it's not my call to make, eh. The Storm Hawks have enough of us to put up with as it is without you tagging along and I dunno how the others would feel about having you around. Besides, we've got a lot of stuff we have to take care of, we're gonna be real busy."

"But I can help with that, eh!" she insisted. "I helped out around here after the attack!"

"Yes I know." I said, leaning in to stroke her ear but she jerked away from me again. "But we're gonna be all over the place and if you get bored or homesick I dunno if anyone will have time to bring you back out here. Besides, I dunno what Shade's planning on doing after we're done putting things back together eh, but I know he won't stay in one place for long, the Gargoyles are gonna get up to something or other and I can't bring you with us. You're too young, sweets."

Starla looked outraged. "You were sixteen when you left home!"

"Yeah, and how old are you right now, smarty pants? That's a five year age difference and trust me, that's a bigger gap then you'd think, eh." I told her. "You still got a lot of growing up to do and I think you're going to need Mum and Hail to help you through that."

"But you can look after me!" she said and I could hear an edge of pleading entering her voice now. I swallowed, fighting down the lump that was rising in my throat. Her eyes were wide and shiny and there was such a look of absolute trust and devotion in them that it made me want to cry. "You and the others, we can all be like a family, all your friends can be my brothers and sisters too! Wouldn't that be great?" she went on excitedly and I could tell this had been something she'd been thinking about all week.

"I'm sure the others would love you to pieces, eh." I agreed. "But they get themselves into enough trouble as it is without having to look out for a little sister as well. It's a nice idea, Starla, it really is, but it's just not going to be possible right now, eh."

Starla looked like she was desperately searching for more arguments and when she couldn't find any her face flooded with disappointment. She bit her lip to keep it from quivering and hugged her arms around herself tightly, sniffling and she looked so damn small and heartbroken right then I wanted to go back on my word and take her along anyways, to hell with what the others might say. But I knew as her big brother it was my duty to make sure she was safe, happy and had at least a moderately stable lifestyle. Happiness I was sure the Gargoyles could give her and I'd do anything to keep her safe, but that wasn't always enough. As for the stable lifestyle, that was a joke and a half; hell my life over the past three years couldn't be declared even remotely stable and that was when I'd at least had a ship to call my own.

"I'm sorry, Starla." I said, grabbing her shoulder so she couldn't pull out of reach and when she didn't struggle (much) I pulled her into my chest, patting the top of her leather cap. "I promised we'd stop by sometime soon, right? And, look, I'll tell you what, maybe in a few months once we have some spare time and figured everything out you can hang with us for a couple of weeks, how's that sound eh?" I paused to think about that one and snorted at the absurd thought that popped into my head: '_hey kids, your home life not dysfunctional enough as it is? Well then come join Gargoyles Day Camp! Our activities include kick-ass combat training, playing poker, drama for extremists and belching contests. Sissies need not apply.'_

Hmm, actually, that might be an interesting marketing endeavour...

I shook my head, bringing my attention back to Starla, who had pulled out of my grasp. Heaving a mighty sigh she wiped at her face and tried to push her misery aside. "I guess that's good enough for now, eh. I wouldn't want to get in your way or anything." She added the last bit with some snark but I knew she was just trying to lighten the mood. "Here, got a present for you." She said, digging around in her jacket pocket.

"Aw, you don't have to give me anything..."

"Well too bad I am, so you better take it or I'll smack you right upside you're dumb ol' head, eh." She warned and I rolled my eyes, grinning. Gently extracting whatever it was she'd been hunting for she looked up at me and gave me a toothy smile, holding out the little trinket proudly. "Figured you'd need a new one, since you gave the old one away." She said as I tentatively accepted the short string of beads from her. "It's not a necklace this time eh, it clips onto the zipper of your jacket. I thought you might actually wear it if it were a little more manly."

Now I don't know what qualifies as 'manly' jewellery, but I'm sure accessorizing your zipper isn't exactly in the ball park. But I wasn't about to tell that to Starla.

I examined the charm with interest, noting the specific pattern of coloured beads that probably had some sort of special meaning, in Starla's opinion anyways. A couple of them even had weird little symbols painted on and I was touched by the obvious effort that went into it. But it was the tiny ornament at the bottom of the chain that really grabbed my attention. I held the string in front of my eyes to get a better look at it, squinting and cocking my head this way and that until something deep in the back of my mind clicked and I looked at her in disbelief.

"Is this what I think it is, eh?" I breathed and Starla shifted sheepishly.

"Yeah, it is." She said with a satisfied little grin. "I found that chunk of metal in your backpack eh and I knew where it must have come from. I used Dad's tools to cut a piece off and bend it and man was that ever a pain in the butt, eh. Nailed my finger with the hammer." She said, pulling off her glove to show me the purple nail of her middle finger.

I looked at the shiny little diamond of metal that hung from the bottom of the chain again and touched it with one of my claws. I knew it was only a silly, useless piece of twisted alloy steel, but something about that sliver of cold metal made my heart tighten violently.

"Now you can always have a little piece of home with you, wherever you are, eh." Starla said matter-of-factly and I looked into her smiling, bright-eyed eyed face in complete awe. When it came down to it, it didn't matter that I was leaving her behind again or that I'd been a terrible brother and forgotten to write or that I couldn't even give her a rough estimate on when we'd see each other again. Despite all her feigned hard feelings and scornful attitude, in the end she just wanted me to be happy, even if it wasn't with her. I felt like her giving me a new good luck charm after so nonchalantly giving away the old one was her way of giving me permission to leave again, something that I hadn't asked for but had definitely needed.

It seemed I'd been making a record for myself this week; it took a lot for a girl to strike me speechless without taking her top off, never mind managing such a feat twice. But then, Starla always had a way of yanking on my heartstrings so easily it was like she wasn't even aware of her power. She was gonna be a heartbreaker when she got older, my hybrid little sister. So with nothing to say I grabbed her much too tightly and crushed her into my chest, squeezing her for all she was worth; I tried to say everything in that one suffocating embrace and the message must have gotten across because she hugged me just as fiercely and we ended up standing there for ten whole uninterrupted minutes in each other's arms while snow started to float gently down around us. Two oddballs in the middle of a bittersweet snow globe.

Until the wolves started howling from somewhere too close for comfort. With that I gave her a quick smooch on the cheek and we both took off running towards our separate destinations. I suppose it was better that way anyways; I hate saying goodbye.

* * *

I felt a trickle of relief loosen the tight coils of my chest as the _Condor_ touched down gracefully on Vatican's docks. I'd been feeling pretty lousy since leaving Nord and although Finn and Junko had tried to cheer me up there was a cold, bruising grip around my heart that could only be eased by the presence of the Gargoyles. Knowing I'd be with them shortly finally made the queasy feeling in my guts start to lessen.

"Remember to tell the others we'll be here by noon tomorrow!" Piper called after me as I ambled down the ramp and onto the wharves. I waved a hand over my shoulder to show I'd heard and felt a blast of warm air rush over me as the _Condor_ lifted once again into the darkening skies, heading off someplace else. Always seemed to be doing something, those guys.

It had taken us most of last night and all of today to get to Vatican and by now the sun was beginning its slow descent towards the horizon. Shielding my eyes from the glare I picked out the jutting ridge of the plateau I'd seen on my last visit here; if memory served me Shade's house was nestled near the foot of that thing so hopefully if I just kept wandering in that direction I'd wind up there eventually. Plonk me down in the middle of a party and I can tell you the names of everybody who was there the next day. But directions? Not so much my strong point. I'd never really cared if I got lost though; I, like any self-respecting male, did not ask for directions unless extremely desperate, but eventually I've always seemed to end up getting to where I wanted to be one way or another. I mean hell, isn't life supposed to be about having adventures and taking the road less travelled?

I wasn't more than five steps down the street when suddenly an arm tightened around my neck from behind and something hard was pressed up against my ribs.

"Give me your wallet." Someone growled into my ear, sounding just like how I always imagined a crazed mugger would.

"I don't have any money, man." I wheezed, wishing I had my energy staff with me and wondering if I'd be able to throw this asshole over my shoulder before he could hook his knife in my ribs.

"You don't? Well fuck me, are you ever a disappointment. I had the spooky voice down and everything." The someone said, all at once sounding familiar. "How about a pizza coupon? You got any of those?"

"God damnit you pint-sized little hoser, you nearly gave me a bloody heart attack!" I yowled indignantly and Angel let me go, springing back out of range and cackling like the evil little bastard he was.

"Oh man you should have seen your _face_! I thought you were gonna shit your pants!" He laughed, holding his side.

I scowled. "I knew it was you, eh." I scoffed. "You gotta invest in mouthwash or something there, eh, I can recognize your breath from a mile off."

"Uh-huh, sure. And you knew this really wasn't a knife either, right?" He taunted, waving the object he'd jammed into my ribs; turns out I'd been held up by a candy bar.

"Angel knock it off, poor guy's still in bad shape, remember?" Falshade scolded, although he couldn't keep the grin entirely off his face and I wasn't inclined to feel very grateful towards him.

"Yeah eh, takes a real yellow-belly to attack a guy with busted ribs." I pointed out, feeling rather snubbed.

"Oh yeah, 'cause squealing like a girl makes you a big man and everything." Angel said casually, peeling the wrapper off his chocolate bar. He took in my sour expression and heaved an exaggerated sigh, snapping off a chunk of chocolate and offering it to me, which was a mighty huge gesture on his part. That didn't stop me from being standoffish when I took it though.

"What are you kids doing down here eh?" I asked Falshade, deciding to ignore Angel for a while.

"We came to meet you." He said and my heart quivered a bit at the warmth in his voice. "Thought you might have a hard time finding the house, since you've only been here once."

I felt an extra rush of affection for him for not adding anything about my atrocious memory. I was going to ask how they knew I was coming tonight in the first place but decided against it. I had a feeling Piper must have made the call ahead of time while I'd been in the can or something; I _had_ been acting pretty withdrawn and gloomy all day, unusual for me, and it must have worried them.

"Huh. Well I'd be more appreciative eh, but since you tried to _mug me_ you kinda lost some sentiment points." I said and Falshade laughed, giving Angel a much-deserved shove.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I tried to stop him, honestly." He said and I rolled my eyes. Yeah, of course you did, Shade.

"So where's the big guy and the creepy one?" I asked as we started walking up the street again.

"Varan's at the house helping my mom. We're having a bit of a party, actually, pretty much half the terra's in my backyard right now." Falshade explained and I perked up a bit. Nothing turns your mood around like a good ol' party. "Wasp... _was_ here." He paused as if only just remembering her. "Oops."

"We need to get her one of those shock collar things, eh." I muttered, looking around absently. "Anytime she runs off all we gotta do is give her a good zap. She'll learn to stick around pretty quick, eh."

Angel chuckled to himself at that and swallowed the lump of chocolate that was in his mouth before letting out a sharp whistle. We waited for a minute before, sure as gum, Wasp came loping out of the shadows of a nearby side street, knocking over a garbage can in the process before skidding to a halt before us.

"That is such a great trick." Falshade said with a grin.

"I can do better." Wasp said before turning her owlish gaze on me. "Oooh, you smell interesting." She commented, coming in close to sniff me all over.

"That's probably Nord your smelling, eh." I said and then pulled a face when I felt her tongue glide over my ear. "Ew, don't do that, eh, spit always makes my fur mat together."

"Could have gone my whole life without hearing that." Angel grumbled, shoving the last of his chocolate into his mouth.

Wasp's usually large eyes grew even wider suddenly and zeroed in on my chest. Walking backwards so we were pressed in face-to-face I felt her hand grabbing for my zipper.

"Whoa, hey, don't you be playing with that, eh!" I said a little more sharply than I meant to. "Bad girl, down! Sit! Stay!"

Wasp backed off, tucking her hands behind her back respectfully while Shade and Angel turned to see what the commotion was. I glanced at the beads hanging from my zipper quickly just to make sure they hadn't fallen off or anything. "Sorry eh, but my sis made this for me and I don't want it breaking or anything my first day wearing it."

Wasp nodded as if this made perfect sense. "What is it?" she asked with fascination.

"It's my new lucky charm, eh."

"It looks lucky. And like a chrysalis. A little luck pod." Wasp murmured and I fiddled with the string of beads absently, my heart cinching as I thought about Starla.

"How was your family, by the way? How was Nord in general?" Falshade asked and I shrugged, not really wanting to go into great detail about it. I'd kept having spikes of panic all day long, mini anxiety attacks that clawed briefly up my throat and made me want to turn around and go home or find a quiet place to curl up and cry. Eventually the shaky feelings of dread and homesickness would fade I knew, but right now it was all too easy for those sudden spurts of brittle emotions to rear up and consume me and the last thing I needed was to break down like a complete baby in the middle of the street.

"It was alright, eh. Can barely tell the place was attacked by now, they're in good shape out there. Family was good, real happy to see me." I said, trying to sound casual.

"Was your sister as angry as you thought she'd be?" Falshade asked and I snorted half-heartedly.

"She was but she came around after awhile. Hard to resist charms like mine after all." I said and Angel uttered a coughing noise in his throat. "She... she wanted to come with me when I left, actually." I said, kicking a small pebble away and swallowing hard, trying to keep in control of myself. Wasp chased after the pebble as it clattered over the cobblestones and I cleared my throat, trying to put on a brave face because Falshade was watching me with concern. "She really wants to meet you guys." I added in a more light-hearted tone. "She's real interested in you kids, for some reason. I told her when we have time we'd fly out and visit, eh."

Falshade nodded. "That sounds cool, we'll definitely have to leave a spot open for that on the calendar. I'm pretty interested in meeting her by now too."

"Got any pictures?" Angel asked conversationally. Man I really must have looked miserable if _Angel_ was trying to be supportive.

"As a matter of fact I do, eh, she insisted I carry one of her around with me so I can show off how awesome she is." I said, digging my wallet out of my pocket. Extracting the picture without looking at it I handed it over to Falshade, whose face split into a wide grin. Only to be expected concerning my sister of course.

"Aw, she's cute. Seems a taste for bad hats runs in your family." He commented and I laughed good-naturedly.

"Yeah, but she can pull it off better than I can, eh."

"How old is she now?" He asked, passing the photo to Angel.

"Eleven, eh. She's getting big now too, gonna be catching up to me soon." I said. "Thinking I might have to drop by a little more often now; she's getting to that age where boys suddenly don't have cooties anymore."

"Hypocrite." Angel said, handing the picture back. "How old were you when you started chasing people's sisters around?"

"I was a few years older than that thank you very much." I huffed, safely replacing the photo in my wallet. "Besides, that's different, I'm a guy, eh. I know exactly what they're like."

"They're not so bad at that age." Falshade argued. "I don't think you'll have to really start worrying until fourteen. _That's_ a nasty age."

"True that, eh." I muttered. "So, anyways, what's with this party business? What's the verdict on booze, eh? I could definitely use a few nice cold brewskies right about now."

"If you want to try and sneak a few drinks without my mother noticing than be my guest." Falshade muttered sourly. "She already gave me the whole spiel earlier: 'Falshade you're still under age and while in my house I can still boss you around so if I catch you with alcohol tonight so help me god I will...' well I kinda tuned out after that, but there was something about induced vomiting."

I laughed. "I think your mum and my mum would have a grand old time together there, eh."

"Hmm. Too bad the Storm Hawks didn't stick around, actually." Falshade mused, looking back in the direction the _Condor_ had gone. "I'm sure they would have liked to take a break and hang out with the Beast Keepers."

"Oh, that reminds me, eh, Piper wanted to tell me they'd be here by noon tomorrow. I thought about just sticking with them until then, but, well... I was feeling kinda lonely, eh." I admitted, staring fixedly at my feet.

"Dawww." Falshade crooned but there was no taunt to it. "Well I'm glad you decided to come by early. Was actually starting to miss you, believe it or not." He added, throwing his good arm gamely around my shoulders and I smiled a bit. "Hey, any news on Stork?" he asked abruptly as if only just remembering. "How's she doing? Has she-"

"She's still out, eh." I interrupted mournfully and his face faltered. Poor guy, he'd probably been hoping that she'd be up and about by the time we hooked back up with the Storm Hawks. "But Finn says her fingers were twitching the other day, eh." I added. "Might mean she's starting to come around."

"Or not, some people twitch and even open their eyes in a coma." Angel pointed out in that annoying, know-it-all manner of his but backtracked quickly when he noticed the nasty look I was giving him. "But, no, that's good, definitely an improvement." He added hastily.

I could hear the numerous voices and loud laughter coming from Falshade's backyard before the house was even fully in view. Through the lengthening shadows I could make out a large crowd of people and the smell of meat being grilled wafted into my nose, making my stomach growl. I hadn't eaten anything all day but now that I was once again in the company of family (my lovable, fucked up, patch-work other family) I was all of a sudden hungry. I straightened up slightly, trying to will myself into a better mood. This was my kinda territory after all; once I got mixed up in all the confusion, had something to eat, maybe downed a couple of beers I'd be golden. And eventually Starla would recede from my mind and it wouldn't hurt so much to think about her anymore.

"Christ, eh, you weren't kidding." I said, craning my neck to see if I could make out any familiar faces. There had to be over a hundred people milling around Falshade's yard and _man _were there some good looking chicks around the joint. I'd barely had a chance to scope out a potential target or catch a glimpse of Varan among the throng of chattering humans when what appeared to be a scarecrow leapt in front of us and nearly ploughed right into me.

"Falshade!" the scarecrow yelled, effectively deafening me, and wrangled Shade into a headlock, digging a fist into his hair. "Holy shit look at you, you son of a bitch you! You _grew_! Christ I remember when you were knee high to a grasshopper!"

Falshade struggled but couldn't quite free himself with only one functioning arm. Angel had stiffened on my other side and I could sense him bristling, prepared to start kicking some ass if it was called for. Dawww, Falshade's own little bodyguard. Cute.

"Quit choking me so I can figure out who the hell you are!" Falshade wheezed and the scarecrow guy let him go, backing up a step. On closer inspection I realized he was just a regular human, tall and gangly with limbs that didn't seem properly attached to their joints. He had a wild mop of sandy blonde hair tousled every which way and one entire arm was covered in intertwining tattoos, black and dark blue.

"Oh come on, don't you tell me you don't recognize me." The guy said accusingly and Falshade bit the inside of his cheek, squinting and examining the guy as if looking for something he could identify. After a moment he titled the guy's head to the side and a grin split his confused face.

"Griffin!"

"There it is!" Griffin, apparently, said, throwing an arm around Falshade's shoulder and mussing up his hair again. "Good, I'd feel really bad if I had to pound the snot out of our little Hero Boy. So how the hell are you? Man it's been ages, huh?"

"About five years, I think." Falshade said, nodding. "And I'm okay, trachea's bruised now but I've come to expect being greeted by way of injury from your family by now so... oh, hey, this is Angel, Fraggle and..." he paused and looked around to realize Wasp had vanished once again. "...Okay just Angel and Fraggle then." He said, waving a hand at the two of us, having just realized we were standing there uncertainly. "Guys this is Griffin, one of Roo's brothers."

Griffin's grin hitched up a few more notches, wide as a jack-o-lantern's. "Are they part of this crazy little squadron I heard you put together?" He asked, holding out a hand which I shook gamely.

"Yep." Falshade said and I felt my own mouth tug into a grin at the pride in his voice. Damn straight.

"Yeah, we're even crazier than he is, eh." I added and Griffin laughed.

"Yes, they'll be booking us into an asylum any day now." Angel said, sounding bored. "Now I really hate these reunion things, so I'm gonna go. Don't take it personally, I'm just rude." He said with a half-hearted wave and disappeared into the crowd, making a beeline for the picnic table over by the porch, which was piled high with so much food I was surprised the whole thing didn't capsize.

Griffin shrugged as if it weren't a big deal and reached around behind his back. "Want a beer?"

I liked the guy already. Falshade shook his head while I accepted the bottle Griffin produced from his back pocket and popped the cap off, enjoying the cool feel of the glass in my palm. I'd gotten so used to sub-zero temperatures that even a breezy evening like this felt a million degrees too hot for me.

"Cheers, eh." I said and Griffin lifted his own bottle in salute. I barely had the bottle to my lips when that oh-so-familiar scolding tone punctuated the background hum of talk and laughter.

"Fraggle!"

"Whaaaaat?" I whined as Varan fixed me with a disapproving look. "Oh give me a break, eh, I've had a long day! And would it kill you to look a little happy to see me?"

Varan sighed but let it go, limping over and gripping my shoulder in a friendly, masculine greeting. Jeez who'd you have to screw to get a hug around here? I mean not like I was _desperate _or anything, but I would have appreciated the gesture.

"You're back early." He commented. "Hey, Griff."

"Aha! There you are!" Griffin pounced and I took the opportunity to swig some of my beer before Varan could turn his attention back to me. Ah, that's the stuff. "You know I've been hearing a funny little rumour around the mill about you, Var, something to do with you running around with my baby sister. That's not _true_, is it?"

I nearly choked on my beer, giggling out of habit and more than a little surprise. I knew Varan had a thing for the girl but I hadn't expected him to actually make a move so quickly. I mean come on, it was _Varan_.

Still, if it was true then good for him! About time he found someone to treat him right.

Varan had turned a dark shade of forest green while Falshade snickered into his sleeve. "Uh... well, um, I guess it's sort of-"

"Griffin! Don't you start giving him the third degree!" A girl's voice chided suddenly and for a moment there I almost didn't recognize Roo as she appeared out of the mob, placing herself protectively in front of Varan and crossing her arms. Her hair had changed colour and personally I thought this one suited her much better than the orange had. She was wearing a cute little denim jacket covered in iron-on patches that hugged in all the right places and I blinked appreciatively. Whoa. Nice one, Var.

"I was just asking a question." Griffin said innocently and I glanced between the two of them quickly, sipping my beer. They didn't look related at first glance; his eyes were an eerie, ice blue colour where hers were nearly black and there were some obvious differences in bone structure. But they had the same face, the same mouth, and judging from how energetic they both seemed to be I didn't have a hard time believing they were siblings.

"I see you've met one of the three terrors." Roo directed this part at me, evidently deciding to ignore her brother. "It's Roo, by the way, in case you forgot."

"I know." Hard to forget that bull ring. "I'm Fraggle." I added, holding out a hand and pushing all my follow-up routines to the back of my mind. '_Hands off, Fraggle old boy, this one's taken._'

"Speaking of which, where are the other two?" Falshade asked as Roo shook my hand warmly. "I haven't seen any of you guys in forever..."

"Well Beau's over there, sulking." Griffin said, pointing towards the small bonfire that was blazing cheerfully in the middle of the lawn. I did a bit of a double take when I noticed what turned out to be Griffin's twin sitting in a lawn chair by the fire, a perfect doppelganger of the guy standing in front of me. "And Thane's over there showing off his fiancé." He continued, pointing over towards the porch. A wiry, good-looking guy with dark hair was talking to Falshade's mom, a pretty young thing attached to his arm, pale, rose coloured hair draped in loose curls over her back.

I whistled. "Wow, trophy wife, eh."

"I know right?" Griffin exclaimed, shaking his head. "Don't know how Thane managed to land one like that."

Roo made a scoffing noise, punching him in the shoulder. "You're just jealous."

Hell, _I_ was jealous.

"Huh." Falshade said. "I'll have to go over and say hi later. What's her name?"

"Echo. Real sweetheart, kinda shy at first until you get her going. She thinks I'm hilarious." Griffin reported. "Anyways yeah, wedding's in the fall. Personally I think he's too young to be surrendering like that, but then again, can you blame him?"

Roo hit him again while I laughed. "God you're rude! They make each other happy, why shouldn't they tie the knot?"

"Happy now sure, but did you know about forty percent of people who get married before they're twenty four end in divorce? Can't argue with statistics, little Roo."

I mulled that over, sipping at my beer contemplatively; I think my mum had been about twenty four when her and my dad got married and they hadn't been the only young love birds getting hitched so early back then either. I guess war has a way of motivating you; sure you could give it a few more years, but there was always the chance that one or both of you may die sometime that month, so why not just make it official now and enjoy it while it lasted? Most of those marriages never had the chance to end in divorce. The good live fast and die young and then leave their widows with children to raise all by their lonesome.

"So what have you been up to since you left?" Falshade asked, changing the subject before Roo could come up with a retort.

"Well actually I just got a tattooing licence. You're looking at a professional body artist." Griffin reported proudly. "Now that I'm finished my apprenticeship a buddy of mine and I are thinking of setting up our own shop out on terra Neon, we just need to wrangle in somebody to do piercings for us. Actually this is some of my work right here." He added, grabbing Roo by the chin and tilting her head to show off the biohazard tattoo. "You know why I gave her that?" he asked, a devious grin splitting over his face. "To warn any guy that starts sniffing around her tree that everything that comes spilling out of her pretty little mouth is pure toxic waste. Guess you didn't catch that one, eh Var?"

Roo slapped his hand away while Falshade and I tried our best not to laugh. Straightening her jacket smartly and sniffing she said "That's because Varan has more substance than jackasses like you." She quipped. "He doesn't see the appeal in girls who just sit there and look pretty. He's a _nice_ boy, right Var?" she looked up at him through her lashes and looped an arm around his waist. Poor Varan looked like his brain had abruptly been replaced with an eggplant, his face nearly black he was blushing so fiercely. Not knowing where to look he made the mistake of catching my eye and I gave him a lurid grin, winking because I love watching that kid squirm.

"I, uh... I don't think it's toxic waste at all." He mumbled, staring fixedly at his clawed feet.

"And that's what makes you so great." Roo said, smiling up at him before shooting her brother a nasty look. "Now I think I've taken all I can handle of _yo_u for tonight. Come on Varan, you should come meet Echo and then maybe we'll actually be able to have a _mature _conversation." She said haughtily, tugging him along gently. Varan gave us a bit of a wave and allowed her to pull him through the crowd. I grinned to myself; man he was gonna have his hands full with that little spitfire alright.

Griffin was chuckling. "Me thinks poor ol' Varan is in over his head. Still, I'm glad it's him she's interested in and not some little punk ass bitch."

I wondered absently how I'd handle it when Starla started dating and then pushed the thought away, not wanting to think about some pubescent douchebag running around with my baby sister.

"I think it's freaking adorable." Falshade said. "I just hope they can handle the long-distance thing. So your dad mentioned you ended up escorting the relief aid teams, Griff, is that right?"

"That I did. When shit hit the fan I figured I should get up and do something but I wasn't exactly qualified to join the reserve squads so they stuck me on an escort crew instead. We got into two skirmishes but that was about as real as it got for me." Griffin said and I saw a bit of a shadow pass over his face. "Beau had a harder time of it than I did. He was with the field medics, saw some pretty gruesome stuff. We're a little bit worried about him to be honest, he's got some... tics he never had before."

Falshade raised an eyebrow, his mouth twisting. "How so?"

"Well it's nothing too serious but he's been having trouble sleeping. Mom's been thinking of bringing him in to see a shrink, maybe get him some soft meds to help him sleep. And then today, well... Mom had some steaks defrosting in the sink to bring over here, right? Well Beau walked into the kitchen, took one look at them and heaved all over the kitchen floor. You know I was lucky, I didn't have to see anybody with fucking shrapnel sticking out of their gut but... anyways he's pretty bummed out, he wanted to be a surgeon and everything and now I think he's second guessing himself. Was just a little too much for him all at once I guess."

"Aw." Falshade said, looking over to where Beau was sitting by himself by the fireside. "Poor guy."

"I think he'll be alright." Griffin said after a moment, trying to sound upbeat again. "He just needs some time to get over it. Apparently he was brilliant out there on the field, saved a lot of injured people. The older medics were all really impressed."

I nodded, not sure what to say since I didn't even know the guy. I'd always admired doctors and medics, people who could stick their hands into gaping, bloody wounds and put everything back together again. I had a pretty strong stomach when it came to gory comic books and slasher movies but if there were an actual real live person lying in front of me with their guts spilling all over the place I don't think I'd be able to handle it.

"Anyways didn't mean to be a buzz kill. So what about you, Ravenscroft, got any stories to show me up with? According to Dad you were right in the middle of the shit storm." Griffin said, looking eager for some tales of adventure and danger but Falshade simply shrugged.

"Maybe I'll tell you about it later, Griff. You hungry, Fraggle, or did you eat on the _Condor_?" He asked me as I drained the last of my beer.

"I could eat, but it doesn't have to be right now, eh." I said, not wanting to pull him away from his old friend.

"Nah come on, those burgers smell good. I'll catch up with you later, Griffin."

"Oh sure, I get it, don't wanna spend time with me now that you've got your own friends." Griffin teased and then looped an arm around Falshade's broad shoulders when he started to protest. "I'm kidding with you, man. I didn't want to hang out with you all night anyways, there's a brunette over there who's just dying to chat me up. I'll see you later, Shade and hey if you're ever around terra Neon look me up, I'll give you some free ink. And nice meeting you, Fraggle, you make sure my boy here doesn't get himself into anymore trouble, huh?" he added to me and I saluted him before following Shade over towards the porch.

"He seems like a cool guy, eh." I commented.

"Oh yeah he's great, if you don't mind the constant word vomit." Falshade said. "When I was a kid he used to call me his cousin, since my dad and his dad were practically brothers.

"So how'd ya tell him and the other one apart, just for reference?" I asked absently, my mouth watering as we reached the table and took in all the food.

"Griff's got a scar right here." He said, drawing a line over his left eyebrow. I gave him a quick inspection, noting the slight stubble that was starting to sprout around his chin, making him look older. The bruises that had mottled his face were fading to yellow by now and he didn't look as washed out as he had the week before I was pleased to note. "If you want I can introduce you to the rest of the family once you've eaten."

"Sounds good eh." I said, putting a bun on my plate and piling it high with all the fixings. Man I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a cheeseburger; now _that_ was comfort food.

Once Shade and I had effectively polished off what was probably an entire cow I followed him around the yard for a while, letting him show me off to all the people he used to know before he'd saddled himself with me and the others. It was nice at first, losing myself in the sea of new faces and letting the steady thrum of voices wash over me like white noise. But eventually I began to feel like a bit of a third wheel, since people kept jumping up and chatting animatedly with Shade while I stood by his side awkwardly and soon I grew a little weary with all the introductions and positive energy around the place. I was surprised with myself for feeling so drained, as usually I flourished in these kinda situations, but I decided to peg that on a long day of travelling. Snagging myself another beer I decided to go join Varan, who'd moved over to the fireside, maybe recharge my battery a little before trying again. However I'd barely weaved my way through the mob towards him when something blasted it my midriff like a mini freighter and nearly took my out at the knees.

"FRAGGLE!" A high and vaguely familiar voice cheered, clinging to me around the waist and bouncing with excitement. I stared down at my attacker and then felt a rush of joy so intense and overwhelming I had to squelch down something that would have sounded like a shriek(a very manly one though).

"Pippa!" I exclaimed as the small girl beamed up at me. I grabbed her under the arms and meant to scoop her up, wanting nothing more than to pull her right into my chest and smother her with affection like I used to do to Starla when she was smaller, but my ribs reminded me of their current battered state when I attempted the movement so I ended up dropping down onto my knees instead, dropping my beer uncaringly on the grass. Pippa clambered eagerly into my arms, lunging forwards and wrapping her small arms around my neck, pushing her little human face into the side of my head so I could feel her breathing in my ear. I hugged her back tightly, a gushing flow of warm happiness flooding through my entire body. I pressed my face into her hair, drawing in her sweet, human smell and felt the hard little ball of ice that had taken up residence somewhere in my stomach start to break apart. God I could have just cradled her like that forever but of course small children never really understand how desperately you need them to just hold still and eventually Pippa wiggled back a little bit, smiling a huge, cheek-dimpling smile right into my face that made my heart melt.

"Fraggle look, look! I lost some of my teeth!" She said, gushing with excitement and I was blown away by the change in her personality. I remembered the wide-eyed, frightened child I'd carried here what seemed like ages ago and I almost couldn't believe that this exuberant, bubbly little creature standing before me now was the same girl. It made me happy to see how much she'd improved though, so happy it hurt.

"Holy moly you got holes in your head!" I said and she giggled, nudging the gaps in her teeth with her tongue.

"I know, it's 'cos I'm growing!" she informed me proudly.

"I can see that." I noted, impressed. "Almost didn't recognize you there eh. So how've you been, kiddo? You having fun out here?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I like it a lot here, I've got lots of friends and Mommy and I make cookies all the time and she reads me stories and Ozprey said she'll take me camping on the Plateau! But where have you been, Fraggle? Varan says you went to visit your family somewhere, right?"

I swallowed slightly, hypnotized by those huge, shiny baby eyes. I felt very brittle all of a sudden, like something was waiting to give out underneath the warm shell of my happiness. "Uh, yeah, that's right."

"Well that's nice." Pippa decided. "But I'm really glad you're back here now, because I missed you!" She said, flinging her arms around me again and my throat tightened dangerously. My damn soft heart was gonna be the death of me, seriously.

"I missed you too, sweetheart." I said weakly, my voice kinda cracking and I was worried I was going to lose it and start bawling like a total baby.

"Really?" Pippa said, looking at me with adoring, sparkling eyes.

"Yeah, eh. Came all the way out here just to see you." I croaked and saw Varan look at me with concern, heaving himself out of his chair and back onto his crutches, limping over towards us.

"Pippa why don't you go and find Mimi, I'm sure Fraggle would like to meet her." He suggested, saving me from further heartache. Christ I didn't know what was wrong with me. It was like I was crashing after a serious caffeine buzz, feeling shaky and lost, my emotions spiking all over the place. It had been rough as hell leaving Starla and Pippa's unconditional adoration was tugging much too sweetly at my fragile heartstrings.

"Okay!" Pippa chirped eagerly and took off into the crowd, calling out for whoever Mimi was.

"You okay?" Varan asked, putting his hand on my shoulder and looking worried.

I sniffled and wiped at my nose, retrieving my beer bottle and straightening up. "Yeah eh, just... kids, you know?"

Varan rubbed my back comfortingly. "I hear you buddy. Here why don't you come and sit?"

I parked my sorry ass in one of the lawn chairs near the fire with a sigh and gave a small wave of greeting to Beau, who looked over and smiled at me when he saw me. Varan sat down again next to me with a low groan.

"You alright brother?" I asked, watching him with concern as he propped his bad leg on a block of wood.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine, just a little stiff that's all." He assured me then gave me a tired look when I snorted. "What?"

"Stiff." I said and he rolled his eyes.

"Christ there's not off switch with you, is there? Anyways I didn't get the chance to ask you how Nord was earlier. How's your family? I note you still have a head, so obviously your sister wasn't that mad."

"Nah, she came around eventually." I said, focusing very hard on cracking open my beer. It comes in handy to have your own built-in bottle openers. "Everything was great but I don't really wanna talk about that right now."

"Okay." Varan said easily, although I could see worry shining in his large, reptile eyes. Guess I couldn't blame him, usually it was almost impossible to shut me up. "I'm glad you got the chance to go, in any case. I actually made a trip out to Bogatri the other day."  
"Oh did you now? How was it, eh?" I asked and he filled me in on everything that was going on out there. I tried my best to listen but started fading in and out when he got into the list of new regulations they had out there. I was just glad to be hanging out with him honestly, I could care less what he was talking about. I was pleased to note that he seemed more enthusiastic about the whole thing than he had in the beginning though. Everything seemed to be coming up roses for good ol' Varan and I was happy for him. The guy deserved it after all the bullshit he'd put up with good naturedly for so long.

Angel wandered over to join us eventually, holding a paper plate stacked high with more goodies than I was gonna let him eat on his own. He took in the hopeful, puppy dog look I was giving him and heaved a short sigh, offering me some of his spoils and I decided I could forgive him for the whole scaring the shit out of me thing earlier. Peeling the wrapper off a cupcake I gave him a quick once over out the corner of my eye and noticed a purple mark staining the skin under his jaw. That coupled with the happy sheen in his usual hard grey eyes made me suspect he'd gotten up to some mischief with missy Wasp and I made a note to hassle him about it later. Might have to sit him down and have a little man-to-man chat with him if he was getting up to stuff like that, the little scoundrel.

Still, he seemed to be in good shape and that pleased me; his cuts and bruises were healing nicely too and he didn't look as sickly as he had before. Seemed vacation had done them all some good. Varan looked like he'd filled out more, if that was possible, and Wasp and Falshade no longer had the dark circles under their eyes that they'd been carrying for the past few weeks. I felt as if some little ball of tension I'd been carrying around unknowingly was finally able to dissolve now that the others were on the mend and in good spirits. Like some chunk of leftover stress had been clinging from the days when I thought I might lose them all at any given minute and now that they didn't look like they'd gone through a paper shredder I could finally believe that everything was going to be okay.

Pippa returned after a little while with a small mongrel puppy in tow. "This is Mimi." She introduced proudly, picking the pup up and depositing her in my lap. "Mommy got her for me. She's my responsibility."  
"Wow, eh." I said, letting the little creature lick my face and scratching her behind the ears. "I'm sure you take great care of her."

Pippa nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes, I do. I'm going to train her to do all sorts of neat tricks. She can already sit and lie down and fetch!"

"And she can beg, but we didn't teach her that one." Varan muttered and I laughed, letting the small dog down.

"Varan doesn't like Mimi because she pooped in his room." Pippa explained to me and Angel snorted.

"Bet we don't seem so bad now, huh Var? At least we're house broken." He said and Varan rolled his eyes.

"True, but I can't just lock you in a kennel when you're bad." He retorted. "And I never said I didn't like her, Pippa, I'd just prefer she didn't keep chewing on my things." He lifted one of his crutches in demonstration, showing off the end which was gnarled with tiny teeth marks. "See I was supposed to return these and now I'm going to have to pay for them."

"Ah well eh, might be a good idea to keep a pair of them on hand, you know, in case." I pointed out. Knowing our bunch of rambunctious maniacs, somebody would be using those crutches again before the end of the year.

"Pippa!" A red haired woman I remembered to be Marle was calling out from the porch. "Why don't you come here and show everybody the cookies you decorated so nicely?"

Pippa's big brown eyes brightened and she trotted off once again into the crowd. Mimi chased after her faithfully, her own personal little entourage.

Varan was smiling. "Mom's been showing her off whenever she gets the chance." He told me. "She's taking advantage of the fact that she's finally got a kid who's cute and talkative."

"Was that a hint of jealousy I detect?" Angel teased.

"Aw, don't be like that eh, I bet you were pretty darn cute yourself before the mohawk came in." I added with a grin and Varna jabbed his crutch into my shin chidingly.

"Oh I don't mind at all, keeps some of the heat off me. I mean I love the woman to death but she can get rather... suffocating at times."

"Typical mother trait." I said knowingly. "So... Pippa already calls her 'Mommy', huh?"

"Yeah, it surprised me too." Varan said. "But then, she's pretty young, I don't know if she really understands everything just yet. Maybe it just makes more sense to her."

"Does she ever... you know, ask about her parents?" Angel asked.

"She did at first, apparently, but eventually she just..." Varan trailed off, wrinkling his snout thoughtfully. "I don't think she just forgot about them or anything but maybe it's just easier for her to accept that she has a new family instead of wondering what happened to the old one."

"Hmm..." I said, looking over toward the porch. Nimbus, the big guy from the Beast Keepers, had swung Pippa up onto his shoulders as easily as if she were a rag doll and she was squealing with laughter. I suppose at that age it's easy to let all the bad things slip from your mind when you have a whole crowd of people showering you with love and affection. It was one of those admirable child traits that gets harder and harder to remember as you get older.

"It's incredible how fast she bounced back, isn't it?" Varan mused, looking over to the porch as well. "It's extraordinary how resilient children can be."

"Oh yeah, they're troupers alright." I agreed. "Amazing little creatures, eh."

"I dunno about that, some of them seem an awful lot like demon spawn to me." Angel muttered and I laughed, leaning over to give him a fierce nougie.

"Dude, the kettle just called, it says to say you're black, eh."

The party wore on as the sun gave its last valiant efforts and then gave way to nightfall. I'd gotten back up and spent a little time mingling but eventually returned to the fireside, deciding that tonight I was just gonna take it easy and enjoy the last remaining hours of my holiday. Things would start getting crazy enough again tomorrow, might as well enjoy the tranquility while it lasted. I took up my chair again beside Varan as he talked animatedly with Beau about stuff I didn't particularly care about and eventually Pippa returned as well, offering me a cookie with a big smiley face drawn on in icing before she crawled up onto my lap and snuggled in against my chest. Wasp came back at some point too and Angel decided to teach her how to roast marshmallows, as he insisted it was a necessary life skill and practically a crime that she'd never done it before. Wasp enjoyed spearing the squishy treats and setting them on fire a little too much for my liking but she was enjoying herself so I kept my mouth shut. However she didn't seem to like eating them as much as she liked cooking them and kept feeding them to Angel until I thought the poor boy was going to puke and took the bag away from her. Now fireflies were winking away in the field beyond the yard and the dying fire was spitting sparks into the dark sky. I stretched out my legs, careful not to jostle Pippa, and reached down to rub Mimi's belly, which was full of stolen hotdogs. I leaned back and closed my eyes, feeling good inside at last. I'd had just enough booze to make me feel drowsy and with Pippa's warm little body curled up against mine I felt like I could just fall asleep out here under the stars. I wondered how Starla was doing and was relieved when thinking of her smiling, goofy face didn't make my chest ache quite as much as it had earlier. Things were gonna be alright. They always were for me in the end.

Just as I was nodding off I felt Pippa stir and tug on my jacket. "Fraggle?"

"Yes love?"

Pippa pursed her lips as if thinking and then looked up at me, her big fawn eyes sparkling in the firelight. "Do you think my Mommy and Daddy miss me?"

I nearly tipped my chair right over backwards. I gawked at her and as if she sensed my shock she looked away almost guiltily, her tiny fingers playing with the beads on my zipper absently.

"Sometimes I wonder if they know where I am is all." She said quietly.

I shook my head, trying to get over my surprise. How is it that kids can always come up with these questions that blow you completely out of the water right when you're least prepared for it? I remembered once when I was twelve Starla had asked me where my dad was and if I ever wished I could spend time with him. She was only five at the time and the fact that she'd known I had a different father than hers despite the fact that no one had ever told her I was only her half brother had struck me right dumb. I think she must have thought she'd hurt my feelings or something because she'd quickly grabbed my hand and never brought the subject up again. Pippa's question had made me feel just as flabbergasted and I struggled for words, knowing that this was a crucial moment here and I could not mess it up.

"Of course they do, eh." I said, clearing my throat a bit. "And I bet they're real happy for you too."

"Really? You think so?" she asked, her small hands clamping down around my arm. "You don't think they're jealous, do you? Of my new family?"

"Of course not." I assured her, stroking her hair softly. "Mums and Dads are special that way, you see. They never get jealous, eh. And they never stop loving you either."

I was echoing words that my mum had told me a long time ago, when she and Hail had gotten engaged and I was worried that my dad might be angry with me for liking Hail so much. Sure kids can take all kinds of crap growing up, nightmares, sibling rivalry, illnesses and bad memories. But the moment they start thinking their parents don't love them anymore, that's where it all goes wrong. It disarmed me to think that Pippa was seeking this valuable information from me of all people but at the same time I felt like I had enough knowledge on the subject to handle it. She wasn't so unlike me really; she too had suddenly been placed amongst the midst of a new family while thoughts about the old one still lingered in the back of her mind. She sat there, mulling this over, before looking up at me again thoughtfully.

"Never?"

"Never." I confirmed.

Pippa nodded as if satisfied. "That's good. I just think about them sometimes and I wish I could see them. And sometimes I feel sad. But then I go and spend time with Mommy and I feel better."

My heart contracted painfully at her words and I pulled her in closer, wrapping my arms around her tightly. I remembered feeling like that too as a kid, even though I couldn't remember anything about my own father. "You wanna know a secret, eh?" I asked, trying hard to sound cheerful.

"Okay!"

"When I was just a little thing like you my mum used to tell me that every time it snowed my dad was saying hi to me." I said. I remembered a five year old version of myself running out the door every time it began to snow (and it snowed a lot on Nord) and yelling "Hi Dad!" up at the sky, waving like a maniac and drawing pictures in the snow for him to see. Of course now I knew my mum hadn't meant that literally but it always made me happy as a kid to go out there hollering my head off and even now every time I saw those first few brave snowflakes coming down I'd smile and mutter "Hey Dad" to myself. It was one of those things, like lullabies and made up games, that made all the bad things turn tail and slink away again, even if it was just for a little while.

Pippa crinkled her nose. "I haven't seen snow since winter." She said.

"Oh it's not just the snow." I said matter-of-factly. "When people pass away they go high up in the sky, eh, and so anything that comes down from way up there is messages from them. You see all those pretty stars up there right now, eh?"

Pippa looked up obediently and I could see hundreds of tiny flecks of light reflected in her big round eyes. "Yes."

"Right now your Mommy and Daddy are looking down on you from up there, and they're making the stars shine extra bright just for you, eh." I said. "That's they're way of smiling and saying hi. So anytime you feel sad or you miss them, you just remember they're up there watching over you. Whether it's raining or snowing, when the sun is shining or when the stars come out, that's always your parents waving down at you, eh."

I dunno if the cosmos were listening to me and decided to throw me a bone or if maybe her parents really were up there and wanted to confirm everything I'd said, but as Pippa and I stared up at the vast sea of twinkling stars a shooting star blazed across the sky for about five seconds, leaving a white hot trail in its wake, before winking out and Pippa beamed.

"Hi Mommy, hi Daddy." She murmured and it took every inch of my willpower not to choke up. Then she let out a pleased sigh and leaned back against my chest again, wiggling and nuzzling until she could tuck her head under my chin.

"Varan says that if I ask you you'll be my big brother too." She said, yawning. "So will you, Fraggle?"

I smiled, heat blazing fiercely through every inch of my body. "You betcha I will, eh."

"Good." She said, her eyes closing sleepily. "I'll be a very good sister, I promise."

"Oh I know you will, sweetie." I said. Varan was right, children were just downright extraordinary. I remembered what the Oracle had said about Pippa and smiled, dropping a kiss on the top of her pretty little head. "You're gonna be okay, kid."

**x.x.x Falshade x.x.x**

_**I don't quite know how to say how I feel**_

_**Those three words are said too much, they're not enough...**_

_**...Let's waste time chasing cars around our heads**_

_**If I lay here, if I just lay here**_

_**Would you lie with me and just forget the world?**_

_**-Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol**_

"Fraggle is feeling _way_ too tired for this kinda shit, eh."

I rolled my eyes. "And here I was under the impression that you wanted to spend some time with the rest of us."

"Well let's go back and play a game of Crazy Eight Countdown or something then! That counts as quality time, doesn't it? I'm just saying it's pitch black out here eh, one of us is gonna go tumbling off the edge of this here mountain and I got a bad feeling it'll be me."

"I'll take that action." Angel said. "Twenty bucks says Fraggle falls to his death. Any takers?"

"I got fifty big ones that it's you who goes splat if you don't shut your mouth there, eh."

"You don't have fifty bucks."

"There's a crack here, Varan." Wasp warned, standing next to it so Varan wouldn't snag his crutches in it.

"Thank you." He said, hopping over it awkwardly. "Man I haven't been up here in ages. I forgot how cool it looks at night."

I was grateful for his enthusiasm. Once the mob of people had finally left my yard I'd been struck with one of my spur of the moment ideas that always makes people groan and shake their heads and decided to bring the others up to the top of the Plateau to get a look at the view. I hadn't spent a night up here in forever and I thought it seemed rather appropriate for all of us to just chill out together on our last day of vacation here at this place where I'd stood so often before, looking out at the sky and imagining that one day I'd be out there somewhere with a squadron of my own. Like one of those full circle kinda deals.

"Wow." Wasp breathed when we finally reached the top. "You can really tell the world is round from up here!" She drew a big arching semi-circle with her arm, tracing the contour of the night sky. "It almost looks like you could just run off the edge and throw yourself into the stars, doesn't it?"

"It does, but that doesn't mean you should try." Angel said, grabbing her by the collar firmly.

"Okay, I'll admit, I'm impressed eh. Something different about seeing it all from up here." Fraggle relented. The five of us stood on the edge of the ridge that jutted like a springboard into the inky depths of the night sky. Millions of stars burned bright little holes into the domed canvas of black and blue and down below we could see the warm yellow lights of Vatican's streets and the green flashes of countless fireflies as they hummed along through the warm night air. God it didn't matter how many times I saw it, this sight always managed to take my breath away. It was different than lying on your back in the grass and looking up at the sky; in the dark you felt like you were standing on your own private pedestal with the whole galaxy thrown wide before you. It was almost frightening how small it made you feel in comparison but the sight of all that space, all that wonder, made my heart soar like few other things could.

Wasp was spinning in circles, her head thrown back so she could take in every angle of the sky. "I wonder if anyone ever sat down and tried to count all the stars." She said dreamily. "I bet this would be a good place to start."

"You'd never be able to count them all." Angel said. "The light from some of those stars takes millions of years to get here. Some of them could already be dead and you'd never even notice them missing."

I gave him a scathing look as Wasp stopped spinning, staring up with horror in her large, shining eyes. He cleared his throat awkwardly and added "Of course new stars form all the time too."

"Hmm, baby stars." Wasp murmured, seeming soothed by this notion. "And there are other planets out there too, aren't there? Whole other worlds with little crawling beasties of their own."

"Yeah, kind of makes one feel insignificant." Varan said, sitting down on the ledge to give his poor leg a break.

"I don't think so. A tiny baby turtle claws it way out of the earth right after hatching from an egg, acting on an inborn instinct that we can't even explain in terms of numbers or chemicals. But that seems insignificant compared to the fact that some guy a long time ago figured out a way to fly. And our lives on this planet seem insignificant compared to the big wide universe with all its secret pockets that we'll never know about. But the fact that we're alive and can create and think and do things with these dumb little flesh pods we walk around in is nothing short of a miracle. So really, everything that ever happens is significant in some way or another. I guess it all depends on what you decided to focus on."

The four of us stared at her. This fantastic little piece of philosophical masterpiece was brought to you by the girl who could blow a spit bubble nearly as big as her own head.

"Wasp, one of these days I'm going to sit you down and get you to write a book. We'll call it 'The World According to Wasp' and when we sell it we'll make a fucking killing." I said and Wasp grinned wolfishly.

"Okay. I'm gonna need one hell of an editor though, I can't spell for toffee."

Laughing I sat down next to Fraggle and let my legs dangle over the edge of the Plateau. I couldn't think of a better way to end my vacation than simply hanging out with the others. It seemed like forever since we'd all been able to just sit down and be nutcases together without danger or misery looming overhead. The last time I could think of was the night Stork had come back from the grave and we'd celebrated the reunion on the bridge. But even then we hadn't been able to completely put our minds to rest, knowing somewhere out there an army of mutant soldiers was growing ever stronger. Now though we were completely free of all that bullshit and I couldn't remember it ever feeling better to be alive.

If only Stork was here too... I'd been hoping she'd be awake and rearing to go by the time we got back together with the Storm Hawks. I watched a shooting star plummet towards the horizon, streaking a long, fiery blue tail behind it and silently wished that she'd wake up soon. Other than that I couldn't think of anything else in the world I needed to wish for.

"Oh are you sulking _again_, eh?" Fraggle demanded, waving a hand in front of my face to snap me out of my reverie. "Stop thinking about Stork, eh, it kinda makes the four of us feel inadequate."

"I'm not sulking." I said defensively. "And you guys are plenty adequate."

"Heh, that's what she said, eh." Fraggle said and I rolled my eyes. "So back to the old grind tomorrow, huh?"

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed taking it easy this week, but I'll be glad to get back at it." I said. "I'm starting to get sick of just sitting around on my ass believe it or not."

"Then there's something seriously wrong with you, eh." Fraggle quipped. "Still, maybe it's for the best that we get back to work. My mum was seriously spoiling me and without stress eating up all the calories I think I gained a bit of weight, eh."

"I seriously doubt you'd be able to gain enough weight for it to be noticeable in one week." Varan said reassuringly.

"Dude you don't know my mum's cooking, eh. For seriously, I got a roll here that I never had before." Fraggle insisted, pinching at his gut and Angel laughed.

"I think that was always there and you just decided not to notice." He said and Fraggle huffed.

"_Anyways_ I figured since this is our last official day off then it should go out with a bang, eh." He declared and I felt him rummaging around in his jacket.

"Are you going with this where I think you're going?" I asked and his teeth flashed in the dark as he grinned.

"You know me too well, eh." He said and there was a sloshing sound as, predictably, he pulled a bottle free from his jacket. "Ta dah! I'll be taking your gratitude now."

Varan groaned. "Where the hell did you get that?"

"I have my ways." He said mischievously and then rolled his eyes at Varan's reprimanding look. "Oh come on eh, they had enough booze down there to knock out a dragon, they weren't gonna miss it."

"Is that the same stuff you had at your birthday?" Angel asked with interest as Fraggle twisted the cap off his pilfered bottle of liquor.

"Sure is eh. Firecracker, damn good stuff." He said, taking a swig and then leaning around me to pass the bottle to Angel and giving me a good, unfortunate whiff of his armpit.

"I'm going to let the fact slide that you stole what I'm sure isn't cheap liquor." Varan said. "But I feel I should point out that the Storm Hawks are coming for us tomorrow and it's already pretty late now. You're not gonna have the chance to sleep off a hangover. That being said I'm not really seeing the appeal of getting yourself shit faced here."

"Always gotta be the buzz kill, don'tcha?" Fraggle said as Angel passed the bottle to me. Shrugging I took a swallow and then fought to keep a straight face as it burned its way down my throat. Firecracker was cinnamon flavoured whisky and it was so strong it made my eyes water but I took it like a man, swallowing down a cough and taking another smaller sip.

Fraggle was still talking. "Look, I know drinking isn't exactly your idea of fun, but just hear me out for a second here. Way I see it, we're all pretty lucky to be sitting here right now eh. I mean hell, all of us looked death in the eye at some point or another back there but did we lie down and die? Hells no, we said 'thanks for the offer but today's not our day, eh'. I'd call that one hell of an achievement; Christ, we're fucking heroes, aren't we?"

"You going somewhere with this?" Angel asked, tugging the bottle out of my hand.

"Yes, if you'd shut up and let me finish. Anyways my point is, we never actually sat down and celebrated the fact that we're all lucky sons of bitches, did we? Isn't that what you're supposed to do after the war is over, go out and have one hell of a party?"

"Well we haven't done that because Stork's not with us." I argued. "It just wouldn't seem right."

"No I know that, eh. And when she wakes up we'll make sure to have a big victory hullabalooza together. But right now I think the five of us should take the time to celebrate the fact that we're all still alive and, more than that, we kicked some serious ass, eh. I dunno, it just feels like a crime not to appreciate that fact eh."

I mulled this all over. I thought taking a week off to just kick back and put ourselves in order seemed like a mighty fine way to appreciate our triumph, but Fraggle had a point. We'd gone through hell and back again together and that seemed like something we should celebrate together as well. Why shouldn't we take a few hours to rejoice over our shared victories, the barriers we'd smashed through and lives we'd fought tooth and nail to keep?

"I think you're right, Fraggle." I agreed, taking another swig from the bottle. "Sometimes you gotta just sit back and count your blessings."

"Exactly, eh. Stork'll understand, and we'll make sure to have loads of fun once she's up and about again. Hey maybe we could even spend the weekend on Neon or Tropica or something!"

"Maybe." I said agreeably, sounding more enthusiastic than I felt. It was a nice idea and I was sure we'd all have a blast, but we didn't really have the means of getting ourselves out there anymore, not to mention the long list of things we'd need to replace first before we could even think about blowing money at an amusement park. On top of the four destroyed skimmers we needed replacements for there was all the things we'd need once we had a ship of our own to keep them on, appliances, new tools for Stork, crystals, food... and of course I wasn't counting the obvious fact that getting a new ship in the first place was going to be nearly impossible with the meagre sum we had in our bank account. Even a used airship would probably be beyond our price range...

I shook my head and pushed all those stressful thoughts away, leaving them to future Falshade to deal with and washing them down with a mouthful of whisky. I was still on vacation and I refused to be troubled with those issues tonight, not when I had this private moment to share with my best friends. We'd find a way to make it all work out; we always did. Hell the first year out the Academy, before we'd teamed up with Fraggle, we'd scraped enough money together to feed ourselves by running odd jobs for people wherever we could, leaving Stork's earnings from her time at Finch's in the bank for emergency use only (in other words when we really, _really_ didn't want to have to spend another night out in the rain).

Fraggle must have decided I'd been quiet for too long and continued along with his train of thought undisturbed. "Anyways guess what I'm trying to say here is here's to us, eh, and the fact that we all made it through to see our next birthdays. Helluva good job, kids." He said, lifting the bottle in a 'cheers' motion and Wasp lifted her own empty hand in agreement.

"Here's to us." I repeated, nodding and Fraggle tousled my hair, handing me the bottle again. I took a sip and then leaned around his back to hold it towards Varan, who wrinkled his snout in distaste.

"Oh come on, Var, we're having a ritual here, you gotta at least have a little bit." I wheedled.

"Yes, partake you must, eh!" Fraggle insisted and Varan snorted with laughter.

"I was always taught _not_ to give in to peer pressure." He said, grinning despite himself.

"Oh come on Varan, all the cool kids are doing it." Angel said haughtily and Varan gave me the look that translated in Gargoyles language to 'smack him for me, would you?'; I saw no reason not to comply.

"Now lord knows I'm not one to judge, but I wouldn't go say far to say you guys are 'cool'." Varan decided to point out and I laughed 'cause hey, who were we really kidding? If you looked up the word 'losers' in the dictionary you'd find our pictures underneath. Not that I cared, I'd always found the people that some would define as 'cool' were usually douchebags anyways.

"Ouch, cut us to the heart there, eh." Fraggle warbled, putting a hand to his chest melodramatically. "Didn't have to throw us off our high horses dude. Now you _have_ to have a drink 'cos you hurt our poor little feelings, eh."

Varan sighed but took the bottle obediently and tipped it back, his face screwing up tightly when the whisky hit his tongue and coughing, thumping himself in the chest and handing it back to Fraggle almost immediately. "Christ what's in that stuff, floor polish?"

"Yeah, this shit'll put hair on your chest alright, eh." Fraggle said in what sounded like agreement, taking a swig easily and then hesitating before passing it to Angel's outstretched hand. "You just take it easy there, little man, I don't take too kindly to wasting alcohol. No puking, eh."

"Oh blow me." Angel said sourly. "I am _not_ a lightweight."

"Well, _technically_, you are. What do you weigh now, ninety, ninety five pounds?" I teased and he punched me in the shoulder.

"Since we're on the subject Fraggle, do you recall who it was who hurled his guts all over the kitchen floor after Sky Smash Carnival? Because I'm quite sure it wasn't me."

I started cracking up at the memory as Fraggle fidgeted, rubbing at his stomach unhappily. "We swore we'd never bring that up again, eh!" he whined indignantly. I won't go into gory details, but a word to the wise, even the lactose tolerant should never attempt to consume more milkshakes than they can count on both hands. Especially not on top of onion rings.

"I'm just pointing out the fact that _I _am quite capable of keeping my stomach in check, thank you. I don't need you babysitting me." Angel said in that irritating manner of one who has witnessed all your most embarrassing moments and gets a good deal of pleasure out of reminding you of them whenever opportunity knocks. Then he paused thoughtfully and held the bottle out to Wasp invitingly. Wasp took a curious sniff and then spat in disgust, burying her nose in her collar.

"You know I've heard of monks who drink a cup of goat urine a day because it's supposed to keep your bloodstream clean. I bet it'd be much better for you guys to drink that instead. I'm sure you wouldn't mind, since I bet they both taste the same."

"Wasp where, _where_ do you pick these things up?" I asked. "If that's the sort of fun facts they print on your bubblegum wrappers then you should probably stop eating it."

"That's not true anyways." Angel said. "Piss is everything your body wants to get _out_ of its bloodstream, toxins and all that junk, anybody with two brain cells to rub together could tell you it's not something you want to be putting _back_ into your body."

"Maybe goat pee is different! They have four stomachs, right? Maybe that makes it special!" Wasp argued and then her eyes lit up with inspiration. "Do you think Raphael would hold still long enough for me to-"

"I am demanding an immediate change in topic!" Varan said loudly to drown Wasp out, sounding pained. "Is it really _that_ difficult for the four of you to hold a conversation for longer than two minutes without bringing up something disgusting? Seriously?"

"I suppose we could try and manage three." Angel mused and Varan gave me that look again.

"Hey Varan, did you know Wasp used to think you were an alien?" I said instead, since he'd wanted a change in subject so badly.

"..._What_?" he demanded while Angel fell back against the stone he was laughing so hard.

"I'd never heard of Terradons before!" Wasp said defensively. "What was I supposed to think? You're green and scaly and have really big eyes! That's the stereotypical alien poster child!"

Fraggle was holding his side, laughing and trying very hard to stop laughing at the same time. "Oh god stop eh, you're killing me here!"

"I didn't mean it in a bad way!" Wasp insisted. "I like aliens!"

Even Varan was chuckling good naturedly. "Well I hope I didn't disappoint you when you realized I was just a plain old Terradon then, Wasp." He said.

"Oh, nah. Even when I found out that you were just a regular Atmos-noid I still thought you were pretty neat." Wasp said. "I mean, you have a _tail_. That's just good evolutionary progress, man. Wish I had one, or at least some prehensile toes or something. I mean really, I didn't even get _claws_."

"I think you're pretty formidable as is without knives permanently attached to your appendages." I told her. "Be thankful for what you've got."

"Hmm, guess I _am_ better off compared to you humans. Poor things, nature didn't even give you a chance." Wasp said, shaking her head sadly.

"And yet here we stand at the top of the food chain. Figure that one out." Angel said wryly.

"Oh bullshit eh, top of the food chain my ass. That's the problem with you humans eh, you're all so hung up on yourselves. Freaking delusional; the only reason you guys _think_ you're the dominant species is because there's so fucking many of you. You buggers breed like rabbits." Fraggle said indignantly.

"I've never thought we were the dominant species!" I argued, wounded, but Angel cut me off.

"Oh don't go into one of those self-righteous humanoid rants on me, like humans have been keeping you horribly repressed all these years or some shit. Unless you happen to be Varan, in which case you have every right." He added as a quick afterthought. "Yeah sure, you Blizzarians and Faerieshians and Terradons all have fangs and talons and superior senses and whatever, but we humans gots the brains." He said matter-of-factly, tapping his temple pointedly. "We don't need built-in biological weapons 'cause we're smart enough to make our own, none of that savagery tooth-and-claw business."

I snorted with laughter. "I can't believe _you_ of all people are giving a lecture about savagery. I've seen you eat a whole steak without even cutting it first."

Angel waved a hand at me. "Oh I'm not saying we're saints or anything. Hell crack open any history book and you'll find some sort of account about the nasty things we humans have been doing to the rest of the world since we first learned how to walk. I'm just saying, sure we might seem like pansies by predatory standards, but we've found a way to make up for all the stuff we lack."

"Would you mind not saying 'we humans' like that?" Varan asked. "Yes throughout history humans have done some pretty terrible things, but the same can be said for all humanoid species. Don't lump yourselves in with the bad apples like that. Most of the humans I've met have all been great people."

"Daww, thanks Var." I said, as touched as always to hear those kind of things from Varan, who had the most reason of anyone to hate humans.

"I guess when you put it like that it's sort of impressive, isn't it? Like you've beaten the natural selection process." Wasp said. "Good job, guys."

"I wouldn't call it _that_ impressive." Angel muttered. "So many thousands of idiots out there that should have just died out are allowed to continue and reproduce. That's the price you pay for progress I guess."

"I'm gonna stop you right there." I said and then, after a second thought, took the bottle out of his hand when I realized he'd gotten a hold of it again. "I'm not about to sit through another one of your 'everything that's wrong with the world' lectures."

"Are you sure? 'Cause I've got some great new material I've been working on." He said with a shit-eating grin and in response I crushed him into my armpit.

"I got a fun little brain teaser then eh, while we're on the subject of survival of the fittest." Fraggle said while Angel gagged and tried to struggle free. "What do you think would happen if you took like, one member from every species, all of whom were in top physical condition, and put 'em all into one big even playing field together, you know, battle royale style. Which do you think would come out on top eh? Who's _really_ on the top of the food chain?"

Angel, Wasp and I all paused to think about that one but Varan made an irritated noise and put an end to our theoretical jam session before it could get out of the gates. "I don't want to even think about that." He said shortly. "I don't like the thought at all of the humanoids fighting with each other, especially not over something as ridiculous as bragging rights, who's superior over who."

"Oh yeah eh, I'm not saying I'd ever want it to happen either." Fraggle said quickly while I felt guilt stir in my stomach. I handed the bottle over to Fraggle, figuring that if I'd already had enough whisky to make me forget how sensitive Varan was about these sorts of things then maybe I should slow it down a bit. "I just meant like hypothetically, eh."

"I know. But I still don't like it. I mean after so many generations of Terradons and humans being at odds we're finally just beginning to see each other eye to eye. I like what's happening out on Bogatri and I don't want to think about what would happen if the two groups clashed again." Varan said, curling his tail around himself as if trying to fight off a chill.

"That's a good point. Sorry Varan, wasn't thinking." I apologized. "That being said I'm glad you've come around about the idea. I'd almost started thinking I'd done something wrong the way you reacted when you first found out."

"Oh no, of course not." Varan said quickly. "You know me, I take the whole 'approach with caution' method way too seriously that's all. I really do appreciate what you did." He said earnestly and I smiled. Then he cocked his head thoughtfully and added. "What _did _you say to the Council by the way? I've been meaning to ask just how you pulled that one off."

"Well Chief's always had the ability to talk people into going along with his crazy schemes, eh. I bet you he could start a cult if he wanted to." Fraggle said, thumping me between the shoulder blades a little harder than necessary.

"I'm going to assume there was a compliment somewhere in there." I said and Angel snorted. "Anyways I didn't really say anything noteworthy, just what I thought about the whole thing. I told them Repton had helped us and that I didn't think it was fair the way they lived out there."

"So all your typical bleeding heart stuff." Angel confirmed, watching Wasp as she picked at a scab on his arm until it split and began to bleed and then started sucking on it.

"Yes, that's me and my deplorable conscience for you." I said with an eye roll.

"And they really went for that?" Varan asked, sounding surprised. "Don't get me wrong, I've always admired your tenacity when it comes to things like this but I didn't think the Council would make such a ground breaking decision based on something so... well opinionated I guess."

"I was going to go with _trivial_." Angel decided to report. "Politics have no use for golden boys with righteous attitudes. Honesty and integrity are last generation's beliefs."

"...Golden boy?" I repeated with a mixture of amusement and distaste and Angel stiffened as if only just realizing he'd said such a thing aloud.

"Christ would you two get a room? Too much bromance going on here, it's making me feel nauseous, eh." Fraggle teased and I looked down at all the empty space yawning open beneath my boots, wondering what my odds of survival were if I were simply to pitch myself off the edge. Angel, never one to back down from a challenge, simply leaned in against me, nuzzling his head under my chin and aiming a haughty look at Fraggle.

"I think you're jealous." He taunted, pressing a suggestive hand to my chest.

"Well Chief _does_ have some rocking abs, eh." Fraggle relented and my face burned so fiercely I'm surprised it didn't glow red in the dark. "But it's tits or nothin' for me, so don't you worry, I ain't about to move in on your man."

Okay, scratch that, I'd push the both of _them_ off the edge.

"I don't think they would have gone along with it just based on what I said either." I continued loudly as the other two started snickering to themselves and Varan tried very hard to quell his own laughter so he could listen. "I doubt it would have even got off the ground if Starling hadn't stood up for the idea."

All three of them abruptly turned serious and snapped to full attention at that one. "_Starling_?" They repeated in unison, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Did I forget to mention that?" I asked.

"Might have skipped over that little detail, yeah." Varan said dryly and I scratched at my scalp sheepishly. They'd all pounced on me with varying degrees of curiosity when I'd returned from Mesa of course but, feeling uncertain about what I'd said about the Terradons, I'd decided not to bring that part up unless something came of it and I guess the whole incident with Starling had gotten shoved to the back of my mind along with it.

"Little detail?" Fraggle repeated. "Dude I'm feeling some serious reproach here! I ought to give you the cold shoulder for leaving that part out eh! Keeping us outta the loop and what not, jeez, some friend."

"So did you actually get to meet her or what?" Angel demanded with much more enthusiasm than he'd usually allow. You may not have picked up on this, but we were all major Starling fanboys.

"Well, no. She was sitting up in the balconies and I actually didn't even know who she was until she told me." I admitted.

"Aw, boo dude! For shame." Fraggle scolded, backhanding the side of my head. "She's only one of the hottest freaking Sky Knights _ever_ and you didn't even recognize her? I'll be taking your man card now."

"I know, I know, I felt like a fucking idiot, I went on this big spiel about the Interceptors and what happened on old Bogaton right beforehand without even realizing she was sitting right there." I said and Angel heaved an exaggerated sigh as if he couldn't believe he hung out with someone so embarrassing.

"Wow. So she... she supported the idea?" Varan clarified, a whole new light coming into his large yellow eyes. If the rest of us admired Starling than Varan downright worshipped the woman and her ideals. I'm sure he must have felt that if Starling, who shared a very similar past to his own and had come to the aid of the Terradons not once but twice despite her bloody history with the terra, had stuck up for the liberation of the Terradons than it really couldn't have been such a bad idea after all. If he'd still been harbouring any doubts I was sure they were gone now (or at least severely lessened).

"Yep, and I think that's what really swayed the Council." I said.

"Aw, you don't give yourself enough credit there, eh. I mean heck, you're a big hero now, ain't ya? That's gotta come with some leverage." Fraggle said, throwing his arm around my shoulders sloppily enough that he almost punched me in the jaw. Realizing he'd had the bottle to himself for quite awhile now I wrestled it out of his hand and took some more for myself. I mean hey, they more I had the less for him, right?

"Well that's what everybody keeps telling me, but honestly I think with something that huge my opinion didn't count for as much as they said it did." I said. "Starling carried a lot more weight on the matter, she was the one who tipped the scales."

"Yes but you were the one who got the ball rolling in the first place." Varan reminded me. "I don't think anyone else would have approached the subject, not for a dozen more years at least. You allowed something really monumental to happen, Shade. I'm not saying you should get a swelled head about it but don't just pass it off so easily either."

I shrugged. "Right back at you, man, you weren't exactly jumping for joy in the beginning."

"Well that's because I have a bum leg." Varan insisted with a grin and I tugged on the end of his tail playfully. "Seriously though, I really do like what's going on out there. It gives me good feelings about the future."

Just hearing him say that gave me good feelings too and I hadn't even seen how they were progressing out there. I guess when he put it that way I could feel a little more awed by everything I'd had a hand in setting into motion. I hadn't single handedly changed the fate of the Terradons nor had any of us been solely responsible for saving the Atmos (except maybe Stork) but still, when I took into consideration how wrong everything had gone and how hard we'd worked to put it right again, I couldn't help but feel proud. We'd all played our part to make the world a better place and I figured there was no shame in feeling good about that.

"Everything's coming up daises." Wasp agreed, her words followed with the snap-hiss of a can popping open. I had no idea where or when she'd gotten a hold of more Buzz Juice (or with what money, for that matter) but somehow she'd managed to get herself a small stock of them again.

"Sweetheart, it's _roses_. Daises is the one you use when you want to threaten somebody, the whole 'you'll be pushing up'- oh _god_." Angel cut himself off, eyes growing wide in horror as Varan, Fraggle and I all turned to stare at him in surprise. "Did I just use a _petname_?"

"You totally did eh!" Fraggle declared while I laughed so hard it made my busted nose start bleeding. Angel slapped a palm to his face and handed the bottle to me in shame as Wasp giggled, digging her heels into his leg playfully. "Here." He said miserably. "I can take a hint."

"Aw don't be like that, this is our chance to see the rare warm 'n cuddly side of you." I teased and he muttered a grisly oath under his breath, folding his arms tightly and sulking.

"No no, it is daises. It's a song by Butcher Shoppe Karnival." Wasp insisted. "Why would you want roses anyways? They have prickers."

"Because 'daises' sounds incredibly lame, eh. So does pansies, posies, violets and those little blue ones I can never remember the name of." Fraggle said and Varan laughed harder than I'd heard him in a long time.

"I do hope you were being ironic." I said and Fraggle wrinkled his brow.

"About what? Seriously, I don't know!"

"Oh my god that's so hilarious it's sad!" Varan gasped, wiping at his eyes. "We ought to charge admission for you, Fraggle."

Fraggle huffed. "I don't know what I'm being laughed at for, but I don't need to take this abuse, eh."

"See, see this is what I mean! Look at all the bad genes getting mixed into the pool! That's it, Fraggle, that last display of idiocy was just one too far. I'm now making it my mission to insure that you never procreate." Angel declared.

"Dude you start cock-blocking me and I'll more than just eliminate your genetic contribution, believe you me." Fraggle warned.

"Oh god stop right _now_, subject approaching 'don't wanna hear it' territory again." Varan said and I leaned in towards Angel.

"How many minutes was that?" I asked in a stage-whisper and he pretended to check an imaginary stopwatch.

"Oh what eh, the thought of making babies make you squirm? You're gonna have to learn about the birds and the bees sometime Var, 'specially 'cos you gots a guuuurlfriend now." Fraggle drawled out obnoxiously and even in the dark I swear I could see Varan's flush as he spluttered incomprehensively.

"I never really understood why it was called 'the birds and the bees'." Wasp said, sounding interested.

"I assume it's some kind of inside joke." Angel said with a shrug.

"No pun intended?" I asked, grinning and Angel let out of a bark of laughter.

"It's the whole pollination thing." Fraggle said matter-of-factly and Varan groaned, covering his ears again.

"That makes sense for bees, but what about birds?" Wasp pressed.

"Well there's a slang term in there that might explain it, but..." Fraggle trailed off and Angel slumped against me, laughing.

"Really? I've never heard it called that one." Wasp said, looking down at herself and Varan made a noise like he was in honest to god pain.

"Okay, if you four don't shut up right now I'm just going to go home and try to forget the fact that I know you until tomorrow." He vowed and the four of us tried our best to sober up (figuratively, anyways). Or we did until Fraggle snapped his fingers and shouted "Forget-me-nots, that's it!" and sent us all into peals of laughter once more.

Feeling warm and happy inside I leaned back on my hands, craning me head back to take in the stars as Fraggle started up with one of his drinking songs and believe it or not Angel joined in (he'd taken the bottle back again despite his whole cute little slip-up). Neither of them could hold a tune very well but I liked listening to them anyways. Times like these, all of us well-fed, healthy and being maniacs together, were the most treasured things in the world to me, they were the rewards that came from our hard-earned victories. Right about now, I was on the top of the world; it didn't matter that we had no ship or mission or enough money to keep us running for very long, I was young and alive and my friends were young and alive and we had our whole lives ahead of us. I'd seen my mission through to the end and come out the other side intact, a bright new future was dawning for Varan and his people, Angel was making some serious progress on putting his life back in order and Stork would be awake soon. Everything was okay; we were all okay. Things didn't get much sweeter than that.

I had the sudden, strange feeling that Stork was sitting there with us in that moment, drawn to us by our radiating, triumphant attitudes. I felt as if she could have been sitting right next to me, squished between Fraggle and I, smiling her big pixie grin and drawing pictures out of the stars with me. I could see a few of our constellations now, one collection we'd decided was a dragon and another that we still couldn't agree on (I was certain it was a skull and cross bones, she insisted it was a rabbit and Angel, when he actually stopped pretending to be above such things to partake with us, said it looked like a hand giving the finger). I picked out a handful of our specialty named ones too: Pinkie, Charles, Sweet Pea, Mort, Nostradamus, Pretty Boy, Mr. Specks and the Polaris star that she and I had dubbed Sprag the Magnificent, a name that, whenever said aloud, was to be done so in an obnoxious announcer voice. God I could almost hear her saying it now, imagining her making a big, sweeping arm motion to illustrate the importance of said star. And yet it didn't drive that familiar little barb of longing into my heart to think about her now; maybe she really was there with us, commuting from the astral plane, her spirit out for a nice little stroll while her body rested.

'_Hey Stork.'_ I thought, in case she was there and waiting to be greeted. If not maybe she'd be able to hear my thoughts in the strange coma-place she was, or at least pick up the messages when she got back. Or maybe that was just the whisky's logic. '_See all our stars up there? You know what the cool thing about them is? They're always going to be there, for as long as we live. They won't go out, not ours, not ever. They'll keep burning away even when the planet turns to a big ball of ice.'_

'_Oh you and your pseudo-intellect.' _I could hear her say dismissively. Then, in a softer voice _'But yeah, it is pretty cool.'_

Angel leaned in against me again, warm and boney, and I felt at peace, sandwiched between my two best friends. "So, do you think I have to start calling her Mom?" he asked me, sounding a little hazy and I weaseled the near-empty bottle out of his fingers.

"You can if you want to." I assured him. "I think she's been hoping you'd say it, actually."

"Really? I thought she'd think it was weird."

"Are you kidding? It'd probably melt right through her whole ice-queen facade." I said and he snorted half-heartedly.

"Would it be weird to _you_?" He asked and I felt touched, wrapping my good arm around his shoulders.

"Of course not."

Angel hummed and I could tell he was taking this all very seriously but of course he couldn't let that show so he simply said "So _I'm_ the only one who'd find it weird. Figures."

I dug my knuckles into his scalp, deciding to withhold all comments along the lines of 'you totally wanna call her Mommy but are too scared to' (sing-songy voice included) because I knew how he got about these kind of things and didn't want him shutting down about it, not after he'd come so far. In all honesty I was very proud of him for all the progress he'd made and, acting on a whisky-induced spur of over-enthusiastic affection, I dropped a messy, brotherly kiss on the top of his dishevelled hair to tell him so.

He grunted and wriggled away from me a little bit. "We really need to stop doing that." He stated bluntly and I pretended to pout.

"What happened to not hiding my true feelings?" I asked, feigning hurt and he let out a rough sigh.

"Well not in _public_, jeez."

Grinning I shoved him into Wasp, who snared him in a headlock happily and nodded at me as if to confirm the completion of a business interaction.

"So, Chief, got a question for you there, eh." Fraggle spoke up then, letting one of his lyrics die halfway through.

"Shoot."

"Well, I was just wondering... Starla asked me what we planned on doing, you know, after we finished cleaning up the Atmos and whatever, and I didn't really have a good answer for her. I mean I figured we'd be doing _something_, eh, but... well, the reason we got roped into this whole freakshow in the first place was because of your nightmares, right?"

"Am I sensing some resentment there?" I asked and he laughed, swatting a hand at me that missed by miles.

"Oh no, course not eh. I just mean that's why you put together a squadron, that's why we did everything we did, right? But now that's all over, nightmares are gone, mission completed, hallelujah and all that rot. So what next? What're we gonna do now, eh?"

"You know, I asked Aerrow the exact same question." I said. "And he had a really good point. Sure the nightmares might be finished, Cyclonis is back in the grave where she belongs and Atmos is safe from disaster for a few years at least. But there are still bad people out there, there's always going to be somebody causing trouble, Vultures or otherwise. And there is miles and miles of space out there that's never been explored properly, all sorts of trouble to get into if we look for it hard enough. So nothing's over, not by a long shot. This isn't the end of anything, it's simply the start of a new chapter."

"Well listen to you, all wise and inspired." Varan quipped. "I was actually starting to miss your little motivational speeches."

"Pep talks." Angel insisted and I rolled my eyes.

"Pep talks." I repeated. "Anyways my point is once we're finished helping out the terras that need it we'll be able to find something to do, I'm sure of it. I mean, since when did we ever sit down and plan everything out? Winging it and running smack dab into some form of shitstorm or other is what we do best."

"True say, eh." Fraggle agreed, nodding. "That oughta be our slogan: We're in the business of finding trouble. And business is good."

"Christ look at us, a crest _and_ a slogan? We're a regular boy scout troop." Angel said and Varan laughed.

"Oooh does that mean we get badges?" Wasp asked excitedly.

"So we're just gonna keep on kicking ass and looking damn sexy while doing so, eh." Fraggle confirmed and I paused thoughtfully as something occurred to me randomly. I recalled how dejected he'd seemed earlier after returning from his family, the homesickness that had sprung up once he'd finally realized how much he'd missed them. Without the dark shadow of looming destruction clouding my mind I realized that, while the thought of hitting the open skies and careening out of one misadventure and into another was more than enough to satisfy me, it might not be what the others wanted to deal with all the time anymore. After all, cheating death and having adventures was all well and good, but when you had friends and family outside your beloved squadron it certainly wasn't the only thing you wanted to be spending your time doing.

"Well, that's what I'm going to do, definitely." I said slowly after a few moments. "I just really can't picture any other life for myself. Maybe in like, twenty years I might feel like settling down a bit, but I just don't feel like doing that right now. But what about the rest of you? It's not up to me to decide what you do with your lives."

"Oh yeah, like you did such a good job at doing that to begin with." Angel commented before putting on a voice that I imagined would be what a puppy dog's sounded like if he suddenly learned how to speak: "'Hi I'm Falshade, I have no idea what the hell I'm doing but if you'd like to come along that'd be much appreciated! No pressure though! Just because I'm at the head of this freak parade doesn't mean you have to follow me!'"

"No offence Shade, but that does sum you up rather accurately." Varan admitted, grinning like a crocodile while Fraggle sank into hysterics.

I huffed. "You use the same lame-ass voice to imitate everybody." I reported moodily and Angel made an 'ouch' face to demonstrate how deeply I'd wounded him with my pathetic comeback. I really needed to start working on those before Stork woke up. "What I _meant _was it's not just up to me what we do after all of this. You guys all have equal say and I just wanted to know if any of you had something else in mind, since we're all here and talking about it."

I could sense Varan, Fraggle and Angel all on the verge of saying something before they paused to let my words really sink in and mull it over. Suddenly I felt a violent streak of fear and wished I would have just kept my mouth shut; who knows, now that they weren't neck deep in my mission maybe they felt they should take the opportunity to stretch their own wings a bit. Aside from Varan all of them had saddled themselves with me and my harebrained quest completely on a whim; with that under their belts what was to stop them from doing their own thing for a little while? I wouldn't be offended or hurt if they decided to strike out on their own but still, the thought terrified me. I couldn't imagine operating without them, I'd feel lost and lonely all the time and, let's be honest here, who was I really without the rest of them? Sure I could take care of myself but... it just wouldn't be the same.

I was considering unlacing my boot so I could effectively stick my foot in my mouth when, after a few tense moments of pensive silence, Angel showed his true colours, the most loyal guy on the planet when it came down to the things that really mattered.

"Well, I sure as hell ain't going anywhere." He said, stretching and popping his back casually. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, Shade. You're stuck with me for life now, kid."

I let out the breath I'd unknowingly been holding and smiled; this heart warming sentiment coming from the kid who'd joined me in the first place because he had nothing better to do. I wrapped my arm around his narrow shoulders again to let him know just how damn much I appreciated it. "And I'm sure a day may come when I'll regret that." I retorted and he grinned, letting me crush him into my ribs.

"I'm staying too." Wasp added. "I can't really see myself doing anything else anymore either. Besides, where would you be without your psycho?"

"Well I'm sure we'd be under less scrutiny from several insane asylums, anyways." Angel said and Wasp bared her teeth at him, werewolf grin in full force. I stroked her ear softly, silent gratitude, and she rubbed her chin against my hand like a large cat, purring and everything.

"What about you guys?" I asked evenly, turning to look at the other two. "You both have family outside the rest of us, I figured you guys might want to spend more time with them now..."

"Well, that's true, and once we get a ship again I'm going to insist that we fly down to Nord at least once a month eh." Fraggle said and I nodded. "And sure, I _could_ go back to fishing or find something else to do; still wouldn't mind being in a rock band you know. But man, life would be so _boring_ after all the shit I've been through with you punks, eh. I wouldn't be able to just chill without thinking 'this is what I _could_ be doing right now' in the back of my mind. And, you know, I've come to like you guys and whatever." He added nonchalantly but I heard all the words he wasn't saying.

"Thanks Fraggle, we heart you too." I said, tugging his toque down into his face. "So that's one maniacal fuzz ball, one jackassy sharpshooter and one personal attack Faerie." I ticked off on my fingers.

"And one dumb ass Sky Knight." Angel added pointedly.

"Well I wasn't gonna say it like _that_." I said but added myself to the count anyways. "So that just leaves you, Varan."

The four of us leaned forward a bit so we could get a look at him, sitting there at the end of our little row contemplatively, looking out at the expanse of winking stars and not meeting our gaze. My heart lurched fearfully as I took in the uncertainty on his face and suddenly I wished we would have just shut up and been more mature when he'd asked, kept all those tasteless comments at bay. Maybe he'd been waffling over the idea to stay behind and build a life of his own and our childish behaviour had finalized his decision.

Finally, after what felt like ages, he cleared his throat and started speaking in a soft, hesitant voice. "...They're going to need me out on Bogatri you know, especially in these next few months." He started slowly, his tail flickering over the dry stone like an agitated snake. "Repton isn't very good at dealing with the Council, he'd like for me to be there from time to time when they stop by. And... I want to be a part of what's going on out there. I've grown up with humans yes but I'm still a Terradon and I'd like to be around my people sometimes, learn more about them."

"Well yeah, of course." I said, trying to keep the anxiety out of my voice. What was he saying? Had he decided to move out there after all?

"And then there's Pippa, and Roo." He went on, swallowing uncomfortably but keeping his nerve. "I'd like to spend time with them too, when I can. It just seems like it'd be hard, to balance everything. Especially since, as you pointed out Shade, we never seem to know where we're going to be from one day to the next. I'm worried that if I try to be everywhere at once, someone's going to get left out."

I swallowed down the lump that was rising in my throat, telling myself I had to be supportive here and couldn't let my own feelings get in the way of what was best for Varan. He had a very good point, he had his own agenda to take care of and people who needed him and cared about him just as much as we did. It wouldn't be fair for us to hog him all to ourselves.

But, god, what would we do without him? He was the glue that held our reckless circus together, he was the one who stitched our wounds closed when we screwed up and was the level-headed rock we needed to keep our dynamics stable. Not to mention we'd probably all starve to death without him.

Varan finally turned to look at us as if only just realizing how nervously we were waiting for his next words. "You guys know I've never been as gung-ho about adventure and danger as the rest of you seem to be. I think I'd be perfectly capable of making a quiet life for myself somewhere around here. Probably spare me the ulcer in any case." He said quietly and my heart faltered, not sure if I'd be able to handle his next words. "But..." Or not. "But I know I'd never be happy knowing you guys were out there somewhere, getting yourselves into trouble. I'd be worried about you all the time and... well I'd miss being around all of you. So wherever you guys are, that's where I'll be, come what may of that."

I felt relief sweep through me so violently it was even more intoxicating than the Firecracker. "And check one neurotic lizard." I concluded and Varan grinned, small but sincere nonetheless.

"Phew, for a moment there I thought were going to have to bust out the tissues eh." Fraggle said, breathing out a sigh of relief and sniffling a little before glaring at Varan reproachfully. "Well jeez, eh, you didn't have to give us all a bloody heart attack! Could have come to that conclusion in a less round-about way."

"Sorry." Varan said, patting the top of his head soothingly. "I just wanted to make sure you all understand that, because as much as I adore being part of the team I've got some other responsibilities now I can't just pass off."

"We understand." I said quickly. "We'll be as supportive as possible and hey if you have to go off on your own sometimes to take care of things than that's completely fine too."

"Thank you. I knew you guys would get it, and I'm sure I'll find a way to make it all work out." Varan said, gripping my shoulder as if he could sense how scared he'd made me feel with that big spiel of his. You know in hindsight I wondered if he'd planned it all like that, a small slice of vengeance for all the times we'd pushed him to his wit's end and hadn't paused to apologize for it afterwards. Then he raised his brow as if surprised. "Ange? You okay?"

I turned to take in Angel's expression, an equal mixture of alarm and rebuke "...Don't you _ever_ do that to me again!" He snapped, jabbing a finger at Varan, who looked just as taken aback by this outburst as I felt. "You can't leave me, damnit! How the hell am I supposed to make brownies all on my own?"

Ah, _now_ it made sense.

Varan covered his face, laughing his grating, reptilian laughter. "Of course, I should have known. You don't actually care about me as a person, do you?"

Angel rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Eh, you've got your charms I suppose." He relented and I cuffed him around his smart-mouthed head.

"So we're still the Gargoyles then, eh." Fraggle confirmed.

"Still the Gargoyles. All we need now is for our cantankerous grease monkey to wake up and we've got the full roster." I said, draining the last of the whisky and feeling content. Now that everyone had settled down again and we were all on the same page, had as close to a plan as we'd ever get, I felt it was a good a time as any to bring up the next matter on my mind. "So I had another dream last night." I reported and was met by groans and yowls of displeasure from everyone but Wasp:

"Oh dude _no_, not already eh, we're not even finished recovering from the first doomsday!"

"I _knew_ you had some ulterior motive to all that team spirit bullshit!"

I grinning good naturedly, holding up my hands for peace. "It's okay, it was nothing bad." I explained quickly and the others fell into grudging silence, waiting for an elaboration. "It wasn't a nightmare this time, but it still seemed like them somehow, I got the same gut feeling from it that I always got from them." I went on. "We were standing here, all of us. Stork was here too, and her hair was back to normal. We could see the whole Atmos from here and there was this massive storm of fire sweeping over all the terras. But it wasn't burning them or anything; it was like everything it touched fell away and was replaced with something new again. So we just stood here and let it come, let it catch us all in the middle of it. And once it passed all of our scars were gone." I said, rubbing at the skin of my upper arm as if I could still feel the flames licking at it. The dream had been short and clean, no horrifying images of blood, gore and gruesome monsters leaving bruises on my brain tissue. But it had felt just as real as its grisly siblings always had, clear and sharp and filled with purpose. I'd woken with heat glowing from my skin and a solid feeling in my chest, not necessarily good or monumental, but a simple, tangible satisfaction, one of those indescribable, visceral moments that tells you without a shadow of doubt you're life is right where it was intended to be.

"Purification by fire." Wasp mused after a few minutes during which we'd sat in silence, as if the others could all feel the same feeling of affirmation as I had.

"Yeah, sounds about right." I agreed. "I dunno, to me it just felt like that whatever forces sent me the dreams in the first place were telling me it was over, I'd done what I'd needed to do, we all had, and we'd done it right. Like they were telling me this is the end of bad dreams."

"No." Wasp said and we all turned to look at her. "You said it yourself, Falshade, there are always going to be bad things going on the world." She pointed out in that voice that seemed to come from elsewhere in time, a wise, ancient soul speaking through one crazy young woman.

"That's right, I did." I agreed. "I guess it's just one of those things, what did you call them, an ugly, right?"

Wasp nodded. "Right. As they say, them's the breaks."

"Well in that case maybe it meant the end of nightmares at least." I decided. "No more of those really bad things that shouldn't ever be, not in our lifetime anyways."

Wasp seemed to think about this carefully. "Yeah..." she said eventually. "That sounds right to me."

I watched another shooting star plummet towards the thin grey line where the sun was beginning to peak up over the edge of the world and let the comfort of those words flow through me. It was a strange, almost frightening feeling to finally let go of the certainty that something terrible was clawing its way up from the bowels of the earth, the images of bloodshed and destruction that had pushed me through the majority of my life, sitting like an ugly spider on a thick web in the back of my mind. But it felt good too, like finally letting your muscles unknot after holding them tightly for days on end. Any qualms I'd had about who I was and what I'd do now that the goal I'd been bent on for so long had finally been obtained were washed away under the calming presence of my friends and the knowledge that every ending was connected to an equally promising beginning. The whole world was at our fingertips and we could take our time before plunging in and grabbing hold once again, see where it would sweep us off to next.

I was allowed to bask in the feeling of tranquility and closure for about half a minute before the peace was broken by, of course, Angel, who let out a belch so loud it echoed down in the rocky clefts below.

"Whoa ho, _man_, did not taste like _that_ when I ate it." He reported and Fraggle started snorting and giggling uncontrollably.

"Oh for fuck sakes." I said, covering my nose. "Is it physically impossible for you to sit through just _one_ of my heartfelt moments without ruining it? I was having a perfectly good Zen moment there!"

"How was I supposed to hold that in?" He demanded. "I told you, I am no good at handling all these touchy-feely moments you constantly insist on having. I can't help it, it's in my DNA or something! I thought I did pretty good there, I let it go for about thirty seconds didn't I?"

I sighed but let it go. "That's true. I suppose that's all I can ask for concerning you, isn't it?"

"Yes." He nodded. "Yes it is."

In the last few moments before we got up to drag our tired bodies home for a few hours of sleep I thought about the truth of that last statement. Not concerning Angel, but the complex workings of the entire world. Wasp was right, there was no such thing as complete peace and freedom from the things that knock you down and make you want to hunker under your blankets until the hurt goes away. There was always going to be patches of ugliness slithering through our lives, nobody was exempt from that fact. It'd be nice if we could all live in a perfect, harmonious world but that paradise was nothing more than a dream of a dream. But that didn't mean the world was a cruel, heartless place either. Light and darkness played an equal part, strung in an interweaving network between us all. Just as often as you'd experience heartbreak or nightmares or the death of someone you held dear there was always the friendly faces of those you treasured, strokes of luck and countless fresh days that you could draw your path across. If you let your collection of victories, precious memories and all the things you loved outweigh your tragedies, fears and disappointments, you'd always be able to gather your feet under yourself again and continue along on the road to wherever it was you wanted to be. The bad things were going to happen and all you could do was grit your teeth and plough on through until things brightened and evened out again and in those times you could sink your teeth into all the things there were worth holding on for, revel in the zest and bliss for as long as it lasted.

In the end, that balance was all we could ask for. That was all we really needed.


End file.
